CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Cavaliers have spent parts of the last week conducting pre-draft workouts with a dozen players projected as either late second-round picks or undrafted free agents — Jordan Hall, Aaron Wiggins, A.J.
In 2018, the Cavs acquired the highly valuable Brooklyn pick, which was widely expected to land in the top 5.
Cleveland’s front office made the most of those choices, snagging Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro — three members of the promising Core Four.
The rest of Cleveland’s front office will be in Chicago for the scouting combine, either watching Tuesday’s reveal together or trying to alter bad juju by viewing separately.
Both teams have an 11.5% chance of getting the top pick, slightly below Houston, Detroit and Orlando — all of which enter with a 14% shot.
No team needs Cunningham more than Cleveland, which finished 26th in offensive rating, 25th in field goal percentage, second-last in 3-pointers made and last in points per game.
The Cavs could get a nice player and they believe in their scouting department, but the prospects in that range don’t possess the natural talent or upside of Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs or Jonathan Kuminga.
Is he a small forward or power forward? Does he have a reliable outside shot to keep opponents honest? While those are legitimate questions, Cunningham’s high school teammate looked like an intriguing point-forward with disruptive defensive tools in his one season at Florida State, where he captured Freshman of the Year and Sixth Man honors.
But is a third small guard the best way to maximize another top 10 pick? The same can be said about Baylor’s 6-foot-2 pit bull Davion Mitchell.
Then again, this is a team about to invest heavily in Jarrett Allen as the future center, which makes it a tougher case — unless Jones flashes potential to eventually shift over one position.
Johnson might have the most upside of that group — an intriguing 6-foot-9 forward who left Duke early but has potential to be a secondary ball-handler.
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