CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, hosts Ethan Sands and Chris Fedor discuss the Cavs’ strategy for the NBA draft, focusing on their second-round picks.
Takeaways:
Cavaliers’ Draft Position and Strategy: The Cavaliers have two second-round picks (49th and 58th) and are open to trading up. They’ll likely select the best player available within their evaluation tiers rather than focusing on position needs.
Asset Management Considerations: The Cavaliers are not asset-rich and must carefully consider the cost of trading up versus the potential value of the player acquired.
Player Qualities That Translate to NBA: Key attributes that translate well include shooting ability, physicality, and athleticism, providing immediate value even from second-round selections.
Wing Prospects at Pick #49: Potential fits include John Tonjay, Chaz Lanier, and Micah Peavey, with Peavey highlighted as a physical, tough wing fitting the Cavaliers’ defensive identity.
Guard Options in the Second Round: Guard prospects include Ryan Nembhard, Cam Jones, and Koby Brea, offering potential in playmaking and shooting.
Big Man Considerations at Pick #58: Potential depth options behind Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen include Vladislav Goldin, Amari Williams, and Viktor Lakhin, with Lakhin favored for his physicality and rim protection.
Amari Williams as a Specialized Rebounder: Williams is an intriguing prospect due to his elite rebounding ability, filling a specific need for the Cavaliers.
Free Agency Connections to Draft Strategy: The Cavaliers’ draft decisions connect to their free agency plans, influenced by retaining their own free agents and considering position scarcity.
Need for Toughness and Energy: The Cavaliers need players who bring toughness, energy, and vocal leadership, with Lakhin highlighted for his demonstrative personality.
Alijah Martin as a Sleeper Pick: Martin from Florida is a potential sleeper pick due to his mental toughness, athleticism, defensive tenacity, and winning mentality.
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Transcript
NOTE: This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and could contain misspellings and errors.
Ethan Sands: What up Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. Joining me, of course, you know him, you love him. Chris Fedor. And today is the first day of the NBA draft. Lives will change. People will have their dreams realize. But the Cleveland Cavaliers do not have a pick. So we’re not going to go too far in depth into the first round. Chris, when we talk about the second round of the NBA draft, it is difficult for any team to get a player that they feel is going to be a star, an immediate impact player. But the Cavs have two selections in the second round, more than they did last year when having just one pick in the entire draft. The number 49 pick in the draft and the number 58 pick second to last. So Chris, I want to know from you, do you think the Cavs should, could or would trade up from these two second round picks maybe earlier into the second round? Or could they make a jump into the first round with these selections or could they end up making a trade that includes one of these picks as a sweetener? And we’ll get into your selections for these two picks a little bit later, but I think we have to start here.
Chris Fedor: I think all options are on the table. I think they want as much flexibility as they possibly get. I think they want as much optionality as they can get. This has been an aggressive organization in the past. They have an owner that hasn’t made any kind of demands about dumping salary or being limited in any kind of way when it comes to their spending or their activity throughout the course of the off season. So I think there is a feeling inside the organization of, hey, look, if, if one of these guys falls, if, if there’s a specific player that is in a tier above what we could get theoretically with pick number 49 or 58, and that guy continues to fall down the board, would it make sense for us to move up? Is the value worth it to move up and get that player who is head and shoulders above some of these other prospects that we’ve evaluated that are kind of in the cluster of guys that we’re looking at at 49, at, at 58. So I do think they’re open to that idea. If somebody that they like enough starts to fall down the board and they see the value in doing it, for sure they also have future second round picks. But, but I, I’ll say it with this caveat. I wouldn’t say that this is an asset rich organization. When it comes to trades, when it comes to draft capital, they’re not set up as well as some of these other teams around the NBA. So they have to be really, really judicious. And they have to understand that if they continue to dip into these assets, all of a sudden they’re going to go away and the opportunity to make other trades is going to shrink as well. So it has to be for the right player. It has to be somebody that they evaluate as who will be helpful, more helpful than. Than what Amani Bates has been to this point in his career. I say Amani because he was the number 49 pick just a couple of years ago. He has to have a bigger role, maybe than even Jaylon Tyson did as a rookie. And it would have to be worth it, both from a financial standpoint, what the cost would be in the trade in terms of draft capital that they’d have to give up and the player’s value and what he would mean to this organization both in the short and the long term. A combination of those things. Those all would have to line up for them to be that level of aggressive in a move up.
