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conlin.zach
Cleveland Cavs Draft Review And Outlook
Published at 7/1/2016
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I will be going through all 30 teams, grading their drafts & giving my thoughts on what should happen for that team going forward.

The Believeland Cavaliers

The Draft:

Rd 2. Pick # 54: Kay Felder, PG, Oakland

Entering the night with no picks, the world champs traded into the late-second round to draft the undersized stat-sheet filling point from Oakland. His coach called him “a 5’9” Dominique Wilkins”, as he’s an uber athletic, yet tiny, point. He’s an excellent scorer – especially on his drives to the cup – and distributer.  The main gripe on Felder is his lack of size. In the pros, he will have to rely mainly on his outside jumper, as his scoring efficiency in the paint will reflect a 5’9” player amongst trees. His athleticism will help, but his lack of size will make it quite difficult for him to score in the paint consistently. Being such a small guard, he will also have to learn to play without the ball, especially considering the Greek God he’ll be playing with. Defense will too be a struggle for him – at least in the beginning. Although talented and athletic, the odds are stacked against Kay Felder. With every Isaiah Thomas, there are a million other diminutive guards that don’t make the cut. At pick 54, he is well worth the risk.

Grade: A-

The Cavs will lose Delly in free agency (and Mo Williams is done), so they were wise to find another point guard. Delly did lose favor in the playoffs, but many were quick to forget how good of a season he was having (shooting over 40% from three, highest A/T ratio on team, same ole’ pestering D), as he was much better than Mo Williams for a great portion of the season. Felder is small and faces great odds, but is a very talented basketball player. Good pick for the Cavs.

Where the Cavs go from here:

Resign the King: Quite obvious & will happen. Moving on…

Resign JR Smith: Smith had a career year, actually played defense (quite well at times), and is good pals with LeBron. Coach/Player/GM LeBron James will resign him.

Add depth at the Point: Felder is exciting, but shouldn’t be counted on right away, so the Cavs should look for a backup point in free agency.

Add depth inside: Tristan Thompson proved to be this playoff’s Curry-stopper and flashed ability to defend all 5 positions. Unfortunately, he cannot play 48 minutes a game, so the Cavs would be wise to sign a veteran big who can play 10-12 minutes/game.

Continue to add shooters & ring-chasers: You can never have too many shooters, especially around LeBron, and you’ve got to figure that a few veterans will take well below market value for the ring chase.



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