It has been nearly three years since ‘The Decision’ that saw Cleveland’s own LeBron James bolt for South Beach. At the time the fans were in disarray, the franchise was being written off for dead and owner Dan Gilbert was lashing out with twitter bombs promising a rebuild.
Well a funny thing happened to the Cavaliers franchise, the NBA lottery gods were smiling down and in turn the Cavaliers leapfrogged the Minnesota Timberwolves to grab the first-overall selection in the 2011 draft. As if that wasn’t enough; the Cavaliers also moved up from the eighth spot to the number four spot with their second first-round pick.
Of course the Cavaliers took Kyrie Irving with their top selection and followed that up with Tristan Thompson with the fourth overall pick. Now some may argue Thompson’s value as the fourth overall, but he has shown some of the potential of late and he does figure prominently in the Cavaliers lineup. There can however be no arguments about selecting Irving first overall. This kid is shaping the Cavaliers and figures to be the franchise centerpiece for years to come.
The 2012 NBA draft saw the Cavaliers slip one spot to the four hole where the selected Dion Waiters out of Syracuse. The New Orleans Pelicans (that is going to take some getting used to) won the draft and selected Anthony Davis, followed by Charlotte and Washington. If you believe the news coming out of the Cavaliers draft room, they ended up getting their guy anyways in Waiters and regardless of where they were picking it was Waiters who was atop their draft board.
This year the Cavaliers finished a disappointing 24-58 which was good enough/bad enough to earn them the third-worst overall record. Now, Irving played in only 59 games during the season due to injuries and Anderson Varejao played in only 25 games before being diagnosed with
blood clot. Had these two key performers been healthy, the team’s record would have been significantly better.
Despite this the Cavaliers once again entered the NBA Lottery process in hopes of finding another complimentary piece to their team. Low and behold their 15.6% chance of landing the first-overall selection came through and the Cavaliers walked away from the lottery as the big winners.
The Cavaliers look to be set in their backcourt with Irving and Waiters; the frontcourt is a little thin with Varejao and Thompson. The most obvious need is at small forward and this is the area that will likely be addressed through the draft. The most talked about names thus far have been Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel and Otto Porter Jr.
Whomever the Cavaliers end up selecting they will have done a fantastic job of turning this franchise around in only three years. It is not unreasonable to think of the 2013-14 Cavaliers as a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. They will be young, athletic and most important they will have about $35 million in salary cap room as they enter the year.