Please Cavs, Do the Right Thing. Don't Waste #1 Pick on Irving

After a dismal 19 win season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a chance to rebuilding itself into a contender once again. They hold in their hand not just one but two lottery picks, both in the top five. As if attaining the fourth pick in this year’s NBA draft was not good enough, the Cavs also got the first pick in the NBA draft thanks to the Los Angeles Clippers. With the draft in a little over a week away, Cleveland will determine the pace of their post-Lebron James future. Hopefully the Cavs won’t make a fatal mistake and pick someone that spent most of college career on the injured list.

For months since the NCAA Tournament, Duke University’s Kyrie Irving has been the name coming out of everybody’s lips. When he declared for this year’s draft after spending most of the season sidelined due to a ham string injury, it raised quite a few eyebrows. What was even more shocking was that despite his limited playing time, Irving was considered by so called "experts" as the consensus number one pick. Does this not seem the slightest bit strange to you? Here’s a guy that had only played eleven games in his entire college career whom many should consider a relative unknown and he’s getting the nod for being the top player in the draft. It does not make any sense.

Granted, from an outside observer’s standpoint, the talent pool in this year’s draft is rather shallow; however, is the depth that thin for a team to mortgage its future on a player that has little or no playing experience? Sure, he seemed quite impressive in the eleven games he played posted solid numbers of 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 4.3 assists per game. He even played shockingly well in the NCAA tournament coming back from his injury (17.7 ppg whilst shooting .518 from the field). But Irving still played just eleven games and with a draft that is loaded to the brim with guards, can anyone really claim that he sets himself apart from the rest of the pack. (Click to finish reading this post and more from JT's Hoops Blog)