| Under Pressure Authored by Patrick Daher - June 26, 2008 - 6:14 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
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With the NBA draft hours away, Ferry will begin to embark on a journey that may dictate how he will be perceived across the NBA landscape. Will he become the goat that let James get away or will he be closer to Danny Ainge who turned the fortunes of his franchise in one offseason?
The Cavaliers have many options with the 19th pick in the draft. The burning question is will they draft a proven college player who can contribute right away, or will they select a project player who has a little more upside. If you look at the past 5 NBA drafts, the #19 slot has been an area where teams have chosen to go to the developmental route. 2007 – Javaris Crittenton, 2006 – Quincy Douby, 2005 – Hakim Warrick, 2004 – Dorrell Wright, and 2003 – Sasha Pavlovic. All these players were in college for less than two years, with Wright coming straight out of high school and Pavlovic coming from Serbia.
When looking at the Cavaliers roster, the main area of need is another scorer who can knock down or create his own shot opposite of LeBron. This happens to be a position where NBA ready prospects are in surplus. Guys like Brandon Rush from Kansas, Chris Douglas-Roberts from Memphis, Courtney Lee from Western Kentucky, and Bill Walker from Kansas State all fit this mold.
However, Cleveland’s frontcourt is aging with veterans like Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, and Joe Smith and might need an injection of youth. The hangup is that most of the big men prospects entering the draft are freshmen and may take a little time to develop. Big men like Deandre Jordan from Texas A&M, Maureese Speights from Florida, and J.J. Hickson from N.C. State may all be available at 19.
For the Cavaliers to please LeBron James and their fans they must select the most NBA ready player that is still available. Too often teams gamble on guys who supposedly have high ceilings over guys who were proven in college and contribute immediately. The future is LeBron James and the Cavaliers must act aggressively to appease him.
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