From Hoopsworld:

Anthony in Sydney, Australia:

Hey Steve, why does Cleveland select Valanciunas at No.4?

Steve Kyler:

Valanciunas is far and away the best center prospect in this 2011 NBA Draft, there really isn't anyone else even close. He is a little skinny, but at 19 he has a lot of time to add weight.

He is a great pick and roll player, very instinctual in his play.

If the Cavs take Kyrie Irving #1, Valanciunas is the perfect compliment pick.

I am normally not very high on European players, but in this case he can play for my team... I have watched about 10 to 12 of his games this year on tape and he just oozes with potential.

Joey in Illinois:
Any chance the Cavs trade Sessions for a mid 1st rounder?

Steve Kyler:

Unlikely... its possible but Cleveland is sitting on the 31, the #4, the 32nd and the 54th picks... they have enough guys from this class and plenty of young guys on their roster.

Its more likely they flip Sessions and one of those 2nds for a better veteran.

shawn in houston tx:

if Kanter and Williams are gone before the Cavs draft at 4, what would you do with the pick?

Steve Kyler:

Jonas Valanciunas... I'd take Jonas over Kanter. You guys are gonna be underwhelmed by Enes at the next level.

who would they want from Atlanta?

Please no Josh Smith!

From Wine and Gold:

Of the high pick candidates, Vesely has the highest bust potential as far as how I evaluate it. I have a high evaluation on Knight, higher than most. I've never nailed a draft in my life, nobody has ...look no further than when I had DeRozan ranked slightly ahead of Blake G from the Clippers. But, I believe at the end of the day the top four players in this draft, in order will be Irving, Knight, Valanciunas, Willaims. I see star potential in top three, and I see Williams as a 6th man of year type for contending team ..basically a Jamison in his prime. Although Irving is the best out of the gate by far, in five years we could see him behind both Knight and Valanciunas, IMHO.

If I drafted Valanciunas, I would have no problem leaving him in Europe for another season. Under the right guidance ...that might be the best place to develop him over the next 12 months.

Lull onSports Joe Lull

Any #Cavs trade talks w/ Atlanta likely surround Jamal Crawford and/or Marvin Williams w/ picks. (Speculation) Jamison could go other way

Is Jamall Crawford even possible, given that he is a FA? I didn't think you could do a sign and trade.

Only wish some of these trades could happen, adding Gay, Crawford, Williams and Irving would be beyond fantasy land.

For those interested, check out Draftexpress statistical analysis of guards. Irving blew everyone away. I hope this is the link. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Sit ... Crop-3759/

I heard Chad Ford on the radio this morning. He believes the Cavs will take Irving, who he believes has a ceiling of maybe being an All Star a couple of seasons.

When asked who will be the best player taken in this draft when you look back in 10 years, he said probably one of the European bigs, Kanter or JV( I can't wait to hear AC try to pronounce that name).

Chad Ford ...

The Cavs are also aggressively out there. As I reported in my Mock Draft 5.0, the Cavs have been heavily shopping both Baron Davis and Ramon Sessions around the league in anticipation of drafting Kyrie Irving at No. 1. You can add J.J. Hickson to that list as well, according to sources. The team is willing to package one or more of them with the fourth pick to get the No. 2 pick or a younger veteran to put on the floor with Irving.

I've been busy lately and a little out of the loop so sorry if that is old news, but that's the first I've read Baron Davis being actively shopped.

It would take a minor miracle and acquiring an even worse contract to move Baron right now. The size of his current contract, his lower level of play and the uncertainty over the new CBA are the stumbling blocks.

However, an amnesty clause in the CBA would change everything.

