NBA Draft: Cavs take Tyus Jones at No. 24, trade him to Minnesota for No. 31, 36, future 2nd
June 25, 2015
Silly seasons, LeBron James and Judd Apatow and Hop Along: While We’re Waiting
June 26, 2015After trading the No. 24 pick Tyus Jones to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Cavaliers made a trio of selections in the second round. With the 31st pick, the Cavaliers went international in a likely draft stash by drafting guard/forward Cedi Osman out of Turkey. They followed that up by drafting a more familiar name in Syracuse big man Rakeem Christmas. And finally, they chose St. John’s forward Sir’Dominic Pointer with pick No. 53.
I don’t pretend to understand the Euroleague basketball standards and hurdles to young guys playing, but the 20-year-old Osman played in 19.3 minutes per game last year (27 games) and averaged 6.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 0.7 steals while shooting 39.7/30.3/66.7 overall. He is 6-8 and 190 pounds. Chad Ford, while predicting him to go 34th in his mock draft, had this to say about Osman.
“He’s a playmaking three who, while he can’t really shoot, does just about everything else well. He’s a likely draft-and-stash”
What I can tell you after looking at 15 minutes of video on the guy is that he’s very active and fundamental on the court, and there’s a lot of raw size, length, and speed there. Ford called Osman his third best international prospect following Kristaps Porzingis (went fourth overall to New York) and Mario Hezonja (fifth to Orlando). He has two years remaining on his contract in Europe and is likely to play that out. The Cavaliers know this, and they were probably only looking to add one player to the roster from this draft.
That one player is likely Christmas, who is a 23-year-old senior that can immediately step in as a fifth big man option for the wine and gold with the likely departures of Kendrick Perkins and Brendan Haywood. Christmas is a hair under 6-10, but he sports a 7-5 wingspan and is known for his shot blocking, defense (co-defensive player of the year in the ACC), rebounding, and improved post play. He averaged 17.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 34.3 minutes for the Orange. As a senior, his numbers improved drastically.
Rakeem Christmas had one of the biggest turnarounds in recent memory as a senior. Improved by leaps and bounds. pic.twitter.com/AbGbivThpK
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) June 26, 2015
And finally, we have Pointer. He’s another senior who is known for his defensive prowess. He is listed at 6-5 and 193 pounds. He won co-defensive player of the year honors in the Big East. DraftExpress had him listed at No. 88 on their Top 100 prospects list, likely due to his offensive game limitations (just 21 threes in four years but a career 48 percent shooter for his career). He more than doubled his scoring average in his senior year, scoring 13.7 per game and shooting over 52 percent.
The numbers you should pay attention to for Pointer: 94.2 defensive rating, 2.2 steals per 40, 2.8 blocks per 40, 8.9 rebounds per 40. If Pointer sticks, it will be because of his ability to give the Cavaliers another hard-nosed wing defender in addition to LeBron James and (hopefully) Iman Shumpert. You can read more about Pointer and his rocky first three years with St. John’s here.
48 Comments
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RJ Hunter was there…pass.
Montrezl Harrel was there…pass.
1. In 1997, I turned off the TV and trudged to bed before Counsell crossed the plate. I’ve never seen that footage. I felt exactly the same last night. “With the 36th pick the Cleveland cavaliers select Rakeem Chris…” *click*
2. This morning Steven A…whom I hate more than ball sweat…was apoplectic over his teams draft. For the first and ONLY time ever, I thought to myself “I feel ya bro.”
3. If Griffin doesn’t kill it in free-agency, he needs to be fired.
Ya gotta cool it bro. I agree they didn’t draft anyone interesting when they could have but remember that each first rounder was going to cost them triple the sticker price in taxes. And even though I agree that they took the wrong side of that dilemma, Griffin has done nothing to make anyone think he should be fired for one subpar draft when he was picking in the 20s.
Do you really think RJ Hunter is going to be an impact player? I wanted them to take him too, but I feel like this may be a bit of an overreaction. I don’t know enough about Osman to make a comparison, but obviously they took who they wanted.
I’m not going to even try to evaluate this draft as I’m just not that familiar with the players involved. And, at the end of the first round and into the early second, things can be a bit of a crapshoot. I will note two things – first, a player of the caliber these guys are won’t be seeing significant, if any, playing time on a championship caliber team. It makes sense to draft on potential a little bit. Second, college seniors are an underrated commodity, especially if they didn’t really bloom until later in their college careers. Carlos Boozer was a guy like that and he worked out pretty well, at least until he winked and nodded when pitched on a semi-illegal contract agreement.
I’m assuming #3 is sarcasm.