Ethan Sands: So let’s get into the potential selections for this team. Players that the Cavs could dream of falling a little bit into their lap and then players that are more likely to be around in the same scenario where the Cavs are drafting. And Chris, I know you had a list of seven different players that you went into. I had my top three for the number 49 overall selection and it had a lot to do with the needs of the Cleveland Cavaliers in my eyes and how the collegiate game can translate to the NBA floor. To me, shooting translates. Your shot is going to be the same if it’s pure, if it’s clean, if it’s sweet. It’s going to be able to go in in the NBA level the same kind of way it did in the collegiate race. Physicality is something that translates, but it’s the body of work that you put together that’s more important than that. It’s how you’re able to go with aggressiveness of the basket and being able to hold your own in the interior as well. And the third thing for me is athleticism. Just simply being able to either jump out of the gym, being able to run up and down the floor, having some speed, having some agility. I think those are intangibles that don’t necessarily have to wait to translate to the NBA floor. You’re going to have that, that’s God given ability. And I Think all of these players, at least in the number 49 range that I’m thinking of, could be potent. These are the three that I have. One piece being the potential guy that I think if the Cavs let Sam Merrill walk, I think he’s the ideal fit. I don’t think he’s going to be around this late into the draft. But John Tanjay, he is a guy that’s 6 foot 5, 218 pounds. He plays great off the ball, he likes to move and has that movement that Kenny Atkinson would love. And he’s also a guy that has the capability of finishing at the rim. A similar candidate is Chaz Lanier. He’s a guy that’s 6 foot 4, 199 pounds, a little bit shorter, a little bit smaller than what you might want from your average wing. But he’s a guy that was shooting so significantly well from deep and it was just so clear that he has the utmost confidence in his shot. And then my third choice, my most likely choice at the number 49 overall pick, Mike Peavey, a 6 foot 8, 215 pound wing that turns 24 in July. Chris, these are all players that have had significant experience at the collegiate level and that should help the Cavs now not being able to have to reinvent the wheel with these players. But Peavey’s size, athleticism, energy and how he plays defense fits the mold of what the Cavs are looking for from a physical tough wing. Chris, I know it’s the number 49 pick and I might have done a little bit too much research trying to get into the nitty gritty of all these players. Well, what do you think or who do you think could fit the mold of what the Cavs are looking for at number 49 in your mind?
