5 ACC prospects Cavs should be paying close attention to for 2023 NBA Draft
By John Suchan
ACC prospect No.2 Judah Mintz, G, Syracuse
Cleveland has two of the best guards in the NBA with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. They even have a great veteran in Ricky Rubio coming off the bench right now. We don’t know yet what the Cavaliers will do with their backcourt bench next season, but getting a player like Judah Mintz out of Syracuse might be a good move by the Wine and Gold.
Like many of these prospects, he’s only a freshman but is averaging 15 points and almost five assists a game. In an upset win this past week against NC State, Mintz went for 20 points and nine assists.
He’s rising to the moment and that’s always a positive when you are trying to project how well these players will project as future NBA stars. Outside of four games this season, he’s scored in double figures. He’s an excellent defender as well and Cleveland needs more players that can play defense.
Cleveland could definitely use some depth on the bench going into next season. While Rubio has been a solid veteran presence, getting some new young talent onto the squad would be a real positive. Mintz seems like a great 2023 NBA Draft pickup if he were still there on the big board for the Cavs to grab.
ACC prospect No. 3: Terquavion Smith, G, NC State
Terquavion Smith has been described as “instant offense”. Cleveland has a pretty good offense already but if the team wants to really give its team a bigger boost, the NC State product would be a great move by the Wine and Gold.
The Wolfpack star might not make it beyond the first round, so if the Cavs had a strong interest, they’d likely have to make a move up in the draft. This season Smith is averaging more than 18 points a game along with five assists. He’s shooting almost nine three-pointers a game and hitting them at a 34% clip which is decent and that will likely keep improving when he’s a pro.
In one of his better games this season, he went for 32 points against Florida State. In that game, he went six-for-10 from beyond the arc but also went to the line nine teams which means he was taking the ball to the hole.
Cleveland certainly needs more playmakers and Smith would be a welcomed addition to the Cavaliers team if they were to try and draft him.