INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavaliers went with size, experience and filled a need with their first-round selection Wednesday night.
California guard Jaylon Tyson was taken with the 20th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Cavs.
“He can rebound, he can pass, he can shoot,” Cavs general manager Mike Gansey said. “He just fills so many gaps. He does a little bit of everything, can play one through three, gets in passing lanes. It is tough. He just kind of checks a lot of boxes and we're excited and hopefully he was going to be there at 20.”
Tyson will be introduced Thursday afternoon by the team.
Tyson, who played as a freshman at Texas, Texas Tech as a sophomore before moving on to Cal as a junior, is listed at 6-6 and he shot .465 from the field while averaging 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists per game as a junior last season.
Tyson was an All-Pac-12 first team selection and he ranked third in conference scoring and seventh in rebounding last season. He was the first Cal player since 1997 to score 20 or more points in six consecutive games.
Gansey admitted the selection of Tyson was made with a long-term view.
“I don't think there's really expectations for him to play,” Gansey said. “Obviously he comes in, competes, he can play, that would be great, but I think just with our roster, I think we have good depth where we can bring him along slowly.
“He just checks so many boxes and you can kind of play him with any of our guys, any other four guys out there on the floor with him. So just adding obviously versatility and wing size help [at] 6-6, 6-7 and just trying to get the best player available and we just felt he was the guy there at 20.”
New head coach Kenny Atkinson was in the Cavs draft room Wednesday night.
“I told Kenny, whoever we're taking at 20 is going to get better,” Gansey said. “That's what Kenny does and we're excited and I know some of our players already been reaching out to me to get ahold of Jalen, so we're excited, Kenny's excited and we're just ready to get going with them.”
Atkinson will likely be officially introduced by the team on Monday.
The selection of Tyson could end up being a critical move for the Cavs should he develop into the player they believe he can be considering their current draft assets going forward.
“We don't really have control of our first [round picks] for a long time obviously, and Tyson just kind of a guy that fits a lot of different roles, can play with a lot of different guys and I think he's probably more ready than maybe some of the other guys that were there at 20,” Gansey said. “I think it was just he fills a lot of gaps. He's big. We need more wing size, more shooting, more playmaking guys that can go get a shot because our offense sometimes was stagnant at times, but he just checked a lot of boxes that we just wanted to have.”
The Cavs had opportunities to trade out of 20 Wednesday night but they decided to keep the pick considering they do not have a first rounder next year.
“We just thought, hey man, we don't have a pick for a while. He's our guy and we really like him. Let's take him,” Gansey said. “We feel like he can contribute, I don't know first year, but he contribute at some point with us and we just need a big wing that can go make plays and he was the best guy on the board for us and we just said, Hey, we don't want to regret trading the pick and getting a bunch of other picks down the road where we can get this guy at plane. He's our guy.”
Cleveland is set to enter day two Thursday without a second-round selection but Gansey is open to trading into it if they can.
“We're going to be aggressive,” Gansey said. “We know what teams could potentially move picks, so we're always trying to get better and obviously look at the board now that obviously it's been adjusted now. Nice is you can take a deep breath and now reshuffle your board in some way and see where the teams are and the players are at and see if we can go grab someone.”
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