DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs win the Draft Lotto!! (Plus other basketball talk)

Sweet! Ok you college basketball gurus... who we taking?!?

I'd say we have to go after Noel, don't we? We've already got a starting PG, PF and SG in the last two drafts, why not grab the best Center in the draft ... and maybe grab whatever SF pops up in free agency next year?

Noel is a little light on the offensive side, but we were absolutely bullied in the interior without Andy in there. Noel should help a ton in that aspect. Thompson is going to be our offensive interior guy, and even Andy seems to be a pretty good off-ball mover on the offensive end. I think we'll get plenty of points there. Heck, we could move Andy back to PF and have a pretty formidable interior if we need some defense.

As I said in the other thread, it's either Noel, Otto, or McLemore. The consensus will be Noel because of his defensive presence and size/athletic ability, but I wouldn't be so quick to draft him if I were the Cavs. He's very raw and needs a lot of work. Time will tell.

Similar things were said about Kyrie, much like then it's not a great draft and this is the best player in it. Take him.

It's Noel. Instant impact on D. Mad upside. Ala Dwight Howard minus the mental issues.

I wonder if we try to to after Love or Aldridge now

I'm far from a guru, but from what I know, it just makes sense for us to grab Noel. He's a defensive guy, and Brown is a defensive guy.

I am hoping that other teams needs allow for Porter to drop to the 7-9 range, and maybe the Cavaliers can trade the rest (19, 31, 32) for a pick to grab Porter. With this draft, who knows? Heck, maybe the Cavaliers might be able to even get back to 5 or 6 .... given the overall fairly flat, yet deep aspect of this draft.

I don't know. I see Noel as topping out as a Dikembe Matumbo or Larry Nance. Nice player but a number 1 overall? I would not be surpeised if we draft Porter or trade out of the #1 spot. Especially in light of his injury.

If we go Noel we probably follow up with Tony Mitchell SF out of North Texas. If we go Porter we are looking at someone like Withey C Kansas.

I don't think Noel is much better than Withey. I just don't think Noel is strong enough to anchor the middle against some of these big strong centers. Whichever way we go we probably use one of our 2nd round picks to move up from 19 to make sure we get who we are targeting with that 2nd pick.

Keep in mind, Porter tops out as a Tayshaun Prince glue guy. NOBODY in this draft is really worth #1.


PG - Irving
SG - Waiters
SF - ???
PF - Thompson
C - Noel

I wonder who could Cleveland possibly get to play as SF......

Even in a 'lousy' draft, No. 1 pick gives the Cleveland Cavaliers plenty of options: Terry Pluto | cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf..._special-report

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Yes, the Cavs grabbed the No. 1 pick in the NBA lottery, but it's a lousy draft.

OK, it is a lousy draft ... so would you rather have the No. 6 pick in a bad draft? That was the worst the Cavs could have finished in this lottery. Nope, if you're a fan, you should be thrilled that your team has the top pick.

Maybe they will end up taking Nerlens Noel, the 6-11 shot-blocking machine from Kentucky. Noel also is a thin 206 pounds, coming off knee surgery that may keep him out of action until Christmas.

His offense is so raw, some scouts would say, "He could spend an hour in the gym by himself and he lucky to score 20 points ... if he wasn't allowed to dunk."

The player best suited in terms of need is Georgetown small forward Otto Porter. He's projected as a top three pick. Is there a way the Cavs can trade with No. 2 Orlando, and still grab Porter while adding a future first rounder? You can be sure that will be discussed.

Or perhaps the Cavs will think big. Real big. Huge as in the No. 1 pick and a player on the roster for a veteran forward who can score. They have the salary cap room to make that kind of move.

At this point, I'm not sure what the Cavs should do.

There is a certain appeal to Noel because he won't be 20 until next April. He can gain weight and strength and may keep growing. New coach Mike Brown wants defense, and Noel can deliver that because of his shot-blocking and leaping ability.

But I'm positive the Cavs also are thinking trade. They have long liked Minnesota's Kevin Love. Golden State may have David Lee available, although his defense is "challenged," to be nice about it. Nonetheless, he can score.

Even in a supposed bad draft, there are good players available. Remember, the Cavs also have the 19th, 31st and 33rd picks.

Owner Dan Gilbert is proud of his son, Nick, but he wants this to be the last year that the young man in the bow tie is a lottery star. Maybe he can rent Nick to another lottery team next season after snaring the top pick in two of the last three years.

Now, the pressure is on Chris Grant. The GM has the top pick, more than $20 million in salary cap room and the coach he wanted in Brown. After three of the most dismal seasons in franchise history, it's time to win some games.

Yes, Noel can help them do that, although probably not immediately. In 31 minutes a game, he averaged 9.5 rebounds and 4.4 blocks. Check his tape on draftexpress.com. You can see the raw athleticism, along with all the issues on offense.

There is a certain appeal to a front line of Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, Tyler Zeller and Noel. That would give the Cavs three big men under the age of 25, along with Varejao. The fact Varejao has played only 81 games in the last three seasons puts the exclamation point on adding another big man, someone with far more upside than Mo Speights, who has a player option for next season.

But I sense the Cavs are going to aggressively market the top pick, that they know the opportunity to add immediate help doesn't come along that often. So yes, if I had to guess what the Cavs will do -- I'd bet on a trade.

Just as I wrote last week that they had the picks to trade up, the top pick now allows them to bring in talent that will finally allow them to put these lottery days in the rear-view mirror for a few years.

