Ranking every No. 1 overall draft pick to play for the Cavaliers
No. 2: Brad Daugherty, 548 games
From Duke we go to North Carolina, a college powerhouse in the 1980s with the likes of Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan wearing the Baby Blue. Center Brad Daugherty was another of Carolina’s best during that era of Dean Smith basketball, and he parlayed his college success into a first-overall selection in the 1986 NBA Draft.
Daugherty was a center who was much better on offense than on defense, and that’s not necessarily a slight on his defense. He had a light touch around the rim, and while he wasn’t powering through opponents in the way that a Moses Malone was around the same time, Daugherty still drew a good number of fouls.
In eight seasons with the Cavaliers, the 7’0″ center made five All-Star teams, powering a number of excellent Cleveland teams. Then a back injury knocked him out of the 1993-94 season and he was never able to rehabilitate it enough to continue playing, cutting his prime short.
Daugherty has made headlines in recent years as the co-owner of a NASCAR racing team and as an analyst for NBC covering NASCAR events. Well before that cross-sport jump, however, he was putting the second-best career of any Cavaliers player.