The Cleveland Cavaliers have the top pick for the third time in four years. With those picks they were able to obtain Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett. In this year’s draft, most people are saying they will decide between the Kansas duo, Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins. According to ESPN, Embiid is the leader in the clubhouse for now.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have 7-footer Joel Embiid at the top of their draft board, but it’s still early in the process and the team needs to obtain medical information on the Cameroon native’s back injury, sources told ESPN.com on Wednesday.
On the flip side, there’s some conflicting reports saying that Andrew Wiggins is the likely choice for Cleveland.
Sources in Cleveland say that Wiggins is the likely choice. The team feels he has the most long-term potential, helps them defensively right out of the gate, can replace Dion Waiters in the starting lineup while adding character to the team.
There’s definitely pros and cons with the two former Kansas Jayhawk teammates.
With Joel Embiid, he brings instant defense and rebounding. The 7-footer moves like a guard. His agility allows him to beat his counterparts up the floor and gives him the ability to rotate defensively. Embiid showed he’s also capable of knocking down the mid-range jumper and he was nearly a 70% free throw shooter in Lawrence.
The cons of drafting Embiid are his back problems and inexperience. The Cameroon native has only been playing basketball for three years, which speaks volumes to his development at this point, but he still has along way to go. With that being said, the obvious red flag is his back. It’s not a good sign when a 7-footer has back problems at 20 years old. Hopefully for the sake of whoever takes him it was just a freak accident and won’t ever come back into play.
When you think of Andrew Wiggins the first thing you think of is athleticism. The 6-foot-8 swingman has one of the best second jumps you’ll ever see and his 44-inch vertical isn’t bad either. Wiggins would bring Cleveland an elite defender on the perimeter, amazing athleticism and a guy that brings great character to the locker room. Wiggins probably has the most upside in this draft class.
The major concern with Wiggins is his passion and assertiveness. During his time at Kansas, scouts and critics questioned his ability to take over a game. He showed signs of takeover ability after Embiid went down with injury, but he ended his collegiate career with a dismal 4-point performance against Stanford in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Wiggins also needs to improve his ball handling and jumper, but those are areas that can be fixed with the proper training.
At the end of the day, I think Wiggins is the safer and right pick for Cleveland, but you can’t go wrong with Embiid.