Cleveland Will Not Find Another LeBron James in the 2011 Draft

Like the NFL and other sports leagues, the NBA rewards its most inept franchises with a chance to draft the best amateur players each year. In a capitalist society where we are supposed to reward excellence, we reward a Cleveland team that was unable to sign a hometown hero or any other significant free agent with the first pick in the 2011 draft. Cleveland now sits like any other perpetual loser hoping to strike it rich in a lottery system.

The Cavaliers struck gold in 2003 when they selected the consensus No. 1 pick LeBron James. With that pick, the Cavs found themselves relevant for the first time since Mark Price was running the pick-and-roll with Brad Daugherty. King James instantly returned this franchise to prominence and led the Cavs to the 2008 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Spurs.

When James spurned the Cavs contract extension and took his talents to South Beach, Cleveland found themselves back in familiar territory—the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Cavs, through their own ineptitude and the luck of bouncing ping pong balls, are once again holding the first pick, and because of a midseason trade, found themselves in possession of the fourth pick. This draft differs from the 2003 draft in that there is no consensus No. 1 pick, and the 2011 draft has been mentioned as potentially the worst in history.

The deck was stacked for the Cavaliers in 2003 because other than Darko Milicic (hey, even the greats like Dumars can make a mistake), all four players in the top five of that draft have been all-stars.

If the Cavs didn’t take LeBron in 2003, they would have been able to select Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh. Even Chris Kaman would have been a decent choice in 2003. Bottom line is the 2003 draft was loaded at the top, and the Cavs were going to get a great player.

Where choosing LeBron was a no brainer for the Cavs, because of his immense talent and being a hometown kid from Ohio, the decisions that Cleveland’s front office makes this year will be much more risky.

This year the Cavs must decide between Kyrie Irving, Derrick Williams, Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight or a host of other prospects who have giant-sized holes in their resumes. I don’t see anything close to a franchise player amongst this group, much less a global icon.

After the euphoria of the 2011 draft wears off, and if we have an NBA season next year, the cold stark reality will start to sink in for Cavs fans. This team will continue to struggle for wins. Cleveland’s front office failed to assemble a talented team around LeBron James, even with the knowledge that they could contend for a title. Cleveland will not be a hot spot for free agents in the future, so the draft will be critical to their success. They have to hit on both picks.

The Cavaliers can’t help but improve from last year; almost anything would improve on a season that saw them tie a record with 26 straight losses and lose 36 out of 37 games.

Love him or hate him, players like LeBron James come around once in a lifetime, and the 2003 draft turned out to be one of the best ever for Cleveland.  Once in a lifetime.

The Cavaliers are hoping for another Powerball mega millions win, but I am betting one and four will not be winning numbers for them in 2011.