Chris Fedor: Yeah, I think that’s the thing, Ethan, that so many people have to understand. Is anybody that we talk about that would be in the range of 49, 40, 49 to 58. Really? That player is going to be flawed. There are going to be limitations that they have. They’re going to be flaws. And I think what it is is which flaws can you live with? Which flaws do you feel like are correctable? Which kind of flaws do you feel like can be worked through behind the scenes and player development? Just to put it in perspective, you know, Isaiah Joe is a late second round pick that that was on the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Aaron Wiggins, late second round pick on the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Those aren’t every night players, per se. But they clearly have a role for the Thunder and they’ve carved out a role for the Thunder because they do things that can be helpful in short stints. Now, if OKC all of a sudden has to ask Isaiah Joe to step into the starting lineup for an extended period of time, then you’re going to see those flaws show up more and more and more. You’re going to see defenses attack him, you’re going to see offenses go at his defensive deficiencies and stuff like that. So it’s all about having a clear understanding of what you want from these particular players, the kind of role that you’re going to put them in both in the short and the long term. And do they bring a skill set that is different enough from some of the players on the roster or that could be a potential replacement for some of the guys on the roster? So I think you have to look at it from, from that vantage point from the very beginning. And I, I do think there are a handful of guys there that the Cavs could consider both at 49 and 58 that could be, I don’t want to say helpful because I think that’s pushing it a little bit too much, but could be worth an actual contract other than a two way deal that could allow them to not be in the every night rotation but be on the full time roster. We’ll put it that way. I do think there are some of those pieces out there for the Cavs. I like Ryan Nemhard, Andrew Nemard’s little brother. Can you really go wrong with a Nemhard? He obviously doesn’t have the same size as Andrew, so because of that, there’s about 4 inches of difference in height between them. There’s difference in their physical makeup. So because of that, you know, you’re probably not getting the future defender that the Andrew Nemhard is. He’s not going to be that kind of defensive irritant. He’s not going to match up with guys like Shay Gildas Alexander and Donovan Mitchell throughout the course of a playoff run. But he led the nation in assists. He didn’t really make too many mistakes. He ran Gonzaga’s offense. So he’s got experience, he’s got toughness. That’s a nem hard thing. He’s about the right stuff and from everything that I heard, he shot it better than expected in a recent workout with the Cavs. So, you know, at the very least he’s got a good basketball iq. He’s a heady player. He’s had success at the college level and if he can shoot it better in the NBA, if he can continue to work through some of those limitations. Now you have a third guard potentially down the road. So I like him. And it’s not just his last name, it’s a little bit of his last name, but is also the kind of skill set that he has and what you could potentially be looking for late in the second round. Cam Jones from Marquette. I don’t know if he’s going to be there. He might hear his name called a little bit earlier than that. But he’s tough, he’s competitive. He was productive at Marquette. He played on the ball and off the ball. There’s some Malik Monk to his game. He has big game experience. All of the guys I think that the Cavs could potentially be looking at at number 49, I think they’re more NBA ready from a maturity and a physical makeup standpoint, not from their game is polished. They don’t have flaws, but it’s how much college basketball they’ve played. And it’s not a situation where you’re drafting the youngest player in the draft. A couple of years ago in Amani Bates, you know what I mean? These guys are more like the Craig Porter Jr. Type mold where you feel there’s a maturity to them, you feel there’s a readiness from that standpoint to them. I think Kobe Braya, one of the best shooters in the drafts, started his career at Dayton, finished his career at Kentucky. If you want to talk about Sam Merrill, replacement, like, there it is. He can catch and shoot. He can shoot on the move. He provides spacing, gravity. Shot 47% from the field, shot 44% from three point range at Kentucky. Don’t need him to have the ball in his hands, don’t need him to occupy possessions. Can’t defend anybody. But if you’re just looking for a specialist, a shooting specialist potentially to replace Sam Merrill down the road, I think he makes sense. I think Alijah Martin from Florida, I wouldn’t bet against him. Forget the measurables. I think the intangibles that he brings to the table, I think they’re really important. You’re talking about a guy who helped two different teams to the Final Four. One of them was Florida Atlantic, for the love of God. The other one was Florida. So, you know, toughness, maturity, strength, athleticism, defensive tenacity, motor versatility. Listed at 6 foot 2, but has a 6, 7 wingspan. So he plays bigger than that. And then a couple other guys. Brooks Barnheiser from Northwestern played just 17 games because he had a foot injury that ended his senior year short, but he’s fully recovered from that. He’s been working out, he worked out for the Cavs and if they want to go big, you know, there’s a bunch of different bigs that are out there. Eric Dixon, Rocco Zacharski, Vlad Goldin, Amari Williams from Kentucky, Johnny Broom, if he falls that far, to number 49. So I think there are potentially worthwhile selections for the Cavs late in the second round. For a team that doesn’t have a lot of financial flexibility, for a team that has a top heavy roster, for a team that’s going to be looking for controllable assets on team friendly contracts, kind of balance the books a little bit. I think there are some there for them to consider.
