The two players that were most often mentioned as realistic possibilities were both available with the Cavaliers selection with Kansas senior Ochai Agbaji and Ohio State freshman Malaki Branham there for the picking.
I don't watch nearly the amount of college basketball as I once did, so I relied on a few videos and the recommendations of others to form an opinion of who I was hoping to see Cleveland add and I could see reasons to add either of the two players.
Agbaji played four seasons for Kansas and was the Big 12 player of the year when he led the Jayhawks to the national title averaging 18.8 points per game, shooting 47.5 from the floor and forty percent from three-point range.
Branham averaged thirteen points a game, shot almost fifty percent, and was playing extremely well at the end of the season for Ohio State.
Agbaji is the better shooter, has the higher floor of the two players, and is expected to contribute faster, while Branham may have the chance to be the better player long-term, he may also have a higher chance of busting.
I would have been okay with either player but I also would have wondered a bit about either and after Cleveland selected Ochai Agbaji, I wondered even more.
The 6'5 Agbaji certainly has the shooting range and I think at worst, he will be a player that can knock down the open shot but I am not sure how he will do at creating his shot and not being the focus of the offense as he was at Kansas.
Agbaji improved in each of his four years at Kansas and that is another problem in today's NBA players that stay the full four years at college tend to be more mature and ready to play than younger players but they also don't make the improvements from year to year that younger players do.
In other words, the player that shows up as a rookie is pretty much what you will see for the rest of their career.
What I also found interesting were the comments by Koby Altman that the team sees Agbaji as a "2", not a "3" (shooting guard more than a small forward) and that's interesting because that's the position that the returning Collin Sexton, Caris LeVert, for a chunk of last season Isaac Okoro plays.
If Cleveland sees Agbaji as a 3, perhaps something more could be about to happen with the roster as I just don't see enough minutes for all four of those players to be pleased.
Collin Sexton is still a restricted free agent and I suppose the team could allow him to leave or work out a trade, LeVert has one season remaining on his contract, and Okoro has been inconsistent offensively, so there is some room for movement.
The Cavaliers biggest need was and is at wing/three/small forward and I'm not sure that Agbaji changes anything there other than adding some outside shooting, which they also need.
Still, I think Agabaji has a chance to be a nice player if not an impactful one and I still think that situation seems a bit crowded and could see a shakeup before the season.
Cleveland has been rumored to be one of the teams mentioned to be in talks with the San Antonio Spurs for Dejounte Murray, who would be a major addition of course but I'm not sure that the Cavaliers have what the Spurs are looking for in a package for Murray, especially if the Atlanta Hawks are offering John Collins as is also rumored.
Cleveland bought the Sacramento Kings second rounder before the draft for 1.75 million and the rights to Euro Sasha Venzenko, who will likely never play in the NBA, to give them three second-rounders, and to my surprise, the team actually used all of those choices and I'll be giving them a look tonight or over the weekend.
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