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Cleveland Cavaliers' Lottery Picks: Two out of Three Ain't Bad

With three top four picks in the past two years, has Chris Grant done a good enough job selecting players for the Cavaliers?

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Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

Whether most Cavaliers fans want to admit it or not, the obvious thing staring them in the face is that Tristan Thompson flat out is a role player and nothing close to the star you hope he'll become.

I'm not really going to spend much time bashing the guy but the guy simply doesn't seem to have the skills and talent yet to show projections into a top level NBA player. I imagine he'll play a long time in the league and have an average career (which actually is somewhat solid for a player picked fourth).

All of us Cavaliers fans are greedy though and want Tristan to become that Kyrie type force down in the paint. Don't bet on it happening.

On the other side though one of the other two players selected highly by Grant is about as slam dunk of a superstar pick as there can be just past one year since his NBA Debut.

Uncle Drew has blossomed into the most promising point guard in the NBA.

Ricky Rubio (hahaha), Brandon Jennings, Kemba Walker, John Wall and the rest of the not-quite-yet-established NBA point guards will forever be in Kyrie's Shadow.

Irving has blasted out of the start this season to average 24 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists per game to go along with his countless clutch late jumpers and difficult drives to the hoop.

Does it get any better than this for our second year hero?

Wait, did I just link to twitter.com? Wow, things are starting to get weird..

No need to gush any longer, we'll be doing that for many years to come.

As up and down as many of us have been with Dion Waiters it's becoming clear that the guy has so much confidence in himself and genuinely thinks he can step up and take over games even with our leader out there on the court too. It's important not to underestimate how much growth from Dion means to this team.

This is flat out Kyrie Irving's team. (I love you, but sorry Andy). But the big thing is can't just be Uncle Drew's team. The young back court can transform a franchise and their destiny is right in front of us.

While both Waiters and Irving could stand to do a bit more than just score it's incredibly exciting to think of what the can become.

Hopefully one or both of them can become average or better on defense. I have little doubt that they'll both be better than most at shooting the ball from the outside. Kyrie has already shown that he is one of the craziest finishers in the whole league and he does it with both hands. It shouldn't be long before Dion is becoming a stalwart at penetrating and developing an all around offensive game.

It's not a shame that Chris Grant grabbed one superstar, one potential star and an average player with those draft picks. Just think about where this team would be if Derrick Williams had been that number one pick.. Yuck. Of course that wasn't at all close to happening but the point is you've got to give Grant a bunch of credit for snagging some guys who form the most talented and promising young core in the Eastern Conference.

Don't get me wrong, there is still much to do with this roster, and getting a 17 and 10 big man, is priority 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.., but this roster is at least going somewhere thanks to the keen eye of the Front Office.

I can think of a good solid 10 rosters in the Eastern Conference which flat out aren't heading where this Cavs team is going. We're definitely starting to see the pieces falling into place of a team that's going to give us plenty of winter's of joy while so many other franchises search for their own Kyrie and Co.

(Wait, did I just write this after this? Oh well. I still believe in it. I hope you find that faith and dive in to Cavs-Warriors Wednesday evening .)