"Circumvent the draft system"? Elway and Manning both were drafted, but said they wouldn't play for the teams that drafted them. Elway, for example, suggested he could play in the USFL - something he had every right to do. So, both were traded elsewhere (where they won Super Bowls). What's the problem here?

So let's turn this around. Suppose there was a Journalism Draft, in which a young, brash Jay Mariotti is selected in the first round by the Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune. Jay Mariotti doesn't want to live in Kokomo, even though it has two Steak 'n' Shakes and a decent Mexican restaurant.

Should Jay have to live and work in Kokomo for at least three years?

Xenophobia. (zěn'ə-fōb', zē'nə-) A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

Cleveland fans, right now whether you recognize it or not, you're suffering Xenophobia. Hate to break it ya, but you are. Not from the fear of foreign people but from the fear of the unknown.

The backlash and anger unleashed from picking Christian Eyenga, a.k.a. Kid Congo, with the 30th pick has been unreal. It's been pretty unanimous in the feeling that Kid Congo was a bad pick.

But here's my question for the whole ordeal: how in the world can we, as fans, say that this was a bad pick, when we don't have the slightest clue about this kid? That's my main beef.

We can say all we want that this was a terrible pick, Ferry's terrible, blah, blah, blah but how can we say that without seeing this kid in action? Sure there's prospect profiles on this kid, as well as YouTube! highlights of him too, but neither of them are nearly enough for any fan to form a well-developed opinion on the kid.

At least with prospects like Sam Young, Chase Budinger, DaJuan Summers, etc., there is national exposure of them. We're able to see prospects like them on T.V., on highlight videos, during March Madness, etc. On top of that they're well-known prospects that have tons of information collected about them and there's pretty much a consensus among scouting services about their strengths, weaknesses and what type of player they project to be. With all the information available to us with those type of players, we're able to form a decently informed opinion of the kid and it's at the point where we can talk about and even judge them when they're pick if we want to (even though that's not smart, you get what I mean).

With Eyenga, there is none of that. Which is why all the people bashing this pick are xenophobes (had to tie it in). They're afraid of the unknown, in this case Kid Congo, and because they're not too sure on him the automatic human reaction is to bash it, or be angry about the pick. The same thing happened last year with JJ Hickson. Not a lot of people knew a whole bunch about him and all of a sudden bashed him because they were ignorant when it came to the pick. The national media, message boards, and fans all over wanted guys like Kosta Kofous, Darell Arthur, Chris Douglas-Roberts, etc., because they were guys that people had a lot of information on and were able to make a decently informed opinion on.

People are just like animals. When animals come into contact with something that they're unfamiliar with or not comfortable with, they automatically become suspicious, edgy and sort of protective. Similar to humans, when we come into contact with something unfamiliar, we become sort of protective, uncomfortable and scared. This is the same with Kid Congo: because we're unfamiliar with him, we become kind of uncomfortable and scared (which leads to anger).

Before I go on any further, let me just say this: in no way am I trying to defend the pick by Danny Ferry. Heck my first initial reaction was quite similar to Amar's. But after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that we can't really come to a judgment on this pick because we have no knowledge of the kid. So if we are ignorant on a certain subject, how can we say it's a bust or not? We can't, which is why I don't get the outrage by the Cavs fans across the nation.

I know part of the outrage is about Kid Congo himself but it seems like most of the rage is directed towards not picking proven college players like Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, Chase Budinger or DaJuan Summers or at least better known "projects" like Derrick Brown. I can definitely see that though because, again, these are players that fans are more comfortable and know more about them.

But let me say this: if anybody expects the 30th pick in the draft to be able to contribute his rookie year for a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers (66 win team last year, best record in the NBA, Central Division champions, made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, etc.) then they're crazy. Not to mention, the 30th pick in what was considered to be one of the weakest drafts in NBA history.

Sure guys like Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, Chase Budinger are billed as "NBA ready" players who can contribute right away, but we're talking about the Cavs here. Not the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Minnesota Timberwolves; the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With free agency still left along with trades still being allowed, I'd be willing to bet we add a minimum of two rotational players to the roster, if not more. So taking that into consideration, where does a rookie (30th pick in the draft) seem to fit in and contribute right away? Including our current roster and the likely addition of at least a couple of rotational players via trade and/or free agency, our rotation will probably look at least 9 deep. And that's not including guys like JJ Hickson, Darnell Jackson and maybe even Tarence Kinsey, who might get playing time this year. Do you guys realize Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson, really didn't see the floor that much versus the Magic? Joe Smith only played in 2 games of where he had 10 or more minutes. Sasha basically played two games of 20-minute ball and that  was it for the series. Wally Szczerbiak had two DNP's and basically was forced to play the last 3 games because of the inefficiency of the bench. Daniel Gibson got 6 minutes the first 3 games before 64 minutes the next 3.

Now it can be said Mike Brown screwed the pooch on who to play and who not to play but the point is, if he was forced to play veterans and those veterans didn't play much to begin with, how do you expect him to play a rookie who was picked 30th overall in the Eastern Conference Finals? Because really, let's get serious here: it doesn't matter what happens in the regular season anymore, it's all about the playoffs. And how in the world would you expect a rookie to contribute anything more than a couple minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals, let alone the Finals?

