Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

[TitleTown]

I don't think that Barnes would be a bad pick by any means. Playing next to Kyrie would absolutely help his sometimes limited game. I think you guys are under-rating his jump shot. Yes, I know his numbers weren't exactly gleaming in college, but his form is picture perfect. Playing on a condensed college court also severely hurt Barnes game. Kyrie had this dude looking like Kevin Durant lite in that olympic/world summit game they played in.

Gilchrist being only 18 is amazing. He is a specimen that can run all day long. He's got a 7' wing span, and he's got hops and a handle. I really like the Marion comparison because like Shawn, Mike can pogo stick up and down, quickly getting his second jump in with the ability to snatch boards with his long arms. In addition to that, Gilchrist already has amazing defensive fundamentals, he moves his feet laterally exceptionally well.

When guarding LeBron, the best strategy is to attack the ball. Michael Kidd Gilchrist defends with his feet, and knows how to use his exceptionally long arms to poke at the ball without being called for petty reach in fouls.

Next Season Cavs Heat preview:

Irving vs Chalmers
Gee vs Wade
Gilchrist vs #6
TT vs Chris Bosh
Andy vs Joel Anthony

Cavs are definitely winning one or two vs Miami in 2012-2013

Are you kidding me? They are much better than us at every position besides PG. And that doesn't matter since Wade/LeBron are really the PGs for that team, and Chalmers is basically a spot up shooter who is worthless otherwise.

I hate the Heat, and can't wait until the Cavs are competing at a high level again...BUT, C'mon man!

 

[Ohio]

Are you kidding me? They are much better than us at every position besides PG. And that doesn't matter since Wade/LeBron are really the PGs for that team, and Chalmers is basically a spot up shooter who is worthless otherwise.

I hate the Heat, and can't wait until the Cavs are competing at a high level again...BUT, C'mon man!

ORLY so Joel Anthony is better than Varejao?

Okay, good to know.

 

[TitleTown]

ORLY so Joel Anthony is better than Varejao?

Okay, good to know.

Blah, blah, blah...the main point still stands. Sure, AV is better than Anthony by a small margin, it doesn't change the fact that they would destroy us without catching them on an off night.

 

[SOA]

I don't think that Barnes would be a bad pick by any means. Playing next to Kyrie would absolutely help his sometimes limited game. I think you guys are under-rating his jump shot. Yes, I know his numbers weren't exactly gleaming in college, but his form is picture perfect. Playing on a condensed college court also severely hurt Barnes game. Kyrie had this dude looking like Kevin Durant lite in that olympic/world summit game they played in.

Gilchrist being only 18 is amazing. He is a specimen that can run all day long. He's got a 7' wing span, and he's got hops and a handle. I really like the Marion comparison because like Shawn, Mike can pogo stick up and down, quickly getting his second jump in with the ability to snatch boards with his long arms. In addition to that, Gilchrist already has amazing defensive fundamentals, he moves his feet laterally exceptionally well.

MKG seems like a upgrade of Gee with less of an offensive game and not worthy of a top 3 pick

if Beal is who we NEED I'd rather trade down and get him , rather than have another project in MKO like TT start beside KI

that was the point of the Bleacher Report article

 

[Lee]

MKG seems like a upgrade of Gee with less of an offensive game and not worthy of a top 3 pick

if Beal is who we NEED I'd rather trade down and get him , rather than have another project in MKO like TT start beside KI

that was the point of the Bleacher Report article

In the history of the NBA all rookies are projects with the exception of about 20. We have been spoiled in the last 10 years as cavs fans as we have gotten 2 of the 20.

And why trade down to take Beal when many have him as the 2nd best player in the draft. Sure some have MKG, but there is not a consensus 2nd best. You just take Beal if you feel he is the 2nd best.

 

[mAo_mAo]

We could probably be one of the best teams to have(defensively) against the heat with that line up. Offensively, that lineup is the worst to put in the floor. There are no spacing for any body to operate.

