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Tag Archives: Chris Grant
OH CANADA AGAIN – CAVS DRAFT ANDREW WIGGINS #1
For the second year in a row the Cleveland Cavaliers selected a Canadian born player with the first overall selection in the NBA Draft by picking Kansas small forward Andrew Wiggins. Last year’s G.M. Chris Grant shocked everybody by taking Anthony Bennett. This year the pick of Wiggins by new G.M. David Griffin does not come as a surprise. With the foot injury and surgery to Kansas center Joel Embiid, basketball executives figured Griffin would pick between Duke’s Jabari Parker and Wiggins and he did, with Wiggins being the choice.
ANDREW WIGGINS
Small Forward – 6′-8″ – 200lbs – Age – 19 – Kansas – FR.
Reach – 8’11 – Wingspan – 7’0 Max Vert – 44 inches
Season Averages:17.0 PPG-6.0 RPG-1.5 APG-44.8%FG-34.1%(3FG)- 77.5%FT
I asked Wiggins during a conference call with the Cleveland media after he was selected if the scouting reports on him not being aggressive enough on the court were fair? His response to that question was, “You won’t have to worry about that next year!”
When Wiggins was asked how good of a player he thinks he can be, he responded, “I think I can be a great player, I want to be one of the best.” He added, “That comes with hard work and dedication and sacrifice. That’s what I need to do to become the best.”
Strengths
An athletic freak! His dad played in the NBA and his mom won medals in track in the Olympics for Canada, so his DNA is scary good. When you combine his 6’8 frame, 7-foot wing span and a 44 inch vertical jump, it’s crazy what he can do athletically on the court. His coach at Kansas Bill Self said he has the quickest second jump he’s ever seen, meaning he has the ability to bounce up and down like a pogo stick on the offensive boards and beat guys to the rebound for easy put backs. His transition game is above average. Imagine him filling the lanes on a fast break, getting from one end of the floor to the other and throwing down a tomahawk dunk!
He already knows how to play defense and wants to. How many college kids can you say that about? He uses that great athletic ability on the defensive end to guard 2’s, 3’s and some 4’s. So he’s ready to contribute right away on the defensive side of the ball.
Shoots it well from the free throw line and his jump shot is good, not a great. His pull up “J’ is solid, as is his intermediate jumper and he has decent range.
Penetrates well, has a very quick first step and the alley-oop out of bounds play is tailor made for him.
High character kid and a student of the game.
Weaknesses
Must get stronger and add a few pounds to his frame.
His jump shot and his overall offensive game needs to be more consistent.
He can get lost in the shuffle out on the court at times because he needs to be more aggressive. Some teams are concerned that he’s too passive. That he doesn’t have that killer instinct or alpha dog mentality.
He needs to work on his ball handling which will allow him to attack the rim more in the half court set and make him a better passer. Going left off the dribble is a definite weakness and with his athletic ability he should finish better around the rim. But that should come when he gets stronger.
Has good form on his jumper, but it needs to be more consistent, especially from beyond the arc.
Roda Thoughts:
Reminds me of a taller version of one of the best two-way players I’ve ever seen in the NBA, Sidney Moncrief.
It looked like he was figuring things out at the end of the season for Kansas as he stepped his game up when Joel Embiid went down with a back injury as he had games of 41p-8r vs West Virginia, 30p-8r vs Oklahoma St., 22p-7r vs Iowa St. and 19p-4r versus Eastern Kentucky in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. But his final game at Kansas was a clunker. In the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament against Stanford he was held to just 4p-4r on 1 of 6 shooting from the field in a 60-57 loss to Stanford. That left some people wondering how could he disappear in the biggest game of the season? But he also showed his true character after the defeat saying, “I let a lot of people down. If I would have played better, we wouldn’t be in this situation, you know? I blame myself for this.”
He will need to become more consistent, aggressive and attack more on offense if he wants to reach that superstar level. But he has arguably the most upside/potential of anyone in this draft because of his athleticism, ability to play three positions, he already plays defense, is a hard worker, with a high basketball IQ and on top of all that is a good kid who will take well to coaching.
Wiggins is my favorite player in this draft and his coach at Kansas Bill Self told me he’s going to be a “Stud” in the NBA!
A PLAYER-BY-PLAYER BREAKDOWN OF THE CAVS ASSEMBLED BY CHRIS GRANT
Kyrie Irving – He’s an All-Star, thinks he’s a superstar, but he’s not. Soft and plays no defense.
Dion Waiters – Thinks he’s an all-star, but he’s not. Pouts and doesn’t understand and doesn’t want to play defense.
