Jameer Nelson would be a quality backup to Jeff McInnis.

The Wine and Gold have already welcomed Oregon forward Luke Jackson, Utah two-guard Nick Jacobson, seven-footer Predrag Samardziski from Serbia & Montenegro, Croation forward Damir Omerhodzic, UConn point guard Ben Gordon, Brazilian point guard Marcelo Huertas and Sebastian Telfair, prep point guard from Brooklyn, NY.

On June 2, Paul and Stephen Silas, along with Jim Paxson and a pair of Cavaliers scouts took a look at five college players – Stanford swingman Josh Childress, Xavier point guard Lionel Chalmers, Duke guard Chris Duhon, St. Joe’s point man Jameer Nelson, Nevada guard Kirk Snyder -- and one high school kid, J.R. Smith, a 6-5 shooting guard from Newark, N.J.

The biggest name to work out in Cleveland was also the smallest in stature. Measuring barely six feet, the muscular Jameer Nelson was widely regarded as the best point guard in college hoops last season. Nelson fills two of the Cavaliers’ biggest voids: point guard and perimeter shooting.

“I think everybody knows I'm not going to grow any more,” Nelson quipped. “So I have to find ways to X-out my height difference by being stronger and quicker than people.”

Nelson also realizes that the Cavaliers are happy with their starting point guard, but are in the market for a backup.

“I would love to play behind Jeff McInnis,” said Nelson. “He's a great guard and definitely someone I could learn from. A lot of teams don't have a quality backup point guard and hopefully I can be out here in Cleveland backing up Jeff.”

Nelson has been touring the tryout circuit and Cleveland was his sixth stop. (“I’m living at the airport.”)

Most of the players who have tried out for the Cavaliers are understandably excited about the prospect of playing in one of the league’s burgeoning markets and alongside one of the Association’s biggest stars, LeBron James.

High school prodigy, J.R. Smith, went one step further, saying, “The last two Rookies of the Year (James and Phoenix’ Amare Stoudemire) were high school players, so I just want to show what the rest of us have.”

Smith, known in Jersey prep circles as a kid with unlimited potential and a sweet shooting stroke, was pleased with his workout.

“I realize this is a job interview so I just went out there full-steam, no holding back,” said the 6-5 shooting guard. “It was a lot of fun, real competitive. But I'm enjoying it.”

The player with perhaps the best chance of winding up in the Wine and Gold was Stanford guard Josh Childress. The slim swingman is listed at 6-8 (6-10 with the afro, to quote Fletch) and can play either guard position. Childress is also deadly from the perimeter and helped Stanford claim a one-seed in this year’s NCAA Tourney. His experience as a three-year starter also makes him very attractive to the Cavaliers, whose playoff window seems to be opening now.

“I hope teams realize that guys like us will be able to come in and contribute right away; sort of hit the ground running,” said Childress. “Some of these high school guys might struggle a little more with the pace of the game. It's a difference in athleticism and talent, but a player's a player and when it comes down to it's 94x50 and a ten-foot hoop so you just have to go out there and show what you can do.”

Childress would welcome an opportunity to play for the upcoming Cavaliers. “Cavaliers are very attractive. They're starting a new tradition here and I think my presence could translate to wins.”

With only one more private workout scheduled before the NBA Draft (Oak Hill Academy’s Josh Smith on June 17), the Cavaliers will look to the Pre-Draft Camp at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to gauge their choice for June 24.

After taking it easy last year, this year’s Draft will be a little more complicated for the Cavaliers. There are countless directions that Cleveland can go and they have less than three weeks to get there.