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Episode 99: Cavs Continuing To Figure It Out
14 Plays2 years ago
Alex and Corey talk about the Cav's latest Cavs games, player news, injuries, highlights and more!
Twitter: @CavsPickandRoll
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Transcript
Cavs vs. Lakers Preview
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey Cavs fans, welcome to another episode of the Cavs pick and roll podcast. I'm Alex and I'm here with Corey. What's up, Corey? Hey, hey, I am ready to talk some Cavs basketball. I'm surprised you're not online right now hunting for some tickets to see LeBron. He's coming into town, Alex. I know.
00:00:35
Speaker
Got the Lakers coming into town. Hopefully we get a win. We should since it's a home game. I would hope so. The crowd should be into it. You know, we can't win on the road these days. No, no, no. But man, yeah, the Cavs have struggled on the road. They are 10 and one at home, though. So that's that's on our side. Lakers are still struggling, although what is annoying whenever we play to Lakers, I think I said this last time because we played them a couple of weeks ago.
00:01:03
Speaker
Westbrook seems to always have a good game against us. And it just kind of keeps them in the game as a result, I guess, I don't know, you know, LeBron's gonna want to go off and, you know, for us is doing something and, you know, you always got to be careful. So yeah, man, you're not getting any tickets for that.
00:01:22
Speaker
No, I can't. My son has a band concert that day. So yeah, it would be a bad luck. Yeah. I'm going for that father of the year award. So can't skip that one. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's true. But that'll be a fun game.
Cavs Performance and Challenges
00:01:38
Speaker
Actually, the Cavs are a little bit on a homestand. They have some West Coast teams coming our way. They got the Lakers. They got the Kings. Mike Brown will be in Cleveland. Cavs got to get the revenge there because they lost against the Kings out in Sacramento a couple weeks ago. And then the Thunder come to Cleveland. I don't think we played the Thunder yet this year.
00:01:59
Speaker
Remember, they're the young team that has about 25 first round draft picks over the next five years. That should be interesting to see. I have no idea who's even on that roster. Kind of like Utah. They have all our picks for the next 20 years. No kidding. Yeah, so that's kind of what's going on with some upcoming games, but let's talk about kind of what's been happening since last time we recorded. Last time we recorded it was the Pistons game. The Cavs got a victory.
00:02:27
Speaker
And, um, they paid four games since then and they played against the Raptors, Alex. And I gotta say I'm disappointed. Just don't like the Raptors. I say that every time that we bring them up and we drop the game to them again, the second time this year.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Is it? What do you think about that? Is that worrisome? Can we not get a good win against a quality, another quality team in the East? Is that? Well, on the last episode, we were talking about the Bucks and the second time playing against the Bucks. And I was saying, man, it really would have been great to get that game, you know, kind of to square up with them. But I said at the same time, you know, their team that have had that core together for years now, you know, they're, they're a well-oiled machine to where we're,
00:03:13
Speaker
plugging in new pieces, trying to figure it out, especially with all the injuries. But like Toronto, I don't view Toronto as like the level of the Bucks. I just, I don't know. They're 11 and nine right now. There's still a quality team in the East. And when I look at our wins and losses, it's like, okay, we lost to the Raptors twice. We lost to the Bucks twice. We did beat the Celtics, but yeah, it's a little worrisome to me. I think we need to get some quality wins here.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, we do. I mean, um, and that would have been a nice win again, just to kind of even things up. Um, you know, it just feels, I don't know, the whole Scotty Barnes thing, winning the rookie of the year.
Injury Impact on Cavs
00:03:51
Speaker
And you know what I mean? Like. Like I just, I just don't like the Raptors and, uh, I really wanted to win that game, but unfortunately the Cavs dropped that game. Um, really nobody had a great game. Um,
00:04:06
Speaker
Mobley and Garland both had 18. Mitchell kind of had a little bit of a stinker, had eight points, you know, and nobody else really did anything outstanding. Stinker. That's funny. I think that's his lowest scoring game of the, uh, of the season so far. I could be wrong on that, but I feel like that's the first time I've seen single digits out of him. Well, Allen was out. Stevens was out. Love was out. So kind of just still just kind of injury plague too, at the same time.
