Cleveland Cavaliers

After a massive delay due to computer issues, I present you all with our 2013 Playoff discussion.  Unfortunately it’s all moot at this point – all the teams have passed the 2nd round.  Still, Robert, Colin and I touch on some pretty great topcs about the four second round match ups.  It’s definitely worth a listen! As always, we can be found on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/cavstheblog/0031-2013-playoffs-or-the-last And on iTunes at:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cavs-the-podcast/id528149843?mt=2 Enjoy!

This Tuesday is an important day for the Cleveland Cavaliers. That evening the NBA Draft Lottery takes place, determining the order for the teams possessing the top fifteen picks in the draft. If everything stood as is, the Cavaliers would pick third overall, and according to a plethora of mock drafts, would select Georgetown small forward Otto Porter. While most Cavs fans would love to see this take place, life and the NBA Draft Lottery doesn’t always go according to plan. It’s entirely possible that the Cavaliers could draft fourth, fifth, or even (gasp!) sixth in the upcoming NBA draft. At that point, Porter and Nerlens Noel, reported to be the top two players on the Cavaliers’ draft board, will probably have already been drafted by other teams. Never fear, even if the Cavaliers’ fortunes take this tragic turn, there are many possibilities that could lead to a successful draft night for our favorite team. Here is one scenario that appeals to me. Assuming that Noel and Porter are off the board, the best pick for the Cavaliers could be Maryland Center Alex Len. If you took the time to read eraulli’s excellent post on Len, you already know that Len is a talented offensive player and underrated defender. ESPN’s Chad Ford has compared Len to former Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas due to his size, rebounding, and ability to score both at the rim and with his midrange game. While there is some question about Len’s drive due to his lack of dominance at Maryland despite his size and skill, much of this can be attributed to Maryland’s poor guard play. Comments from Len, his coaches, and teammates paint a far different picture of his drive. Len also seems like an excellent fit for the Cavaliers for many reasons. He can run the floor well, play the pick and pop and pick and roll with Irving and Waiters, and his offensive and defensive skills both fit well with Tristan Thompson’s as the Cavaliers’ front court of the present and future. After drafting Len, the Cavaliers can turn their focus to the only position they have not addressed through the draft, small forward. There is no denying that after Porter there is a significant drop at the small forward position. That being said, a realistic option for the Cavaliers could be to package the 19th, 31st, and 33rd picks to move up far enough to draft the one small forward who has been rated above Otto Porter at times this season, Shabazz Muhammad. As noted by numerous analysts, Muhammad’s draft stock has fallen from potential number one pick to late lottery status over the past year. Currently he is ranked eleventh on Chad Ford’s Big Board and is ranked behind both Porter and Dario Saric at small forward. While Ford still has Muhammad being drafted ahead of Saric in his second mock draft, this could easily change as well. Kevin Pelton also had a pretty harsh assessment of Muhammad when predicting his future WARP (Len didn’t fare well either). Muhammad has been criticized for being a one dimensional scorer and bad teammate, to say nothing of the whole age debacle. In all fairness to Muhammad, there are plenty of signs he still should be able to be a productive NBA wing. As Tom Ziller wrote, Muhammad seems to have become this year’s Harrison Barnes, a wing who hasn’t lived up to pre-college expectations, isn’t super-efficient, and is therefore overly criticized. While Muhammad isn’t as big or athletic as Barnes, it should be pointed out that Barnes is an athletic player who doesn’t play athletically. In addition, Muhammad could be affected by the "Howland Variable" John Hollinger used in his 2011 draft rater. For those who don’t have ESPN Insider, the basic gist is that Howland’s system doesn’t allow for as much individual success for NBA prospects at UCLA as other systems. Citing the success of players such as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday,

