Building the perfect Cavs draft: best-case for all three picks

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not in control of their own draft destiny. They can neither predict nor control which prospects go to which teams in the 2022 NBA Draft, although they will certainly try to do the former and perhaps think they can somehow influence the latter. In the end, they can only choose a player who is not selected before them in the draft.

Predicting what the Cavs will do is therefore an incredibly difficult proposition. Industry experts attempt to do so with mock drafts, and Monday we looked at some of the players being mocked to the Cavs. Let’s pivot away from what the Cavs may do and instead dream about what they would like to do.

The Cavs can’t predict the 2022 NBA Draft, but they can dream. What would a realistic best-case scenario be for all three picks?

What would a perfect Cavaliers draft look like? We’re not talking NBA2K Franchise Mode with forced trades turned on; the Cavs can’t trade Cedi Osman and get back Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the No. 2 pick, or get Jabari Smith Jr. at pick 14 and Jaden Ivey at pick 39. But what would a realistic best-case scenario look like if each team ahead of them made certain decisions and let the Cavs’ targets drop to them?

In the interest of simplicity, we will remove trades from the equation for now and just focus on the Cavs’ current three picks. Which players would be perfect for the Cavs if they fall to them? We’ll include another prospect as something of a “pipe dream” where there is a very slim possibility they could fall to the Cavs but it’s not absolutely insane; Moses Moody dropping all the way to the Warriors at 14 in last year’s draft, for example.

We’ll start at 14, where the Cavs’ best-case scenario is actually one that a few different analysts have started to connect with Cleveland.