Author: BA - @cwins_ba

Fact: Otto Porter is a small forward, and by almost all standards, he is the best SF in the draft.

Fact: The Cavs biggest position of need is small forward.

So on paper this seems like a perfect fit and I like Porter’s offensive game a lot. He has phenomenal height and length for a SF at 6 foot 8 with shoes and a wingspan of over 7 foot. He makes good decisions, generally takes care of the basketball and is a pretty good ball rotation passer but not a great passer in general which is evident by his assist numbers. The term unselfish is perfect for him. He is a good athlete but not elite and may be the most well rounded offinsive player in the draft. He can shoot off the dribble, finish at the rim and has a great mid-range game. His dribble pull up jumpers can come moving to his left or right which is not common in players his age. Has an extremely quick release on his shot which seems like less than a second the majority of the time. Good fundamental rebounder that gets decent box out position and works hard for position on the offensive end. Chad Ford calls him an elite defender.

Last year he shot below 25% for 3 in limited attempts where this year he shot 42% in nearly double the attempts. So is this just the natural growth of a young player developing shooting consistency or a mirage? My guess is it will be somewhere in the middle of the two numbers at the next level. He may be destined to be an inconsistent shooter based on guide hand positioning and a flailing elbow which are both really negative traits. Chad Ford calls him an elite defender, but I consider him somewhat of a liability defensively. In the NCAA tournament his weaknesses were easily exposed defensively where he showed below average lateral quickness and was beat on multiple occasions. The good news is, with his length he is able to recover at times after getting beat. He sometimes will take shots early in the shot clock. I normally don’t worry about issues with strength for players this young and Porter is no exception. He can put on 20 pounds of muscle without a problem.

Bottom Line: If the Cavs decide that Porter is the right player for this team I won’t complain too much, but I wouldn’t  expect us to pick Porter and have him jump right into the starting lineup to replace Alonzo Gee at SF. He is extremely well rounded and would likely be in the rotation immediately for the Cavs. He has the ability to score from anywhere on the floor including in the post. My biggest concerns are his shot form/consistency and his ability to guard the elite Small Forwards in the NBA.

Oklahoma State did not play well at all against Oregon, but I thought it was important to at least mention their 2 NBA prospects Marcus Smart and Markel Brown.

I guess I don’t see the infatuation with Marcus Smart and him being a top 3 pick in this draft. Again, I did not do a great job of scouting players all year long and as a result may only have a few games, or 1 in this case to pass judgement. So with that, what I deem are his strengths, weaknesses and an overview of his NBA potential and how or if he would fit on the Cavs.

Strengths: Solid ball handling but not an ankle breaker, very good passer but not flashy, great ability to dictate the pace of the game, exceptional size for a PG, physical player, very good defender, excellent rebounder for a guard

Weaknesses: Below average shooter either off the dribble or in catch and shoot situations, not an elite athlete by any means (this includes not being super fast or quick nor a great leaper)

Bottom Line: There is of course no obvious fit for Marcus Smart on the Cavs, at least not right now. You can see by his strengths and weaknesses that he is a solid all around player without any glaring weaknesses and as a result is a safe pick for any team in need of a PG. With his great rebounding and ever developing passing ability (only played true PG spot this year) he has the opportunity to be one of the few players that can put up triple doubles as a PG. As a result, the Jason Kidd comparisons are obvious, but to my knowledge there has only been one Jason Kidd. The only reason this is even a thought is that NBA teams continue to operate an offense with two PGs on the floor at the same time. His size combined with his experience playing the SG position until college make this possible.

NBA Comparison: Jason Kidd/Rajon Rondo hybrid – odds are he will never develop the shooting ability Jason Kidd did but with a similar build and ability to dictate the pace of the game it is a good comparison. Smart will be closer to Rondo than Kidd in terms of driving ability and shooting.

Markel Brown

Real quick on Markel Brown. He obviously has the ability to knock down shots and be a spark of the bench in the NBA. I suppose if he was there for the Cavs 2nd pick in the 2nd round I would consider it. Brown doesn’t lack confidence at all and is fearless from the perimeter. He also has explosive leaping ability which combined with a large wingspan to go along with his 6’3″ size allows him to dunk on larger players. For your enjoyment: Markel Brown dunk. I consider him in the Jordan Crawford mold as a player.

I would stay away from both of these players in general for the Cavs. There are better options out there.

Other than what I have read and different videos (yes I still see value in YouTube videos even though they don’t show the whole picture) I have seen, last night’s UNLV tournament game marked the first time I was able to see Anthony Bennett in a full game. Everyone should keep in mind that this kid just turned 20 this month and is a Freshman looking to be a top 5-8 draft pick, if not higher in 2013.