The Cavaliers received the 19th overall pick in the well-discussed, hilariously spectacular Luke Walton trade of 2012. At the time, Cavs' fans assumed this selection would be around the 25-30th overall selection due to the Lakers' previous successes and the eventual Dwight Howard trade. So when the Lakers struggled to make the playoffs, eventually succeeding and making this a top 20 pick, Cavs' fans rejoiced in the collapse of a prospective NBA superpower. So let's fast-forward to June 27. What can the Cavs possibly expect when the 19th overall selection rolls around? Well, let's go in the time machine and see what we can dig up. Past Five Drafts: -The 2012 iteration of the draft brought us Andrew Nicholson, a senior power forward out of St. Bonaventure selected by the Magic. He was one of the two or three best players available at that spot (along with Perry Jones III and Jared Sullinger) in my opinion, and he didn't disappoint in his rookie campaign. Playing 17 minutes per game, he shot 53% from the field and averaged about eight points per game, utilizing his solid face-up game to be a good compliment to Nik Vucevic when paired together. He should continue to develop into a solid rotation big man. -In 2011, Tennessee's Tobias Harris was considered a potential lottery pick, but dropped to the Bucks due to questions about what position he plays. The Bucks never really figured out the enigma of how to utilize him, and dealt him in the J.J. Redick deal this February. While in Orlando, he has flourished, averaging 17 and 8 with the Magic as he plays starters minutes. He has potential to be a starting NBA point forward in the vein of Lamar Odom for a while in this league. -2010 saw yet another solid rotation player be selected in Avery Bradley out of Texas. One of the top players in the 2009 recruiting class, Bradley never really figured out Rick Barnes' offensive system, and hasn't been an offensive threat since. Instead, he's reinvented himself as a tenacious defender who looks posed to take over the reins from Tony Allen as the best perimeter "defense-only" defender in the league. Another solid rotation player. -Jeff Teague was selected in 2009 out of Wake Forest. Teague left after his sophomore season, and was one of the 11 point guards selected in the first round of that draft. He has developed into one of the better young point guards in the league, and is about to see a big pay day this offseason as a restricted free agent. He should be a starting point guard in the NBA for a long while. -The last time the Cavaliers had the 19th overall selection, the Hickson was brought into the fold and forever changed the landscape of the NBA. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. Hickson is an undersized center who can't play a lick of defense, but he scores at an efficient rate and rebounds well. No matter how much you hate him for being a probable misogynist, or being the piece that didn't bring the Cavaliers Amare Stoudemire, Hickson has developed into a decent big man who can provide some energy off the bench. The Rest: -Javaris Crittenton's career was cut short because of he liked to play with guns. -Quincy Douby was an undersized shooter and a bad selection at 19th overall in the terrible 2006 draft. Rajon Rondo went two slots later, and there are only about 3 solid NBA players outside of the top 21 in that draft. -Hakim Warrick has been hanging around forever after starring at Syracuse. He was kind of decent for a while on bad Memphis teams, but really Warrick is forever the example of a positionless 3/4 not working out in the NBA. -Dorell Wright has turned into a pretty solid spot up 3-point shooter from the small forward position after entering the draft from high school. -2003 was the immortal "Sasha Pavlovic at 19th overall season," so we'll just skip it. -Ryan Humphrey is 2002's 19th overall, and I can honestly tell you nothing about him. Doesn't even have an SBNation profile. Maybe I can ask my frien

Topics: Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery and Cavs draft scenarios depending on their pick, Knicks vs. Pacers, the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals, and a discussion about Phil Jackson’s Jordan vs. Kobe analysis from his new book. Follow @TheBottomUpShow for more great content

More draft combine news out.  The agility, speed, and leaping measurements are out, at least for those who participated.  Here is the link.  One of the best bloggers in the business, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress does a good job pondering what it all does and doesn’t mean, here. The big winners?  Shane Larkin of Miami bested the vertical (44″), the 3/4 court sprint (3.08 seconds), was tied for second in no step vertical (34.5″), and was 5th in agility drills.  At 5’10″, Larkin can jump and touch four inches above the rim from a standstill.  I’m 5’10″, Shane Larkin, and I hate you. Other winners include N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie (pictured above) who had a 40″ vertical, a 10.19 agility drill (#1), a 3.10 second 3/4 court sprint (#2).  At 6’7″ with a 7’2″ wingspan, expect this showing to push Leslie into the first round, where he would be a good backup plan to Otto Porter.  Cody Zeller had a very nice showing as well, with a 37’5″ standing vertical, a sprint time of 3.14 (#6), and an agility time of 10.4.  Those are extremely good numbers for a guy who measured over 7 feet in shoes.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the 6’6″ shooting Guard from Georgia also posted very nice speed and agility numbers, likely increasing his draft stock after a season where he posted good numbers, but his team played poorly. Players who didn’t fare so well included Deshaun Thomas who posted the worst agility drill at 12.94, the fifth worst sprint at 3.53 and a 32″ vertical.  My boys Rudy Gobert and Kelly Olynyk were the slowest of the bunch at 3.59 and 3.57 seconds respectively.  Olynyk at least posted a decent agility drill, but Gobert trailed only Thomas at that too.  DrafExpress has been tracking these things for a while now, and their results weren’t good historically, either.  In Gobert’s defense, players of his size rarely compete in these events, and I give him his props for trying.  His numbers compare favorably with a guy not quite his size, Brook Lopez. In other news, Mary Schmitt Boyer of Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer explores whether the Cavs should acquire Paul Pierce and many other topics in her “Hey Mary” Q&A. In the big man round-up, Terry Pluto drops the intel that the Cavs are interested in Greg Oden still, and the News Herald’s Bob Finnan notes that the Cavs could be a landing spot for Pau Gasol, as well as conjecturing on multiple topics like whether Andrew Bynum will get a max contract.