In NBA Draft, Brandon Knight could be the smart choice for Cavs
Kentucky player has intelligence to run offense

By Jason Lloyd
Beacon Journal sports writer


Published on Monday, Jun 20, 2011

When Cavs coach Byron Scott began installing the Princeton offense early last season, he made it clear one of the biggest keys to its success was intelligent players running the system.
It's hard to find anyone brighter than Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight, which perhaps is one of the reasons the Cavs are considering Knight with the fourth overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft.
Knight and big man Enes Kanter are both expected to work out for the Cavs today at the Cleveland Clinic Courts. It will be the team's second look at Kanter, but its first real look at Knight since the combine last month in Chicago.
Knight left Kentucky after one year with a 4.0 grade-point average, which isn't all that surprising, since he graduated from high school with a 4.3 GPA. He recalled receiving only one B in four years of high school, but that was a history class weighted as a college course, so he still wound up getting an A. He is one of the headliners in a draft class considered thin on talent, but high on character. That's important to the Cavs, who place a high value on character in all of their players.
''I had an NBA general manager tell me just the other day that in the last decade, they've never had as many positive character reports come back from players than they've had in this draft,'' ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford said. ''Kyrie Irving, Derrick Williams, Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter, Kawhi Leonard, Kemba Walker, Chris Singleton, Jimmer Fredette . . . these are all players that not only can you draft because of their talent, but you feel are going to connect with your community, do the right thing and set the right example on your team.''
Knight is considered the second-best point guard available in this draft behind Duke's Kyrie Irving. While most everyone in the NBA expects the Cavs to take Irving first overall on Thursday, the Cavs insist they haven't made up their minds yet.
Barring a trade that would net them the top two picks, the candidates for the No. 1 pick would seem to be Irving and Arizona forward Derrick Williams. If the Cavs pass on Irving and select Williams, they could come back and take Knight with the fourth pick.
Unlike Irving, Knight is not a true point guard. He is more of a ''combo'' guard who has spent the past couple of months proving to teams he can be a successful point guard in the NBA.
''A couple of teams asked me what would I consider myself, and I see myself as a point guard, not a combo guard,'' Knight said. ''That's what I went to Kentucky to learn how to do and that's what I got better at. That's what I see myself being.''
Knight followed John Wall, who spent one season as Kentucky's point guard before leaving to become the top overall pick in last season's draft. Wall is faster and more explosive, but Knight still managed to average 17.3 points and 4.2 assists while directing the Wildcats to the Final Four this year.
He began the season with a scorer's mentality, but slowly evolved into more of a facilitator.
''At the beginning of the year, when I got to the paint, I always had my eyes on the rim,'' Knight said. ''Throughout playing, I got a lot better with my decision making. I found what was open and what the defense was giving me instead of forcing certain things.''
He has taken some criticism during his tour of private workouts for refusing to go one-on-one against other guards — particularly Connecticut's Kemba Walker — but Knight has made it clear his goal is to catch Irving as the top point guard available.
''The guy I'm trying to work out against is Kyrie Irving,'' Knight told the Salt Lake Tribune last week after his workout with the Utah Jazz. That will be difficult for him to do, since Irving has refused to work out for any team but the Cavs.
The Jazz, meanwhile, are rumored to be high on Knight and could take him at No. 3 regardless of who goes first and second. Should the Jazz pass, Knight isn't expected to last past the Toronto Raptors at No. 5.
Ford hinted recently that at least a few executives around the league believe Knight could have a higher ceiling than Irving, but that he needs more work as a true point guard. Former college coach and current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla agrees and understands why Knight's agent (Arn Tellem) is limiting Knight's workouts against other top guards.
''If I were Brandon Knight, I would not work out for anybody or against anybody because he's already got people talking about him in the top five,'' Fraschilla said. ''He's not as physical as a lot of these guys. He does not go left, and he's really not a pure point guard.''
As the Cavaliers begin to rebuild the roster, they have used the Oklahoma City Thunder's ability to acquire top picks and think outside the box as the ideal model franchise.
Three years ago, Thunder General Manager Sam Presti shocked the rest of the league when he drafted Russell Westbrook out of UCLA. No one saw it coming, because Westbrook was a defensive-minded shooting guard. Now he is one of the top point guards in the Western Conference who combined with Kevin Durant to lead the Thunder to the Western Conference finals this season.
And the Thunder selected him fourth in the draft.

Sources: Cavs committed to Kyrie Irving

By Ric Bucher
ESPN The Magazine
Archive

The Cavaliers, after taking the temperature of the Timberwolves and Jazz to see if Kyrie Irving could somehow fall to No. 4 in Thursday's NBA draft, are now committed to the former Duke guard as the No. 1 pick and are fielding offers for the fourth pick, league sources said Monday.