Ethan Sands: Chris, I think that’s very well said and in depth. When we get into the number 58 overall selection, obviously it’s the second to last pick, so it’s very difficult to project who is still going to be there for this election. But I was within three different big men trying to go through what the Cavs need, and I’ve said this to you on countless occasions on this podcast and, and obviously with the veteran contracts and who is available for them now, it seems unlikely that the Cavs can go get a true enforcer outside of resigning, Tristan Thompson. Right. So I’m thinking that the Cavs should make this move and get a big man in the NBA draft, even though he might not be as polished, he might not be as ready as someone who’s already had experience in the league. And the three players that I got into, two of them you’ve already mentioned, Vlad from Michigan, Amari Williams from Kentucky, and my guy that I picked to actually be there and be the selection for the Cavs. And the number 58 pick, Victor Lockett, he’s a guy that is around seven foot tall, he’s a guy that is an enforcer, he’s a guy that’s physical bruising and he plays aggressive. Chris and I know we’ve had this conversation about the minutes being split at the center position between Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, but I think it became immensely apparent, especially in the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City series where we saw Rick Carlisle and Mark from OKC being able to just give their star players a rest. Whether it’s Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein or Miles Turner or you obviously getting rest retirees Haliburton ahead of the injury, I think it’s important that the Cavs have someone that they believe in and trust to plug into this situation, to eat up minutes, even if it’s throughout the regular season, even if it’s for just a five minute stretch in the playoffs. Because I think an enforcer that’s able to not only rim run but also set tough screens and be available in the transition game, I think is very important. And to me, Victor Lakhin is ahead of Vlad and Amari Williams in this caliber. And if we look to Kenny Atkinson’s previous success with Brook Lopez, I think Victor is already ahead of the game when it comes to Vlad and Amari Williams when it comes to shooting the ball from distance and how he could evolve in that sense as well, even though he’s a big man, just having someone that is on the perimeter to spread the floor and still be a threat, a quote unquote threat, however much you want to call two three point attempts a game a threat. Like, I just think he has everything that the Cavs would want from a potential big man and they wouldn’t have to pay as much for him, especially with the veteran minimum being basically all that they can offer.
Chris Fedor: Yeah, I think it’s interesting too. I was having some conversations earlier this morning just about the free agency market and how that ties in to the Cavs off season planning. And look, when you’re in a situation that the Cavs are in, Ethan, the first two calls that the Cavs are going to make when, when it comes to June 30th at 6pm, very close to 6pm it’s going to be to Ty Jerome’s agent and then it’s going to be to Sam Merrill’s agent. So Kobe Altman might be on the phone with Ty Jerome’s agent and then Mike Gansey, the general manager, might be on the phone with Sam Merrill’s agent and then, you know, another one of their front office guys might be on the phone with Javante Green’s agent. So it’s their own guys for the most part. Because I think whether they can bring those guys back or not, I think that ties into one, how free agents will view them and the opportunity that could be in front of them and two, what the Cavs want to pursue after the fact. Do they need a Ty Jerome replacement? Maybe. Do they need a Sam Merrill replacement? Maybe. So I don’t think the draft really ties into that all that much except to say, you know, if you’re an organization and you’re looking at how everything is constructed, like where are your weak points and can your weak points be filled in free agency. And if the answer to that is yes, and you feel good about that and the pool of big men, then maybe in the draft, you look at wings. Maybe in the draft, you look at guards. You know what I mean? So it’ll be interesting to see how they approach that. And I think the. The point guard center conversation is one that. That I think internally the Cavs are having, because they could sit there and they could say to themselves, well, you know, the depth at point guard in free agency is more appealing than the depth at center in free agency, because do we really want Andre Drummond? Do we really want Mason Plumley? How much does he have left? What is Alex Len gonna do for us? You know, Jackson Hayes, Is that even worth it? Bismack Biyombo, at 33 years old, how much does he still have left? Is Paul Reed ready to actually play some backup center? If. If we get into a situation where we have to call on him to do so? They have to ask themselves all of those questions, and