Thoughts On Cavs And The WNBA Draft

Donovan Mitchell lead me to the promised land (a playoff series win)

There are two basketball topics I want to discuss with you today. They aren’t related, besides that they both are exciting to me. Surely that will make for a fun reading experience for you!

The Playoff-Bound Cleveland Cavaliers

For the first time since I was less than a year old, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the playoffs without the greatest player of all-time, LeBron James, on their roster. It’s a caveat a lot of people have made already, and I don’t mean to make it as any form of discrediting to those nine playoff runs.

Getting to the playoffs with LeBron was obviously delightful, but it was different than this. Those playoff runs, specifically when LeBron returned in 2014-15, had so much pressure and expectation on them. And, sure enough, LeBron James led the Cavs to four straight finals before heading to Los Angeles.

Going in with the expectation of making the NBA Finals has its own joys, but for the first time as not a child, my hometown basketball team is going in with a little more house money than full-blown burden, and I’m so excited for it.

Last season, the Cavs came oh so close to breaking this streak, earning 44 wins with a rag-tag team of young players that no one expected anything from. But injuries slowed the momentum, and close losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks eliminated them in the play-in.

But the Cavs did the right thing to make sure this wouldn’t happen again in the offseason. The majority of the key pieces returned, and with them came Donovan Mitchell, a true superstar with playoff experience who is still, as of writing this, just 26 years old. The perfect combination of youth and wisdom to fit the identity and get Cleveland over a potential hump.

And here we are: 51 wins, a No. 4 seed in the East, playoffs at last. This Cavaliers team has the top defensive rating and No. 2 net rating in the NBA. It has Mitchell, who is averaging 28.3 PPG and has a real shot at First-Team All-NBA. It has Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, three young stars that continue to blossom, especially Mobley, who is among the very best defenders in the league at the age of 21. If you can’t tell, this team gets me very excited.

This team will have home-court advantage against the New York Knicks, another up-and-coming team that has really hit its stride thanks to the acquisition of Jalen Brunson. Like the Cavs, the Knicks are a mostly young core without significant playoff experience under their belt, and it should make for an extremely fun series.

The Knicks won 3 of 4 against Cleveland this season, but they may be without Julius Randle, who has been dealing with an ankle injury. At the least, it’s likely Randle won’t be 100 percent.

While the Cavs thrive defensively, New York’s a top-three offensive team that is very strong on the boards. That rebound battle will be significant in a series that could come down to marginal wins.

I think the Cavs have what it takes to defeat the Knicks, but I’m going in with the mentality that nothing from here can make this season a disappointment. But man, I’d sure love a playoff series victory.

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WNBA Draft Takeaways

The WNBA Draft took place on Monday, and in typical WNBA Draft fashion, there were plenty of surprises within the 36 selections. Here are some rapid fire thoughts I had from the picks, the draft itself and anything else that came to mind.

• I’ll let the Atlanta Dream fan in me start: I really liked the Dream’s draft. Haley Jones at 6 is great value, and a safe pick that allows the riskier, but higher-ceiling Laeticia Amihere pick at 8 to work. Also, snagging Leigha Brown at 15 is great, and gives the Dream another point guard option. I wish they added a shooter, but trading for Allisha Gray will help in that regard.

• Now for the Hoopla in me: Six Big Ten players were selected, including three in the first round. Diamond Miller at 2 was a given, Grace Berger to the in-state Fever at 7 was awesome to see, but Abby Meyers at 11 to the Dallas Wings was a welcomed curveball. I think Taylor Mikesell to the Fever in the second round will prove to be a steal.

• A few Big Ten hopefuls were left out of the 36 picks, but Emily Kiser was the clear snub of the bunch. Kiser’s astronomical rise these past two years deserved a selection: She is an excellent interior defender, rebounder and has improved her scoring significantly. She also hit 35 percent of her threes this season. Someone really should give her a chance with a training camp spot.

• Besides the obvious winners with the Fever getting Aliyah Boston, I really like what the Minnesota Lynx did in this draft. Miller is a star, but adding Dorka Juhasz and Brea Beal in the second round, as well as Taylor Soule in the third, was excellent, excellent value. Maia Hirsch was also a good get, and could prove to be a valuable stash player while some of these later round selections get a chance.

• The Dallas Wings added so many players, all of which are strong shooters, and while I like a lot of these choices individually, I do not understand what they are cooking. Also, to lose your first round pick in a potentially ungodly 2025 draft for it? I don’t know man. They better hold on to a lot of these players, or I won’t understand this at all.

• The WNBA Draft was fun because of the players involved, but the setup of it all is not helping. Squeezing it into two hours is unnecessary. Forcing Holly Rowe to do awkward standup to start the show, especially with no audience behind her, is brutal. Showing picks during commercial breaks when there are only 36 to get through is just cruel. Make the show three hours, allow for more analysis and for each pick to get its moment and get an audience in there for the draft itself. It doesn’t feel very hard to do any of these things.

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