Things I love about Nerlens:

•His ability to pass
•His ability to steal
•His ability to defend the P&R
•His ability to block shots at an elite level
•His motor
•His character
•His rebounding
•His toughness
•His athleticism
•His high basketball IQ
•His ability to score in transition

Things I hate about Nerlens:

•His weight
•His horrible offense
•His injury

I see a lot of good about him .... and I think that he can really develop over time. I see no reason why he can't add 25-30#. Hell, he might even continue to grow a little bit. His defense is already upper NBA level ready.

I look at his offensive game more as being inexperienced than limited. I see room for him to develop. I think that Z could do a lot working with him.

His injury is a concern. However, ACLs are really commonplace these days. Players return from ACLs in record time. As long as there's no complications, I see no reason he won't return on schedule.

Good news:

Win the #1 pick this year.

Bad news:

Likely won't win the #1 pick next year.

Hmm, A trade for K-Love would be interesting ... putting Uncle Drew and Uncle Wes on the floor together. KL makes around $13M a year for a couple more years, so he'd eat a bit of our cap space, but wouldn't exactly kill it either. We could probably still sign another max contract next off-season if some sort of opportunity were to arise then.

Love has some of his own injury concerns, but at least we'd have a polished commodity. We'd have a scoring option, and easily the best rebounding tandem in the league (with Andy). He's not the best defender though.

I think he means it's doubtful that Vince McStern will script us another #1 pick again next year.

fair enough. someone still needs to tell me how Noel is going to help our interior defense other than weakside blocks. way to thin, skinny and I worry about him trying to add weight/strength coming off an ACL injury.

he could be great, but he's likely 4-5 years away. I wonder who might be interested in trading up for him.

jc...

Tony Allen: most over-the-top acting job on a foul since Chris Bosh pretended to be hit in the face by Carlos Boozer?

Then Cleveland will have two first round picks that need to put on weight. Get Iron Chef Michael Symon on the case!

mmmm.... Duck Fat Fries every day!!!

Does Noel really only weigh 206? Dude will need to pack on 50 pounds minimum if he has any hope of being an effective 5 in the NBA.

I like the idea of having Zeller, Tristan, Andy, and Noel in a rotation. I know that Noel might take a while to get back to 100%, but I think that he can get in the gym working on his upper body strength in the meanwhile. I also think that a guy like Z can help him develop his shooting.

On the other hand ...... if we could trade a few picks for a guy like Love ...... then slide Tristan to Center ...... with Zeller as the backup ..... maybe use Andy as the backup to both C and PF ..... or move him if we can ......

Imagine having a team of Kyrie, Waiters, Love, and Thompson, with a spot just waiting for a certain SF free agent .........

That would be a championship level team right there, and young/inexpensive enough to allow us to keep our depth intact.

OK, it's a dream ..... but it is plausible ..... at least to some small extent. It's not likely ..... but hey ... it could happen .....

I read that Noel has lost some weight due to inactivity from his injury. I think he played at 220 during the college season. Either way he has to put some a good amount of weight on.

Well if 220 is his playing weight I guess he only needs to add 30-35 pounds...

Shooting guards weigh 220.

Those sorts of trades aren't really possible in the NBA (moving up from #19 to #5 or anything).

We do have some value with #31/#33, but I don't think you could use them to get up passed maybe #16.

Maybe some sort of three-way trade where you include Varejao + 19 - I still don't think that gets you up near 5 though.

This draft is different though, in that there really aren't superstars. There are solid players, and a team in need of several solid players might be willing to make a move down to 19 to add 3 solid players in place of one solid player.

It may not be possible, but if it is possible in any year, this year might be the one.

I dread the thought of taking a project with the first pick. Better a sure thing with less upside than a huge miss on a project that MIGHT someday be a real player.... Sure do wish a Brad Daugherty was there for us. We don't need flashy, just a good solid big man in the paint. Put a guy like that on this squad and we could have a team that might last a while like the Price/Daugherty one did back in the day....I could live with that even if they don't make it all the way. Better than dealing with the Lebron circus was.

Does everyone see why we tank now? We were a coin flip away last year from getting Anthony Davis. Now someone needs to try and convince me how winning a few meaningless games would be better than a big 3 of Kyrie, Anthony and Nerlens.

A couple points here ...

1) We could trade straight up for Love with just draft picks if we wanted to. There's no need to match salaries, because we are $20M below the cap.

2) The NBA draft pick values are NOTHING like the NFL draft. Draft talent and potential drops off considerably the further into the first you go. Think of the first 10 picks as the NFL's "first round", picks 11-20 as the "second round", 21-30 as the third round, and then the picks in the NBA second round as 4th-7th rounders.

3) Keep that in mind when coming up with these trade scenarios. I don't think a team is going to be willing to trade a #5 pick (an first round NFL pick) for what would be in NFL terms ... a late second rounder and two fourths (#19, #31, #33)

4) How desperate is Minnesota to unload K-Love? I didn't think they were in dire straights yet. I think it's going to take a lot more than #19, #31, #33 and some bench players. It's likely going to be a choice between Noel (#1 pick plus more) and K-Love. I don't see how we get both

I don't think there's any realistic way we could trade for Love and keep the #1 pick.

Admittedly I don't know much about football when compared to others on this board, but I do know basketball much better. From my perspective I would be VERY wary of drafting Noel as opposed to McLemore or Porter. As I said earlier, Noel isn't going to give us much, if anything, offensively for at least 2-3 years. He isn't polished at all and is very weak in the post. While he is athletic and will run the floor, he will struggle in the paint against anyone of substance in the NBA. I'm not saying I'm 100% opposed to drafting him, I just think it's a big risk to take.

Noel reminds me of Tyrus Thomas