Dan Gilbert’s Drafting Isn’t Going As Planned

Since James left Cleveland, the Cavaliers record is 69-180. There was optimism heading into this season with the return as Mike Brown as the Cavaliers head coach to work with this young nucleus, but the script hasn’t played out in the way that Gilbert or anyone affiliated with the Cavs organization would have liked it.

The Cavaliers were expected by many to be a dark horse for the NBA Playoffs, but they have stumbled out of the gate with a record of 5-12 and the young nucleus of Irving, Waiters, and Bennett have not been able to gel together and they may never have the opportunity. Last week according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Waiters has grown tired of the “buddy ball” between Irving and Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson. Waiters also feels that Irving is given preferential treatment from the Cavaliers organization. Now, Waiters is coming off of the bench for the Cavaliers. For the season Waiters is averaging 14.7 points per game while Irving has averaged 20.6 points and 5.9 assists per game. Bennett was the “shocking” first overall pick of last summer’s NBA Draft and he has only averaged 2.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in just 11.4 minutes per game this season which has turned out to be a waste of a pick so far.

The riff between Waiters and Irving is simple; you have two players that are each 21-years of age and they each want to be “the guy” in Cleveland. With the exception of point guard Jarrett Jack and center Anderson Varejao, the Cavaliers currently do not have a player currently on their roster over the age of 30 as they have one of the youngest teams in the NBA. Gilbert and Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant brought Brown back in the hopes of returning Cleveland the postseason for the first time since 2010 which was his last season as the team’s head coach. In 2010, Brown was fired by Gilbert after not always seeing eye to eye with James as the Cavs were attempting to appease him (James) in the hopes that he wouldn’t take his talents to another NBA city like he ultimately did. If Brown couldn’t control the Cavaliers locker room then, how can he do it now with the infighting that is currently going on with the youngsters in Cleveland?

Gilbert and the Cavaliers see Irving as their building block of the future which could make Waiters expendable if cooler heads don’t prevail in Cleveland. To me at this stage of his basketball career, Irving has not always come across as a “team” player. During his one collegiate season at Duke, Irving only appeared in 11 games that season as he was limited after suffering a foot injury. The speculation went on for weeks as to when and if Irving would return to the lineup. After being out of the lineup since December 2010, Irving returned to play for Duke in time for the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The tournament was just another stage for Irving to showcase his talents which led him to being the top pick of the NBA Draft in 2011. 

In his two years at Syracuse University, Waiters never started, but in his last season he averaged 12.6 points per game coming off of the bench in helping the ‘Cuse reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2012. Waiters would go on to be selected as the 2012 Big East Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year.

Both players want to be the guy, but to me Irving seems to be the guy that wants to make it more about him. Cleveland is one of the smaller markets in the NBA and Gilbert knows that it is not high on the list of potential landing spots for big-time free agents. Irving is under contract with the Cavaliers until 2015, but can we honestly believe that he won’t bolt town like James did several years ago? Gilbert is hoping that this isn’t the case and will do everything to keep Irving happy which means that Waiters could be gone soon. 

The New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Philadelphia 76ers are all teams that could be potential landing spots for Waiters. The Sixers make the most sense for Waiters as he is a native of Philadelphia and he would team with 76ers rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams who was his college teammate at Syracuse. The Cavaliers could potentially get swingman Evan Turner from the Sixers in exchange for Waiters, but Turner is in the last year of his rookie deal and it isn’t a guarantee that he would choose to stay in Cleveland long term. The Bulls are a long shot due to the fact that they play in the same division with the Bulls. The Knicks have infighting of their own, but Knicks general manager Steve Mills could still look to make some moves towards getting his team younger and teaming Waiters with another former Syracuse product in Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.

Having picks early in the NBA Draft is one thing, but you must know how to use them. Gilbert has questioned the free agency process in the NBA before and he has been rewarded in the draft “lottery”. Now he has the players that can’t get along and once again he has egg on his face. I guess that Gilbert’s next step will be to ask NBA commissioner David Stern for a mulligan with a chance to have another crack at drafting talent that will appease Irving.