Links to the Present: The Draft Is Coming — Updated
2013-05-17
Due to massive computer issues on my part, a podcast with Robert and Colin has been delayed. Fortunately, there’s lots to discuss on the draft front.
To start, both Mary Schmitt Boyer from the Plain Dealer and Bob Finnan from the Morning Journal note how the Cavaliers are doing their best to find an underrated, special player during this week’s combine.
Jason Lloyd over at the Akron Beacon Journal covers how, surprisingly, the Cavaliers will not meet with Otto Porter at the combine. Thankfully, he notes, Porter has made it clear he’d like to play for the Cavaliers.
On Bleacher Report, Greg Swartz details how Mike Brown will improve the current Cavs squad’s D. Suffice to say it will be a challenge.
Finally, Rant Sports’ Cody Williams touches on Shaun Livingston’s season with the Cavaliers, and speculates about his future.
–Update–
DraftExpress just published the NBA Draft combine measurements. Notables include Rudy Gobert with the third biggest wingspan, (7’8.5″), and the second tallest standing reach (9’7″) in combine history. Also, Otto Porter ranks among the lightest players for his size in combine history at 6’7.5″ and 198 pounds. The entire sortable historical database is posted here.
RicKOH, you are just cherry-picking to make an exception the pattern… The full quote says they normally put more emphasis on the interview than most teams. “The Cavs typically put more of an emphasis on the interview process than most teams, although they took Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller last summer without working out or speaking to either.” And of course Windhorst’s article which got into great detail about the Cav’s draft. “Over the previous two months the Cavs had brought nearly 60 players into Cleveland for workouts, but Waiters and Zeller, interestingly, were not among them. This is unusual… Read more »
RickyOH – I was referring to your specific point about Porter. They put him on the list…but for whatever reason they were unable to meet with him. There is plenty of time for them to meet with him. Don’t see a need for you to be upset. Yes, they didn’t meet with Dion. His agent pulled him out of most action. So you could say that of nearly every team in the league last year. As for Zeller…meeting with him wasn’t really a necessity. They had 4 years of college tape and 4 years of college history of him being… Read more »
Ben, my point was in that same article that you linked, if you read it even more closely, it was said they NEVER met with Dion or Zeller. You think this is the only chance they have to meet with any draftees is in the combine? Last year, they drafted 2 people they NEVER talked to or worked out. Its following the same path with Otto. How is it so many of you are ok with the Cavs not doing their due diligence on these draftees? You talk to the top 20-25 guys in case someone starts slipping. As Zeller… Read more »
“Is anyone else dumbstruck that the Cavs do not meet with their potential draft candidates?” http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-cavaliers/cleveland-cavaliers-1.275356/otto-porter-cleveland-cavaliers-won-t-meet-during-combine-1.398238?localLinksEnabled=false Teams submit three lists of players they’d like to speak with during this week’s combine – an “A” list, “B” list and a “C” list. Team executives, however, aren’t guaranteed to meet with all the players on their lists – even those on the “A” list. Porter was on the Cavs’ submitted list, a source confirmed. RickyOH – the Cavs had him on their list…but for some reason we didn’t make the cut. We’ll hit him up in a different interview when we bring… Read more »
Funnyguy – why can’t you trust our FO? Is it because you’d rather have Barnes (and his 11.0 PER) on our team? You do realize how much worse we would have been this year with him instead of Dion right? Because when Kyrie went down, Dion was able to run the offense somewhat. Asking a rookie SG to run an offense is not something most teams would dare to consider. Asking Barnes to do it would have been disastrous. Why did Barnes have less total steals and less total blocks than Dion despite playing a lot more minutes/games? Why didn’t… Read more »
RicKOH, I’m just glad you have such intimate knowledge of how the Cavs run things. Why not make a decision based off tape and what he looked like in college? Its not as off there wasn’t any info about Zeller out there. Like I said before, its not as if they do this all the time.