The game itself was difficult to watch from a fan’s perspective. I often found myself yelling at the screen to get Bennett the ball while he constantly fought for position and UNLV’s guards chucked up shot after shot on the way to a glorious 32% shooting as a team, or cringing as they blew the game by missing key free throws down the stretch. Apparently the UNLV coach doesn’t understand the concept of beating a zone by high posting your big man who can handle the ball and pass. Anyways, on to Bennett who will now be referred to as AB for the majority of this post :).

Cal did a very nice job defensively on Bennett even though the majority of the time they would have been called for a defensive technical in the NBA, but that is the nature of college basketball. AB did a nice job moving around the floor on the offensive end, shifting from low post position, to the high post, to the 3 point line setting numerous screens for teammates while rarely touching the ball for the first 10 minutes of the game. One thing I did like is that despite his lack of touches, AB didn’t force the action on offense and showed decent effort on the defensive end.

It is tough to picture Bennett playing the SF position in the NBA simply because of how he is forced to play in college. With that said, he has great ball handling for a 4 and probably just good ball handling for a 3. He demonstrated this by taking the ball the length of the floor with very good pace, hesitation and one handed “crossover” to avoid defenders. Sadly he already has a better handle than Alonzo Gee, but that isn’t saying much.

AB did get out of position a bit on the defensive side of the ball, but I didn’t see anything that would say to me he can’t tighten that up at the next level. He guards the 4 and 5 spots and does a pretty decent job of it. For a guy that has the leaping ability he does, you would think he would be more of a shot blocker, but he really isn’t. Again showing his youth, he is a little slow getting back on defense in transition. This could be due to some frustration of not getting the ball on offense, but I am speculating. There is basis for this if you think of how the Pistons and Cavs to a degree would try and get Ben Wallace engaged on defense by getting him easy buckets on offense. There is no such thing as an easy bucket for AB.

Bottom Line: AB is an explosive leaper and dunker, but is only 6’7″ and at 250 pounds will have a tough time translating to anything but PF in the NBA. That may be his best position though, because his shooting form and range is very good which makes him a great stretch 4 option. His wingspan is 7’1″ which makes his height less of an issue, but he has to learn to use his weight to his full advantage. From a Cavs standpoint, he really resembles Maurice Speights to me in that he likes the face up and mid range games as well as the low post game. The biggest difference between the two is that Speights isn’t nearly the leaper/dunker that Anthony Bennett is. With that in mind, if the Cavs do not re-sign Speights, they would have a place for AB, but he did not impress in his tournament game. Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter or maybe even Shabazz Muhammad (will get to him later) could be better options depending on where we pick in this draft.

I hate having to talk about players from the cesspool that is Michigan, but they really have some high level NBA talent I wouldn’t mind the Cavs drafting. Glenn Robinson III is one of those players.

It has been a very tough season to judge what type of player Glenn Robinson III will become. He was arguably the most talented player going into the season on a team that already had an experienced and aggressive shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr. and ended up with the Big Ten player of the year in Trey Burke. As a result, Robinson was efficient but extremely passive and seemed to disappear for long periods of time during games.

Strengths: Dynamic leaper/dunker, great length for a SF, high basketball IQ, smooth dribbler, great form on shot either off the bounce and in catch and shoot situations, above average passer, great transition player, young, NBA pedigree, extremely unselfish

Weaknesses: Needs to add strength, at 6’6″ he would be slightly undersized for the top SF in the NBA, extremely unselfish, range could be better

Bottom Line: Extremely unselfish is in both his strengths and weaknesses for this reason: For a team looking for a star, that quality is bad. For a team like the Cavs who have a star at PG in Kyrie Irving and an aggressive shooter/scorer in Dion Waiters, unselfish play and the willingness to be the “glue” guy on a team is perfect. This is probably only possible if the Cavs trade down (depending on where they end up) or the Lakers make the playoffs, but with 4 young starters seemingly in place everywhere but SF, GR3 could be the missing piece we are looking for.

Stats: 33.2 MPG, 10.7 PPG, 55.3 FG%, 62.9% 2pt FG%, 32.3 3p%, 5.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1 SPG, .3 BPG, .8 TOs

The NCAA Tournament is under way. It is the most exciting point of every college basketball season and perhaps the most exciting time in all of sports. No other event contains the level of excitement packed in a shorter time period as the tournament. Great basketball, upsets and buzzer beaters have become the norm. Each year seems to be better than the last.

So this year, I am not only going to enjoy the the pageantry that is the tournament, but I also plan to keep a close eye on NBA draft prospects, specifically players that will fit the Cavaliers next season and beyond. Some players I will be watching for the first time, and others, like Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke and Cody Zeller I will be watching to see how they perform on the grandest stage of college basketball. Stay tuned for regular updates. With the Cavs final record and placement in the standings uncertain, there are many high quality players to watch in the coming weeks.