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately, Alan's been out. I think he's missed five games now. And yeah, I mean, I'll stick to what I said last last episode. He's the heart of this team, and it's different when he's out on the floor on the floor. And, you know, him and Mobley out there is a much more deadly combination. So not having him around is definitely hurt. I think you said I think you saw before we started recording, though, he is listed as questionable for that Lakers game, right?
00:04:58
Speaker
right right we could see him back uh tomorrow night hopefully yeah yeah that'd be that'd be a great first game back hopefully he comes back sometime during this homestand if he does miss that Lakers game we definitely could use him um so i'm looking at the Raptors roster and um
00:05:17
Speaker
Of course, they got Van Fleet, they got Pascal Siakam, and I'm going to mess up this guy's name. But remember the guy from the movie with Adam Sandler? Oh, Herding Gomez. Yeah, Herding Gomez. He's on there. Cruise missile. Yeah. The cruise missile.
00:05:37
Speaker
That was a good movie we talked about that a while back I feel like twice I feel like I want to watch it again. Like maybe over Christmas break or something good flick man There's just so many NBA players in it and ex players. It's it's cool. Yeah, come on. Yeah, it is It's funny So yeah, that was the Raptors game, you know, so they dropped that game but then
00:06:01
Speaker
What was nice was the 76ers game. I was a little bit nervous about this game when we talked about this last episode too. You know, Sixers are typically a tough team. They got Joel and, you know, and Bede, you know, James Harden's out there, Tobias Harris, and they got some nice pieces, right? The Cavs spanked them. They spanked them, Alex. They didn't have James Harden, but they spanked them. And I don't care that they didn't have James Harden. I'm just glad that we got a dominating win, 113 to 85.
00:06:31
Speaker
Um, it was great. It was great. There's your quality win. Yeah. It's a quality team. You know, the six years of quality team. They're good enough. I mean, they're without, without harden. I'll say this though. I'll say this though. The calves did what they needed to do that game. So yeah, they're missing, um, their second best player and the calves did exactly what they were supposed to do. Not let them hang around, you know, but put their foots on their throats and didn't look back basically.
00:07:00
Speaker
You know what I mean? They outscored them 44 to 27 in the second quarter and it was game after that, basically. So they didn't let a team hang around that wasn't really supposed to hang around because that'd be like if the Cavs are missing Garland or Mitchell. You know, the other team is going to have a little bit more of an advantage, right? Well, you know, they luckily the Cavs took advantage of it and got the W and.
00:07:21
Speaker
pretty convincing fashion. You know what kind of sticks out to me during that game is that the Cavs started Daikite at the three for that game. They did. That is pretty crazy. Yeah, so let's talk about that here for a few minutes. A guy that hasn't even been in the rotation and boom, starter.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So Lavert missed some games. He came back for this game, had a pretty nice game actually. 33 points, 22 points, grabbed six rebounds, couple assists. So a nice debut back after missing a couple games.
Player Roles and Performances
00:07:55
Speaker
Um, but there was mutual agreement. I don't know how much I buy into that, but mutual agreement that Lavert would start coming off the bench now.
00:08:07
Speaker
And which I won't argue against that. I thought it was a pretty scary looking lineup when Lavert was in the starting lineup, like just on paper. Obviously that didn't reflect on a night and night out basis because Lavert's as usual inconsistent.
00:08:23
Speaker
I don't hate him moving to the bench because it gives you some firepower off of the bench, but now it feels like we're back to the last four years of that big question mark at the small forward spot.