Hunter is 6’6 and ways 185 lbs, so how does he defend anybody? Luke Walton’s broken back corpse has more explosion than Hunter. And he acted like a crybaby and took no coaching at the predraft camps. Good luck to him.
I think Griffin was on record ahead of the draft as saying none of the players that would be available at 24 would be a viable rotation player for them.
I’m still wondering if Kaun is going to be the Perkins/Haywood role
Easy, big guy. While last night had the TBT feel of a Danny Ferry draft, trading out of the first round was probably most due to Griffin trying to clear as much guaranteed money from the books as possible to keep his current contributors and add some new vets. They’re in Bean Count mode, and you can look at it as either short-sided or the by-product of a limited window with LeBron/Kyrie/Love and wanting to add another real contributor to the 2016 playoff push.
In this day and age where some inexperienced fans think they can do a better job than an experienced GM, I would say, probably not.
RJ Hunter is a turnstile. This team needs defense. I look at the guys they drafted and wonder, “Hmmm….would Pat Riley trade for them?”
I was pretty disappointed, I’ll admit that. Osman is the most interesting of the picks, but he has a long way to go to build an actual game on top of his athleticism. He might develop his shot in 2 years of Euro ball or he might never find it and never come to the NBA. Personally, I don’t like his jump shot at all. He’s got this noticeable and extended follow-through after he releases the ball that doesn’t look very natural. His body also looks really stiff/rigid when he’s shooting… I don’t know if he’ll ever be a guy who shoots well off the dribble… might always be just a catch-and-shoot guy. I think his set shot is fixable, but he needs the right coach to help him fix it. He’s a high upside player, which is what you want when you’re stashing a guy. He’s a terror in transition… good finisher and his ball-handling is decent and should improve.
Rakeem Christmas had a great season at Syracuse, but in the end what is he? He’s a guy with some good low post moves but those moves are going to be extremely difficult for him to get off in the NBA against defenders who are bigger and stronger than him. He was an excellent defender last season, but he’s going to be undersized playing against big centers. He’s sort of like Tristan Thompson without the high motor and a few more moves around the basket. I have a hard time projecting him to be anything more than a 4th/5th big in the NBA.
In Sir’Dominic Pointer, the Cavs got their Tony Allen knock-off, and without the cap hit! With that said, I won’t be the least surprised if he’s out of the league and playing in Europe in two years. His offensive game is ugly, so he’s going to have to be an elite defender if he’s going to stick around.
The Cavs still desperately need to find a playmaker who can help run the offense when LeBron is resting and Kyrie is injured or playing off-the-ball. I’m hopeful that they can use their taxpayer mid-level exception to find that guy in free agency. Griffin did say he was hoping for a player in age range 26-30 to fill that gap, so that wouldn’t be a draft pick.
totally. What happened? They moved down 7 slots and picked up another guy…not that big of a deal.
Agreed. Read lots of good stuff on Osman, but we’re talking 2017 and so much can happen by that time anyway.
24 had a chance for some instant gratification end of rotation (not end of bench) type players and we passed. I understand why, but it was still a bit disappointing.
I’ll take my chances with Tyus Jones (who we had), or RJ Hunter (who we could have had) over No Show Mo, or Sybil, errr, I mean JR Smith.
Yes, 100% my thoughts as well. I do like Osman, he was the best draft-and-stash candidate available in the draft and the Cavs did the right thing once they made the trade, but man I really thought Tyus Jones could have helped fill that playmaker need. I’ll probably be less disappointed in the draft after free agency ends.
Why? That’s kind of a “devil you know” versus “devil you don’t” mentality. Hunter may end up being quite a bit worse than J.R. Smith… we really don’t know. Personally, I don’t think Hunter will ever be as good defensively as Smith. He’s prone to the same type of mental lapses, but he’s not the athlete Smith is.
This was an obvious penny pinch.
Griffin better do more than just sign a handful of the walking dead (Haywood, Miller, Marion…).
EDIT: And I consider DeeeWayne Wade a member of the walking dead ranks.
I thought you disliked the football teams drafting? You have to look at last night out of the salary structure perspective. By trading out of the first round the Cavaliers do not have any additional cap hold players. I liked Hunter but perhaps his non selection means JR Smith will be back after all. I know I want Shumpert. I was on Twitter and as of 11:30 PM ET I did not hear JR Smith had opted out officially. I don’t know if he ever did.
As for firing Griffin…was this your Steven Ahole Smith impersonation?
Pure draft and stash whether he ever sees time with the Cavaliers or not doesn’t matter. Same thing with Pointer. Christmas on the other hand I feel is front court protection in case things go awry starting with players leaving.
This ain’t the Indians man Gilbert is going to be paying out some serious bucks good heavens!
Meh.
He can recoup his loses by a salary dump AFTER he secures us a trophy.
