Cavs NBA Draft Lottery

Well, it’s happened. For the first time since 2014, a top-three picks resides in CLEVELAND. This is a great chance for the Cavs to select a star player that can help get them over the hump as soon as this year. And perhaps the draft pick has forged relationships with a veteran or two around the league, and this could bring them to the 216 as a mentor.

The #3 pick is a step-up from the expected #7 selection where the team initially expected to slot in. Also, good for the Raptors, who slid into the #4 spot, and to the Pistons, who won the lottery for the first time since 1970. Fifty-one years between top picks in the draft.

How to feel? What’s next? Let’s talk.

Huge Step in the Rebuild

Had Cleveland landed outside the top five, it would have meant a debate on who to select. The pick would not have been clear or obvious, and fans everywhere would have had something to say. Now, it’s likely that a guy named Jalen is on the way. Whether Suggs or Green (likely Green), they’d be getting a heck of a talent.

All fans can do is hope the team plays hard, but then those others want losses as soon as the team disappears from contention. Funnily enough, it was Kevin Love’s best game of the season in a win against Boston that helped the team land where they did.

It just goes to show that tanking is not always the way. Yes, CLE went 1-13 to end the year, but not going 0-14 is the reason for picking #3 rather than lower. They would have wound up in OKC’s spot.

No Kevin Love Trade, Yet

The announcement of the #3 pick belonging to the Cavs means that the team will not trade it, and so a big possible trade chip for Kevin Love will be staying. This is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. Another young piece for the young guns is great. But also, it means trading your overpriced starting power forward is not going to be easy.

Trading Love has been at the top of the wish list for many Cavs fans, and keeping him is only there for his biggest fans. A change of scenery would benefit both teams and allow a healthy Larry Nance Jr. to be the presumptive starter come opening day in 2021-22.

The End of SexLand?

Jalen Green is obviously a guard. And Darius Garland and Collin Sexton currently make up the team’s backcourt pairing. So, when you add him in, you kind of have a third wheel. Though, maybe this can all work itself out.

It may also be reminiscent of when Phoenix had Isaiah Thomas as a free-agent signing despite Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic both being established. That did not work out well, and in this case, should the Cavs go Green, it would mean that somebody comes off the bench.

Somebody could be dealt. A lot of this is purely speculation, but it may well happen.