00:08:38
Speaker
I feel like. I wanna I wanna agree and say yeah, add some firepower to the bench, but Lavert has been so inconsistent that you just don't know what you're going to get from him. It's like, is it putting firepower on the bench? I don't know. It's potential firepower. It's not consistent firepower because guess what? The next game against the magic who we also crushed.
00:08:59
Speaker
He put up five points in 24 minutes. So he had a stinker. You just, you can't do that. If you're going to put him in that, that's going to be the new word, man. If you put him in that, in that Jamal Crawford, or better yet in that Colin Sexton type role where you're expecting him to come off the bench and give you some offensive, you know, firepower, he can't have five points. You know, he needs to give you consistent double digit scoring in my opinion. And I don't, I'm trying not to read into it too much, but I wonder if
00:09:29
Speaker
You know, was it, who came to who? Do I really feel that any player's going to go to the coach or the organization and say, you know what? I think I want to reduce my role and come off the bench. I feel like it was probably most likely the way around. Oh yeah, for sure. I, I don't know why they're saying mutual agreement. Is that to protect his ego or what? I mean, that's what I worry about. And that's what I worry about is, is there going to be any kind of negative ripples from that?
00:09:56
Speaker
Um, you know, if Laver continues to struggle, that's just going to amp up the negativity around it. You know, more articles, more, you know, fans, whatever. And, um, you know, is that going to lead to some, some issues? Hopefully not.
00:10:11
Speaker
Hopefully he can figure it out. Um, I think he's a nice piece that can fit in with this group, but he needs to produce. Right. Yeah. Or at least just fit into a role, a consistent role and just impact the game in other ways, play great defense. Sometimes I don't know. I don't know what it is. He just doesn't seem overly motivated. Sometimes that that's just what it feels like to me.
00:10:39
Speaker
And you got to remember too, you're not paying him a, a Chetty Osman team friendly type contract. You're not paying him a Dean Wade type contract. He's making what 15 plus mill a year, you know, this season. So he's making a decent amount of change too. And you gotta get, you gotta get consistency out of a player that's, you know, supposed to be a starter or at least your sixth man coming off the bench and making 15 million. You know what I mean? So.
00:11:10
Speaker
We'll see what happens with that, but I got my eye on that when I saw mutual. I, I, I smelled, I smelled the S. Yeah. But this, um, so the 76ers game was a fun game cause the Cavs dominated, um, standouts there. I thought Lavert did have a good game again, 22 and six. I thought Mobley did a good job holding his own, you know, against and bead.
00:11:37
Speaker
Garland and Mitchell had a great game, you know, and just, yeah, I mean, Akuro actually chipped in 11 points. It was just kind of a well-balanced scoring effort. And the Cavs, like I said, had that big second quarter and never looked back, never let them back in it. Yeah, I didn't, you know, I didn't catch too much of this game, unfortunately.
00:11:59
Speaker
I saw drippy Dean was back. That was exciting. That's always exciting. And unfortunately he's gone again. Yeah. So he's got a left shoulder injury. It's going to be out for four weeks. Yeah, I know, man. He came back for like what, three games or something like that. Cause last episode we were talking about how we got him back and he's already gone four games later. Um, man, this team is just plagued by injuries.
00:12:26
Speaker
But you know what, they're 14 and eight. I think the last I saw, they're still sitting at number three or four, maybe now in the East. So, you know, they're still okay at the same time, I think. Um, and with Wade being out and Lavert moving to the bench, you know, it gives other players opportunities. Who knows maybe, you know, Akura will start to figure things out. Um, what's your other boy's name? Who's getting some minutes now? One can dream. Who's your other guy? Windler.
00:12:57
Speaker
That ship, that dream is long gone. That ship is still. They don't even list him anymore. I don't even see him on the injury report. No, no. See on the team? No, but the other guy that got admitted, he got to start the other night, you were saying, before we started recording. Oh, you're talking about Daikita. Yeah, Daikita. Mamadi. Yeah, so what's your take on him? I don't know how much you've seen of him.
