Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Picks, options and prediction
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Prediction
Predicting what will happen tonight is a fool’s errand, although it is certainly fun to try. It feels like this year’s draft will be especially full of teams trading up, down and all around the draft board. Ian Malcolm’s chaos theory applies to dinosaurs and to the 2022 NBA Draft.
That being said, here are our predictions for what will happen tonight. Despite a lot of rumors and phone calls, the Cavs will ultimately stay put at pick No. 14. AJ Griffin will fall all the way to 12 but not quite to them, and their options there will be as expected. Despite the availability of frequent mock draft partners in Ochai Agbaji and Malaki Branham, the Cavs take Jalen Williams out of Santa Clara as a do-it-all wing who can plug in immediately in the rotation.
The insanity continues from there, with frequent trades and quite a few surprise reaches late in the first round. That leads to Christian Braun of Kansas falling to the Cavs at pick No. 39. Finally, the 58 they elect for a draft-and-stash player and take a combo guard in Matteo Spagnolo out of Italy. One prediction with confidence is that the player taken 58th will not be on the 15-man roster next season, be that one a two-way or playing overseas.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have improved their team mightily through the draft the past few years, but have not had much luck outside of the Top 10 picks. Can they shake that trend and add multiple difference-makers at 14 and 39? Do they ultimately join the fray and make a trade? Let’s all tune in tonight and find out.