 

[Ohio]

Blah, blah, blah...the main point still stands. Sure, AV is better than Anthony by a small margin, it doesn't change the fact that they would destroy us without catching them on an off night.

Small margin?

Varejao averaged 11 and 12 this season.
Anthony averaged 3 and 4.

I'm sure you are in the deal-Varejao club, but that doesn't mean you have to hate.

 

[Jon]

Maybe, but it's inane to suggest that the Cavs have to draft for need, rather than taking bpa. Moronic. The Cavs are years away from being in a position to pick for need. The dude starts out by saying that MKG is already the better player and the better prospect. That should have neen the end of this one. The Cavs are not at the point of the rebuild where they can just tinker around the edges to perfect the team, they need to inject the maximum amount of talent.

I don't think he's really talking about need or bpa, he's talking about fit. He thinks Barnes would fit with Irving, much better than MKG would.

Personally, I don't have that much faith in draft prospects and I'd rather go for the guy with the higher upside because at least you can always trade him for what you need down the road; but I don't think it's a moronic POV.

 

[EdgarJones]

..

that was the point of the Bleacher Report article

Bleacher Report= Read no further.

 

[TitleTown]

Small margin?

Varejao averaged 11 and 12 this season.
Anthony averaged 3 and 4.

I'm sure you are in the deal-Varejao club, but that doesn't mean you have to hate.

Stop quibbling with a small side point. Who fucking cares if AV is better than Anthony? It doesn't change the fact that they WILL kill us next year regardless of who we draft.

 

[EdgarJones]

The only spot in this draft where you can guarantee to trade down and still get Beal is
number 1.

 

[EdgarJones]

NBA Draft 2012: Why Cavs Should Avoid Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
By Noah Poinar (Correspondent) on May 6, 2012 970 reads 20

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1174362-cleveland-cavaliers-why-cavs-should-avoid-michael-kidd-gilchrist

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist becomes a very real possibility now that the Cleveland Cavaliers have secured the third best lottery odds in the draft. MKG to the Cavs is particularly appealing to a lot of Cavs fans for three main reasons.

One, he’s good (and nearly every mock draft has him rated as the No. 2 prospect); two, he’s by far the youngest player in this draft class—he won’t turn 19 for another five months; and three, he and Kyrie Irving went to the same high school.

When it comes to Kidd-Gilchrist and the prospects of him becoming a Cav, I’m in the minority. I’ve got nothing against the former Kentucky freshman. He’s a terrific young talent who plays with a ton of energy and toughness; I just think the Cavs would be making a mistake if they took him (provided they take him in the top four).

If the Cavs are drafting anywhere in the top five (not counting the No. 1 pick), Harrison Barnes should be their guy.

Right now MKG is clearly the sexier pick over Barnes. He has a bit more potential, he’s coming off a National Championship and he played alongside Anthony Davis, the consensus No. 1 pick in this draft.

Regardless of whom the Cavs take in the upcoming draft, they probably won’t be drafting this high again for a while. They can either use this logic to propel themselves into taking the better all-around talent (Gilchrist), or they can use this logic as a platform to talk themselves into Barnes, who is the consensus best fit for this team both right now and going forward.

Last year the Cavs were in the situation of drafting the best player available, and if this were last year I’d be all for MKG. This year though, despite finishing with the third worst record in the league, they’re in a different position.

Kyrie Irving should (and most likely will) directly affect the Cavaliers' decision-making process in the draft. Especially in the lottery portion. They can either “build” around their star rookie point guard or they can “add” to their star point guard.

With Barnes, they’re building, and with Gilchrist they’re simply adding; by adding I mean they would be adding talent. More often than not, this doesn’t warrant the best of outcomes. (See the Minnesota Timberwolves.)