00:13:25
Speaker
Got any opinions, or do you like what you see? He seems to be doing okay. He does all right. I don't know. It's too early to tell yet. He's very raw. He is very raw. He plays good defense. He's very active, very... And he's long. I don't know. Yeah, very long, athletic, right.
00:13:46
Speaker
I forget what game it was. It was a couple games back. He had a couple of nice blocks. I think one of them got called a goaltending, but it was like, I was like, okay, he can get up. You know what I mean? Like he's playing aggressive. He's realizing that he has a window and he's trying to take advantage of it. I mean, in the 76ers game, he played 23 minutes. That's, that's a healthy amount of time, right? To, to show what you could do. And he's, he's doing what he can. He makes mistakes. Of course. He's a young player.
00:14:15
Speaker
Not with a ton of NBA experience. Yeah, I was just going to say that you got to figure he hasn't logged hardly any game minutes with this group. I mean, it's going to take time. So it's just too early on to really judge. Yeah, totally, totally. But I feel like so far, he's filled the void that he's been brought in to do.
00:14:37
Speaker
Um, with Wade out, he'll continue to get minutes with Lavert moving to the bench. I'm not saying we need to start him, but you know, he should, he should be able to find minutes in this rotation right now. Um, you know, with Wade still being out, Kevin love was out. He just came back. Um, so yeah, keeping an eye on him as well. And, uh, let's talk about love real quick because love made his return in the magic game.
00:15:03
Speaker
which the Cavs also won 107 to 96. This was a pretty close game, believe it or not, for a while, and the Cavs would blow it open a little bit, like double digits, and then the Magic would find a way to creep back into it. The Cavs were up as much as 20, I think 20 points at one point. Yeah, at the end of the third, yeah. Yeah, yeah, but the Magic outscored us in the fourth, and they made it interesting for a while until we were able to pull away the last half of the quarter.
00:15:33
Speaker
But Kevin Love made his return this game. We were talking last episode, Alex, how he injured his thumb. We all assumed the worst. He sat a game, then played a game, and then hadn't played since. And we didn't really ever hear an official timeline. But he's been back the last two games now. So I feel like that's good news. Yeah. Yeah. And he's been playing well. Looks like old Kevin Love. Yeah, totally.
00:16:04
Speaker
I've beat up Kevin Love for a while on this podcast. Undeservingly. Last season, when I started to make the churn on that, and I'm watching this magic game, and I'm watching Kevin Love, and I'm just like, you know what? He's just smart.
00:16:20
Speaker
He just knows when to take a charge at the right time. He knows when to make the right pass. He's so good at catching the ball, doing a pump fake to get his defender to fly at him and then just take one step to the left and fire it up for a three and knock it down. Like he's just very seasoned and very smart.
00:16:38
Speaker
Very, very high basketball IQ. Yeah, exactly. He's definitely not the fastest or the most athletic player on the court, but he might be the smartest. He's getting dunks though, man. I'll say this though, he gets dunks every once in a while, and I always get a little grin on my face when he gets in there and gets a dunk. Because it's just like, all right, you know, and
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeah, man, he did it. He had 11 11 that game and just 23 minutes and just it was just smart basketball. And the team is better when he is out there as a result, especially coming off the bench.
00:17:09
Speaker
Um, you know, and who knows, you know, you know, we got Lavert on the bench. Now I do feel, um, when Rubio comes back, that should elevate our second unit as well. Or at least I'm hoping for that Lavert Rubio and love that's, that's a healthy second unit for sure. And, and you never know when Chetty is just going to go off for 20 something points and knock down four, three pointers.
00:17:32
Speaker
or spill more alien fluid on the court. That was bizarre. I saw it on TV live, and I was like, what is that? That's weird. Did you see it kind of went somewhat viral? It did, because then I was on Reddit, and there was pictures and memes of it. And I was like, yeah, I thought that was kind of weird during the court, too. I didn't realize that everybody noticed that. I don't know. Yeah, like people are convinced he's an alien now.
