2020 NBA Draft: Top 1st round options for Cleveland Cavaliers

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 10: Collin Sexton #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers drives against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on March 10, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

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MUNICH, GERMANY – MARCH 07: Deni Avdija of Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /

2. Deni Avdija, Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv

Deni Avdija is a jack-of-all-trades who figures to really help a team at the wing, granted they have time for him to reach his peak, which could come a bit sooner than his peers from the 2020 NBA Draft class. Avdija averaged 9.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assist s per game while playing a modest 21.7 minutes per game between Euroleague and Israelis BSL competitions. Those numbers certainly don’t jump off the page at you but keep in mind that Avidja is a 19-year old pro.

Avdija’s numbers are better when you look at his national team experience with Israel where he has a much bigger role on the team. Over 29 Junior competitions (U16, U18, U20) he put up 16.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. He is a capable ballhandler and though he doesn’t have great speed, Avdija is adept as using his quite large 6-foot-9 frame to shield off would-be shot-blockers and finish at the rim with finesse.

But that lack of speed will make it quite difficult for him to even get to the basket against NBA wings. Because of this, he will need to have some minutes mixed in a power forward but Avdija’s high basketball-IQ will allow him to make the player around him better, even if his personal statistics suffer as a result.

Stepping into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room, Avdija would mesh well with a young roster. He is also one of the few players in the lottery who despite having a great true shooting percentage (59.1% true shooting across 59 games in all leagues in 2019-20 season), would function well as a low-usage player on offense.

He needs to be more consistent from the 3-point and quell any concerns about his truly awful free-throw shooting (58.8% in 2019-20, albeit on an extremely limited number of attempts) but overall, appears to be a great pick for a team that could use some size on the wing and depth behind Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, and Larry Nance Jr. along the frontline.

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