I understand an argument can be made using Daniel Gibson and Courtney Lee as examples rookies playing big roles for their playoff teams and being picked late in the draft. But those types of cases happen very, very, very rarely.

The bottom line is that Ferry really didn't see anyone who could contribute right away at #30, as he should have, and saw it worth the risk to take a flier on a guy who they see as having high potential then rather taking a guy who wouldn't likely contribute this year anyway.

Aside from those points, the pick also goes deeper than that.

Let's remember that all 1st round picks have guaranteed money being paid to them, basically as soon as they're picked. So basically, once they're picked they're locked into the rookie scale right away. The rookie scale for the 30th pick is $989k. So for a player that wasn't likely to contribute at all during his rookie season, the Cavs would have been paying around $1 million for him to sit the bench. Now I know there's a possibility that the rookie could have contributed but instead of that $1 million being paid for him to sit the bench, that $1 million can be allocated to different resources. It can helps us sign a free agent, he could helps us via trade, etc.

Now I can understand why fans would say "well if Dan Gilbert is willing to spend, then why is he worried about $1 million". But it's the fact that he doesn't want to spend the money, it's just he wants to do it wisely.

And before you go criticizing Dan Gilbert for being "cheap", look at what the Los Angeles Lakers did. They had the 29th and 42nd picks in the NBA draft. Instead of picking those players, they instead sold those picks to teams for money. Because like the Cavs, they figured that those players wouldn't likely be able to contribute right away and they were better served getting cash for those picks and helping them to sign free agents, or in their case re-sign Trevor Ariza and/or Lamar Odom. Now they are the NBA Champions but does that mean they're being cheap too? Or are they just being smart with their money? At least the Cavs will get a player out of their pick, instead of just giving it away.

Now getting back to the players actually available at the pick, let's take an deeper look at them.

Sam Young. Thought of as one of the safest picks in the draft and a guy who could contribute right away. Right now the Cavs need a defender first and foremost on the wing and he's billed to be a good defender. So how could this not be the perfect fit? Well right now I don't see how he has a position in the NBA. It's my belief that he's too small to guard most SFs and too slow to guard most SGs. So where does he play then? That's my problem. But if Ferry really would have wanted him, he would have gotten him. Let's not forget that Ferry and Pittsburgh coach, Jamie Dixon, are pretty tight and has pretty much all the information possible on him, and DeJuan Blair. So if he passed on him, it's probably for a good reason.

DeJuan Blair. A steal at #30, right? Where does he fit? He can't play with Varejao because that would be a disaster offensively. Not to mention, why draft another undersized forward/center after drafting two last year, in Darnell Jackson and JJ Hickson? Or how about our newest acquisition, Shaquille O'Neal. How would he fit in with him? Or better yet, what about those knees? As one story in SI.com said: "Most team doctors red-flagged him, which prevented the GMs from taking Blair in the first round."

Derrick Brown. I certainly was a big proponent and was kind of upset that we didn't take him. But at the same time, he wasn't going to contribute now, as well as Eyenga, so why not take a flier on a guy with a very high ceiling who won't cost anything, as opposed to a guy who will cost you something and doesn't have as high of a ceiling?

DaJuan Summers. He was another guy I liked but there were some questions on him. Why couldn't he put up better rebounding numbers? Why didn't he play any defense? Why couldn't he do anything else beside spot-up shoot? Why didn't he get "it"? Summers was a guy filled with potential but loaded with downside too.

Chase Budinger. Probably not on the top of the list as far as guys the Cavs passed on but still up there. The problem with Budinger will never talent level, how athletic he is or how good of a player he is offensively. It's mentally and defensively where the questions are. So considering that, why would the Cavs take him if their biggest weakness on the wing is defense?

Let's keep things in perspective here: this is the draft. Not free agency. Not trades. This is the draft. A championship caliber team like the Cavs doesn't make its major improvements through the draft. They do them through trades and in free agency. So why all of a sudden, is Ferry the worst general manager in the league? Just a few days beforehand he was the best after trading for Shaq.

The point is that this is last in line as far as places we'd look to improve in. No guy was going to contribute right away so why not take a flier on a guy that could possibly be better than anybody else on the board at the time. Is it guaranteed? No. Would Sam Young, Derrick Brown, DeJuan Blair be safer picks? Yeah probably. But none of them have the type of potential that Eyenga has.

And yes GMs far too often get caught up with the potential word but the Cavs are in a position where they can take a low-risk move like this and hope that it pans out.

The 30th pick in the draft isn't going to make or break our chances at a title and it isn't going to make LeBron going to go to New York. What will though is what we do via trade and through free agency, which we should be more worried about. Those are places where we can't afford to take high risks or make mistakes. Those are places we should be worried about, not the draft.

The whole point of this article is basically for some new perspective on the situation. Will this kid turn out to be a good pro? Who knows. But that's the whole point: who knows. We can't judge or criticize a situation by knowing very little on the subject at hand.

So kick back, relax, and let's see where Eyenga and this draft class is 3 years down the road from now, because that's when it'll be fair to assess this draft. Not now, only 2 days after the draft. And not 1 month into the season either. But 3 years.

I know it's frustrating to see us pass on some guys that would have been safer, more comfortable picks for the fans but let's wait and see what happens the rest of the off-season before we go freaking out.

But just remember one thing about Eyenga: he is Kid Congo.

And oh yeah...don't be a Xenophobe.