NBA Mock Draft Lottery, Vol. 3

Another week has gone by and the Cavs are another step closer to the NBA Draft Lottery. While there’s still a very outside chance the Cavs qualify for the playoffs and avoid the lottery, it’s pretty slim.

With that said, it is difficult to see the Cavs find their way further up the tanking pecking order with Detroit, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Minnesota, and Houston all currently worse and showing no signs of getting much better prior to the end of the season. On the other side of things, the Cavs have a cushion between them and the next closest teams (Sacramento and Chicago) to make it feel as if they won’t be moving out of the No. 6 spot.

Editor’s Note: With the first six picks Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs, and Jalen Johnson are all off the board.

Editor’s Note No. 2: We did the spin immediately after the Cavs beat the Bulls on Wednesday night last week.

Chris Manning: At this point in the draft, and with these names off the board, there are hard decisions to make. It really could be an ‘eye of the beholder’ type situation for every team that picks outside of the top-five. The pre-draft process, which really hasn’t kicked off yet in earnest anyway, also could also change a lot of this and make a name at this spot obvious. But for me, right now, the name here is Moses Moody. A 6’6, 205-pound wing, Moody is young at 18 and I could see a world where the Cavs get scared off by that. But he looks like he’s going to be a good shooter and a high-end defender with upside to work with. Not unlike Isaac Okoro, this is the kind of player I think makes the most sense at this spot in the lottery. Teams need as many good wings as possible and Moody could be that. Other names I looked at strongly here: Franz Wagner and Scottie Barnes. Moody also might no-go this high — Moody is 21st on ESPN’s latest board. But I think some places and teams have him higher, so that’s the idea.

Danny Cunningham: In a draft that has a player that I think can be a perennial MVP candidate and four others that can change the course of the franchise that picks them, landing the seventh pick is sort of a bummer. Nevertheless, the Cavs still can grab someone here that can help move things along in the right direction. Chris picked Moses Moody above, and I was very tempted to make the same selection as him, but am going to go with a bit more size and select Scottie Barnes out of Florida State. Barnes is listed at 6-foot-9 and 225-pounds and adds another defensive stopped to a Cavs team that certainly needs more of them. If the Cavs are going to get the most out of this selection, they’ll have to greatly improve his outside shooting, but if that happens, he has star potential. While at Florida State he handled quite a bit of the playmaking responsibility, meaning that even if his jumper doesn’t improve much, he won’t be useless on the offensive end of the floor.