Often teams intentionally don’t talk to players at the combine since it is before the lottery. If you value a guy higher than his projection you don’t want the teams around you knowing that. I was fine with Waiters over Barnes before the draft and still am. You can say that Barnes would be perfect for the Cavs now, but if they drafted Barnes instead of Dion you could say that they needed a second scoring option to Kyrie who could also facilitate. If Waiters had a PER of 11 this year like Barnes we’d be regretting his selection. Waiters… Read more »
By the way, any truth to the rumor that Gilbert doesn’t interview his VP’s either? I hear he just goes to grad schools and looks at who dresses the sharpest and thinks that person is money and promotes them immediately. Its the only way to run multi-billion dollar businesses these days. Booyah!
Thanks for making my argument for me funnyguy…the fact that they didn’t think Zeller would fall should throw up red flags. Is this what went on in the draft room… “Hey guys, why is Zeller still out there? What happened during his interviews and workouts that nobody at all has picked him yet? Does anyone know? Ya know, maybe we should’ve spoken to him or at a minimum spent some of Gilbert’s billions to at least see a workout of his. Oh well, he looked pretty good at UNC, especially in that one game against that one team. You guys… Read more »
Besides, everyone saying that they didn’t think Zeller would fall to them is right. Everyone predicted him being taken somewhere mid to late in the lottery.
RicKOH, you do know that the combine isn’t the only time they can meet with players, right? Take a chill pill man. Just because it happened last year doesn’t mean its their entire strategy.
Is anyone else dumbstruck that the Cavs do not meet with their potential draft candidates? Last year they didn’t meet with Waiters or Zeller and picked them based on watching tape and this year, no go on Porter? Who does this? Who wastes their time running smokescreens thru the entire draft process? Are they basically just trying to outsmart themselves? What front office in any sport thinks this is the future way to drafting players? Hide your interest in those you are interested in and would be a good fit and go waste time and money going around to visit… Read more »
Kj, your whole “Dion Waiters is the best player since MJ” schtick is worn out. Try something new. What metrics are you using perchance? Because pretty much everything says the two weren’t far off from each other…and Waiters had a faaaar higher usage rate. So yeah…hope the Cave don’t regret this pick, because I sure think that’s what’s coming.
Funnyguy, Dion was better than Barnes this year. Period. Barnes had a few nice playoff games. The whole of the season > a few games…
Cavs better draft Otto Porter. Seeing Harrison Barnes in the playoffs…let’s just say Dion Waiters has to turn into D Wade Jr. next season for me to be OK with them picking him over Barnes. So yeah, hope they take the logical choice this year instead of a gamble.
I’m not saying that Gobert is Sene, but their measurements are surprisingly similar. Just because Sene was terrible at basketball doesn’t mean that Gobert will be.
I love that we hired the player development guy from LA. He had nothing to do their anyways…they don’t HAVE any young players to develop!
Yeah, Sene is the poster child for having great measurements and being a total bust…
Look up Mouhammad Sene’s combine measurements…
Center is a really dangerous proposition high in the lottery. Unlike their shorter classmates, centers are drafted completely and totally on projection of potential rather than refined NBA ready skill. The number of players who have busted from 2000-2010 in the lottery who are taller than 6’9” is shocking. Even more surprising is the amount of quality centers who have been drafted outside of the lottery. Seven of the top 15 win share percentages from last season among centers were drafted outside of the lottery. I’m all for the Cavs drafting the best available player with their lottery pick and… Read more »
Just wanted to reiterate that you guys do a phenomenal job on this blog. You’re basically volunteer slaves who go much more in depth than the the dying newspaper hacks. I still think Pluto and MSB steal their column ideas from articles you wrote months ago. I know you deal with shit from the faceless internet cowards occasionally but fuck them.
No one could be softer than Tyler.
@Nate
You should write a piece attempting to explain your obsession with Kelly Olynyk because I just dont understand it in the slightest.
My opinion he would be a softer, smaller, less athletic version of Zeller
KJ – that would be awesome…because this team doesn’t really have a lot of “Brown-style” players
I see that the Cavs hired the player development guy from the Lakers. According to reports, he is known for developing and working with young players. This is going to be the interesting thing moving forward because Brown was not a guy who played young players a lot. Like most coaches, he preferred veterans. That fact made me wonder if we were going to keep our two 2nd round picks. But this hire might indicate that the Cavs think we can develop AND win now. I will be very interested to see what happens in the next 6 weeks…
So, this is supposed to be a weak draft yet this is the most athletic draft from top to bottom in the history of the combine? Interesting…
Kevin, hence my like of Stephen Adams. Btw, yr boy Mitchell tested really, really well today!
