by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – With the 20th overall pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Jaylon Tyson, a small forward out of California. He is 6-6, 218 pounds and averaged 19.6 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.2 steals last year for the Golden Bears. He’s known for his athleticism and the ability to create his own shot, two things that are going to be absolutely key in new coach’s Kenny Atkinson’s offense, discussed more below.
The Cavaliers have lacked a true scorer and shot creator at the small forward position recently. Issac Okoro has improved but not necessarily taken the next step to make him a true threat offensively, though he defends at an elite level. Tyson, on the other hand, already has a very polished offensive game at the collegiate level he shoots the ball well, with splits of .465/.360/.796 across the board. In the future he and Okoro could pack a good change up playing off of one another situationally until we see more from Jaylon on the defensive end.
At 6-6 there have been some concerns expressed about his size as an offense first small forward, but he does have a 6-8 wingspan. And the hope is that offensively he can use his athleticism to create enough space to counter any potential size advantage for the man guarding him.
Below are some of the draft grades that sportswriters have given the pick:
- Nate Ulrich – Akron Beacon Journal: B
- Evan Dammarell – Clutch Points: A-
- Zach Braziller – New York Post: D
- Adam Finkelstein & Kyle Boone – Yahoo Sports: B-
As you can see, the grades include quite a range, but those from writers who regularly cover the Cavaliers tend to be more optimistic about what Jaylon Tyson can bring to the team in the coming years. Some have dubbed the pick a “reach” for Cleveland but you could understand why the team might believe that a player like Jaylon is a good fit for their team at pick 20, given the boxes he could end up checking at the small forward position. And his play in college isn’t necessarily indicative of how he would translate to the NBA game. That’s much different than what he’ll be asked to do with the Cavaliers.
As Danny Cunningham breaks down for the Locked On Cavs Podcast, Tyson was basically Cal’s entire offense and was asked to handle the ball, create his own shot, and be the primary weapon on offense. And The Golden Bears didn’t exactly have the type of team to allow him to boost his level of play, as they finished 13-19 with Tyson being the team’s leading scorer by more than 5 points per game.
It’s also been reported that Cleveland has reached a 5-year agreement with Kenny Atkinson, former Golden State Warriors assistant coach, to be their next head coach. Atkinson has head coaching experience, most recently with the Brooklyn Nets where he took over a 20-win team and tuned them around into a playoff birth just two seasons later. Granted, his tenure for the Nets didn’t end on the best of terms, but managing that team with disgruntled superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant could not have been an easy task.
The expectation is that Atkinson will bring a faster-paced motion offense to the Cavaliers that could really open up the scoring opportunities for players like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland (if he’s not traded). His Nets teams ran fast and took their share of shots from behind the arc, something a team comprised of smaller guards who have the ability to be deadly from distance could execute with deadly precision. During his time in Brooklyn, he helped guide and develop young players like D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie, not to mention current Cavaliers Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen. And the hope is that he can continue that development with the Cavs own developing players like Garland, Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro.
Atkinson does face a test going forward, especially in addressing how Cleveland’s roster is constructed. The Cavaliers are a team with plenty of questions including the status of Donovan Mitchell’s extension and his interplay with whomever he pairs with at the other guard position, whether it be Darius Garland or someone else. The positional overlap among the Cavs’ big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, is another wrinkle to parse out for next season. And then putting the complimentary pieces in the right place to implement a high tempo offense.
While previous head coach JB Bickerstaff deserves a great deal of credit for his ability to rebuild the Cavaliers, there were reports that he’d lost the locker room, and at times the Cavaliers offense looked mired in molasses. And so it will be very exciting to see Kenny Atkinson’s ability to get the team under control and refocus them on competing in an Eastern Conference that has suddenly become very top heavy. The NBA Champion Boston Celtics obviously showed how dominant they could be, but the New York Knicks made massive moves this week, trading for Mikal Bridges and signing OG Anunoby.
Kenny Atkinson is a welcome addition to the Cavaliers but it looks like he will have precious little time to catch his breath before this team once again plunges headlong into another quest for a deeper playoff run in 2024-2025.
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
