Cavaliers draft selection set, all options in play for the team after NBA Draft Lottery

The Cleveland Cavaliers got hosed in the NBA Draft Lottery

I want a redo. The Cleveland Cavaliers got the 14th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, despite the fact the team only had a .5% of landing the No. 1 overall pick, and just a 2.5% of landing a Top 5 pick, I was super optimistic the Basketball Gods were smiling down on us.

I was wrong.

Dry wit aside, the Cavs getting the 14th pick is unsurprising at all. They were a 44-win team in 2021-2022 and will feature an even more bolstered roster in 2022-2023, assuming Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio both return to the team.

With the pick, they’ll likely be able to get a nice role player but no one who should be expected to be transformative. The odds of getting a Paul George or a Kawhi Leonard type guy are few and far between. This sets up the team to really do a lot of things with their draft pick.

The Cavs should not paint themselves into any corners with this pick

The Cleveland Cavaliers should not handcuff themselves into one train of thought. If a trade to get a good, young player, pops up they should leap at that. Even if it costs them the 14th pick overall. What they shouldn’t do is trade it for a Gordon Hayward type. It should only be for a 25-year-old and younger guy, who has years on his deal and isn’t terrible.

They should also keep an open mind on keeping the pick or even trading up. The most sensible thing is to keep your first and second pick and draft two rookies to build up for your team. The Cavs aren’t going to have a lot of salary cap space in the coming years and the team would be wise to try and build up their own role players.

Seeing how good Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens have been in recent years, I have full faith that they can turn a mid-first and early second-round pick into something valuable.

If they trade up, that’s fine too, just make sure you’re not giving up your future for something you don’t know will pan out.

There is no wrong move, inherently, but any move they make will be subject to scrutiny if it’s seen as a bad move, whether it’s a trade or a poor pick. The safest move is to just use the picks in the draft, but trading them could work too, as long as the trade works.