Nate,
I don’t know…the stuff I have done at hardwoodparoxysm pretty definitely showed that athleticism was more important than size in gauging the likely success of big men, particularly centers.
What was Gobert’s speed in the sprint?
Huge wingspan is almost definite to result in NBA dominance!!! Look at the players in the DX Database with wingspan of 7′ – 8″ or longer, besides Gobert: Mamadou N’Diaye, John Riek, Alexis Ajinca, Saer Sene, Michael Olowakandi, Chris Marcus, and Boban Marjanovic…wait, that didn’t work out nearly as well as anticipated.
@ Grover
Agreed. I’m starting to get anxious for the draft. I’d prefer Dieng over Adams, just due to leaping ability & athleticism. Porter and Dieng/Adams/Gobert would be great.
@ Nate
I think Gobert will fall out of the top 10. He’s still too raw on offense. Plus, 25″ standing, 29″ max. If the Cavs really want to trade up from 19 to snag him, I think it’s doable.
C. J Leslie’s stock is about to skyrocket. 32.5 standing, 40.5 max, 10.19 lane agility.
If only his shot was consistent…..
I’m not worried about “at this point.” Who has a higher ceiling than Gobert in this draft? He is one of the only players in this draft with a chance to truly be something special.
Yeah, but there’s a 95% chance that Gobert is a much smarter person that Javale McGee, just based on simple probability.
Gobert is J McGee. Just a huge athletic freak.
Adams might be a better rounded player at this point. I think Cavs need to go Porter and then if he’s gone look for a center.
My current top five: #1 Gobert, #2 Olynik, #3 Oladipo #4 Porter #5 Noel http://www.rudygobert.biz/videos.html The guy should be on the Cavs’ radar in the top four. He runs incredibly well for his size, has fantastic knee bend (watch him shoot freethrows), decent hands at least on offense, can absolutely protect the rim, could easily add 30 pounds, plays with intensity, has 4.4% body fat. Also he understands the game, and is a surprisingly good passer. He was considered a top 6 pick in this draft last summer. He will move back into that territory. I’m betting he goes top… Read more »
Actually, I’m starting to lean towards preferring Adams over Gobert. He’s gotten notice for his physicality. As he likely grew up playing rugby….there’s the enforcer in the middle we need.
Porter & Adams/Gobert would be awesome. If somehow we miss out on Porter, I’d trade down a few notches, pick up another future 1st rounder, and then I’d be happy with either Saric or Keresev at the wing.
There are a lot of options that can help the Cavs. Getting all jazzed up.
Gordon – a Gobert+Porter scenario would be awesome. If we land at 3 and both Porter and Noel are gone….then what do we do?
I’d actually be OK with us attempting a 3-team trade. Trade back a bit and get Gobert and use extra assets from trading back (plus our 19 and whatever else) to trade up and get Dario Saric.
A 6’10 SF to with Goberts crazy length (9’7 standing reach???!!!??!?!) and athleticism would not disappoint me.
Porter measured very well. After reading Kevin’s article on how size correlates to success for NBA SF’s, well, this info only makes my man-crush on him larger.
I have been super impressed by Stephen Adams. No way he falls to us at 19 but still…
I lied. Porter’s wingspan is 7’1.5
Porter + Gobert = GET IT DONE!
ESPN Insider article lists the official height (with and without shoes), wingspan, weight, etc. of all the draft prospects. Noel weighed in at 206, which is scary light. Shabazz is 6’6 with shoes on (I bet he plays SG in the NBA). Porter’s wingspan is 6’10 or 6’11. Rudy Gobert is going to be a sure-fire top 10 pick. He is 7’2 in shoes with a historic wingspan of 7’8.5. If the Cavs can come away with Porter, and trade up to grab Gobert, I will be ONE INCREDIBLY HAPPY GUY. I’d give up Zeller + future picks to be… Read more »
No concern with the Cavs not meeting with Porter just yet…and while I’d love to have Porter…we really do need a young center that we can grow with our core. I am intrigued by the athleticism and length of Rudy Gobert and would not object to SF Saric.