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Tristan Thompson showed why he wouldn’t be easy to replace: Cleveland Cavaliers Season Review
Author: Chris Fedor
Publication: cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kevin Love said it best at one point earlier this season: There’s nothing better than Tristan Thompson in a contract year.
With free agency on the horizon and plenty to prove after a maddening 2018-19 season, Thompson stepped into an increased leadership role on a rebuilding team, showing why his true value can’t be measured simply by numbers on a stat sheet -- although those continued to rise.
In a year filled with instability and discord, another in-season coaching change and plenty of losses, Thompson was Cleveland’s rock.
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By the Numbers: Kevin Porter Jr.
Author: Joe Gabriele
Publication: Cavs.com
Enjoy some diggable digits that break down the impressive rookie season of Kevin Porter Jr.
3 … Cavaliers rookies in team history to have posted an outing of at least 30 points, eight boards and three steals – Ron Harper, LeBron James (twice) and Kevin Porter Jr.
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Vecenie: 2020 NBA Mock Draft, Version 6.0 — Three months from Draft Day
Author: Sam Vecenie
Publication: The Athletic
The newest 2020 NBA Mock Draft is here, and we’re now finally within about three months of the event itself after it was delayed from its previous date of June 25. The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on Aug. 25, and the draft itself will be held on Oct. 16. What does that mean for how teams are attacking this pre-draft process in mid-July?
Well, even though we’re past the original draft date by three weeks, it’s important to remember that we’re still extremely early in the process by normal standards. If this were a typical draft cycle, our being three months out from the draft means that we’d be in the middle of the Sweet 16/Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. We wouldn’t even have a full draft pool yet, as not all players would have made their initial early entry decisions. The scouting cycle would have started long ago, but the pre-draft process would just be a couple of weeks old.
So how are teams using this extra time? As a general statement, teams — especially those who knew they weren’t playing in the postseason — certainly used the early days of the season suspension to dive a bit deeper into draft prospects’ tape from more areas of the organization. Some coaches got involved at a level they typically don’t in March, as did a few higher-level executives who usually are just getting into getting initial looks at prospects after the trade deadline has passed. Teams then moved into a heavy round of interviewing prospects, with quite a few prospects speaking with over 20 teams on Zoom calls. Most of those calls involved getting to know the prospects involved personally. Some gave a modified version of a basketball aptitude test, while others asked players to draw up or break down plays.
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