Tristan Thompson – Consistently inconsistent. Gets more shots blocked at the rim than almost any player in the NBA. 6th or 7th man at best on most teams.
Luol Deng – A pro’s pro and understands the game, but slow and old. A lot of miles on those tires.
Anderson Varejao – Hardest worker on the team and a solid player when healthy.
Anothony Bennett – If not a complete bust, one of the worst #1 overall picks in NBA history.
Jarrett Jack – Free agent bust.
Earl Clark – Stinks.
Alonzo Gee – Stinks.
Tyler Zeller – Nothing more than a back-up center at best.
C. J. Miles – An average bench player.
Mathew Dellavedova – 3rd string point guard who at least hustles and plays hard every night.
Sergey Karasev – Rookie who has some type of future in this league, but not sure what it is.
Henry Simms – D-League center.
Carrick Felix – D-League shooting guard.
ME, MYSELF AND I – LUOL DENG TRADE
With plenty of free time on my hands, I’ve been talking talking to myself more and more. Here’s the conversation I had with me, myself and I today about the Cavs acquiring Luol Deng from the Bulls for Andrew Bynum. (Thanks Terry Pluto for the idea, I just tweaked it a little bit)
Me: So Cavs G.M. Chris Grant turned Andrew Bynum into Luol Deng, that’s a pretty sweet deal for the Cavs. Nice trade C.G.!
Myself: Yes indeed, you dump a bum with bad knees for a 2-time all-star, in the prime of his career, at your biggest position of need, and better your chances of making the playoffs this year. I’d say that’s a steal!
I: Big deal, the Eastern Conference sucks other than Miami and Indiana. Making the playoffs in the East is like being the slimmest fat kid at fat camp or Earl Clark saying I’m the leading scorer amongst Cavs small forwards, it doesn’t mean diddly squat!
Me: You’re wrong, it means a lot. You can’t teach playoff experience, you have to go through it and hopefully with Deng here, guys like Kyrie, Tristan and Dion will experience that.
Myself: Plus if the Cavs make it to the playoffs and actually win a round that will send a message to the 2014 free agent class that they’re on the right track and it may result into a certain free agent wanting to return home if he sees progress in Cleveland.
I: Yeah, and if my aunt had balls, she’d be, well you know the rest. She doesn’t, and he’s not coming back because of Luol Deng or winning a first round playoff series in the putrid the East.
Me: Well if LeBron doesn’t come back, then the Cavs can just resign Deng and go after another free agent in the off season.
Myself: Plus even though they won’t be in the lottery, they’ll still have multiple draft picks to add talent.
I: But you won’t get one of the studs that will be available in this year’s draft. This is the year you WANT to be in the lottery. You WANT to have the 1st, 2nd or 3rd overall pick with such a deep draft class. Even Grant couldn’t mess up that pick. If they make the playoffs and get bounced in the first round, they’ll have screwed that up too! Right now they’re in good position for the lottery. APPBITH for one more year.
Me: You have to start winning sometime or else Kyrie is going to take his talents somewhere else.
Myself: This Deng trade shows Kyrie and all the other players how serious they are about winning, which will give the players a mental boost for the rest of the year, and who knows maybe they add another player before the February trading deadline for another shot in the arm.
I: That so called good feeling will last a week or two if they aren’t winning or if Luol and Kyrie both ignore Dion and don’t pass him the ball.
Me: I’m just happy that Chris Grant has followed through and traded in some of those chips he had on the table for a solid defensive small forward who can score. He’s a legitimate starter at that position.
Myself: Me too. This is the best player the Cavs have added outside of the draft since Lebron left and he’s an all-star the last 2 years.
I: That same all-star has an achillies injury, and it’s forced him to miss 9 games already this year. What’s to say it won’t flair up again?
Me: Yeah but if it doesn’t, we’re looking at 19 points and 7 rebounds a game and he’s an all-league defender.
Myself: Plus he’ll be a great veteran leader in a young clubhouse and a leader on the floor for Mike Brown.
I: The only reason he’s playing so hard is because it’s his contract year and he wants to get paid and he’ll take the best offer at the end of the year and more than likely someone else will offer more than the Cavs, so you basically got a 4 month rent-a-player.
Me: Yeah but if helps us make the playoffs, it will have been worth it.
Myself: Yeah, just win dammit!
I: You won’t be thinking that come draft lottery time when you could have had a shot at Jabari Parker or Julius Randle or Andrew Wiggins.
Me: I’m willing to take that chance if it means winning now.
Myself: Me too.
I: Not me.