The draft will be here before you know it. This Thursday June 23rd, 2011 at 7:00 pm EST. The draft has been moved from MSG (which is under construction) to the Prudential Center (home of the Nets) in Newark. The Draft has been held at Madison Square Gardens since 2001, and David Stern wouldn't give any guarantees if/when it would return to New York.
This years draft is considered an overall weak one thanks to guys like Sullinger, Perry Jones, Terrence Jones among others pulling their names out.
UK has four guys hoping to hear their name called: Kanter, Knight, Liggins and Harrellson.
According to nbadraft.net Knight is projected to go 3rd to the Jazz and Kanter is projected 4th to the Cavs. Liggins mid second round and Harrellson undrafted. There is a chance that Cleveland takes Kanter at 1 if they believe Kanter will be taken by Minnesota or Utah.
The Cavs have the 1st and 4th pick and unless they move their 4th pick they have to think of what decision will end up giving them the best two players for what they need. They seem to want a point guard with their clear appeal for Irving. Are they set on having Irving and not willing to take the chance he will be taken by Minnesota at 2 and Utah at 3? If so I would be looking at Minnesota to trade their 2nd pick for Cavs 4th pick. Cleveland also has the 32nd pick. Cavs may consider offering their 4th pick and the 32nd pick to Minnesota for the 2nd pick.
This is a weak draft, so the Cavs would not be losing much by giving up the 32nd pick. Minnesota would not lose much by trading down two spots unless they really want Kanter or Williams over Knight and the 32nd pick. Williams from Arizona and Knight of course from UK are right there in equal talent, the Jazz would take one and Minnesota would take the other.
So why should the Cavs even bother with putting themselves in a position to get Kanter? They seem to love Irving but there will be several good point guards available at the number 4th pick. That isn't the case for good post players like Kanter. The Cavs taking Kanter at 1 and then Knight or Walker at the 4th spot would likely give them a better duo then taking Irving first. If Irving is taken at 1 and Kanter and Williams are your next two picks then the Cavs are left with a tough pick. Your top player left is Knight another point guard, after that is two bigs that are foreign players. Guys that may not even come over with the potential lockout situation, similar to how Rubio stayed overseas after being drafted by Minnesota. If they are wanting a big to help immediately they will likely have to fall back to the 9th best projected player in Tristen Thompson from Texas.
When you have the fourth pick in the draft and you take the 9th best option? That isn't going to make the Cleveland fans very happy...
Although this draft is considered weak in overall talent, as you can see it has some interesting twist. With no trades, if Kanter is taken by the Jazz, Knight could fall from top 3 to 5th or 7th pick to Toronto or the Kings(6th pick is Washington who of course doesn't need a point guard). I might have to become a Kings fan with a Knight/Cousins/Evans (Under Cal at Memphis) trio.
Kanter and Knight have both been invited to the green room. The green room invites go out to who the NBA believes is your top 14 or 15 best options and those players get to sit in a special room along with their families and agents.
Other prospects are welcome to attend but they can not sit in this room. The other prospects invited are (nbadraft.net projected is next to their name):
Kyrie Irving (Duke)-1st
Derrick Williams (Arizona)-2nd
Kemba Walker (UConn)-8th
Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania)-5th
Jan Vesely (Czech Republic)-6th
Kawhi Leonard (San Diego St.)-7th
Chris Singleton (Florida St.)-17th
Klay Thompson (Washington St.)-12th
Tristan Thompson (Texas)-9th
Jimmer Fredette (BYU)-13th
Marcus Morris (Kansas)-11th
Alec Burks (Colorado)-10th
This doesn't mean you are looking at the top 15 picks. Typically one falls further than expected because teams have promised their spot to a prospect they really liked or the player just doesn't fit what they need.
Cal in the past has always sat with his players in the green room and I would expect this to occur once again this year. If Kanter was able to get the 1st pick in the draft this would be the 1st time this has ever happened for any program to have two straight 1st round picks since 1955 when the draft wasn't anything like it is today.
Should be an interesting night with some twist, happy watching!
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