DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Trade up to #1??

Alright men, history will dictate whether or not we made the right decision by not sweetening the pot enough to acquire the right to draft RG3. Water down the Cuyahoga at this point. What we ARE in a position to do is alter Cleveland sports history forever. How you ask? Hoops Epstein is here to lay it out.

After 5 days of going back and forth with y'all, my college teammates who are mostly Cavs fans and other friends who are also Cavs fans I have come to this conclusion: no one agrees/there is no unanimous choice on the direction of the #4 pick because we have multiple holes and because of the number of high end options in this years LOADED draft and their varying levels of high end potential and how far they collectively are from that because of the one and done structure that has created this draft culture (exhibit A: this list of top 5 college Seniors in draft - TZeller, JTaylor, TTaylor, DGreen, ANicholson if you didn't know these guys without their first names and schools that says it all).

Therefore, I feel A LOT like OKC right now. How? (We are also a small market, have to win through draft not high end free agency, development through a young, hungry and hard-nosed coach who is respected in NBA circles, inexpensive and underrated niche role players i.e. Gee, culture, and always paramount leadership - a tough lessons learned from having one of our own, The Queen, stab us in the back - note to The Queen, always stab a man in the chest not the back).

Furthermore, on the OKC similarities: their Durant pick was our Kyrie - a true no-brainer that we can be proud of because of his character and he can flat out ball and will make us competitive for years (but one All-Star doesn't bring championships). The Westbrook pick (our #4 this year in a LOADED draft) IS THE TOUGH ONE, the truly next level potentially franchise changing decision.

There is only one solution for the Cavs in this situation: offer NOH Andy, #4, #34 (which we ironically got from NOH via MIA in the first place ) and some combination of 2 of our 3 future #1's (see below). To recap that's Andy (a borderline All-Star and proven commodity to help resign EGordon), #4 this year, #34 this year and 2 future #1's for the rights to draft ADavis. We could sweeten the deal with #24 or #33 if necessary and/or a third future #1 but that's all in the details (exercise Bill Simmons "Who says no?" trade test...and???).

This is THE POINT- Kyrie, ADavis and TThompson IS a Championship core. The two most difficult and important positions in today's NBA and moving forward to have elite talent at are PG and C, no question. Not to mention that they are an ideal pairing. ADavis is going to guard the rim, clean the glass, block shots and begin outlets like no other and Kyrie is great in the open floor and ADavis will be the best running big in the league for years. The would be a match-up nightmare and not to mention combine to play a style incredibly highly entertaining basketball.

There is one thing in this draft that everyone from Steve Kerr to Charles Barkley agrees on and that is ADavis. We can get him, but we have to do it NOW. We have the trade chips to make this happen!!

CAVS three future 1st round draft picks in next 5 years besides our own:

(1 FIRST ROUNDER)
Cavs receive the Heat's 2013 first-round pick (top 10 protected in 2013 and 2014, unprotected in 2015) (Queen James trade 07-09-10)

Then: (1 FIRST ROUNDER)
Cavs will receive the Heat's first-round pick two years after the Heat surrender their 2013 first-round pick to the Cavs (top 10 protected in 2015 and 2016, unprotected in 2017) (Queen James trade 07-09-10)

And separate, but also (per JJ Hickson Deal): (1 FIRST ROUNDER)
Cavs receive the Kings 2013 first-round pick lottery top 13 protected in 2013, top 12 in 2014, top 10 protected in 2015 and 2016. (Even though Kings suck and have awful management this has a statistically probability of over 95% chance to materialize into a 1st round pick between #'s 10-20 sometime in the next four years)

so, you draw the comparison with our situation to OKC's where they picked Westbrook ahead of where he was mocked at #4 and it has paid off (and did the same thing with Harden at #6 a year later).

but, the conclusion you come to is to go completely against that model and give up depth and future potential at stockpiling our team's depth, which is something OKC has clung onto in order to re-tool their team in the inevitability that they cannot keep their corps together (including Perkins).

plus, there is no way NO does it just from a pure marketing standpoint (they want Anthony Davis to drive excitement and sell tickets as much as they do for his basketball prowess).

We would still keep our first round picks (we could trade the 3 other picks we have if need be) that we could use to add depth. Plus possibly using 24 and 33 this year to add depth for the 2012 season. If all goes well with that group, that could very well be a playoff team behind Chicago, Miami, Indiana, and Philly...who else is there that we KNOW is coming back next year...Atlanta, Boston, Orlando, New York are all question marks. I'm not saying we would be the 5th seed, but I could definitely see us sneaking in being 7th or 8th seed next year and having Back-to-Back Rookies of the Year. If that's the case, we would be picking in the mid-teens for our 2013 pick where we continue to add depth.

2013 would be the year to make the run (like OKC is doing this year).

I'm not saying mortgage the entire farm by giving up all of our first rounders, but we do have potentially 8 (I believe) over the next 5 years, plus the 2 this year.

So NO is going to give up the best player in this draft for a bunch of picks in the late 20s-30s?

...Ok then...

Screw trading picks.

Lets just hope the Lakers clean house, bomb next year, and we can swap Miami's pick for theirs.

Thanks Ramon.

Seeing as how most of the "other" first rounders have some pretty heavy lottery protection and won't be much higher than #12-#20 ...

Say the Cavs won the lottery instead of New Orleans. New Orleans is on the phone and wants you to trade Anthony Davis for #4 and two 2013 picks that are going to be in the mid-teens. Would YOU want to take that?

No, you wouldn't.

Never gonna see the Sacto pick. That's all I have to add.

Why do you say that?

Because I believe it's top 10-13 protected up until 2017 or so ... at which point it just becomes a 2nd rounder ... and considering how well the Kings do ...

What sucks for them..

Is that they are a horribly dysfunctional team full of nutcases...

But have enough talent to not be able to bomb out and get a high enough pick to get a great player...

they just have to pick smart. this year they have #5. Is Barnes the type of guy that can solidify their team? do they trade Tyreke? do they draft Drummond to create a monster frontcourt?

Sorry for being a jerk JE I can tell you probably put a lot of time into it