LaMelo Ball Should Be The Top 2020 NBA Draft Prospect For The Cavaliers

There soon may be an end in sight for the NBA’s hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing is set in stone yet, but, the NBA is hopeful to return to play without fans at Walt Disney World this July, per league sources. According to those same sources, all 30 teams will play a select handful of games before the NBA playoffs begin. For teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are all but eliminated from playoff contention, they’ll go to Disney World without winning the Super Bowl and then see their season come to an end.

That means that the organization is already deep into preparation for the 2020 NBA Draft. Cleveland, who is currently tied for the best possible odds for the first-overall pick, faces a bit of a dilemma. Normally, having a top pick in the NBA Draft is an opportunity for a team to select a franchise-altering caliber talent. But, this 2020 group has plenty of flaws at the top and is considered as weak as the infamous 2000 NBA Draft class. To make matters worse the way the Cavaliers are currently constructed makes it hard to map nearly any top prospect cleanly to their roster. Granted, Cleveland is a team starving for talent and shouldn’t be too picky but, you also don’t want to stunt the development of the rebuild as well.

Out of the top players available, there are two prospects that make sense for the Cavaliers and both the team are taking a long look at, per sources. One is Southern California big man Onyeka Okongwu, who has drawn comparisons to Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo and would be a safe pick for Cleveland. But, the one that makes even more sense and should be Cleveland’s no. 1 target is NBL point guard LaMelo Ball. At first, it seems like sheer lunacy for the Cavaliers to be selecting their third point guard in three years through the draft. But, the potential Ball brings to the table trumps those notions. Ball’s greatest strength is playmaking, averaging 6.8 per game in NBL play, showcasing an elite handle and an ability to pass at all three levels.

Playmaking is also something the Cavaliers are sorely lacking at the moment. Collin Sexton, who Cleveland selected eighth-overall in 2018, has struggled throughout his career setting up his teammates. Darius Garland, who the Cavaliers picked fifth-overall in 2019, meanwhile, has shown potential as a playmaker but is still not a certain thing. In comes Ball, who would finally give Cleveland a maestro to operate and unlock their offense and cover up some of the deficiencies of both Sexton and Garland.

Granted, this still doesn’t change the fact that Ball would be joining a fairly crowded point guard rotation already established in Cleveland. This season, the Cavaliers experimented with playing Sexton and Garland in tandem, trying to mirror something similar to what Portland does with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. In short, it was a disaster defensively as both Sexton and Garland are undersized at 6’1” individually. It also became evident that the more they played together there was serious positional overlap between the two.

Ball, meanwhile, is 6’7” and has shown potential as a defender during NBL play, averaging 1.8 steals per game. That average is encouraging and is usually a good indicator of solid defensive ability at the highest level. With that in mind, Cleveland could easily plug in Ball as their starting lead guard and then start either Sexton or Garland, who are both solid off the ball, beside him. If the Cavaliers wanted to get really funky with it, they could also play Ball as a point forward in situations with Sexton and Garland alongside him.

It seems Sexton and Garland would actually compliment Ball beautifully and act as secondary playmakers alongside him. But, as mentioned before, Ball would also further unlock Cleveland’s offense by being able to create for the Cavaliers stable of big men as well. Andre Drummond, who plans to accept his $28.7 player option per league sources, would work beautifully as both a pick and roll partner and a lob threat for Ball. Ditto for forward Larry Nance Jr. who is also a solid lob option for Cleveland as well.

Not only does Ball make sense for the Cavaliers on the court but he does off the court as well. Ever since LeBron James left town for a second time, they’ve been in search of a player to market and use to boost jersey and ticket revenue. Cleveland had a chance in the Zion Williamson sweepstakes last year but ended up with Garland after some unfortunate lottery luck. Ball would be a player that would bring comparable attention to the table. The entry point for Ball’s fame does begin with his family, mostly thanks to his belligerent and loudmouth father LaVar Ball. But, with how flashy and dynamic a player Ball is, it makes him even easier to help put butts in the seats at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

There are concerns that come with Cleveland selecting Ball in the 2020 NBA Draft. His aforementioned father as well as concerns about his sometimes lackadaisical nature can give teams pause. But, as mentioned before, all top prospects in this year’s class have their own lumps individually as well. Thankfully, Ball’s potential makes it easier for teams to stomach taking him with a top selection, Cleveland included. If the opportunity is there, selecting Ball is one of the best decisions the Cavaliers can make in the 2020 NBA Draft.