Cavs dominate poll of NBA execs on young players to build around

The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t often the subject of overwhelming praise from the rest of the NBA. They are a small market team who have been good when they had LeBron James and bad when they didn’t for the last three decades. They’ve made some bone-numbingly bad mistakes in the draft and tossed around money for players who didn’t deserve it all-too-frequently.

While the current front office isn’t perfect nor immune to criticism, they do have something substantial to hang their hat on. In two of the last four NBA drafts the Cavs have landed on great players, and through a combination of those players’ natural talent, hard work and the organizational culture put around them, they are undeniably headed for stardom.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a cadre of young stars to build upon. How do they dominate a recent poll of NBA execs that sees two Cavs land in the Top 10?

This was officially recognized this past week by the release of Hoops Hype’s poll of 15 NBA executives, which asks them to “rank their top five players under 25 years old by the start of the NBA season to build around.” That resulted in a list of 14 players who received at least one vote.

The Cavs were prominently featured, with Evan Mobley checking in at No. 4 on the list and Darius Garland at No. 9 (note that Donovan Mitchell is 26 and just missed the age cutoff for this list). Let’s break down why each player made the list and why the Cavs absolutely dominated this poll and therefore look poised to dominate the future of the NBA.