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June 11, 2013WFNY Presents Cleveland Sports Blog Night at Canal Park
June 11, 2013The Cleveland Cavaliers are considering Indiana’s Victor Oladipo with the first-overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, per ESPN’s Chad Ford.
Ford has the Cavaliers still selecting Kentucky center Nerlens Noel in his latest mock draft, but in his big board blurb regarding Oladipo, he pens the following:
Oladipo had his first workout last week — with the Suns. Oladipo’s main competition at the workout was Shabazz Muhammad (Ben McLemore also was in Phoenix that day, but declined to workout with Oladipo or Muhammad). By all accounts the Suns (like just about every other team) were impressed. Sources say that Oladipo has moved into the Cavs’ conversation for the No. 1 pick, and also is under heavy consideration from the Magic at No. 2. Sounds like it would be a surprise if he goes past the Suns at No. 5.
Oladipo is a highly athletic swingman who would provide an immediate boost to Mike Brown’s defense. Questions surround his ability to make an impact offensively at the next level, but any team which selects the Hoosier product will instantly have a tenacious defender with one of the higher floors in his class.
[Related: LeBron’s lack of help in 2013 rivals lack of help in 2007]
35 Comments
Like this kid a whole whole lot. Seems like a Mike Brown dream, Andy-like in his defensive “want-to” plus that crazy athleticism.
If there are no virtual risk-free franchise changers in this draft, if every guy is lugging around a big sack of questions, this guy ain’t a bad bet. Not with his work ethic and attitude. The weakest part of his game – the dribble drive and create – we have in Kyrie and Dion, and he’ll probably improve there anyway. But I still think plugging in Otto with 2 scorers is the safest, if you want safe.
Every day it’ll be someone new doesn’t matter what sport is drafting.
This is definitely Chris Grant trying to stir fear among other top 10 selecting teams that ‘their guy’ won’t be there anymore in hopes of getting a trade up. Same goes with all the McLemore talk from before.
I don’t think his shooting skills are all that great either. Much like Noel this is a guy with a huge upside/high ceiling because of the amount of untapped potential.
This seems like draft scare tactics by Grant, and more power to him to try and entice someone like the Suns to trade up and overpay for a guy like Oladipo. He’s a hell of a defender, yes, but there doesn’t seem like there’s enough there to take him #1 if this somehow isn’t a smokescreen. As some commenters have already noted, there’s no “sure fire” pick this year, but Oladipo seems more risky than others, especially at 1.
And I don’t think his improved jump shooting was a mirage – his form is real decent. Can totally see this guy as a decent half-court weapon, with a credible up-fake/drive to the hole move. In transition offense and on the defensive end he’s already good to go. It’s just hard to accept that the first 5 picks in a draft might all be good to excellent complementary pieces, without a single franchise cornerstone. There’s always one – maybe question of who has the imagination and cajones to identify him.
“Ben McLemore also was in Phoenix that day, but declined to workout with Oladipo or Muhammad”
as an aside, I get why the agents suggest this to their clients, but, when your main red flag is that you don’t have enough competitive fire, is this the best route to take in the lead-up to the draft?
have your agents loudly suggest to not participate (in front of the teams) and tell them you cannot help but want to be out there. show that those reports are false (or at least pretend).
It wouldn’t hurt the Cavaliers to have another “high upside” guard which is why I got into McLemore as much as I did. The options being #1 are boundless I’d love to be a cicada on the wall in Grant’s office.
I don’t really read much into that at all the kid will be a top five pick easy.
I’m not necessarily a big McLemore guy, but I think he has more upside than Oladipo.
I don’t know that he’s necessarily more risky. There’s a risk vs reward factor that has to be considered…and adding another SG (even a potentially skilled defender) to the Cavs team doesn’t seem to have near as much of a reward as a skilled defender at a premium position (Center) which also happens to fit a need.
Though we disagree on McLemore (I’ll never be high on him) I can certainly agree with wanting to be in Grant’s office.
Who has more going for him on the offensive side of the ball you mean?
of course he will. but, if he wanted to be a #1 overall pick, then he could have really helped himself by taking on all comers and doing his best to destroy them (in a 1on1 setting, I think he could too).
lol – yeah, I suppose that is more direct.
