Turkish center Enes Kanter seems to have caught the eye of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He is coming back next Monday for a second workout with the Cavaliers and as part of that he is expected to meet with team owner Dan Gilbert, according to the Plain Dealer. What does that mean? Very hard to say, teams are just now coming to conclusions on players.
But clearly the Cavaliers are seriously thinking about Kanter. And more than any other player in this draft bringing him in for a second in-person workout makes sense — there is no film on him. Because he played for a professional team in Turkey at age 16, when he came to play at Kentucky the NCAA kept him on the sidelines last year. He practiced with Kentucky, but there is little game film on him to break down, and the stuff that exists is a couple years old.
He is a legit 6’11” with an NBA body, he also has very soft hands and has shown some offensive game. He likes to bang bodies inside. After the Chicago predraft camp the consensus was he was a power forward who could give you a little time at center but is not really meant for that position.
Kanter’s agent tried to suggest to the Plain Dealer the Cavaliers were thinking about taking him with the No. 1 pick, not their No. 4.
Wrong. In a conference call about the draft on Thursday, ESPN’s Chad Ford said that most of the noise about the Cavs taking Derrick Williams No. 1 over Kyrie Irving was coming from Williams camp, trying to throw some doubt in there. The Cavaliers are not in doubt — Irving will go No. 1.
As for No. 4… who knows? Kanter could go at No. 2 (if a team falls in love with him and trades up to No. 2 with the Timberwolves to get him, unlikely but possible) or No. 3 (again more likely by trade, the Jazz have their power forward of the future in Derrick Favors).
If Kanter falls to No. 4 will the Cavs take him? Hard to say, but they are taking a long, hard look at him.