In a perfect world for the Cavs, they would draft Irving and former Arizona forward Derrick Williams, which is why they were also interested in dealing for the second pick.

But what they found out is that getting both players would be a stretch.

In preparation for the No. 4 pick, Cleveland was bringing in Kentucky point guard Brandon Knight for a visit Monday.

And former Kentucky student Enes Kanter of Turkey, who was ruled by the NCAA to be permanently ineligible with the school, will return Monday for a second visit.

The Wolves, meanwhile, won't let Williams slip beyond No. 2 and don't plan on trading Michael Beasley or Anthony Randolph.

Ric Bucher is a senior NBA writer for ESPN The Magazine. Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz was used in this report.

Cavs must be enjoying playing with everyones' head.

Biggest event for NBA this week is Tuesday, not draft day


By Ken Berger

CBSSports.com Senior Writer

June 20, 2011

NEW YORK -- With so many eyes on the NBA Draft this week, a far more important event will unfold in a Manhattan hotel conference room Tuesday -- a meeting of the minds that goes well beyond draft-night hits or misses.

A large contingent of NBA owners, players, lawyers, negotiators, economists and others wearing far more conservative suits that you'll see on the stage on draft night in Newark, N.J., will convene for by far the most important pro basketball event this side of the NBA Finals. Commissioner David Stern has raised the stakes for this crucial collective bargaining session, saying it will be apparent by the close of business Tuesday whether enough momentum and compromise exist to complete a new CBA before the current deal expires in 10 days.

"The clock is ticking and the runway is shortening," Stern said last week after the negotiating committees for both sides met for 4½ hours and emerged with agreement on little other than the need to take one more swing at bridging the substantial gap between the two sides.

The players made a small move Friday on the cut of revenues the players would get after the owners' three-year delay of a $45 million hard-cap system with maximum contract lengths of four years and about $700 million in salary reductions. The owners responded with what they viewed as a significant concession -- offering to drop their insistence on eliminating fully guaranteed contracts. While the players were skeptical of just how important this offer was, the expectation is clear: Sources say the players will submit a new formal proposal Tuesday, and the owners are expecting it to represent enough of a shift in their position to warrant further negotiation.

That's what Stern meant when he said last week, "Tuesday is a very important day in these negotiations."

Sources say the players' most recent proposal included an offer to accept less than 50 percent of additional revenues beyond a certain point in the new CBA. For example, revenues are expected to come in at close to $3.8 billion when the books are completed on the 2010-11 season, so the players essentially proposed keeping their current 57 percent of BRI (basketball-related income) up to that threshold while giving the owners more than 50 percent on revenues beyond that. The owners have yet to move off their insistence on excluding about $900 million of revenues from the players' share and a 50-50 split after owners pocket the difference. To call such a proposal 50-50 is less than half genuine.

But whatever the players propose Tuesday will have to go beyond tinkering at the margins. Whether it's enough depends on the negotiating dynamics, but also on the staying power of a ruse that has been perpetrated on basketball fans over the past 18 months. The idea that the big debate here is between the owners, who want drastic changes that will assure 30 billionaires the chance to make a profit, and the players, who seek to protect the salaries, benefits and work rules they've collectively bargained over the past quarter-century, is as false as it is intellectually dishonest.

The real rift, in fact, is among two distinct factions of NBA ownership. It isn't so much the haves vs. the have-nots, although that's part of it. The distinction that matters in these negotiations is among owners who've been there before and those merely acting like they have.


Sources with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed to CBSSports.com what should be obvious to anyone paying attention to the squeeze owners are trying to put on players who have delivered a product growing by leaps and bounds in popularity, fan engagement and any other metric you can devise for the overall health of a sport: To this point in the talks, this hasn't been about owners vs. players, but rather owners vs. owners.
The old guard of loyal ownership that used to stand in lockstep with Stern during labor talks is largely gone: No longer can Stern count on the likes of Abe Pollin, William Davidson, Larry Miller and others to maintain labor peace so the proverbial goose can continue laying golden eggs. Out of the necessity that comes from being outnumbered, Stern has turned these negotiations over to a younger, more demanding generation of owners who've experienced life-changing losses in their core businesses, watched franchise values rise at a slower pace than ever before and are now seeking what they perceive as a birthright to profitability on the backs of the players.

