The Cleveland Cavaliers have not won a basketball game since Dec. 18 against the New York Knicks. They have only won once since Nov. 30. They set the record for the longest losing streak in the history of the NBA. They are, without a doubt, the worst team in the NBA. The only silver lining in this nightmarish season is that the Cavs will have the best chance to win the NBA draft lottery and obtain the first pick. That draft pick is currently the only light at the end of the tunnel for Cavs fans. Keeping that in mind, I have only one piece of advice for the Cavaliers organization.
Trade the pick.
Yes, you read that correctly. The potential first pick in the NBA draft, the only bright spot in an otherwise terrible season, needs to be dealt.
Trust me, I know the importance of building a team through the draft, and the chance to select the first player doesn't come along very often. That being said, cover your eyes Cleveland fans, the team with the worst record has only won the lottery four out of 25 lotteries. Of course the team with the worst record can fall no further than fourth in the draft, but that's a huge difference in an NBA draft. This isn't the NFL draft, where a team can find significant value in its third, fourth and even fifth round picks. Outside of the draft lottery, little value can be found among the players selected. Sometimes even the lottery only contains one or two impact players, 2001, 2002 and 2006 are pretty good examples. Judging by mock drafts I've looked at, this year's draft looks to be one with sparse talent as well. The consensus first two picks are Duke University point guard Kyrie Irving and Baylor University big man Perry Jones, with Enes Kanter, Ohio State University's Jared Sullinger and the University of North Carolina's Harrison Barnes up there too. Sullinger has played well this season, but the other four have either underwhelmed or are hurt, and Kanter isn't even playing because he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
Am I saying that none of these players or any others that are drafted will be good NBA players? Absolutely not, but the Cavaliers need more than just a good NBA player, they need a lot of good players or another LeBron-type franchise player.
The only way to find that player is via trade. Aside from Carmelo, there aren't any other players available that could make the immediate impact the Cavs so desperately need. On the flipside, Cleveland hasn't made its pick available, so there is no starting point as to how high bidding could go. To a team looking to shed salary, sending over an established NBA player or players and swapping picks with the Cavs in order to find said player's cheaper replacement wouldn't be out of the question, no? Well, if that player's replacement is available in the draft, why not just draft him?
Two reasons. Obviously it's not a guarantee that a player can meet another player's value or results. The other reason?The Cavs don't have time to wait. Yes, they're very clearly in a rebuilding stage, but how can they rebuild if they have nothing to rebuild around? J.J. Hickson, Moe Williams and Antawn Jamison are nice players, but can you win an NBA title with them as your main role players? Oh wait, we already know this answer, you can't.
Dan Gilbert made the bold and stupid statement that the Cavaliers would win an NBA championship before the Miami Heat, so if he wants to put his money where his mouth is, he needs to make a large scale splash to infuse life into this sorry team. Trading potentially the number one overall draft pick? Yeah, that might do it.
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