The Cleveland Cavaliers will have the 29th pick in this month’s NBA Draft. We’ll see if they can find an impact player at that position.
Let’s take a look at some of the recent mock drafts to see who the experts have the Cavs taking.
The Athletic – Meleek Thomas
Sam Vecenie has the Cavs taking the 6’3”, 19-year-old from Arkansas.
The Cavaliers will have to find a way to cut money from their books, with Dennis Schröder representing one of the easiest ways to do that. If they find a taker on the trade market for Schröder,
they’ll need more instant offensive contributions off the bench, and Thomas fits that bill. He’s a highly effective shooter who can attack and handle the ball, but he does need to rein in some of his wilder decision-making issues.
Thomas was an efficient, microwave scorer during his one season at Arkansas. He averaged 15.6 points on .433/.416/.843 shooting splits. The lack of playmaking was a concern for a player of his size. Thomas averaged just 2.5 assists to one turnover per game.
The Cavs struggled to find players who could create their own shot off the bench throughout most of the regular season. Thomas has the skill set to do so, but it’s fair to wonder if the Cavs need another undersized two guard that can’t shift up to the three or handle point guard duties.
SB Nation – Henri Veesaar
Ricky O’Donnell has the Cavs selecting a seven-foot, 22-year-old from Estonia.
The Cavs have plenty of talent in their frontcourt already with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, but they’ve never had a real stretch-five option. Veesaar could be that after hitting 42.6 percent of his threes on 94 attempts with North Carolina this season. I really enjoyed watching Veesaar’s high-low game with Caleb Wilson, and I think he could have similar success
The Cavs could certainly use an additional big to back up Allen and Mobley. Veesaar should be able to do so.
Veesaar spent three years at Arizona before transferring to UNC this past season. He averaged 17 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 31 contests. Veesar showed that he could be a decent outside shooter as he connected on 42.6% of his three outside attempts per game.
It’s always risky to draft for need, especially this far into the draft. Getting the best talent available is usually the best bet. That said, it’d be easy to talk yourself into a center with this skillset helping the Cavs.
Yahoo Sports – Koa Peat
Kevin O’Connor has the Cavs taking a 6’9” wing from Arizona with their lone first-round pick. He writes:
The Cavaliers need some toughness in the frontcourt. There may not be a better choice in this range than Peat, whose bloodline is so loaded with offensive linemen that it’s almost funny he ended up playing basketball. His father played nine NFL seasons. His uncle was a Pro Bowl tackle. Two brothers played college ball on the line. And you can absolutely see it in how he plays: powerful, physical, relentless, and it genuinely takes something special to stop him from getting to where he wants to go. He opened the season with a 30-point game against defending champion Florida and backed it up as one of Arizona’s best players all year. The concern is that he doesn’t really shoot, doesn’t create for himself off the dribble without assistance, and he’s not going to wow anyone as a vertical athlete.
You aren’t going to get a perfect wing prospect this late in the draft. Peat certainly isn’t that. But there are plenty of reasons to talk yourself into someone who plays with his level of physicality, even if there isn’t much polish to his game yet.
Peat averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists as a freshman. He did this on .528/.350/.623 shooting splits.
We’ll see what direction the Cavs go. The first round of the draft will be on Monday, June 23.