they have to evaluate all of those individual players. You know, it’s. It’s entirely possible, and I think highly likely that the Cavs look at the pool of point guards and say, well, that’s more appealing. Malcolm Brogdon, Spencer Dinwiddie, you know, Dante Exum, Tre Jones, his brother, Tyus Jones, Monte Morris. There’s just, like, more guys that, if we had to go that way, were more comfortable there. And if they look at it that kind of way and they have, you know, one of these bigs that you mentioned in the draft and one of the guards that I brought up in the draft, including a point guard in Ryan Nemhard, if they have them in the same tier and they have them close enough, your position might break a tie to some degree. If we don’t feel good about the centers, either in the short term or what could potentially be multi years or something like that, do we just need to go with a big man there to see if we can develop one into the guy that you’re talking about? So I think all of this stuff kind of like, ties in, but it just. I don’t know. Going into a draft when you have pick 49 and 58, I don’t know that you boxed yourself into a position. I think you look at the best player available in the tier where you’re drafting, I would say more than likely because it’s pick number 49, I would say that multiple guys within the same tier, at least how the Cavs have them rated, I think they’ll be there at 49 and is just picking the one that they think makes the most sense for them when it comes to 58. Look, that guy’s going to be on a two way contract or he might not even be on the roster or it might be a drafting stash. They’ve done that in the past. If they look at it and they say, okay, you know, we have 10 out of 11 guys already under contract. We like some of these veteran minimum guys and we’re getting a feel that they’re interested in us and they like us as well. We’re getting those kinds of feelers. We’re not going to have as many open roster spots. We like our two way guys as well. We don’t really have an opening for those guys. So let’s go draft in Stash, let’s get the next Luke Travers, let’s get the next Khalifa job and draft them, hold their rights and just figure it out down the road. So like I said at the very, very beginning, I, I don’t think they’re going to box themselves into any one way of thinking. I think they’re going to keep their options open and they’re going to try and do what they think is best given the fact that where they’re slotted, the percentages of actually hitting on this thing are very, very low.
Ethan Sands: And just to reiterate the point of the big man conversation, right, the Cavs are obviously thinking with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen in mind, obviously thinking a little bit more about Evan Mobley in this situation, especially with the summer coming up and trying to figure out what they want to do with Jared Allen, if they want to keep him, if they want to trade him, all these things. But for me, the players that I was thinking about for the Cavs to go get in the draft, the Cavs to try and sign on a veteran minimum, as we talked about, it’s more so true set, it’s more so true enforcers, more so players that would allow Evan Mobley to still play in his role as a four man NBA help side defender, someone who is more comfortable in that role than being the initial deterrent. And obviously players look at Evan Mobley in the paint and they think not to go in there, but if they have the physical acumen and the physical talents to do that, they’re going to go after him, right? But I think these guys, Victor Lock in, Vlad from Michigan, Amari Williams from Kentucky, especially the latter two, those two might be more so one dimensional, but that’s okay in this sense. Because what they’re doing is what the Cavs need. And again, it’s just eating up minutes for the Cavs. It’s not necessarily trying to go and get a star or a rotation player. It’s more of end up bench guys that you can plug in and say, hey, we need you to chew up some minutes. We need you to play in this scenario. We don’t want Joel Embiid to attack Evan Mobley. We don’t want Giannis Antetokounmpa running down the floor. I just think there’s so many different things that the Cavs have to think about with these decisions. And I know Cavs fans heard Chris talk about the guards and they’re like, oh well, he’s six one, oh well, he’s six two. Why does the Cavs keep drafting six foot five guys? There’s a need right now, right? There’s a necessity for some of these guys. That’s why I particularly were trying to pick six, four and above players to try and mitigate what Chris was going to do in his articles and his discussions. Right. So I think it’s important to understand the value and I think Chris is right. The best available option might be the plan for the Cavs because again, this draft is weird. You don’t necessarily understand or know who’s going to fall, who’s going to go early, what these other teams are doing. And I think the Cavs are unlucky with where their picks are and are going to have to roll with the punches as they may.
