On the Clock

Although Thursday night will be the fourth Draft night that Danny Ferry has been a part of as the club’s General Manager, it’s only his second with a first-round choice available. Once again, the stakes are high.

In 2005, Ferry was hired literally hours before the Draft, but still managed to unload Jiri Welsch – dealt after an ignominious 18 games – in exchange for the Bucks’ second-rounder, Martynas Andriuskevicius.

One year later, after selecting Michigan State combo-guard, Shannon Brown in Round One, Cleveland snagged a precocious point guard in the second round named Daniel Gibson. All Gibson did later that year was help send the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history with a playoff run for the ages – culminated by a 19-point fourth quarter in the deciding Game 6 against Detroit.

Without a pick last year, the Wine and Gold had a quiet off-season – the calm before a stormy, stressful, yet successful campaign.

In 2008, the Cavaliers – who came within one quarter of toppling the eventual NBA Champs – are back on the clock, with the No. 19 overall selection. In what’s widely-regarded as a very deep Draft, and with teams actively trying to duplicate Boston’s quick-fix, Ferry will likely have an array of options to weigh and decisions to make.

“I think most knowledgeable fans understand that (Boston’s turnaround) was a really unique situation,” said Ferry, dispelling the speculation of a Celtics-style upheaval.

The Cavaliers don’t have the young pieces to pull off what Danny Ainge did last off-season, nor are they so far from the Title that they’ll have to. But this does promise to be an active off-season in Cleveland – and the ball gets rolling on Thursday night.

Ferry estimated working out about “50 to 60” potential picks in recent weeks, but didn’t tip his hand to any one player.

“We’re not scouting just for the Draft, now,” said Ferry. “We’re scouting for trades two years from now – maybe for a guy who may not be playing a whole lot. I scouted Delonte West in college, and that had a lot of impact on us trading for him now. So you’re always gathering as much information as you can.”

It’s a deep draft for big men and the Cavaliers are certainly in the market. With three of their top four frontline players – Zydrunas Ilgauskas (33), Ben Wallace (34), Joe Smith (33) – in the latter part of their careers, it’s crucial for the Cavaliers to begin rebuilding for the future.

Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert or Rider’s Jason Thompson – who could fall to No. 19 – are more refined; OSU’s Kosta Koufas, Nevada’s JaVale McGee and Texas A&M’s DeAndre Jordan are talented, but untested.

“Every player that we’ll be looking at at No. 19 will have a different story,” explained the Cavs GM. “Some of the guys might be able to make an impact this year; some of them might be 18 months away from having an impact. That’s part of the challenge of making decisions on Draft night.”

The Cavaliers could also be in the market for a “2” who can create and score. At 19, names like Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts, Kansas State’s Bill Walker and Western Kentucky’s Courtney Lee have all surfaced as potential picks.

The players that did work out for Ferry and his staff have to be impressive on and off the hardwood.

“We sit down and talk to all the guys because it really is a great opportunity to really get to know the kid – whether you draft him or not,” said Ferry. “You get to see their personality on the court, but you also get to see what kind of person that they are – (as much as you can take from an interview).”

Of course, these young prospects have to be able to perform, and for the past few weeks, teams like the Cavaliers have been putting them through the paces.

“We like to see them in competition,” explained Ferry. “We put them in 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 and let them compete against each other. You try to balance all their schedules because they have a short window of time to do this. If you think a guy’s not that tough, you put a tough guy against him – just to see.”

The Cavaliers will have to see how the first 18 picks shake out before they know what they’ll do. The trade rumor mill is cooking – especially with teams trying to replicate Boston’s instant success from last year. The Sonics are a franchise in transition -- and have four second-rounders. Larry Brown and Michael Jordan will work together for the first time. College seniors are climbing. And Pat Riley is being suspiciously coy about the No. 2 pick.

Those are just a few of the myriad storylines that could unfold on Thursday night – an evening that promises to be one of the more interesting Draft nights in recent memory. The Cavaliers will be ready.

“I do believe that we’re very well prepared,” concluded Ferry. “Our scouting staff – and Chris Grant, in particular – have really attacked the Draft, so I’m comfortable that we’re going to make a sound decision.”