Mar 20, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert (left) watches with vice chairman Jeff Cohen (right) and vice chairman Nate Forbes during a game against the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena. Miami won 98-95. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

After receiving the No. 1 pick once and No. 4 pick twice in the last two offseasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers will once again pick at the top of the draft board. After losing LeBron James the summer before they drafted Kyrie Irving, Cleveland should be in high spirits in regards to where they are at in rebuilding with their young core that already consists of first rounders Irving, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller. Picking No. 1 and No. 19 in the 2013 NBA Draft should make the Cavaliers a viable playoff contender for sure next season. If not and things go downhill, then being blessed with such a rare occurrence twice might have gone to waste.

Anyways, here is the order of the other teams that will be sulking tonight and picking behind Cleveland on June 27^th:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (3)

2. Orlando Magic  (1)

3. Washington Wizards (8)

4. Charlotte Bobcats (2)

5. Phoenix Suns (4)

6. New Orleans Pelicans (5)

7. Sacramento Kings (6)

8. Detroit Pistons (7)

9. Minnesota Timberwolves (9)

10. Portland Trail Blazers (10)

11. Philadelphia 76ers (11)

12. Oklahoma City Thunder (12)

13. Dallas Mavericks (13)

14. Utah Jazz (14)

Three lotteries out of the past six have now seen the team with the eighth-best chance of winning moving up into the top 3. If you can remember, the Cavaliers moved up from eight to No. 1 in 2011 due to their pick from the Los Angeles Clippers. Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving were the two prior players to be selected by teams that moved up from pick No. 8 into the top 3. The Wizards will pick third and are in a similar situation as the Cavaliers, as their team was hard to watch at most times last season and their youthful core begins with a point guard (John Wall) and a shooting guard (Bradley Beal). Irving and Waiters (and even Thompson) will enjoy having another top 4 pick on their roster, as they continue to build through the draft for hopefully what will be the last time under the Kyrie Irving Cavaliers.

Nick Gilbert, Dan Gilbert’s son who wears a bowtie like a boss (unlike Machine Gun Kelly), has now represented the Cavaliers at the Lottery for the third season in a row. He has brought home the ultimate good twice, and deserves an incredible spike in his allowance for what he has done for this team by being the good luck charm. But again, hopefully this is the last time that Gilbert will have to represent Cleveland in a fashion that they would be guaranteed a top 6 pick.

So now comes the waiting period between now and the draft, where all eyes will be on who the Cavaliers will draft on June 27^th. Will it be Nerlens Noel; the favorite on mostly all mock drafts? Will it be Otto Porter; the player that fits the Cavaliers’ needs the most? Or will it be a surprise player that will make Cleveland fans furious? I doubt it will be the latter, but make sure to keep coming back to Right Down Euclid for NBA Draft talk and speculation on what the Cavaliers will do.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Eastern Conference guard Kyrie Irving (2) of the Cleveland Cavaliers wrestles for the ball with Western Conference guard Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers in the fourth quarter of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

A couple of weeks back, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio brought up an argument on Twitter asking about the last team to win a championship with their star player playing the point guard position. Now, this is an extremely opinion-driven subject, but most fans either pointed to the Tony Parker-led San Antonio Spurs (the argument against that was that Tim Duncan was the driving force on those teams) and Isiah Thomas on the 1990 Detroit Pistons. Agreeing with the Parker counter argument, we would have to go back 23 years to find a team that won a championship with a star point guard. The Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan) won six times after the 1990 Finals, the Houston Rockets twice (Hakeem Olajuwon), the Spurs (Duncan) three times, the Los Angeles Lakers (Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant) five times, the Pistons (I would argue Chauncey Billups here, but that’s just me) once, the Miami Heat (Dwyane Wade and LeBron James) twice, the Boston Celtics (Paul Pierece) once and the Dallas Mavericks (Dirk Nowitzki) once. So after going over the teams that have won a championship since 1990, I can only argue that Billups was a huge accusition during the offseason that year for the Pistons and that he was the driving force of the offense on a dominant defensive squad. Other than that and two teams dominating (Bulls and Lakers) during that time period, it’s concerning and shocking to me that this phenomenon that Amico brought up is true. In this day an age of “physicality is king,” players like LeBron who muscle their way to the hoop in a dominating fashion are the mold and norm of the modern NBA star. Six-time NBA champion Bob Cousy, who with his flashy passes and minimalist shooting revolutionized the point guard position, seems like a figment of our imagination regarding the way he played in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Although that was almost 50 years ago, the point guard position has changed, and that may be the driving reason that few point guards have emerged as the dominating player on a team that is left standing at the end of the season.