00:18:03
Speaker
That's crazy. Freaking Chetty. And that's another thing too. How many years has Chetty been here now? Has this is like fifth year with us? Has it been longer? I don't even know. Is Chetty going to be a lifer? Is he going to be a lifer? I don't know. They have held onto him a very long time. They have, man. I don't know. I'll have to look up his contract later. I feel like he's got at least another year or two. I think it was a four or five year contract. I don't know. It was pretty healthy.
00:18:31
Speaker
but it feels like he's already been here five years. And I'm just, I watch him run around out there and he always makes the effort. And sometimes he pulls off things and I'm like, holy crap. How do you do that? Or another times I'm shaking my head like, okay, back to old Chetty. Yeah. Another plan that just isn't consistent. It isn't consistent, but he's somehow been able to find a role here. And I guess sometimes I think when I was watching this game, I'm watching love and I'm watching Chetty cause they're typically out there.
00:19:00
Speaker
a lot at the same time, because they come in off the bench together. I'm just like, man, how is Chetty still here? You know what I mean? It's just kind of amazing that this kind of no-name player from overseas that we drafted and stashed, by the way. He didn't come and play as... He played overseas, I think, at least one more season before we brought him over.
00:19:20
Speaker
has somehow found a way to find a place on this team and has been here for, I'm willing to bet it's been at least five years now. So it's just- I bet you're right. Because I remember you played with LeBron for at least a season or two. They were buddies. They trained together. Yeah, exactly. They trained together. That's right. Yeah. I mean, Jettie was supposed to step right into LeBron's shoes and never miss a beat. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah, that didn't happen.
00:19:49
Speaker
So yeah, that was the magic game, the return of love, Lavert back to being a stinker. Mobley had a nice game, 19 and 13. I do feel Mobley has been solid since Allen's been gone and has stepped up. It feels like he's been a little bit more aggressive, at least from what I've seen. But again, I still wish Allen was out there. I think he's more deadly when there's another seven footer out there that the other teams got to worry about.
00:20:18
Speaker
Talking about Bulbul. Bulbul, my God, his legs. His legs are so skinny. They're like toothpicks, man. I thought Snoop Dogg was skinny, but man. Bulbul, I think he gives him a run for his money. Yeah, it's... I don't know. He knocked down the three at the end of that game. I was like, okay, okay. I mean, yeah, I mean, for being so tall and lanky, he sure is skilled. I mean, he's... He blocked somebody towards the end of the game.
00:20:48
Speaker
I was heavily disappointed because he didn't do the finger wave. Oh, the finger wags. I was like, you know, I know that was Matumbo, but I was like, man, just just do it. Yeah. I mean, the magic also have Ben Chiero, the first round pick, number one. Yeah. So it's always cool to see how how he's evolving and doing. He's solid. I think he's going to win Rookie of the Year. Oh, he's playing. To be honest with you, to be honest with you,
00:21:17
Speaker
who I like a lot on that team is Cole Anthony. I thought he looked solid. I think he was injured and that was his first game back, but I mean, he put up 19, you know, grabbed six rebounds. He just...
00:21:30
Speaker
He's just aggressive and it was a year or two back. He was in the dunk contest. So he's, he's got some hops as well. And, um, you know, they got a couple other pieces out there, Frank Wagner. Um, they got another rookie, a guy that they drafted last year. I think he's heard, I forget his name, but they took him like number five overall, another guard. So, you know, you know, they're, they're like the cows a couple of years ago. They're starting to get some young pieces and trying to figure it out. Like Terrence Ross is the only veteran out there.
