Danny Ferry please don't be a moron on draft night

With the Indians sucking and the Browns a couple of months from starting I guess there is only one thing to talk about this week in the world of Cleveland sports. The NBA draft. This draft hopes to be one of the most talent rich and interesting drafts in a recent years. (probably since 2003) Anyway there is a lot of speculation about what the Cavs will do with the 19th pick

But for starters could someone please tell me exactly when and how Kosta Koufos became such a a heavily sought after player in the NBA draft . I remember laughing at him when he declared for the draft this year. I didn't think he was ready but apparently I was wrong. A lot of mock drafts have Golden State picking him at 14. And even scarier a lot of drafts have him falling to the Cavs at 19... As a Cavs fan, I pray that doesn't happen.

Koufus struggled to perform well against some of the weaker teams in the Big Ten, which is not a conference powerhouse in basketball. So how is he going to do in the NBA. Just look at his game by game log from last year. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=36133
Sure he had some games where he put up good numbers. But he had a lot of games where he completely disappeared. 8 points against Coppin State? Really? He seemed very soft inside and I can't remember how many times I watched him weakly go up and miss layups and dunks. Yes dunks. Also correct me if I'm wrong but I though his specialty was supposed to be perimeter shooting. Well he shot 34.9% from the very short college 3 point line. I wonder how he'll do moving back a few feet for a 3 in the pros. More disturbingly, he shot 68% from the free throw line. Just what the Cavs need another player who can't shoot. From watching him play at OSU last year I remember a very weak big man who shied away from physical play in the paint. Greg Oden he is most definitely not. So again why is he a projected mid first rounder?

Well apparently scouts and Gms (including Danny Ferry) have fallen in love with Koufus after his work outs. So while he may not have been that great of a college player he has great workouts. Awesome... You know who Koufus reminds me of. Nickoloz Tskitishvili. That's right former 5th overall pick to the Nuggets back in 2002. Tskitishvili was a 7 foot foreign. Like Koufus he was known for his range as a big man and was supposed to have a lot of "upside". He also, like Koufus, put on some damn good pre draft work outs. Well after being taken 5th overall good old Niko bounced around several different teams over 3 years averaging a whopping 3.0 points and 1.8 reb for his career.

Sorry if my comparison scared anyone. I hope I'm wrong if the Cavs do take Kosta. Part of me is kind of rooting for us to take Koufus just so him and Z can have "Who is the most goofy-akward-foreign-white-big-guy competitions" at practices. I would pay money to watch that. But the sensible part of me is rooting whole heartily for the Warriors to take Koufus ahead of the Cavs so Danny Ferry doesn't even have to think about taking him.

So by now you may be asking yourself who I think the Cavs should take? My answer is no one. I think we should try to trade the pick along with some other players to try to get a proven veteran who can make an immediate impact. That is what the Cavs need most right now. A player who can make an impact right now. The disaster scenario of Lebron leaving is only two years away. We need to get better right now! At 19th in the draft there's no way the Cavs will find an impact player who can make big contributions next year. So the argument that Koufus has upside doesn't fly with me. I still say he's gonna suck but for sake of argument let's say he turns out to be a pretty good player in 3 years. Well if he becomes a good player in 3 years and Lebron leaves in the mean time we are screwed and Koufus will surely not be able to carry a Lebronless Cavs. So again the Cavs need a player who can make an immediate impact and help us win. Trade the draft pick. Or at least try our best too. I'm still holding delusional hope that we will some how trade our pick and some other players to get Micheal Redd or Baron Davis. Yea I know I'm an idiot but my fingers are still crossed.

Knowing the Cavs the most likely scenario is that we don't make any big trades and we do take a player with the 19th pick. So if that happens I think we should take Roy Hibbert from Georgetown. We need another center since Z can't have too much longer left and after him I guess the next center on the depth chart is...umm... Ben Wallace... Gross! Hibbert is a rare player who actually went to college for all four years. Not only does he fill a need we have at center but he also is very experienced. I think out of all the players we could draft at 19 he could have the biggest immediate impact. Hibbert is a center who actually plays like a center. Crazy huh? Unlike Koufus he does like to play with his back to the basket and work the paint. He is developing a nice little hook shot and I think he could play a solid back up to Z. Who knows though he could be the next Lasagna Flop. If you guys don't know who I'm talking about there you're obviously not a true Cavs fan.

Anyway the reality is not me nor one of the millions of draft "experts" knows what will happen on Thursday. I just hope the Cavs do everything they can to make an impact trade on draft night. If not, finger's crossed that if we do get Koufus they televise his "awkward white guy offs" with Z on FSN Ohio and Austin Carr announces them. I wouldn't care how bad he sucked if that happened.