Looking at the NBA today, the Los Angeles Clippers (Chris Paul), Brooklyn Nets (Deron Williams), Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry), Boston Celtics (Rajon Rondo), Chicago Bulls (Derrick Rose), Milwaukee Bucks (Brandon Jennings), Cleveland Cavaliers (Kyrie Irving), Philadelphia 76ers (Jrue Holiday), Charlotte Bobcats (Kemba Walker) and Washington Wizards (John Wall) all are teams that arguably have their leading star as the point guard. Six of those teams made the playoffs, one of the teams may lose their superstar, one will most definitely lose their superstar, one didn’t play with their superstar all season and three of the teams are at the bottom of the ladder in the NBA. None of those teams are left in the playoffs, as three of them had first-round exits. Now, as Wine and Gold fans, should we be concerned that we are building our team around a superstar point guard who has proven so much, but at the same time has been injured a lot, in such a short amount of time? Even though a comparison is brewing because Byron Scott grooming Kyrie for two years and also coaching Paul when he entered the NBA, Paul will be entering his ninth NBA season and has only made it out of the first round of the playoffs twice. He was traded two offseasons ago to the Clippers from the New Orleans Hornets after spending six seasons with the franchise. Will Kyrie leave town before he leads this team past the second round of the playoffs and beyond?

I don’t think we should give up on building around Kyrie at all. I think he is an exception to this trend. I believe he will win a championship one day (I’ll end that discussion there). Even though I would have liked to have seen Harrison Barnes in Wine and Gold rather than Dion Waiters, Waiters showed vast signs of improvement toward the end of the year, and if we land Otto Porter, our team has a pretty secure starting core. Drafting a big is huge as well, as Anderson Varejao’s time with this team may be limited. Locking up a starting three and five is extremely important in making this team a playoff contender, and no matter what, Kyrie will still be the lead actor on the bill. The bench is starting to fill up, and I hope to see Wayne Ellington, C.J. Miles, Marreese Speights and Tyler Zeller continue to be role players on this team. As we saw last season, especially from a defensive standpoint, these bench guys are extremely important to this team’s success. Free agency and the second round of the draft will help in beefing up that department, but if Cleveland wants to be the team that ironically breaks this point guard “curse,” they need to find their immediate starting small forward and future starting center in this draft. Star players can’t do it all, and with the point guard position being overtaken by quasi threes and fours, Kyrie needs to be the one to set the NBA straight and return it to the glory days when Magic Johnson created “Showtime.” He has the talent and will to do so.

Mar 29, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson (13) reaches for a loose ball during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric P. Mull-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to “Tuesdays with Right Down Euclid.” Every Tuesday the RDE crew of Zachary Kolesar and host Chris Manning will talk the latest Wine and Gold and NBA news to keep you informed on headlining topics in the form of back-and-forth discussion. We will cover the most important subjects in a four-quarter (and overtime) breakdown spanning from the shores of Lake Erie to all around the NBA (if it is relevant breaking news).

In the twenty-eighth episode, website editor Zachary Kolesar and contributing blogger Chris Manning talk about the way the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies are modeled, chances of the Golden State Warriors pulling an upset, the problem with the Chicago Bulls, Kyrie Irving’s trade value according to Bill Simmons and the small forwards of the 2013 draft class.

Below is the link where you can listen to this week’s episode as a whole:

You can also fast forward to the section of your choice by looking at the start time of each quarter:

First Quarter – Which model to build a team is better: Oklahoma City or Memphis?

Starts at the beginning of podcast

Second Quarter – Who will win the San Antonio-Golden State series?

Starts at 7:20

Third Quarter – How concerned should the Bulls be about the absence of Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich?

Starts at 12:10

Fourth Quarter – Besides Kyrie Irving who is the most valuable trade asset on the Cavaliers?

Starts at 19:37

Overtime – Who is the best fit at SF for the Cavaliers in the 2013 NBA Draft?

Starts at 23:44

Make sure to join us next Tuesday for your weekly dose of “Tuesdays with Right Down Euclid.”