Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 options for the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft
Cleveland Cavaliers 5 options for the No. 3 pick: 4. Jalen Suggs
The Gonzaga Bulldogs dominated college basketball last season, blowing out opponents of every quality all the way to the Final Four. They finally faced their first steep test against the UCLA Bruins, and it was their freshman guard Jalen Suggs who hit the game-winning buzzer-beater to advance to the national title game.
The Bulldogs would go on to lose to the Baylor Bears in the national championship game, but Suggs had cemented himself as not only an elite NBA Draft prospect but a player who showed up on the biggest stages. His confidence, drive and will to win are the sorts of intangibles that work as tie-breakers among the very best prospects.
The Cleveland Cavaliers could use a player with those intangibles. They are trying to turn around a team culture that is used to losing, with three straight seasons near the bottom of the standings. Drafting Suggs is a way to do that, adding a floor general and natural leader to be the focal point moving forward.
Suggs has great size for a lead guard at 6’5″, with incredible athleticism and exceptional strength. He can create his own shot off-the-dribble or driving to the rim, and he is a singularly explosive dunker. He can not only throw all of the passes but is comfortable doing so, even if his ability to read the defense perfectly still needs some development. Defensively his athleticism and drive are impactful, and he has all of the tools to be a great defender at the point of attack.
The question for the Cavaliers in drafting Suggs is simply team fit. They have effectively taken guards with their last three lottery picks; Isaac Okoro played a lot at the 3 but he is the size of a 2. Darius Garland and Collin Sexton are both offensively successful players already trying to coexist in a backcourt of two point guards. Can they really add a third?
The fit question is a reasonable one if the Cavaliers believe that Suggs is in the same tier as a player such as Evan Mobley. If they think Suggs is the best player available, they should take him without hesitation. They can decide which guard to move on from, but Suggs’ size and production as a long-term star point guard is more valuable than either Garland or Sexton and is worth building around.