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2015 NBA Draft Thread

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Yeah, I posted my ode to Wright right before the tournament. I like the way he can finish below the rim and draw fouls, similar to Kyrie. Obviously he can run an offense as well.

I think Utah has a legitimate shot at beating Duke. They have two legit 7 foot centers and play team defense very well.
 
Whatever we do we better not draft Christian Wood, who is supposed to be picked right around our draft position.

I've never watched him play and I know little about him, but he's a power forward from UNLV...and we all remember how well that went last time... :chuckle:
 
Yeah, I posted my ode to Wright right before the tournament. I like the way he can finish below the rim and draw fouls, similar to Kyrie. Obviously he can run an offense as well.

I think Utah has a legitimate shot at beating Duke. They have two legit 7 foot centers and play team defense very well.

So it seems like we have just enough RCF members to start the Wright fan club. That probably means he will be long gone by the time we draft. The only time we drafted a guy out of the top 5 I got excited about was Karasev. I was actually at the draft, and started screaming he was going to be the next Ginobli. Boy, does that seem stupid now.

Keys what is your opinion on Decker from Wisky. Is he worth moving up for. Have seen comparisons to Chander Parsons. As James gets older he will need to play less minutes, so perhaps SF is something to look at.
 
I see a little UF Chandler Parsons when I watch Wisconsin. The problem is that Parsons was great in transition for Florida, which helped him stay on the floor for Houston while his outside shot improved. I don't see that kind of fluid and agile play in the full court for Dekker. He will help the right team in half court off the bench.

I think he will be a stretch four who rebounds well but isn't a top end defender. If he gets stronger he can be Danilo Gallinari before the injury. If he doesn't get stronger he ends up Omri Casspi who can beat up on non-elite athletes but shut down by strength and length.
 
I see a little UF Chandler Parsons when I watch Wisconsin. The problem is that Parsons was great in transition for Florida, which helped him stay on the floor for Houston while his outside shot improved. I don't see that kind of fluid and agile play in the full court for Dekker. He will help the right team in half court off the bench.

I think he will be a stretch four who rebounds well but isn't a top end defender. If he gets stronger he can be Danilo Gallinari before the injury. If he doesn't get stronger he ends up Omri Casspi who can beat up on non-elite athletes but shut down by strength and length.
I think he can play SF. I dont think he is that poor of a defender, but yes he is not a great athlete. Last year at the LBJ skills academy he was named as a top 2 performer, but his shot has not been consistent all year. But he has nice form and the length at 6"9 to get it off. I guess not worth trading up for, but def worth a strong look if he is still around.
I really hope we can get a guy who is a long term rotational player, good enough to play 15-20 minutes every night. If Wright develops into Andre Miller then obviously that would be a STEAL in the 20's. I have not seen enough of him. How much has his jumper improved? Would you say he is clearly a better shooter then someone like Delly?
 
If Wright develops into Andre Miller then obviously that would be a STEAL in the 20's. I have not seen enough of him. How much has his jumper improved? Would you say he is clearly a better shooter then someone like Delly?

Andre Miller is exactly who he reminds me of, if you remember back to when Miller played college ball. Delon pushes the ball well in transition, leading to a lot of assists and free throw opportunities for himself. As a taller point guard, he has little problem getting a good close range look at the basket while he also has the strength to finish the shot attempt after contact. In that way, he is the anti-Delly.

What I really like is his ability to switch defensively, since at 6'5 he can defend any perimeter player. I think that is tremendously important for any combo guard playing between Kyrie and LBJ, and its one reason I've always defended playing Delly. taller point guards allow our other main ball handlers the chance to be distributers or scorers.

I'd take Delly's jump shot over Delon's shot, but then again he has some things I explained that Delly clearly doesn't have. Andre Miller used to be cringe-worthy his first two years in the league from the outside, but he got better. I'd like to see the Cavaliers keep them both as the backup guards for 2015/2016.
 
