Cavs playing for draft position

It's that time of year — again — when the Cavaliers can potentially win long term by losing in the short term. With eight games remaining, beginning tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse vs. the Phoenix Suns, the Cavs appear to be up to the task. They've dropped six in a row, nine of their last 10 and 16 of their last 20. Beset by injuries — Darius Garland (ankle), Larry Nance Jr. (thumb), Isaiah Hartenstein (concussion), Matthew Dellavedova (neck), Taurean Prince (ankle), Dylan Windler (knee) and Lamar Stevens (concussion) are expected to be out tonight — Cleveland also has dropped nine of its last 10 home games. Not real good when they were totally healthy, either, that leaves the Cavs with a 21-43 record, which was the sixth-worst mark in the league going into Monday night. At 16-49 through Sunday, Houston has a leg up on finishing with the worst record in the NBA, but two games or fewer separated Cleveland from Detroit (19-45), Orlando (20-44), Oklahoma City (21-44) and Minnesota (20-45). The Magic and Pistons met Monday night. The primary goal for bottom-tier teams headed for the lottery — the event will be held June 22, with the NBA Draft scheduled for July 29 — is to finish among the bottom three in the league, because those clubs each will have a league-high 14 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick. The fourth-worst team will have a 12.5 percent chance, with the fifth-worst at 10.5 percent and sixth-worst at 9 percent. In addition to a 14 percent chance of picking No. 1, each of the three-worst teams will have a 13.42 percent chance of picking No. 2, a 12.75 percent chance of picking No. 3 and an 11.97 percent chance of picking fourth. The worst team will have a 47.86 percent chance of picking fifth, while the second-worst club will have a 27.84 percent chance of picking fifth and a 20.02 percent chance of picking sixth. The third-worst team will have a 14.84 percent chance of selecting at No. 5, a 26.0 percent chance of choosing sixth and a 7.02 percent chance of landing in the seventh spot. In each of the last two lotteries, the Cavs entered with the second-worst record and wound up picking fifth. In 2020 Cleveland chose Isaac Okoro and in 2019 the selection was Garland. The 2021 draft is considered to be very strong, but most experts agree that five players stand out from the rest, led by 6-foot-8 Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham. The other players widely expected to go in the top five are Southern Cal forward Evan Mobley, Gonzaga point guard Jalen Suggs and a pair of players from the high school class of 2020 — shooting guard Jalen Green and forward Jonathan Kuminga — that elected to spend a year in the G League rather than go to college. Given their current injuries and awful play, it's entirely possible the Cavs might not win another game this season, which would give them a 21-51 record. The opponent tonight, the Suns, entered Monday tied with Utah for the best record in the league at 46-18. Cleveland's remaining games are at home vs. Portland, road and home vs. Dallas, home vs. Indiana and Boston and on the road against Washington and Brooklyn. All those teams are expected to make the playoffs or be involved in the play-in tournament for the postseason. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.