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With the 14th Pick in the 2022 NBA Draft ...

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Who will the Cavs Draft?


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    182
  • Poll closed .
I think Eason is far more explosive as an athlete than Sochan, with one hand he's dunking the ball and the other he's whacking the backboard. But to me Sochan just feels more stable, I guess? I look at Sochan and just go, this is a guy who will occasionally gamble on things, sure, but he's also much more willing to just fill a role and lock down one of the opposition players and take them out of the game. And I think the people that are down on Sochan also forget that Eason's shooting numbers were really bad in previous years as well, which is likely similar to where Sochan is developmentally now.
But not every player develops every aspect of their game to the same degree. Plenty of guys who shoot like Sochan as freshman don't improve significantly - certainly not to the degree Eason did.

The good thing about Eason's improvement is that it looks legit. He improved massively in both 3pt% and FT% - it's not like he just got hot from the outside on low volume like Derrick Williams.

Eason is a good shooter right now. Sochan isn't, and may never become one. Sochan does give you other things, but they are different players.
 
Jalen Wiliams is already over 21.... it's really unlikely that he grows anymore, compared to some of the other players on this list.
I mean sure, I think the second option of him managing to put on muscle is far more likely than him gaining an extra inch or two (mainly people just generally tend to do this anyway), but I don't really have many problems with that. When you watch film of him you just kinda realise he's still thinking and approaching the game like a point guard. I think he hasn't really had time to think about incorporating more wing skills into his arsenal. I also buy that Jalen's shooting numbers will improve as he readapts, his hands also grew along with that wingspan and that difference would have a big impact.
 
Neither Sochan nor Eason shot a lot -- there is considerable overlap in their shooting numbers just from statistical fluctuations:

Tari Eason - 35/107 -- 32.7% -- RANGE: 28.0% -- 37.8%
Tari Eason (YR2 Only) - 28/78 -- 35.9% -- RANGE: 31.3% -- 42.0%
Jeremy Sochan - 24/81 -- 29.6% -- RANGE: 24.3% -- 35.5%

Obviously you can also take things from FT% etc -- but then again Bruce Bowen exists....
 
But not every player develops every aspect of their game to the same degree. Plenty of guys who shoot like Sochan as freshman don't improve significantly - certainly not to the degree Eason did.

The good thing about Eason's improvement is that it looks legit. He improved massively in both 3pt% and FT% - it's not like he just got hot from the outside on low volume like Derrick Williams.

Eason is a good shooter right now. Sochan isn't, and may never become one. Sochan does give you other things, but they are different players.
Sure, development isn't linear. But I kinda think that Sochan's shot is honestly the primary thing he has to work on cause he's just focusing on executing the fundamental basics well at the moment, while I honestly think that Eason has to work on multiple things; that left hand issue, discipline, passing IQ, and he is older. I can see why people would want to choose Eason, especially because we have to make a decision now, we can't just tell Sochan to go back to college for another year.

But the majority of Eason's scoring came from 2 pt range. Eason averaged about 20% of his field goal attempts from 3 pt range during his time at Cincinnati, and at LSU averaged around 21% from 3 pt range. Thus most of the scoring uptick still came from utilising his pure athleticism to get to the rim or getting free throws. And the argument can be made that NBA spacing might help this. The argument can also be made that there are going to be a lot better defences in the NBA that will just scheme to cause him problems.

And there's a chance that Eason doesn't fix these things, because development isn't linear.
 
Neither Sochan nor Eason shot a lot -- there is considerable overlap in their shooting numbers just from statistical fluctuations:

Tari Eason - 35/107 -- 32.7% -- RANGE: 28.0% -- 37.8%
Tari Eason (YR2 Only) - 28/78 -- 35.9% -- RANGE: 31.3% -- 42.0%
Jeremy Sochan - 24/81 -- 29.6% -- RANGE: 24.3% -- 35.5%

Obviously you can also take things from FT% etc -- but then again Bruce Bowen exists....

It's the combination of FT% and 3pt.% that makes it more comforting. His poor freshman numbers were off very low volume. Only 27 3PA, and 47 FTA. As a sophomore, both his % and attempts shot up - 78 and 188.
 
Crazy swing here. Have to believe it isn't random and Orlando is taking Banchero or they've done a masterful job of fooling the right people to get everyone thinking they are.
According to Woj they’re still taking Smith. So we’ll see,
 
It's the combination of FT% and 3pt.% that makes it more comforting. His poor freshman numbers were off very low volume. Only 27 3PA, and 47 FTA. As a sophomore, both his % and attempts shot up - 78 and 188.

I'm just saying - there's something like a 20% chance that Sochan was a better 3PT shooter than Eason this year -- and was just unlucky while Eason was lucky.
 
Final Ringer mock -


8 - Dieng
10 - Davis
12 - Sochan
13 - Griffin
14 - Ochai
16 - J. Williams
17 - Eason
21 (!) - Branham
 
Final Ringer mock -


8 - Dieng
10 - Davis
12 - Sochan
13 - Griffin
14 - Ochai
16 - J. Williams
17 - Eason
21 (!) - Branham

Lots of mocks have had us taking Agbaji. I'm wondering if people know. Or if they are still just predicting we take the most NBA ready player and ignore upside.
 
Lots of mocks have had us taking Agbaji. I'm wondering if people know. Or if they are still just predicting we take the most NBA ready player and ignore upside.
More likely a lot of NBA heads who play 0 attention to Cleveland see Ohio State and just give us the local kid. The fact he is from OSU should have 0 impact on whether we draft him or not
 
For what it's worth, Brian Windhorst said on his draft podcast that he heard the Cavs promised Ousmane Dieng they would take him at 14 if he is there. Lots of teams with multiple picks below us in this draft, going to be an interesting evening.
I hate that the NBA doesn’t allow trades on the clock, like the NFL does. Definitely takes some of the fun out of the draft.
 
I hate that the NBA doesn’t allow trades on the clock, like the NFL does. Definitely takes some of the fun out of the draft.

I prefer the way the NBA does it. I love seeing those awkward 20 or 30 minutes with the players wearing the wrong teams hat while getting interviewed about going to another team.
 
Final Ringer mock -


8 - Dieng
10 - Davis
12 - Sochan
13 - Griffin
14 - Ochai
16 - J. Williams
17 - Eason
21 (!) - Branham
Wow, Branham falling to 21?? I have a hard time seeing that.
 
I prefer the way the NBA does it. I love seeing those awkward 20 or 30 minutes with the players wearing the wrong teams hat while getting interviewed about going to another team.
It’s awkward for sure. They shouldn’t be messing with theses kids and their families on such a big night for them. Don’t make them parade around in a team hat, knowing that they aren’t gonna play for them. It’s one of the things I hate about the NBA draft.
 

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