Spend. baby, Spend!
Passing on a first rounder did INDEED exclude the Cleveland Cavaliers from the burdensome monetary cap hold financial responsibility, HOWEVER passing on projected first-round talent Harrell IN the second round was quite perplexing.
If I’m Kevin Love and I’m monitoring this situation, I’m not CONFIDENT in David Griffin’s ability to put together the REQUISITE supplemental pieces to assure that this team returns to a place of prominence in the NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION.
That’s the best Steven A I got. 😀 lol
Like I said he is and will spend so take it easy and have a V8!
I just read something that says the Cavs and Kevin Love and/or his people have talked almost daily since Love opted out. I’m not worried.
As for Harrell lets not overrate this guy. I’m perfectly fine with Christmas.
If the second round of the NBA draft makes you feel the same way as extra innings in game 7 of the World Series… I… I just can’t.
…
Joe Vardon has been saying for a while that the Cavs aren’t sweating a thing and are very confident that Love will re-sign. I see no reason that he wouldn’t, at least for another year.
I do find it interesting that the Cavs passed on PF Harrell but grabbed PF Christmas instead. I think Harrell is quite obviously the better prospect. Weird.
I’m cautiously optimistic this summer based on the fact that the Cavaliers made it within 2 wins of a championship basically playing with half a roster. Obviously I have no idea of the inner workings or how players feel I just have to think it would make more sense to stay, especially if it’s one more year, then leave. Love can maximize his $ by remaining with the Cavaliers for one more year. Everything thus far as it relates to Love has had him maximizing his $, period.
Now some of the other guys I’m not sure about. Personally I want TT back but if some other teams makes him an insane offer I don’t know whether it’s such a great idea to match. Don’t get me wrong I want him back but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Same thing for Shump, JR and Delly.
In the end I think we will see Love, TT and Shump back. I’m 50-50 on JR. I think Delly will get a ridiculous offer from a west coast team and the Cavs simply won’t match.
Yep, your last paragraph is exactly where I’m at. Delly’s last 3 games of the finals MIGHT have hurt his stock enough to where the Cavs can re-sign him, but it would not shock me if a west coast team threw too much money at him and the Cavs didn’t match.
By virtue of the pursuit of a backup PG you know how the Cavaliers feel about Delly. It’s the same way I felt: he’s a tough, scrappy, hustling, less talented guy who you want around but don’t need to be around. The question is in today’s NBA how much does someone like that get paid? I wouldn’t blame Delly if he left for more money he has to max out his name and right now is probably the best time for him to do it.
I don’t know I saw some nice highlights from Christmas and Bilas did say he keeps working and getting better. I saw Harrell much more and he has no offensive game at all. He’s a high motor, put back, rebounding 6’8″ 235 forward. Christmas is 6’9″ 245 and just built wider. Either way both would be at the end of the bench.
I still love Delly and maintain that he’s been forced to play out of position. He’s a 2-guard for me. Not a great ballhandler or pick-n-roll guard. Great at spotting up and moving the ball… can attack a close-out with his floater which has gotten decent.
This is where my (self-believed) skills as an evaluator of talent come into play 😉 I think Harrell has a good and smooth jump shot. He might not have been hitting it much in college, but I think he will eventually be able to hit corner threes in the NBA.
I can’t see him playing as a two he’s a backup PG when he tried to be offensive he was offensive in a bad way.
Of the games I saw Harrell play I may have seen him take one jump shot, honest. To many big guys want to shoot 3s that drives me crazy. Why not do what a PF is supposed to do like Tristan Thompson? Play defense, rebound, high energy and that can make an impact. It’s just personal preference.
Well, maybe not THAT bad, but grrrr…
I think Harris will develop into a better player than Delly.
Playing every play like like your hair is on fire is commendable, but will only take you so far.
I mean… he does play as a 2 and plays well when he gets those moments with Kyrie at the 1. So I’m not sure what you mean. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a “shooting guard” needs to be an offensive position. Sometimes all you need is a spot-up shooter and defender at that spot, which Delly is.
I definitely think he could. He needs to give more effort on defense if he’s going to see more minutes.
RJ Hunter’s 3pt percentage last season was .305. You want to pay him to play for your team? Because he made a big basket in a meaningless tournament game? The last time we drafted based on one tournament game we ended up with John Morton.
If Delly did play at SG along KI it wasn’t for very long because I don’t remember them on the court together much at all.
He played a lot with LeBron as well, where LeBron was the actual point guard and Delly was off ball.
In all fairness when LBJ had the ball everyone played off of him. It wasn’t until KI went down that LBJ had to become the defacto ball handler but when Delly played he was still the PG he just wasn’t handling the ball.
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