For the first time since 2021, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a first-round draft pick that will likely join their rotation for the 2024-2025 season. But the 2024 NBA Draft has so many unknowns at the top end, let alone pick 20. So who should the Cavs target with their first-rounder this year?<\/p>\n
Following the NBA Draft lottery, Bleacher Report<\/a>‘s Jonathan Wasserman predicted the Colorado Buffaloes’s Tristan Da Silva<\/a> to Cleveland. \u00a0The German-born wing averaged 16 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in his senior campaign as Colorado advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. At 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, Da Silva projects as a 3-and-D wing in the NBA. Da Silva shot 39.5% this past year and would provide an important role off the Cavs bench that shot a measly 27.9% this postseason<\/a> from long-range.<\/p>\n There are questions surrounding Da Silva’s athleticism after the NBA Draft Combine, where he posted an average vertical leap of 35.5 inches<\/a>. However, Da Silva was still a stout defender in college and his length certainly makes up for any athleticism he lacks. The Cavs don’t need an off-the-dribble scorer, but a reliable spot-up three-point shooter. That could make the Cavs target Da Silva in the draft.<\/p>\n Power <\/span>forward,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Tyler Smith<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has been another name on the radar of the Cavs during this draft<\/a> cycle. <\/span>The 19-year-old played for the G-league Ignite this past season <\/span>where<\/span> he put<\/span> up 13.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 stocks per game.<\/span> Smith also shot 36.4% on<\/span> 4 <\/span>attempts this year from three <\/span>which<\/span> projects well at his young age, as he could <\/span>turn into<\/span> a high-volume shooter. During the Combine, Smith was listed at 6-foot-11 and 224 pounds <\/span>giving<\/span> him great length at his position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Smith averaged nearly three fouls per game, which comes with his age. <\/span>Smith would likely be a project for the Cavs, but his upside is undeniable <\/span>and<\/span> in a draft like this <\/span>upside<\/span> is <\/span>huge<\/span>.<\/span> Again, Cavs General <\/span>Manager,<\/span> Koby <\/span>Altman,<\/span> will likely look for a wing that leaves Smith’s name on their board.<\/span><\/p>\n Another Cavs draft target is 18-year-old Pittsburgh Panthers Guard\u00a0<\/span>Carlton Carrington<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Carrington averaged 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in his freshman campaign. He <\/span>is seen<\/span> to have tremendous upside in his position with his age. At the combine, he was listed at 6-foot-4 <\/span>which<\/span> would be huge for an already small Cleveland backcourt. <\/span>If asked to create off the <\/span>dribble<\/span> Carrington would be comfortable as both a passer and shooter.<\/span> He shot 41.2% from the field and 32.2% from three on a staggering 6.1 attempts a game.<\/span><\/p>\n His finishing left a lot to <\/span>be desired<\/span> but<\/span> he is so young <\/span>and<\/span> learning from Donovan Mitchell<\/a> would <\/span>certainly<\/span> help develop that skill. With rumors continuing to swirl about the future of Cavs point guard\u00a0<\/span>Darius Garland<\/span><\/a>\u00a0leaves Carrington as an intriguing prospect. <\/span>This<\/span> is one of the most unpredictable drafts in about a decade. <\/span>There are<\/span> several prospects in and around the Cavs selection <\/span>that they could choose<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time since 2021, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a first-round draft pick that will likely join their rotation for the 2024-2025 season. But the 2024 NBA Draft has so many unknowns at the top end, let alone pick 20. So who should the Cavs target with their first-rounder this year? 2024 NBA Draft: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5174,"featured_media":79229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,9,62,556],"tags":[49040],"class_list":["post-79168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-2024-nba-draft"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cleveland Drafts Young <\/span>G-leaguer<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Cavs Find Potential Garland R<\/span>eplacement<\/span><\/h3>\n