Chris Fedor: And here’s the other thing, Ethan. Look, if. If you want like a high quality, big time upside, ready made shooter, ready made defender, two way player, something like that, if that’s what fans are wanting, well, that’s not available at 48, 49, 50, 51ft, like we’re talking about those kinds of guys that you’re talking about. They go in the first round, you know, three and D type wings in the NBA draft. They go in the first round or they go in the early second round. So you just have to understand that there are going to be flaws to all of these prospects. Everybody that I even mentioned, you know, I like Ryan Nemhard, I like Kobe Bra, I like Alijah Martin, but I like them with the understanding of what their limitations and their weaknesses are. I just accept the fact that that’s what you’re picking when you’re Talking about the 49th selection and you just got to deal with that. And I think Amari Williams is interesting and you bring him up the kid who played at Kentucky, yo, he’s seven feet. So he’s got the size. He’s about 260. Was that 40 more pounds than Evan Mobley already? And he’s just coming into the NBA as a rookie. So put together, right? Physical specimen, that’s one thing that you can say about him, doesn’t mean that his game is ready for NBA minutes right now, but his body and his physical makeup probably is ready for NBA minutes right now. And the thing that I like about him doesn’t do anything offensively except for just catch lobs and maybe pass. Can kind of run some DHO stuff with him. Maybe he can give him the ball at the elbows and he can deal with that and that’s fine, right? Again, we’re talking about flawed players. That’s what you’re talking about with the 49th selection. But the dude is a tenacious rebounder. So you’re getting somebody who has an elite skill. He just goes and gets rebounds. So on top of the size, on top of the physicality, on top of the strength, on top of the body, for all of the offensive limitations, and they are real just early on in his career, go on the court and run, Go on the court and hustle, Go on the court and compete. Go on the court and grab. Grab rebounds offensively and defensively. And I think there’s value to that. So that’s one of the reasons why I put Amari Williams on my list is because, like that one thing that he does at such a high level is very valuable, especially for a team like the Cavs that they don’t have that type of player. I was talking to a couple of different people and they were using the Isaiah Hartenstein comparison with Amore Williams, and you know, that’s obviously top level, but Hartenstein was a second round pick that bounced around the G League and got cut from a bunch of different places before he became a $90 million man for the Oklahoma City Thunder. So he had to grow into that. But the thing that he always had was the motor and the rebounding and the screen setting and all of those kinds of things. When you look at the Cavs, Jared Allen’s not a ferocious rebounder. Evan Mobley is not that kind of guy. This dude will like fight you in a back alley just for a rebound. And the Cavs don’t have one of those kinds of guys either on this roster or in their developmental system. And getting something like that that is so different, that could potentially separate him and give him a skill that allows him to get on the court. And it’s something that the Cavs potentially need that appeals to me, especially when we’re talking about the 49th pick.