00:21:58
Speaker
Everybody else is pretty young, but you know, there'll be a team here in a couple of years. I mean, they got Foltz. If you include Foltz, he's kind of getting the veteran status a little bit. That's true. He's been around a little bit too. He played 30 minutes and yeah. So that's the magic. Not the Shaq and Penny days that I grew up loving, but maybe someday again with Bowl Bowl and Marko Foltz. He'll be the new Shaq and Penny out there.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, that's reaching. You gotta find out who Horse Grant is, so... Bull Bull. Bull Bull will be Horse Grant. And yeah, Terence Ross can be Dennis Scott.
00:22:41
Speaker
They just need their nickname or something. Oh, man. I think we're falling off the wagon here. All right, let's move on to the next game.
Cavs' Strategies and Trades
00:22:48
Speaker
I was trying to avoid it because it was kind of a crap game. But the Cavs went out to New York. Oh, my god. I think Mitchell, so correct me if I'm, maybe you don't know this, but I think Mitchell's from New York. I think that was because I saw some article saying his homecoming was spoiled. So I have to assume he was born or grew up out in New York. I know he's a Mets fan.
00:23:11
Speaker
Um, and I'm assuming he wanted to show out. I think you're right. I think he is from New York. Yeah. Grew up a Cavs fan though. Maybe. Just kind of strange. Maybe he's just been a LeBron fan, like a lot of. Yeah. Yeah. That's probably true. Just a LeBron fan.
00:23:30
Speaker
If he doesn't know who Darius, if he wasn't rooting for Darius Miles, he wasn't a Cavs fan, Alex. That's all I'm going to say. So the Cavs went out to New York. They went to the garden and, uh, kind of laid an egg here, in my opinion, the Knicks are not a great team, kind of middle of the road, trying to figure things out. They're 11 and 13 right now. And, uh, yeah, the Cavs just didn't play very great. And in my opinion, um,
00:23:59
Speaker
And they ended up losing this game 92 to 81 as a result, Alex. I hate losing to New York. I just hate it. I do too. I do too because they're like in that Pistons category to me. They have that one, you know, that that's, that's where I was saying earlier, like the Cavs did what they were supposed to do against the 76ers. They're missing their second best player. The Cavs took advantage, never looked back. And then they go to New York a couple of games later against a team that they're better than.
00:24:27
Speaker
and they let the Knicks basically hang around and ultimately win this game. It's just a disappointing loss is what it is. You can't lose teams like these and also not beat teams like the Raptors, teams like the Bucks.
00:24:45
Speaker
You can lose to the Bucks. You can't lose to the Knicks. You can't lose to the Pistons. You can't lose to the Magic. You know what I mean? It was just disappointing. And I don't even know if he's still out there, but Derek Rose didn't even play in this game, Alex. Is he still on Nick? I don't know. He's still on the Knicks. I don't know. I think he was just a, he just doesn't get too many minutes. You know who did play though, Alex?
00:25:09
Speaker
You know, what was the reason why we lost him? Now forget will be top at the bait of the cash to take over. He had five points. Oh, like half this team is like, should the Cavs have taken this pick? Yeah, this team is R.J. Barrett will be topping away quickly. But did you see who played in this game? An old Cavs like Isaiah Hartenstein, Hartenstein.
00:25:36
Speaker
Man, he was one of your guys, man. And he put up 10 and 9 in this game. That's enough. That's the game right there. If Hartenstein doesn't play and doesn't give the Knicks 10 and 9, that's the game right there. Yeah, you can't wait. Yeah, you can't do that. Mobley should have shut him down. I don't understand that. If you let him co-offer a double-double, what are you doing? Come on, Mobley.
00:25:57
Speaker
Mitchell Robinson who I feel he's kind of an underrated player in my opinion He's a big who's very athletic kind of like a Jared Allen in a way And he didn't do anything. He played 34 minutes. He five points 11 rebounds. He's a rebounding machine So they did what they needed to do there in my opinion, but but they let hardenstein go off No, let's get a double-double against you
00:26:19
Speaker
and Jalen Brunson, the $100 million man, put up 23 points against you. So, just not the best. I always feel like Quickly torches us every time Quickly puts up big numbers. Yeah, he's a solid. He's a quick little point guard under the radar guy who tends to, you know, he can score a little bit if you aren't paying attention. So yeah, the Cavs just let too many players go off. Randall put in 18, Barrett had 15.
