The Cleveland Cavaliers have built their team through all three main channels: through the draft, via trade and through free agency. There is no denying how crucial the draft has been to building their core, with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley coming via top-5 picks.
Just as much as any other team, if not more, the Cavs have installed the rest of their core via trade. Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love and Caris LeVert all came to the Cavaliers in trades, and Ricky Rubio signed in free agency because he was first traded to the Cavs in 2021. Yet because of those trades, the Cavs will need to get comfortable maintaining their roster with late picks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have limited draft capital moving forward. What sharpshooting wing can the Cavs watch ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft?
That begins in 2023, when the Cavs owe their lottery-protected first-round pick to the Indiana Pacers as part of the Caris LeVert deal from February’s Trade Deadline. Given the team’s strong start and stacked roster, it seems almost impossible that the Cavs won’t make the playoffs, thus ensuring their pick goes to the Pacers.
That leaves them with a single second-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, a late-round opportunity to take a shot on a player. Given that this team will become increasingly expensive as this core gets older it will be important to find low-cost rotation options somewhere, and the second round of the draft is a great place to do so.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie is one of the best draft analysts in the public sphere, and he recently put out a full 2023 NBA Mock Draft to provide a sense of how NBA teams were evaluating the available player pool heading into the start of the college basketball season. In that mock draft he assigned the Cavs Creighton wing Baylor Scheierman.
Who is Baylor Scheierman, and how might he help the Cleveland Cavaliers? Let’s take a closer look.