The hawkish crowd that was the driving force behind the owners' initial draconian proposal -- the one that has left both sides so entrenched for so long -- is led by owners who bought their teams after the league's only work stoppage in 1998-99: Mark Cuban (Mavericks), Robert Sarver (Suns), Dan Gilbert (Cavaliers), Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics), Clay Bennett (Thunder) and Ted Leonsis (Wizards). All but Leonsis are on the owners' labor relations committee, though the late Pollin's successor has influenced the process, sources say. Leonsis also represents a minifaction of NBA owners who also own NHL teams, and thus aren't afraid of losing an entire season to a lockout. (Although, to these owners, I say, "When does the NHL season start? Oh, you mean, it happenedalready?")

These newcomers bought into a system that worked fine for them until the global financial crisis hit in 2008, causing them to reevaluate whether owning an NBA team should be a hobby or a money-making business venture. Collectively, they have driven the league's hard-line stance on reducing salaries, reining in player movement and fundamentally shifting money and power from the players to the owners as part of a 10-year labor deal that would achieve at least a 33 percent reduction in player salaries after a three-year phase-in period.

So while it might have been helpful for the players to propose something more substantive than adding another mid-level exception and awarding more draft picks to poorly performing teams, the idea that the onus is on the players to end this negotiating impasse is farcical. The onus should be on Stern to unite his two factions of owners, whose vastly different priorities and perspectives have thus far made a reasonable common ground impossible to achieve.

"Stern has been letting this cadre of owners lead the charge for months," said a person familiar with ownership dynamics. "At some point, he and the moderates will have to step up and say, 'We've tried your way for 21 months, and it hasn't worked. Now, you have to step aside and get a deal, because we're not going to damage what we've worked so hard to build.'"

Stern denied Friday that there is a rift among his owners, saying, "We don't differentiate between length of ownership." Asked if there is a difference in priorities among various factions of owners, Stern said, "No, none at all."

"There's a uniformity of view about what's needed and what's necessary for the league to operate in a way that 30 teams would have an opportunity to compete and 30 teams would have an opportunity to make a profit," Stern said. "And that has united all 30 teams."

But when Stern cleverly batted the ball into the players' court Friday, saying, "We're hoping that we will receive from them a proposal directed to the economics," it was viewed by some veterans of NBA labor wrangling as the commissioner's final gesture to the rogue owners' drastic negotiating position. If the players don't move significantly enough Tuesday, sources say, the league almost certainly will begin careening straight down the path to a lockout -- and perhaps to a changing of the guard in terms of which owners are driving the league's strategy.

The best hope for a deal -- this week, next week, next month or in September -- will come from what are described as the "moderates" among ownership -- starting with labor relations committee chairman Peter Holt (Spurs), board of governors chairman Glen Taylor (Timberwolves), Mickey Arison (Heat), Jeanie Buss (Lakers) and James Dolan (Knicks). All are members of the labor relations committee and are either loyal to Stern or protective of a system that is working for them. They sit on different sides of the big-market/small-market divide, yet fear equally the devastation that could result from a lengthy work stoppage.

Key owners who have not shown enough of their cards to be defined as members of either camp include Jerry Reinsdorf (Bulls), Herb Simon (Pacers) and Michael Jordan (Bobcats). A key figure in converting hard-line or undecided owners to the moderate camp will be Arison, who was hawkish at the start of past labor talks but eventually stood down and brought other owners on board to achieve a deal.

At that point, the debate will shift to finding a realistic middle ground that will inspire the players to give up something significant, as well as the issue that should've been addressed more heartily from the beginning: revenue sharing. Should teams like the Knicks, Lakers, Bulls and Nets (whose revenue picture improves dramatically with a move to Brooklyn) share revenues from lucrative local TV deals that in some cases exceed the total net revenues of some smaller-market counterparts? They'll be reluctant, but doing so would be better than losing hundreds of millions in revenues during a lockout. Should owners regret the missed opportunity to turn a struggling franchise, Sacramento, into a profitable one simply by letting the Maloofs move to Anaheim? Will the low-revenue teams ever trust the high-revenue teams to level the playing field -- regardless of how much the players are paid?

