Saturday, May 21, 2011

Cleveland Cavaliers inspire plenty of mock draft speculation, but not much information (yet): Mary Schmitt Boyer analysis

From now until June 23, everybody will be guessing what the Cavaliers will do with the first and fourth picks in the NBA draft. But only the team's opinion counts.

irving-jumper-butler-vert-ap.jpgView full sizeKyrie Irving is the heavy favorite by fans and NBA observers who offer mock drafts to become a Cleveland Cavalier. But since the team isn't announcing their plans, the mocks are just guesses, says Mary Schmitt Boyer.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Let the guessing games begin.

From now until June 23, everybody will be guessing what the Cavaliers will do with the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in the NBA draft. But only the front office's opinion counts.

I left the NBA combine in Chicago last week with the distinct impression that the Cavs had not decided exactly what they were going to do, keeping all their options open, including trades. While they may very well wind up drafting Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the top pick and Enes Kanter of Turkey at No. 4, I don't think they would definitively say that today.

Nor should they. By all accounts, they've barely met Irving. They were scheduled to have their medical staff meet and test Irving on Saturday, but that's just the beginning of their process. There is plenty of time to do the comprehensive vetting they've become known for.

Certainly Irving would appear to be a perfect fit. Coach Byron Scott's best teams have had dynamic young point guards, and one reason they brought Baron Davis on board was to run the team while mentoring a youngster such as Irving.

But there still are many questions to ask before the Cavs are ready to say Irving is the answer. Nonetheless, NBA observers will compile their mock drafts -- even if some are doing so under protest.

Take TNT's David Aldridge, who also writes for NBA.com. Under the headline "Mock draft: In act of lunacy, first attempt at first round," Aldridge wrote last week, "I mock out of protest. The folks at NBA.com asked me to put a mock draft together after Tuesday night's lottery. I hate mock drafts.

"There are people who spend months doing these things, and they always get 80 percent of the selections wrong -- not because they don't know enough, but because they may know too much. People tell you things, and you tend to believe them, even though a) they may well be lying, and b) they have no idea what the other 29 teams are thinking, because those other 29 teams are lying to them just like they're lying to you. So the whole notion of predicting accurately five weeks before the actual draft is, to me, lunacy."

Aldridge thinks the Cavs will take Irving at No. 1. "Rebuilding starts in earnest with the quicksilver point guard," he wrote. He also thinks they'll take Kanter fourth. "The line to move up to get Kanter or Jan Vesely starts here. But Cavs may not be able to pass up on a big who can come in and play right away."

ESPN.com's Chad Ford agrees on all of the above, including difficulty in making predictions now.

"At this point, very little is set in stone," he wrote. "Expect this mock draft to fluctuate greatly over the course of the next six weeks. The process of team workouts has just started. The Chicago NBA pre-draft combine, the Reebok Eurocamp and hundreds of team workouts will dramatically alter the face of the draft."

Of Irving, Ford wrote, "What a big win for Cleveland ... Yes, the Cavs have Baron Davis, but he's not a big part of their future plans. Irving can come in and immediately give them a backcourt foundation to fit with J.J. Hickson and the No. 4 pick."

Of Kanter, he wrote, "Few teams watched Kanter play during the past year unless they saw a Kentucky practice, so they are projecting Kanter's potential largely on the strength of a stellar performance at the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit.

"Kanter is tough, can play inside and out, rebounds the basketball and has a higher basketball IQ than most other players his age. While a bit undersized for a center, his toughness in the paint would be very welcome in Cleveland."

Alliance native Chris Monter has been producing the Monter Draft Report since 1991 and has been dedicated to the draft longer than any other media person. It is a full-time, year-round job -- and then some. But even he doesn't do a mock draft year-round.

"I think that is crazy," he said. "I wait until the lottery is over."

He's still working on his mock draft.

Those are just opinions. Google 2011 NBA mock drafts and you'll have a choice of more than 67,000 entries. Just keep in mind that none belong to the Cavs.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2011/05/cleveland_cavaliers_inspire_pl.html

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