The Cavs have won the top pick in the draft again. It seems like David Stern/Adam Silver hasn’t stopped apologizing to Cleveland fans for LeBron James deciding to take his talents to South Beach. Since LeBron’s departure from the Cavs in 2010, they have somehow managed to win three number one draft picks in the NBA lottery, making people wonder whether the whole thing is rigged or if the Cavs have some sort of sorcery going on that makes their teams suck so they can brag about how many number one draft picks they have won. Winning a number one draft pick in professional sports is like giving the worst guy on the team an award, and that award doesn’t really mean anything unless you make the most out of it.
As a whole, Cleveland sports teams tend to suck terribly. The Cleveland Indians won the World Series in 1954, almost 60 years ago, and since then, Cleveland sports teams have amassed a grand total of two championships amongst them. The Cavs (basketball) have zero; the Indians (baseball) have zero; and the Browns (American football) have two (1955 and 1964, but that was the pre-AFL-NFL merger era and before the Super Bowl, and therefore also technically have zero). They don’t know what winning is like, and therefore it’s really easy to feel sorry for fans of Cleveland-based sports teams.
The Cavs have somehow managed to extract six number one draft picks from the NBA, and five of them since 1985 (the NBA draft lottery era) and three of them since LeBron James left in 2010, leading people to believe that there is a conspiracy in the NBA. So what has Cleveland done with their number one draft picks? Let’s take a look.
1971: Austin Carr
Actually not a bad player, and the Cavs were actually good during his time there. 15.4 career points per game (ppg) may seem mediocre and pedestrian by today’s standards, but he played most of his career in the NBA without a three-point line (which would later be adopted in the 1979-80 season). His nickname is Mr. Cavalier, and did a lot to help the Cavs in their early years.
1986: Brad Daugherty
Cleveland traded a 6’9″ power forward/small forward who could also play center (Roy Hinson) and cash to get a draft pick that eventually became the number one draft pick in 1986. They traded a pretty decent player who could play defense, block shots, and grab a fair amount of rebounds for a future NBA star. At first, the Cavs got the better of the deal as Daugherty was averaging close to a double-double every year. Then back injuries happened, Daugherty retired, and Lenny Wilkens (probably the greatest NBA coach of all time not named Phil Jackson) left Cleveland. They stayed decent for a few more years thanks to a great coach (Mike Fratello) and smart management, and they didn’t have a top 10 draft pick.
When they started getting top 10 draft picks again, they used them on Andre Miller (great and underrated); Jamal Crawford (great sixth man, but traded to the Bulls); DeSagana Diop (typical filler center used to eat up six fouls and block an occasional shot, so below average), and Dajuan Wagner (he actually scored 100 points in a high school game and was supposed to be great but his career ended at the mere age of 23 due to injuries and ulcerative colitis). Which brings us to our next one:
2003: LeBron James
No introduction necessary. People were following him in high school so that should give you an idea on how great he was even before he played a single minute in the NBA. Probably the best NBA player right now. The only problem is Cleveland failed to put a great team around him, so he took his talents to South Beach and the rest is history.
2011: Kyrie Irving
The best draft pick this team has had in ages. He has yet to play an 82-game season but averages over 20+ ppg for his career. They need more scoring options so he can get his assists per game up. I hope they either build a team around him or he might go elsewhere to get some championship rings. I’m a big fan of Kyrie Irving and hope for the best for him.
2013: Anthony Bennett
To be fair, we can’t judge him too harshly because he’s only played one year in the NBA. People went apeshit when he had a game where he scored 15 points and 8 rebounds in his 33rd game (almost two-thirds of number one overall NBA draft picks scored in double digits in their first game). He also later got a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) but that was about it. He was probably someone’s joke pick in a very deep fantasy basketball league. 52 games, 4.2 ppg and 3 rpg were his final numbers.
2014: TBA
If they pick anyone not named Andrew Wiggins, they should fire the entire management.
Anyways, that’s all I have to say, leave your comments or whatever below.
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