00:26:48
Speaker
You stop quickly or you stop Hartenstein and you most likely we're gonna we're gonna win this game The Cavs just didn't have it that game from a defensive effort Right they also had another stinker the vert with another stinker I was also gonna say they also have a cam reddish. It was another pick that we were like Thinking we should take at one time this came out there. He didn't play I
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's not playing, but yeah, he's on the Knicks. That's why I'm saying the Knicks are just full of picks that we had the opportunity to take. The Knicks, for the last couple years, have just been a weird mix of hodgepodge players. And they gave R.J. Barrett that contract, because they didn't want to give R.J. Barrett that contract extension. Just they couldn't get anything that they learned. Yeah, you got to spend the money, though.
00:27:41
Speaker
Gotta spend the money and you gotta you gotta I mean, I give it to somebody Yeah, and and I don't know how bear it is this year, but I feel like he's probably giving you Somewhat consistency, you know what I mean? So if he's giving you 15 a night, it's like well Yeah, is he really worth that contract probably not but imagine if that 15 a night wasn't there so Yeah, they're kind of in a weird spot. It's it's weird that it's New York and just like yeah, nobody nobody wants to go there And no big stars want to go there and as a result they got they got to pay Jalen Brunson
00:28:11
Speaker
you know, a hundred million dollars, whatever. So just weird. But yeah, bad game, bad game to lose. Um, you know, no real standouts in my opinion, Mitchell put up 23, um, Garland was 17, but really nobody else did anything to outstanding that game. Akuro, no points. Like again, that can't, you can't have Akuro and Lavert.
00:28:33
Speaker
both not doing anything. Osman and Stevens aren't going to make up for that. Stevens had eight, Osman had 10. So just not enough firepower. Yuck. I mean, this is one of the games I watched too. So I'm just thinking about the course of this game and just how ugly it was. And then
00:28:55
Speaker
They got to the fourth quarter and there was like six minutes left and the Cavs decide, okay, we're gonna try to win this thing with six minutes left. They had opportunities. They just go on a barrage of a scoring barrage to try to catch up and they just can't do it and fall short.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah, they were, they were only down six with like just under four minutes to go. Right. And then I was like, okay, they're gonna, you know, two, two buckets in a timeout and we're back into this thing, right? Two buckets is, you know, two buckets and two stops and we're back into it, you know, with a timeout or whatever. And then just, it didn't happen. And the Knicks kind of blew it open at the end and we lose as a result. Yeah. 11 points. So yeah, we, we kept trying to go on a run, but
00:29:38
Speaker
I couldn't get over the hill and it was tough to watch. I was like, I don't know. Yeah. I can't do it anymore, Cavs. I can't do it. I can't watch these away games, man. Well, the next three are at home, Alex. Good. Three wins. Three wins, hopefully. Yeah, the Cavs are 10 and 1 at home. So they're taking care of business at home. But yeah, on the road, I don't know what their record is, but it feels like maybe 500 ball if that.
00:30:07
Speaker
And there's your losses, basically, as a result. And again, the CAS only have nine losses. And that kind of segues into what I wanted to talk about next. I don't see a ton of it, but I see some of it. And I see it from some accounts on Twitter that get some interaction. They have followers. They get a lot of interaction when they.
00:30:30
Speaker
When they post and not only them, I see it from other folks too, but I'm starting to see the, uh, the whiny calves fans come out of the woodworks. Alex, the, this isn't fun, you know, because the expectations are higher this year and they're acting like they're acting like the, like it's game over game over man, because the calves lost to the next or the calves are losing some of these games and, uh,
00:30:57
Speaker
you know, they're just basically saying this, this season is already turning out to not be fun. And I'm going to call them out and say, I don't know what you're talking about. You're not a cast fan. It's way too early in the season. I mean, it's way too early. And again, I think we said this in the last episode, either that, or I said this to somebody else just in talking. Has there been, how many games have all five starters actually played together this year out of the 24 games we've played now?