Listen to cleveland.com's Sunday Insider tonight at 8 p.m. with Glenn Moore.

Michigan's Trey Burke has the look of the top point guard in the 2013 NBA Draft

It's been a decade since the Cavaliers won the NBA Draft Lottery and LeBron James promised to "light up Cleveland like Vegas." In case you haven't noticed, it didn't work out that way.

With the lottery coming on Tuesday and the draft next month, fans are looking for some veteran help for the 2013-14 Cavaliers.

I love the NBA Draft. The draft and the time leading up to it are incredibly fun, even though I'd rather be watching my team in the playoffs instead of watching prospects from college. Regardless, it's something that I really enjoy and the next 5 weeks or so are going to be pretty interesting to see what plays out. This week, Sam Vecenie and I fired up the Skype machine and discussed the prospects in the upcoming draft. We certainly disagreed on several players and engaged in some mild debate. I changed his mind on a few guys and he changed my mind about others. What we came up with is a Big Board of what we think are the top 30 prospects in the draft. Some important points: This is not a mock draft. This is not team specific. This is purely our ranking of the top prospects as prospects. It has nothing to do with what teams will be drafting them and it has nothing to do with the Cavaliers. We will put together a community Big Board of prospects specific to the Cavaliers at a later date. Actually, you will put that together -- I'll set it up so we have a vote to determine the top prospects that we want for the Cavs. But we'll do that a bit later. Follow @ConradKazNBA Follow @Sam_Vecenie The NBA Draft Combine was this past week and we got some measurements on guys that might have changed our minds a little bit. Some guys were bigger than we expected while others were quite a bit smaller than we had hoped. I like to think that we aren't too reactive with regards to the combine, but it certainly did factor into a few of our decisions. We ranked them purely 1 to 30, but we also broke it up into tiers. This is how we thought about the tiers: the order of players in a given tier is more or less interchangeable. They're intended to give you an idea of what we think are similar or comparable prospects. It gets tricky when comparing guards to centers, but we did the best we could. There's clearly a lot of time before the actual draft, so our rankings may go through a few updates and changes as we get closer and closer. But for now, here's our Top 30. I didn't write comments about every player, but I gave you some thoughts about some of the more interesting or difficult rankings that we have. Tier 1 1. Nerlens Noel, Kentucky Noel is in a tier all by himself. Sam and I agreed that he's easily the best prospect in the draft and the vast majority of teams would take him first overall. It's a little weird because he's not an absolute lock to go first. Some of the guys in the next tier could go first, but as far as pure prospects go, Nerlens is the best. Tier 2 2. Ben McLemore, Kansas 3. Trey Burke, Michigan Burke is really the only guy other than Noel that I could see going first overall. He was clearly the best player in college basketball this past season and had better than expected measurements at the combine. Some people thought he wouldn't even be 6-foot. He measured at about 6'1.5" and had a wingspan of over 6'5". That's big enough for him to be considered first overall. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Orlando Magic take him if they get the first pick. But again, this isn't a mock draft and we determined that Noel and McLemore are still better prospects. 4. Otto Porter, Georgetown 5. Anthony Bennett, UNLV 6. Alex Len, Maryland This tier really boils down to: "could you see this player going 2nd overall?" I think the answer is a resounding YES on all of these players, so that's why they are all grouped together. Tier 3 7. Victor Oladipo, Indiana He's easily the best 6'5" small forward in the draft. (I joke because I care, David.) 8. Cody Zeller, Indiana Zeller is one of those guys that really benefited from the combine. He tested extremely well athletically and measured quite well too. Sam was working on placing him 5-7 spots lower than this before we found out about those numbers. It might be an overreaction on our part, but we basically determined that those numbers mean he has a g