There was plenty of mystery surrounding Syracuse guard Dion Waiters in the run up to the 2012 NBA Draft. Waiters and his agent shut down all interviews and workout sessions very early in the process, with reports that he had received a "promise" from a team in the lottery. He had almost no access during the scouting process and with the Cavs selecting him No. 4 overall, the inevitable question came up -- were the Cavs the team who offered the promise?
According to Waiters, Cleveland was not the team. Via the AP:
"I didn't even talk to Cleveland," he said. "I didn't even work out for Cleveland."
The pre-draft process is definitely an interesting cat-and-mouse game full of smokescreens and rumored trades. Despite not interviewing or working out Waiters, Grant told the press that they certainly did their due diligence:
Chris Grant says the research they did on Waiters is the most they've ever done on a player.
— Conrad Kaczmarek (@conradkaczmarek) June 29, 2012
And it looks like Grant was just one of many hoping to land Waiters, but the Cavs jumped up and selected the explosive 'Cuse guard.
Several GMs admitted they kept their mouths shut about Dion Waiters before draft, in hopes he'd slide. More tomorrow, I promise.
— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) June 29, 2012
For more on the Cavaliers and their 2012 Draft, stay tuned to SB Nation Cleveland's StoryStream. For all your Cavs news, discussion, and analysis, visit Fear The Sword. And for all your Draft analysis, visit SB Nation's dedicated NBA Draft hub.