Since the draft is now 2 weeks away thought it would be good to get everyone's opinion and ranking of what players who have a somewhat realistic chance of still being there at 19 they would like the Cavs to draft.
- 1a. Jason Thompson
- 1b. Darrell Arthur
- 3. JaVale McGee
- 4. Nicolas Batum
- 5. Brandon Rush
Others that I kind-of liked were: Donte Green; Marreese Speights; and CDR.
Donte seems like an all-or-nothing player, and he's gonna take a while to contribute.
Mareese Speights was hard to pass-up, but I think that McGee's potential is too great to pass-up if he's available; Batum and Rush are more ready to contribute now, so I had to put them above Speights. I'd take him if none of the others were available, and he was still on the board.
Chris Douglas Roberts - It is rare that a college team has two REALLY good players who are ready for the NBA. So, I had to ask myself: Was CDR better this year because of Rose, or did CDR make Rose better? Anyone who has watched him knows that Chris is not very quick, doesn't have a great shot, and is pretty slow defensively. I think he'd be worth a shot @ #25 or lower, but there are too many better prospects to take CDR this high. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he dropped to the 2nd round.
Thomas and Arthur are the sleepers of this draft IMO. Either of them at #19 is great...But I prefer Thomas, although Arthur generally gets higher praise. I think that if Thomas had played at a big school, he might be the consensus #1 pick. I watched him play 3 times, and this kid is AMAZING!!! His potential is limitless!!! I'd trade Varejao for him in an INSTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That being said, I think the Cavs would select Arthur... who is pretty amazing himself. Having Arthur would be almost like having a poor-man's LeBron. He is extremely quick and can jump out of the gym. Him running next to LeBron would be an AWESOME sight!