The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row. All eyes are, rightfully, on the franchise's series against the Golden State Warriors. And yet, there's important decisions looming in the offseason for the Cavs.
Regardless of how things turn out for the team against the All-Star-laden Golden State Warriors unit, the Cavs will have a very interesting offseason, where they’ll be hearing another decision from LeBron James.
Persuading LeBron to stay isn’t as easy as it sounds, but getting a tremendous talent for their first-round pick they got from trading Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics last year should help woo the four-time MVP back. Even if LeBron leaves, that pick could turn out to be one that acts as a bridge to a new great era in Cleveland.
With all that said, here are a few names the Cavs should be taking a long and hard look at ahead of the draft, which happens on June 21 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Trae Young
The team who’ll select Trae Young in the upcoming draft know what they’re getting: a gifted scorer, a brainy playmaker, and a highly susceptible defender all rolled into a 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame. If LeBron leaves the Cavs, they’ll have someone to run the show in Cleveland in Young. If LeBron stays, then Young will be an incredible asset for a team that most especially excels when LeBron is surrounded by deadly shooters.
Young can flat out score from distance. In one season in Norman, the spitfire guard led the nation by averaging 27.4 points per game with a 36.0 percent shooting from distance.
Making Young a more dangerous offensive piece is his ability to distribute the ball. In fact, he also dished out 8.7 dimes per game in college, which was the most by any player in the nation. The Cavs sorely missed a second playmaker in 2017-18 after they traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics, but if they selected Young, then it would have taken Cleveland just a year worth of waiting for Irving’s replacement.
Michael Porter Jr.
Michael Porter Jr. lost almost his entire freshman season with Missouri due to a back injury. He hurt his back right in his very first official game in a Tigers uniform and returned only when to play two more games split between the SEC Tournament and the Big Dance, which Mizzou both lost.
Porter essentially Markelle Fultz-ed the Tigers. His lengthy absence has not hurt his stock all that much, but maybe just enough for him to fall outside of the top seven picks.
If so, then the Cavs could nab him using their Brooklyn pick. It’s not a bad idea to get Porter, a 6-foot-10 forward who is a skilled bucket-getter and an above-average rebounder with superior athleticism. He fits the mold of modern big men who can shoot from the perimeter and put the ball on the floor while looking for his points.
The possibility of LeBron ditching Cleveland again also makes Porter an ideal prospect to spend a pick on, as the Cavs could build around the 19-year-old.
Mo Bamba
LeBron James has done it all for Cleveland this season, but one thing he can’t consistently provide the Cavs is rim protection. Should the Cavs get Mo Bamba, the Cavs will stop being a punching bag in the paint.
In the regular season, the Cavs ranked third worst in blocks per game (3.8) and were among the 10 teams who gave the most points in the shaded per game (47.0). Bamba’s length alone would be a great addition to the middle for Cleveland. Bamba has been measured to have a 7’9” wingspan that’s probably long enough to reach back in time and slap whoever it was in the Cavs’ organization who thought it was a good idea to use their No. 1 pick on Anthony Bennett.
The Cavs’ chances of getting Bamba isn’t high, as the former Texas Longhorns talent is expected to be drafted prior to Cleveland picking.
Collin Sexton
How would it feel for the Cavs if they could replace an aging bench ornament in Jose Calderon with one of the best guards in the nation in the last NCAA season?
The Cavs’ level of need for a point guard is not tied with LeBron’s decision, so taking one in Collin Sexton should feel just right for Cleveland. Sexton loaded up on his stock in his lone year with the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he helped change people’s belief that ‘Bama is just a football school.
With Sexton leading Alabama, the Crimson Tide were able to reach the second round of the tournament. Sexton led his team with 19.2 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting from the field. Sexton is not on the same level as Trae Young when it comes to outside shooting, but he’s a bucket-getter nonetheless, capable of scoring on almost anywhere on the court.
Sexton also has a more NBA-type body than Young. Sexton stands 6-foot-3 with a seven-foot wingspan, suggesting that he could hold his ground defensively in the pros. He did average fewer than a steal per game in Alabama, but could be partly attributed to the heavy load on offense he was carrying. The ceiling is high for Sexton.
Mikal Bridges
There’s a lot to love about Mikal Bridges. Villanova has had enormous success not only in the Big East, but on the national level for a number of reasons — few bigger than Bridge. He is, clearly, a basketball specimen capable of giving his team almost anything it needs on any given moment of the game.
Bridges could supply the Cavs a reliable scorer and a scary three-point shooter who opponents will pay for if they leave him open. Last season, he averaged 17.7 points and shot over 50 percent of his field goal attempts (6.0 per game) from distance yet managed to knock 43.5 percent of those shots, a college-career high.
Bridges also projects as a great defender in the NBA. Standing 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wingspan, he averaged 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game in 2017-18 for Villanova. Some compare Bridges to a poor man’s Klay Thompson, with others saying he’s a Klay Thompson in the making. He has a lot to prove in the NBA, but the promise is certainly there.
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