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.
Cavs’ 2023 NBA Draft: Who is Baylor Scheierman?
Baylor Scheierman is a 6’6″ wing who will play for the Creighton Bluejays this season. Scheierman transferred to the Bluejays this past offseason after playing three seasons for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The Summit League Player of the Year, he led a truly dominant offense last season as a junior that made the Jackrabbits a popular Cinderella team heading into the 2022 NCAA Tournament, only to fall short to the Providence Friars.
He developed into one of the nation’s best shooters at SDSU, hitting 46.9 percent of his 3-pointers on a robust 5.1 attempts per game. Everything about his shot looks good, from the high free-throw percentage (over 80 percent each of his sophomore and junior seasons) to the form. That’s his greatest skill.
He’s far from a one-trick pony, however. The Jackrabbits ran their offense through Scheierman, and he averaged 16.2 points per game last season to go with 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He isn’t an elite passer, but he can absolutely serve as a secondary creator and attack closeouts with confidence.
Defense is not his specialty, but it’s not an Achilles Heel for Scheierman either. He has a high basketball IQ and fast hands, even if he is a sub-prime athlete and can get caught flat-footed at times in space. He joined a team in Creighton where he can be part of an ensemble, and that should help him develop more into the kind of role he will play at the next level.
2023 NBA Draft: How Scheierman fits on the Cavs
If this early stretch of the season is any indication, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a truly dangerous team when they have shooting on the court. As they look to restock their bench and specifically add players who can play small forward, shooting is a skill they need to prioritize to stretch the floor around Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
That’s why Baylor Scheierman makes such sense for the Cavs. He’s one of the best shooters in the 2023 NBA Draft, with multiple seasons of high-volume shooting demonstrating a true skill and not a hot streak. Yet rather than fit the profile of an unathletic gunner who washes out of the league from a lack of other skills, Scheierman has the supporting skillset of passing and rebounding to make him last in the NBA.
The Cavs have struck gold on players undervalued in the draft cycle before, with Dean Wade specifically standing out as a current starter who went undrafted. The only concern has to be that Scheierman will play so well this year at Creighton that his stock rises out of the range that the Cavs have to pick. Right now, if he is available, he’s near the top of my board for players who could be options for the Cavaliers to draft. He fits their need for two-way shooting wings perfectly.
There is a long time to go before the 2023 NBA Draft, and the Cavs could still trade their second-round pick or add other picks as well. Baylor Scheierman could shoot his way into the first round, or lose his way and drop out entirely. For now, he’s a player for Cavs fans to watch as they begin to think about who could join this team next summer.