So, this is it. I’d rally you all with a Braveheart speech or some such, but I’m kind of a fatalist. It’d be a downer, probably. (“I know we are all deeply flawed human beings, alienated from one another, incapable of true empathy, but arbitrarily bound together by this basketball team. I’m not even from Cleveland, by the way…“) But tonight’s the night where the future of our Cleveland Cavaliers is determined to either a large or small extent. Probably large. Big night, in all likelihood. Might not be, though. We could totally look back on this night, and go, “Remember when we were all convinced of how momentous an occasion the 2012 draft was going to be, and then nothing particularly consequential happened?” That would be weird, though. Seems like we’d be saying that sort of thing in a nuclear wasteland wrought from war with a brutally violent alien race. Y’know, after some perspective was gained. It’s hard to care about sports when your entire family has immolated, and you’re drinking irradiated water out of a cup you carved from your dear pet dog Hobbes’s pelvis.
I’m geting off track. This is an important night, probably. So let’s get out there, and KILL SOME ALIENS! draft boldly and intelligently. Not us, of course. Chris Grant is the actor here. We will not participate in the decision-making process at all. We’ll be sitting at home, because none of us are qualified to work in an NBA front office, with our hope and sweaty palms. Maybe a beer. Definitely a beer. (If you’re wondering, had the linked article been mine and not Mallory’s, all the players would have been PBR, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would have been the cheapest bottle of champagne imaginable.)
Anyway, updates: we’ll have them for you here as picks and/or trades are made. Feel free to cheer, argue, yell, pontificate, etc. in the comment section. Enjoy the spectacle, everyone.
UPDATE I: Chris Broussard is reporting the Cavs are offering the Bobcats the fourth, 24th, and 33rd pick in exchange for the second and 31st picks. Most everyone assumes they’re going after Beal.
UPDATE II: The Cavs take Dion Waiters. The world disintegrates like a cookie beneath the rump of a corpulent eight year-old.
UPDATE III: The Cavs traded the 24th and the two second-rounders to Dallas for Tyler Zeller.
@Cranky M: Not an insider, but it looks like Hollinger had him #23 on his board according to a forum where some of his draft rater was copy/pasted.
Well, after the way this draft has panned out, i definitely don’t think we can afford to let Gee go.
huh. Well that isn’t very exciting. Damn Hollinger! The only one giving me any glimmer of hope about Waiters, and then dashing my hopes for Zeller!
Can we find a way to keep Crowde? I REALLY wanted him
Starting 5:
Irving
Waiters
Gee
Thompson
Varejao
2nd unit:
Sloan?
Parker?
Casspi
Samuels?
Zeller
Here’s hoping to hell they’re active on the free agent market or trade-wise, because that does not look like a very good line-up to my eyes. Unless Harangody makes The Leap and becomes All-NBA next season, of course.
What happened to that dude who said they were trying to trade Andy for Barnes? Did he even say where he claimed to hear that information? I don’t feel like scrolling through 150+ comments to find it.
Wages of Wins has Crowder as the #2 pick in the entire draft. http://wagesofwins.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012-Draft-Model3.png
Thankfully, the fact that William Moseley, Jesse Sanders, Will Barton, and Ken Horton are also in the top 10 implies that it is a completely worthless analysis.
Maybe we can pick up Tu Holloway as an undrafted free agent? please?
@ cranky it was definetly discussed. I don’t know who refused at this point. My source is a non CG top level exec
I think I would be a little more receptive to the Dion Waiters pick if we actually had combine athletic testing numbers. Without them, I don’t know if he’s more DWade/Westbrook or Ben Gordon/Rodney Stuckey. It probably makes me more scared than mad.
And I still like the Zeller pick. He’s a 7 footer who can actually play basketball. Plus he has the outside range to complement TT even though he isn’t much of a rim protector. Great FIT. We just need one more PF/C to have a really good big man rotation.
I’m not a professional talent scout, but Waiters’ jumper is hideous. Chucks it from behind his head. Not going to work in the NBA. Good luck getting to the rim at will in any tough playoff series.
Barnes’ and Lamb’s mid-range game will translate much better in my opinion.