Ethan Sands: Chris, I think the last thing that I’m going to touch on when it comes to this is obviously the rebounding aspect of Amari Williams. Game cannot be arched, and you’re absolutely right about that. But when I was doing my research and watching film and highlights and all these things, when it came to Amari Williams and Vlad from Michigan, there was just one thing that stood out to me. The Cavs, as we know, need to grow in toughness. You can name physical, you can name mental. They need to grow in that department. And when it came to watching Amari and watching Vlad play, there was a sense of timidness, there was a sense of second guessing and obviously and Amare Williams, it didn’t feel like he was going to scream in your face when he grabbed the rebound or anything like that. He just went about his business. I think the Cavs have too many of those players already. I think the Cavs have too many players that are. Are okay with being just go about your business and that’s cool and it will pay the bills and do all the things that you needed to do. Except in the playoffs when you need a little bit of fire. So that’s why I went with Victor Lock in. Because every time he had a dunk, every time he had a block, every time he had some kind of play, he was letting you and everybody in the arena know about it. He was a showman. He was getting his team fired up, like calling for the arena to get louder. All these different things. The TJ McConnell aspect if enough, right? I just think that the Cavs need the aggressiveness. They need someone who is going to be able to do all of these things. And sure, Victor might not be as good of a rebounder as Amari, but he’s still going to battle on each end of the floor. When you talk about confidence, that’s not going to wave on you. Talk about playing against some of the biggest hands. I remember looking at some of his stats and they had back to back games against UNC and Duke and he went for 22 in each of them, if I’m not mistaken. And I was like, well, that’s rising to the moment. The impact of playing in significant games, the impact of playing against players that are supposed to be better than you and not shying away from that is something that the Cavs need. The aggressiveness, the physicality, the enforcer the loudmouth. Right. Tristan Thompson can only do so much if he’s sitting on the bench barking. Right. I think the Cav needs somebody that’s going to be on the floor barking again to help them get to where they want to go. Especially with what we talked about earlier, the dynamic with Jared Allen, Evan Mobley splitting minutes and trying to figure out what is going to be best for the Cleveland Cavaliers. And I’m not going to say he’s. He’s a Zach Edey type player because he doesn’t have that slow of feet, move that slowly.
Ethan Sands: But I think Victor could be a guy that has that kind of pedigree, that kind of build, that kind of respect around the league that’s not going to let you push around the best player on your team. The same way that Zach Edie stands up for John Morant on every given possession.
Chris Fedor: Yeah, I think those are the things that, that I like about Alijah Martin. We brought him up, the shooting guard from Florida. Do you wish he was 6 foot 5 as opposed to 6 2? Sure. But if he was, he wouldn’t be available at 49. Potentially. He is built. He’s built like a fire hydrant. I don’t know. I don’t know if he can be the kind of tenacious defender that Lou Dort is. But like, I can see a pathway to like, that kind of thing becoming his calling card because he has just throughout the course of his college career done whatever it took to win and influence winning at the highest level. He’s really, really athletic. He’s got a longer wingspan. And I like the fact that he’s been through two long NCAA tournament runs. So you know that he’s mentally tough. You know that he has that fortitude. You know that he can deal with prosperity and adversity. You know that he’s not going to be phased when it comes to high level competition or pressure moments. And again, college is not the NBA. But you look at some of those kinds of things. The thing that the Cavs cannot do, Ethan, and no team in the NBA can do. You can’t cut a guy open and see what’s in there. You can’t cut a guy open and see how he ticks. But, but you can go based on the evidence that you have in front of you, based on what they did throughout their college career and what they showed throughout their college career. And I think there are translatable things that Alijah Martin has that you just can’t quantify, that you just can’t measure. And I Just he’s not a guy that I would bet against. I think he’s the kind of guy of bet against him at your own risk. And I’m not saying that he’s going to turn into, you know, Donovan Mitchell. I’m not saying that he’s going to turn into this MVP candidate or this All Star player, but a helpful player at the back end of your rotation. I could see that for somebody like Alijah Martin, I could see him outplaying his draft slot because he just won’t let himself become anything other than that. And I was told that he had a terrific workout with the Cavs where he showed like all of the things that you like when it comes to a player like him. And I just think that’s the kind of dude who having him on your team like that becomes an asset for you. I don’t know if it happens immediately. I don’t happen. I don’t know if it happens within two years, three years, even in the Donovan Mitchell era, even in the Donovan Mitchell contention window. But that’s a dude that, that I would not bet against. I think he’s that type of guy.
Ethan Sands: A sleeper pick. I like it. I like. That’s how we wrap up today’s episode. So with all that being said, that’ll do it for today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to subtext so you can have your voice heard. This is where you can have daily conversations with me, Chris and Jimmy. This is where you can get daily texts, whether it be insight, whether it be daily reactions and analysis based on trades going on around the NBA and seeing if some things shake up in the NBA draft today. All these things are directly to your phone, but you can only get them if you sign up for a 14 day free trial. Or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy. We can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast, it’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’ all be safe. We out.
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