I’ll put it like this: Harrison Barnes needs Kyrie Irving more than Michael Kidd-Gilchrist needs Kyrie Irving. And Kyrie Irving needs Harrison Barnes more than he needs Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

The folks over at Draft Express say this about Barnes: “If he's forced to be a go-to option too early in his career, Barnes may struggle to adjust, but if he lands on a team playing for a coach who understands his strengths and limitations, and with a point guard who can get him the ball in the right spots, he has a chance for early success.” With Irving at the point and Byron Scott at the helm, the Cavs, more than any other lottery team are the best fit for Barnes.

It’s not just about Barnes being the better fit though. It’s about the fact that Gilchrist scares me. He has the prototypical look of a prospect with star/bust potential.

At 6’7" Gilchrist is a wingman who is an average perimeter shooter. (Subliminal message: Barnes is a terrific shooter who will benefit from the extended NBA three-point line.) He shot 25 percent from three-point land in 51 attempts in his freshman year.

At Kentucky he mostly feasted on fast break points (an area he’s terrific in) and using his quick first step to get around smaller, slower college defenders to get to the basket for easy buckets.

Although he averaged 7.6 rebounds per game, he’s not the ideal rebounder. Barnes is. In fact, we’ve actually overrated that aspect of Gilchrist’s game. Heck, we may have overrated Gilchrist altogether. He benefited a ton from playing with Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones.

On the glass, they drew a ton of attention from opposing teams. Teams would often have to box out with an extra man, leaving Gilchrist the odd man out and free to do whatever. This also helped him on the offensive end too.

Once he beat the initial defender off the ball he could get to the hoop with relative ease because...well, Anthony Davis was lurking.

On top of that, Gilchrist only accounted for 18 percent of Kentucky’s shots this season, which ranked seventh among the team. This isn’t a big surprise given how stacked and talented Kentucky was, but maybe that’s the role he was most comfortable playing in.

After all, it wasn’t too long ago MKG was adamant about staying in school for his sophomore season; Calipari essentially forced him to forgo the rest of his college career and enter the draft.

It was the opposite case for Barnes. He passed up the opportunity to go No. 1 or 2 overall in last year's draft to stay another year. And it ended up hurting him. Barnes didn’t show much of any improvement from his first to second year, but I correlate that to his being a pure shooting scorer on a Carolina team that was so talented and well-rounded that it didn’t know how to properly utilize and maximize Barnes.

Whether that was the case isn’t too relevant though. What’s relevant is that the Cavs, most likely, will lose Antawn Jamison this offseason. They’ve got to replace his outside scoring somehow. Correction: They’ve got to replace his outside presence and threat.

I can’t conclude without touching on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s high school ties to Kyrie Irving. As mentioned, this is perceived to be beneficial—an incentive for the Cavs to take him with their pick. However, maybe it’s just me, but the whole high school affiliation thing has “potential alpha dog complications” written all over it. As does the collective youth and inexperience of both players.

If we’re going to talk about former school ties then we should be looking more closely at Barnes. You know, the former Tar Heel.

A Duke/UNC complex is 10 times more intriguing than what Gilchrist would bring to the table, isn’t it? It would be a paradox unlike anything we’ve seen in the NBA., and honestly, that’s why it would work. I mean, it’s not as if Irving bleeds white and blue; he played 11 games there.

Plus, the Cavs would slither their way into an untapped Charlotte market that (thanks to the Bobcats) does not have a professional basketball team. Chris Grant, please give the kind people down in North Carolina something to root for.

Hell, give us all something to root for, it’s not everyday you get the chance to finally unite the people who represent one of sports biggest, most heated rivals.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

don't agree with alot in the article but thought I would post

I feel dumber for having read this.

 

[Ohio]

Stop quibbling with a small side point. Who fucking cares if AV is better than Anthony? It doesn't change the fact that they WILL kill us next year regardless of who we draft.

They certainly SHOULD.

 

[RTrees]

Delete me

 

[RTrees]

The Cavs team that beat the Heat last year taught us nothing either?

Comparing starting lineups is still relevant in determining the possibilty of an upset?

Upsets are always possible, for those of you that apparently dont watch sports.