This draft reminds me of a party where I get terribly wasted and wake up unsure if I had an incredible time or made irrevocable mistakes.
Azubuike? Not sure what to think of this yet.
@Trill I think you nailed the description.
be positive guys, this draft seems pretty solid. we have our second scorer in Waiters, and a decent offensive legitamate 7ft center in Zeller. Need another SF but right now a good starting 5
PG: Irving
SG: Waiters
SF: Teletovic(if we get him)
PF: Varejao
C: Zeller
Key bench
Thompson
Gibson
Gee
Weems(if we get him)
I’ve kind of talked myself into the Waiters selections but I can’t force myself to do the same with the Zeller selection. If the Cavs would’ve held on to 24, 33, and 34, they could’ve landed Perry Jones, Quincy Miller, and a solid international players that they could’ve stashed overseas for a little while.
Zeller was a lottery pick and top 10-12 prospect on a lot of boards. The way I see it, we started with 4, 24, 32, 33 and ended up with two top 15 prospects. I don’t see how that is so terrible. Obviously Waiters is the x-factor. But overall, we weren’t going to keep 4 rookies on the roster, so the fact that we were able to package our 2nd rounders to move up and get a second top 15 prospect is very smart.
My view on Waiters: the Cavs must have really wanted a prolific scorer. With Beal gone, Waiters was clearly the next best prospect. I can see why some people are frustrated we passed on Barnes and Robinson, but given what the Cavs wanted, Waiters was by far the best prospect available.
At first I felt the same way about the Dion Waiters pick, but after hearing about the Zeller trade, I couldn’t help but feel that Chris Grant and company did the BEST possible job in this draft. Following some further research I conducted on Waiters, I also found that Beal might not be all that better in the first place. According to John Hollinger, whom in my opinion is the best basketball analyst there is, Waiters projects to be the best pro of ALL the perimeter players in this year’s class. Hollinger projects that Waiters will lead all perimeter players in PER this season at 14.26, while Kidd-Gilchrist sits at 13.58, and Beal at 11.65, furthermore, Hollinger has Waiters at 6 on his big board,so taking him at #4 was not a huge reach. On top of all that, we gotta true center who can score in the post, has a decent midrange game, and is a good rebounder and defender who should only improve with time and the help of Anderson Varejao. If there were more teams in need of centers this year, Zeller might have been a top 10 pick, and I truly believe he can be a vital piece to this Cavs Team for a long time.
So at the end of the day, being that it would have cost the entire draft to get Beal or Kidd-Gilchrist anyway, your dumb to think that the Cavs made the wrong choice. Would you rather have Waiters, possibly the next D-Wade, and a franchise center in Zeller? Or just Beal, who might not even be as good as our guy Waiters? I don’t think there should be any question regarding these moves, we might have had the best draft of any team, so all you casual fans who have NO idea what it is your discussing should bite your tounge and think before you speak.
No question we got two good draft picks, but I just cannot help but come away dissapointed. I believe in the long run there is more value with the picks we gave up (PJ3, Q Miller, T Taylor maybe?) than in Zeller, a solid, however unspectacular big. Also I am dissapointed walking away with Dion Waiters, I cannot help but be dissapointed. However this is because we did not get one of the top three, not because we got Waiters. He can definitely be a good, if not great, player and I trust the front office, its not like we have Kahn out there selecting 4 Small Forwards! There is hope yet that there will be many GO CAVSSSSSSSSSSSS! Screams let out in the near future as I am filled with undieing sports optimism. So Clevelanders in residence and heart, scream with me, LET’S GO CAVSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
This article helped to reassure e a little bit on the cavs picking waiters.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1241000-nba-draft-2012-cleveland-cavaliers-make-bold-moves
I forgot that Hollinger rated Waiters so highly in his Draft Rater. Waiters’ PER was 14.26 and 5 of 8 wings that have been rated that high in the past have been all-stars (the other 3 were Rudy Gay, Josh Childress and Kawhi Leonard). I’m beginning to be suspicious in thinking that Chris Grant actually uses Hollinger’s method or something like it to gauge who they should pick. Remember that TT was the highest rated player for hollinger in last year’s draft. Anyways, I think the Cavs will make a surprising splash in free agency unlike what they have been saying.