If it comes to this, the question will be whether the rogue owners will insist on a lockout as a last-ditch effort to implement their nirvana -- and whether Stern will let them take it that far. Some members of the league's negotiating contingent, including Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver, seem to understand how pointless and damaging it would be to follow the NFL's path -- from a lockout, to decertification, to an anti-trust lawsuit, to the federal courts and appeals courts. It's a winding, unfulfilling road that the NFL is still trying to navigate, while only now realizing the comparative merits of a negotiated deal over lawyering up.

But as far as where the onus lies Tuesday for this Game 7 of NBA labor talks? To say it is on the players is only partially fair. Yes, it would be nice to hear some new ideas from them, and to hear them from the union's oddly silent executive director, Billy Hunter, instead of from mid-level players trying to protect star-level pay for less-than-star-level resumes. But at this point, after 18 months of a bold strategy leading nowhere but in a circle, it would be productive to hear some new ideas and a realistic vision from the owners, too.

New ideas, and a new strategy, led by owners who are willing to prioritize the greater good of the cartel they willingly bought into over their own 1/30th of the pie. If we don't get a significant move from each side Tuesday, your NBA offseason will shift from the court to the courts -- at which point you will be perfectly justified to straighten your two index fingers and point one at each side.

Irving Remains Cavs' Top Choice

By: Alex Raskin Last Updated: 6/20/11 8:28 PM ET | 2690 times read


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Irving Remains Cavs' Top Choice

The Cleveland Cavaliers took a peak at Kentucky's Brandon Knight and Enes Kanter on Monday, but the team remains committed to drafting Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the first overall selection, according to a report by Ric Bucher on ESPN.com. Apparently the Cavs have considered taking Arizona forward Derrick Williams with the first overall pick in hopes that they could use their second lottery pick, the fourth overall, to take Irving. However, the team has come to fear that Irving could be chosen with the second or third selections, so general manager Chris Grant is taking the safest option available to him.

Bucher goes on to write that Cavaliers are open to trading the fourth pick (the first came from the Clippers in the Baron Davis trade, thank you reader Adam Resnick) and are also interested in obtaining the second overall selection from the Timberwolves in an effort to draft Williams.

In the likely event that Cleveland fails to acquire the No. 2 and keeps the No. 4, the obvious decision becomes Kanter or Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas. The two big men might appear similar on paper, but this actually represents a real litmus test for the franchise.

Kanter makes sense because he's bigger (20 pounds heavier) and more polished around the basket. He's not nearly the project that Valanciunas is, mostly because the Lithuanian needs to add muscle. But if the Cavaliers are patient, they'd be getting an actual pick-and-roll center in Valanciunas (scouts are raving about his timing on pick-and-rolls, which is something young centers tend to struggle with). Seeing as coach Byron Scott uses a lot of pick and rolls and Irving has professed a fondness for the play, Valanciunas might be the better long-term fit, even if he doesn't have the bulk for the NBA game quite yet.

Also, if the Cavaliers value athleticism and speed in a big man—something Cleveland power J.J. Hickson readily possesses—Valanciunas becomes an obvious choice over Kanter, who isn't considered an exceptional athlete. Some of criticism of Valanciunas is that he can become timid, but there's no question that he moves well for someone who measures 6-11, 244 pounds.

Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal has been told by "multiple sources" that Valanciunas is the favored of the two, but it's his European buyout, or lack thereof, that keeps the Cavaliers from fully committing. But if Valanciunas' current employer Lietuvos Rytas doesn't negotiate a buyout, the team risks missing out on a multi-million dollar payday. That might not be a lot of money to the Knicks or Lakers, but mid-level European teams almost need to sell their top talents as part of their business model.


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Saw some of the Duke/MSU game played earlier this season on one of the ESPN stations today.

Irving has to be the #1 pick.