Cleveland Cavaliers: 2009 NBA Draft

Jason Tomassini — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:46:33 -0700

2009 NBA DRAFT: NBA Team Needs/Capsules - NBA Mock Draft - Top 100 Prospects

- We’ll update our Team Capsules with more specific info once the lottery is complete.

Cleveland Cavaliers

2008-09 Record: 66-16

Draft Picks: 30, 46

Key Free Agents:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (ETO)

Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak

Anderson Varejao (PO)

Lorenzen Wright.

How They Got Here:

By being extremely good at basketball and having a player that is a freak of nature. But seriously, this team took one of the best individual seasons ever and matched it with an incoming all-star (Mo Williams) and surprisingly great seasons from Delonte West and Anderson Varejao to basically save basketball in Cleveland by giving Lebron a potential reason to come back. And that they did it on defense, with some guys not really known for D (Ilgauskas, Szczerbiak, Daniel Gibson), is a testament to Mike Brown and of course, Bron Bron.

What They Need:

If they could possibly draft a top-notch butler or chauffeur for Lebron, someone that makes him really comfortable in Cleveland, I’d go that way. Maybe Eric Devendorf is available. But seriously, the Cavs frontcourt doesn’t look so hot right now, so they need to sure up some depth there. Varejao should be back, but expensive, Joe Smith is likely gone, Ilgauskas should be back but is old and Ben Wallace has the unfortunate situation of being Ben Wallace. JJ Hickson, by all accounts, was a nice pick, but they are going to need an experienced big man that can give them immediate minutes.

Who They'll Take:

This is an atrocious draft for big men, especially centers, and even the top guys, besides Griffin, look very suspect. So they need to just find a guy that can play solid defense and maybe knock down open 15-footers. Taj Gibson, Jeff Pendergraph, Dante Cunningham and Jeff Adrien seem exactly like the kind of guys that could flourish in Brown’s defensive system and overcome their lack of ideal NBA size by playing alongside Lebron. Josh Heytvelt would even be tempting, as long as they don’t ever let him hang out with Lebron.

Cleveland Cavaliers Draft History (since 2000)

2008: JJ Hickson (19)

2007: No Picks

2006: Shannon Brown (25), Daniel Gibson (42), Ejike Ugboaja (55)

2005: No Picks

2004: Luke Jackson (10)

2003: LeBron James (1), Jason Kapono (31)

2002: Dajuan Wagner (6)

2001: DeSagana Diop (8), Brendan Haywood (20), Jeff Trepagnier (36)

2000: Jamal Crawford (8)

2009 NBA DRAFT: NBA Team Needs/Capsules - NBA Mock Draft - Top 100 Prospects

Top Prospects

Stephen Curry - PG/SG - Davidson

Tyreke Evans - PG/SG - Memphis

Blake Griffin - PF - Oklahoma

James Harden - SG - Arizona State

Jordan Hill - PF - Arizona

Ty Lawson - PG - UNC

BJ Mullens - C - Ohio State

Ricky Rubio - PG - DKV Joventut

Brandon Jennings - PG - Arizona

Hasheem Thabeet - C - UCONN

cleveland cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers: 2009 NBA Draft