At a minimum, he doesn’t really appear to be doing himself any favors at all…though if he truly is as passive as some people claim…then this is the right decision. Some guys games don’t translate as well in an ISO situation. A guy like Olapido (who is supposed to be a great defender) would actually look pretty good in this setting.
My bandwagon is officially attached to ZERO guys in this draft. I started out originally as a Muhammad proponent then came around to being a Porter supported before starting to imagine the possibilities with McLemore. So in other words I’ve been all over the place. The one guy I haven’t been high on all along was Noel. That doesn’t mean he isn’t the guy. So who knows, strike that, as long as Chris Grant knows. Whomever he chooses must be the right guy though the Cavaliers simply cannot afford to be wrong. No pressure.
Maybe maybe not now if McLemore hadn’t worked out for the Cavaliers that’d be a different story.
I have pretty much consistently detested McLemore the whole time. When I thought we might be drafting 3-6 range, I was really high on Porter and Olapido. I assumed that Noel would fall no lower than 2…so we had no shot at him. I assumed that Orlando would pick ahead of us…and that Trey Burke was going there. If we could get 3-4, we’d pretty much be guaranteed Porter/Olapido and I would have been perfectly happy. Before the stress fracture, I was really high on Alex Len too.
NBA Draft Rumors: The Cavs are doing their best not to tip their hand in any direction.
Honestly I love that they are sending out these rumors. Grant may or may not have decided on a guy yet, but he is playing the field like a pro. Although, there is such a thing as too much. You want them to believe you’re interested, so don’t do too much at once.
One game at a time my friend…
I like Noel #1 but I really like Oladipo and think he could easily be a guy that everyone looks back and says how did _____ pass up on that guy. He is an animal and his offense is better than people give him credit for. I think he has superstar potential
It’d be nice if he was big enough to play the 3. He’d be the legit “safe” option that fits our team need at that position. I’d like him more than Porter as a fit for our team.
This here. You do your best to drive up value of the pick…by making the teams behind you think you’re after “their guy”. Maybe someone is willing to give up the farm. Worst case scenario, you’re stuck with the guy you wanted all along. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with doing due diligience.
Can he guard the 3? If so I don’t feel like it’s too bad a fit. We would just have a three guard rotation with the chance of putting them all on the court at the same time. Grant is taking whoever he thinks is the best player period IMO and there are GMs who think its Vic. Plus with the injuries Kyrie and Dion have had I wouldnt think it would be too bad to have some depth. I know you dont want depth #1 overall but still
At 6’4, he’d be very undersized…most 3’s will be able to shoot over him without much issue.
perhaps, or Victor’s poor handle and shaky shot would be completely exposed (or both).
Not sure he’d be worth a #1 pick. When you have the #1 it has to be a future star, not just a role player.
Who would you recommend instead?
I absolutely love Oladipo. He is one of the best defenders in the draft and could play SF for the Cavs. Alonzo Gee and him are the same height. I think he is gonna be the steal of the draft.
I think that from a risk/reward standpoing, McLemore has more to lose in this format than Olapido does. Both are extremely athletic, but one of the knocks on McLemore is that he can’t create for himself. He’s an offensive guy with the athleticism to be a plus defender. Couple that with Olapido’s defense and you’re looking at a potentially very poor showing. In Olapido’s case, you’re expecting a very good defender who isn’t an offensive specialist anyways. This format would appear to favor Olapido all-around…because any “good defense” by McLemore would almost be overlooked on account of Olapido’s known offensive defeciencies.
I can see that too, but still think McLemore would be fine in that setting.
thinking about it, I really want Charlotte to draft Oladipo.
MKG, Bismack, Oladipo – who is going to score? answer: Kemba will gladly force some shots.
(I think they are either going PG or big, but it’s a fun thought)
Jamal Crawford just requested a trade to Charlotte.
Andrew Wiggins!
agreed, he will be a superstar and make alot of teams look stupid for passing on him (unless we take him at #1 where he should be taken)