There's less than 30 hours before the Cleveland Cavaliers select the first overall in the 2013 NBA Draft ... and we have no clue who they'll take. Or, for that matter, if the Cavs will even be the team making the pick.
NBA Draft 2013: Cleveland Cavaliers leaving everyone in dark with No. 1 pick
The Cleveland Cavaliers could draft any of six or so players with the No. 1 pick or they could make a trade as several proposed blockbusters have reportedly fallen flat -- though more proposals are still possible. Nobody’s really sure what will happen at the top of Thursday night’s draft, though.
Mike Stobe
After making relatively easy and highly successful choices with the top spot in 2003 with LeBron James and 2011 with Kyrie Irving, it seems more difficult for the Cavs to decide this time around. That's because there's no clear-cut elite player.
Rather, a group of Alex Len (scouting report), Nerlens Noel (scouting report), Ben McLemore (scouting report), Victor Oladipo (scouting report), Otto Porter, Jr. (scouting report), and Anthony Bennett (scouting report) are bunched together -- and all could fit well on Cleveland. All have said they could be the top pick, but none was able to tell ESPN’s Andy Katz with any sort of certainty that the Cavs are interested.
Fear The Sword: Every Cavs draft rumor in one place
There doesn’t seem to be any real franchise-changing player among the group and, as such, Cleveland is looking into ways they could turn the top selection into something more valuable.
Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld believes Cavs are still looking for a blockbuster trade. We’ve heard word of a declined trade package for Kevin Love and a declined trade package for LaMarcus Aldridge -- both proven NBA entities the team hoped they could swing for the top pick, a second first-round pick, and perhaps other parts -- and more trade ideas could still be on the horizon as the Cavs seem to be actively shopping.
If your’s truly had to posit a guess, the choice would seem to be Alex Len. Jonathan Tjarks put Len No. 1 in his mock draft, and there have been whispers out of Cleveland that the 7’1 center would be the selection if no trade happened.
CBS’s Jon Rothstein believes the Cavs are still siding towards Len and speculated that the recent hiring of Vitaly Potapenko as a player development coach was aimed at easing Len into the NBA. Potapenko, who spent 11 years as an NBA center including several with Cleveland, is one of only six players in NBA history from Len’s home nation of Ukraine.
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