High Ceiling Guard Could Be a Perfect Draft Pick for the Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have some decisions to make with their first-round pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which is currently at No 29.

For a variety of reasons, the Cavaliers should be focused on selecting a player who has the potential to be a long-term contributor for the franchise, even if that means they don’t crack the rotation next season. 

When thinking about what the Cavaliers should be seeking with this pick, there is one player who stands out as being the perfect draft target for Cleveland: Arizona Razorbacks guard Meleek Thomas.

Thomas just wrapped up his freshman season with Arizona and put together a pretty impressive campaign. He is the perfect example of a player who has high upside, even if he isn’t quite NBA-ready just yet.

The guard averaged 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, while shooting 43 percent from the floor and 41 percent from behind the arc. Thomas also has an extremely quick jump shot, which should translate well to the NBA level.

In the event that the Cavaliers can draft Thomas, and they do move on from some of their current backcourt players, such as Dennis Schroder or Craig Porter Jr., to save money, Thomas would also provide some depth at the guard position. 

That said, at 19-years old, Thomas is far from a finished product, but that’s more than okay for this iteration of the Cavaliers team. 

The biggest area where Thomas must work on, whether it’s with the Cavaliers or another team, is his control. The guard can tend to play, what appears to be, out of control at times. He averaged only 1.0 turnover per game in college, but at the NBA level, his fast-paced play could be exploited by bigger, more physical defenders.

That’s something the Cavaliers can certainly work with him on, though. 

There even seems to be a growing consensus that the Cavaliers and Thomas could be a perfect match on draft night. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein even project the guard to end up in the Wine and Gold in their recent mock drafts. 

As the draft gets closer, it’ll be interesting to see where Thomas continues to fall in mock drafts and if the Cavaliers hold an official workout with one of the players with the most potential in the draft. 

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