On the Dekker-Parsons comparison...Parsons is interesting in that his statistical profile at Florida should have easily made him a first round pick. He didn't stand out because he was underutilized in college, and it took a stats-heavy franchise like Houston to recognize his value. Still interesting case in which a 4 year college player has seen his usage and scoring climb significantly in the NBA.

Statistically, Parsons was better than Dekker is. I think it is fair to say he was a more skilled player than Dekker -- shooter, passer, ballhandler.

Again, I wouldn't trade up for Dekker or anyone else. I mean, maybe if it only took some money to do so, but still I think the allotted $3.4M or whatever each team is allowed to use in trades per year would be better used elsewhere. Draft is just too much of a crapshoot to be chasing players. I'd sort of prefer another team falling in love with a guy available at the Cavs' draft slot that would be willing to give something up to move up. You don't see this happen often though.

As of today, for what it's worth, of the players projected by DX to be available when the Cavs pick (currently #24, though they could easily move back a slot or two), my preferences would be Rondae Hollis Jefferson, Delon Wright, and Justin Anderson. That's irrespective of position.
 
I'm a big fan a Caris LeVert. He is a good defender and has really nice size. He would be a great PG behind Kyrie, just to give this team a different look.
 
Just for what it's worth, this thread feels so strange not being encouraged by potential 'next-superstar' rookies that we could potentially draft after once again pulling a rabbit out of the hat and stealing the #1 pick.. There's got to be a way we can still do that though, right? :chuckle:
 
So R Hollis Jefferson would def get run as the backup SF next year if we decide to go that way. He is hands down a better basketball player then James Jones in all aspects expect up stand still jump shots. Bottom Line James Jones and Deli at the same time is painful, we need to change that next year so it rarely ever happens.


Also Demitrius Jackson from ND is a decent sleeper. I like his burst. But Cameron Payne seems like he has a ton of upside as well.
We wont sniff his but Jefferson from UOfA has a hell of a future. This is actually a pretty deep draft if you ask me.
 
Windhorst emphasized in his Hey Windy show the growing value of draft picks in that rookie scale contracts are already set for the coming years so rookie contracts will become even bigger bargains in an era of an exploding cap which will inevitably produce inflated free agent contracts. Windhorst didn't make this point, but it could be argued that the value of late firsts will see their value increase more than higher picks since the salary attached to them is less.

Since they will have a pick in the 20s, the increasing value of late firsts is good news for the Cavs, especially if the perception is that this a deep draft. (It seems the perception is the top of the draft is strong, but by "deep" I mean that good players will be available in the 20s and into the early 2nd round.) It means the value of the pick in a potential trade will be higher.

Getting back to the actual draft, the Cavs currently occupy the 23rd slot. They obviously could easily move back a slot or two before the season is over. But from my perusal of various boards, it seems to be reasonably likely that Hollis-Jefferson will be available where the Cavs draft. He had a good game against Wisconsin, but he really can't shoot, and so it's questionable how much he would actually play. It's becoming clear that Blatt really wants 4 shooters on the floor as much as possible, and so James Jones is playing over Marion, even though Marion does everything better than Jones except shoot. I think many decision makers around the league have really soured on athletic wings who can't shoot given the concern for spacing.

I think RHJ could conceivably have a Marion type role playing a hybrid 3/4. I don't think you would rely on him or anyone taken at ~#23 as a rookie though.

Seems that Cameron Payne is moving up draft boards. DX now has him at #30. He's a guy who improved pretty significantly his sophomore year, though of course he was at Murray State.

Sam Dekker's performance against Arizona should pretty much guarantee he is taken in the teens. Played big in a huge game against NBA caliber players.
 
I thought the draft went by how deep a team goes to the playoffs.
 
The drafts are going to be important for us in the next couple years. We're going to be way over the cap, so it'll be basically the only way to add new guys (specifically youth that can help extend this franchise's title window). Though we've only seen a little of him, I really liked the Joe Harris pick and I'm hoping we can find some sleepers this year. I actually like who DraftExpress projects is taking with both picks: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Andrew Harrison. I would consider that a good draft.
 

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