NBA Mock Draft 2019: The chaos of this draft is only beginning

This pick comes in from the Hawks, with the full trade outlined in the slide for the fifth pick later on. Cleveland in this case takes a gamble on a young wing prospect who could be stashed for a year or come over and acclimate to the NBA, with the hope being that he provides real value by the end of his rookie contract.

Doumbouya could not have done better for himself at his pro day this week. He nailed his outside shots and flashed the athleticism that earned him so much buzz in the first place. Being able to consistently knock down NBA 3s early in his career will push his development out past current expectations in a hurry, and help the Cavaliers build around Collin Sexton, whose shot is still untrustworthy.

The other newsworthy info to come out of Doumbouya’s pro day were his measurements, which resulted in favorable comparisons to Pascal Siakam. Of course, Doumbouya has a bigger and more muscular frame than Siakam at this stage, but sacrifices some of Siakam’s incredible speed as a result. Siakam’s incredible postseason run will likely color the way NBA executives view Doumbouya, but the comparisons are not far off.

Putting the Guinean big man into new Cleveland coach John Belein’s system will give him the development time he missed out on by not coming stateside for college. As the Cavs put their eggs into the player development basket the next few seasons, Doumbouya is precisely the type of player they should target.