The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie has the Cleveland Cavaliers selecting the 22-year old forward from Dayton with the fifth pick in the draft.
Obi Toppin to the Cavs? It may be a possibility. In Sam Vecenie’s latest mock draft he has Cleveland selecting the sophomore out of Dayton with the fifth overall pick.
Vecenie mentions that adding Toppin to the Cavs would be a boost offensively as a combination of Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Andre Drummond. There are concerns that are also noted, those being defensive. While Toppin helps the team offensively, defensively it does not help and that’s a problem for Cleveland. The Cavaliers have not been good defensively for some time now and at some point that needs to change, even with the league not placing a premium on defense anymore.
Selecting Obi Toppin at five would fall under taking the best available player style of team building, a strategy that Vecenie does not necessarily agree with. However the Cavs are a team currently right in the middle on the competitive spectrum. Not good enough to contend and not bad enough to tank. The uncertain future Kevin Love in Cleveland only complicates matters. Until the Cavs are fully on one end of the spectrum taking BPA is really the only way to go. Eventually things will work themselves out one way or the other and until then they should just collect talent.
