Draft Day is Almost Here

We're two days away from the 2008 NBA Draft and with the Tribe off last night, I want to focus my attention on improving the Cavaliers. I'm excited since this is our first first-round pick since 2006 and the Shannon Brown Experiment. Actually, the first round hasn't been very kind to the Cavaliers over the years - take a look for yourself. The last decade, aside from Andre Miller and the King himself have been notably painful. But then again, Jim Paxson was prominently involved in most of that, so hopefully we are onto greener pastures with Mr. Ferry heading things up.

This draft is of particular importance to the long-term and short-term future of this franchise. Ideally you'd like someone that can step in and help right away since the team is so close and LBJ will be deciding on his own future in two short seasons. For that reason alone I do NOT want to take on another project. So my short list includes the following players I think can immediately help this team get to the next level. Keep in mind, I am no expert and these are solely my own opinions. And I do realize that in order to get some of these players we would obviously have to work our way up via trade:

• Russell Westbrook, PG, UCLA - He would finally give us a 'true' PG and wouldn't be overwhelmed stepping in and starting for this team right away.
• Brandon Rush, SG, Kansas - I got to see him play in person in the NCAA tourney in Detroit in March and I love his game. He would be a great scoring threat next to LBJ.
• D.J. Augustin, PG, Texas - Again, a 'true' PG and he's used to the limelight coming from a school with big expectations in a great conference.
• Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, Memphis - A great scorer and big-bodied SG that would also give us another scoring threat from the perimeter.

I'm sure there are others who would help but I think these four are safe bets. I would be happy to walk away with any of them. And yes, I'm staying away from soft Euros and white guys. Sorry but those are the rules I play by. I've also heard some talk of the Cavs getting back into the 2nd round for another pick. Hopefully that is the case because they've uncovered some gems there in the past (Carlos Loozer and Daniel Gibson immediately come to mind).

For fun, here is ESPN's latest mock draft. I always enjoy going back to these after the fact to see how wrong all the 'experts' are. And here's a quick draft blurb from today's PD, with a quote from Ferry. I didn't expect him to really tell us anything.

Will we find LeBron's Pippen on Thursday night?

Tribe Update: More talk about CC's future and a look at past deadline deals from the PD today. And it looks like Jensen Lewis and Asdrubal Cabrera (.408 BA) are finding themselves in Buffalo. This is good news to me for two reasons: 1) our bullpen is awful and 2) I honestly don't know how much longer I can watch Jhonny Peralta play shortstop.

Browns Update: Not really an update, just me wasting some time at work reviewing some great highlights from 2007. If this, this, and especially this don't get you excited for 2008, well, you suck.