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Cavs continue run of success by “winning” draft lottery

Exciting times for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night as general manager David Griffin walked out of the NBA Lottery with the No. 1 overall pick.

It was the third time in four years that the Cavs “won” the top pick in the draft. The last two times they came away with a very talented player in Kyrie Irving, and an injured, overweight and asthmatic Anthony Bennett. In what is widely expected to be a three-player draft, the Cavs now hold the key as they can decide among Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid or Jabari Parker with the top pick – a decision they simply must get right.

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With the first pick in the NBA Draft the Cavs select …

The NBA Draft is Thursday and the Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves sitting in a pretty good position.

Holding the top pick in the draft for the fifth time in franchise history – and the second time in the past three years – the Cavs completely control what they want to do when Commission David Stern opens the draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 7 p.m. (The team also holds picks No. 19, 31 and 33).

Stay put and add another young player to a nucleus of Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller? The Cavs can do that. Make a trade with some of the assets they have spent three years (and 166 losses) compiling so they can be in contention for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference? They can do that, too.

We think we know what we would like to see the Cavs do with the first pick (more on that in a bit), and we’re fairly certain that Cavs general manager Chris Grant has made up his mind what he wants to do. Of course, what they actually will do remains in question as rumors continue to swirl around the team.

So let’s try to figure this all out as best we can. Our 2013 NBA Draft preview starts … now at The Cleveland Fan.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Cavs win top pick in NBA draft lottery

The balls bounced the right way Tuesday night and the Cleveland Cavaliers gained the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft for the second time in three years.

Now it is up to general manager Chris Grant to not screw this up. This is allegedly a “weak draft,” but the experts said the same thing in 2011 and the Cavs walked away with Kyrie Irving, so all the Cavs need to do is find the one player that can make a difference and then it doesn’t matter what happens with the rest of the draft.

The Cavs also control their own destiny as now they don’t have to worry about anyone jumping in front of them or hoping that a particular players falls to them later in the draft.

Grant is also open to using the No. 1 overall pick to its full advantage.

“You want to look at all your options and make the best decision for your team,” he told ESPN. “This is a valuable asset that we can add to the group, whether it’s in trade or keep it and add a player. For us, it’s wide open. A number of these guys are injured, so there’s still an enormous amount of due diligence that’s got to be done.

One word of advice to Grant: if the phone rings and his caller ID shows “Mike Lombardi” he should probably not pick up. Don’t want to get any crazy ideas about trading away this year’s draft picks for a supposedly better furture down the road.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Do the Cavs have any luck left?

While there is no one “correct” way to build a championship-caliber team in the NBA, there is one element that all title-winning teams have in common: the element of luck.

If Portland had drafted Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie, the Chicago Bulls would not have won six titles. If Jordan hadn’t been suspended (oops, “decided to play baseball”), Houston would not have two championship banners hanging in their arena. If David Robinson doesn’t miss all but six games in the 1996-97 season, the San Antonio Spurs are probably not in a position to draft Tim Duncan in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Well, you get the point. And that brings us to the Cleveland Cavaliers and tonight’s NBA Draft lottery.

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