Re-drafting the Cleveland Cavaliers last four drafts with different players
By Chad Porto
2019
Re-Draft Part 1: Tyler Herro, Jordan Poole, Max Strus
Original Pick: Darius Garland, Dylan Windler, Kevin Porter Jr.
In 2019 the Cleveland Cavaliers selected their next home-grown All-Star in Darius Garland at the fifth overall spot. Despite being the statistically worst player in the league his rookie year, Garland has matured and excelled with the Cavaliers. The other two players picked in this class, however, have not. Dylan Windler was taken at pick 26 and Kevin Porter Jr. at 30.
Windler has shown flashes of being a tremendous defensive player, but he was drafted for his three-point shooting skills, which have yet to emerge in the pro game. Injuries have slowed him down for sure. Porter has had a pretty rough career so far, finding himself in trouble time and time again. So while Garland is the obvious pick here (if we could re-draft the same guy), if given the chance, we’d re-draft Windler and Porter for real.
So since we can’t re-pick Garland, we’re going with Tyler Herro who has shown to be a versatile scorer and could be one of the best scorers in the league. He’s only 22 years old, already has a Sixth Man of the Year Award to his name, and had a monster 2021-2022 campaign.
He scored 21 points per game, with five assists and four rebounds, while putting up shooting splits of .447/.399/.868. He’s going to be special.
For the other two picks, we’re sticking with shooters. First up is Jordan Poole. Now I’d love to get a Grant Williams here, but the way this is playing out in my mind, if I pick Herro at No. 5, then the only change is that Garland goes at No. 13 at the latest. That means that the rest of the draft remains unaffected.
So I can’t take Williams. Even though he’d be the preferred fit for the team. Poole is good, so that’s not a problem but there’s a lack of big men on this team and that’s upsetting.
The last pick goes to Max Strus who originally went undrafted. Strus is a good two-way guy, and if I can’t have a good-big, I’d rather have a three-and-D type of player in Strus.