00:31:28
Speaker
Single digits single digits not too many not too many right so that right there tells you that the Cavs have basically been having to plug in somebody new into these Roles because every player has missed a game. I think maybe mobile is the only one I don't recall if he's missed or not But bigger staff and the coaching staff is basically having to change his rotation constantly
00:31:51
Speaker
You're only 24 games in. You're sitting within the top four seed of the playoffs right now if it started today. And you have arguably the best back court, at least in the Eastern Conference, if not one of the best back courts in the NBA right now in a very bright future. So get your woe is me out of here. Yeah, because because that's garbage. Yeah, just wait just wait until after all star break. And then that's when the you know, they'll start putting the pedal down and hopefully we'll have Rubio back and.
00:32:20
Speaker
Oh my God, I almost dread seeing where those folks are at 50 games into the season. It's like, oh man, I got to listen to you for two more months yet. It's going to get to the playoffs, complain about the trades you need to make and all that stuff. That's one thing I will say though, I haven't seen articles pop up yet.
00:32:43
Speaker
Um, from like, you know, just local, um, you know, from like Cleveland.com and their local places, like, at least we haven't gotten to the point to where I've seen, you know, the calves need to make a trade and this is their best trade targets. And yeah, I'm sure all of that will come. I mean, I'm seeing it a little bit like just because of like, Lavert, you know, and the whole of the three, it's like,
00:33:03
Speaker
If we package Lavert and Lopez, you know, could we get a good three? And it's like, yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's my fear where that's ultimately going to go. And that's why I said, I'm keeping my eyes on it because again, I, I, I find it hard to believe Lavert's going to be happier in a coming off the bench role versus a starting role. He wants to, he's, he's young enough. He's in his prime yet to where he wants to be able to, you know, be one of the guys on the team, right? He wants to be a starter and.
00:33:33
Speaker
I just, I, I just wonder where that's going to lead to. And if the calves do make any kind of trade, that would be my first guess of who would be involved. He's, he's basically, he's basically the new section. He's going to be the scapegoat. Unfortunately. And he's going to be the trade bait that gets dangled out there. Um, if the calves decide to make any type of moves at some point, that's what it feels like at least, but we'll see. We'll see. Do you think the calves will make any kind of move at the, at the deadline?
00:34:03
Speaker
I don't know. I think, do we need to get, is there a hump that we need to get over yet or is it too early? I think there is. I think there is a hump. We got to get over. I mean, I don't know when the trade deadline is this year. Um, it'll be here before we know it just because of the way time moves these days. It'll, you know, it's going to be Christmas by the time we do the next episode and it's going to be 2023 after that. And before you know, it'll be all-star break. And then, you know, usually the trade deadline is always somewhere around there, right?
00:34:31
Speaker
But I think it's going to depend. Like, are we still just constantly going through injuries? Are we still getting inconsistency out of like a Kuro and Lavert? You know, has Rubio come back yet? Like, I feel like that can be a factor. I feel like the Cavs, they're going to go one or two ways.
00:34:51
Speaker
And I think it's going to be the second way, but the first way would be, they make some big splash, almost like a blockbuster trade, but not touch any of our, you know, they're not going to touch Garland, not going to touch Mitchell. We're talking like Lavert. We're talking like a Kuro, you know, guys like that and try to, try to go get another, the missing piece, quote unquote, not another just guy to add to the end of the rotation, like another guy to be in the rotation. Maybe even you're starting small forward.
00:35:18
Speaker
The other option they do is they go small. They keep the core and the group together, and they just add a piece to their bench. Maybe they go find a specialized shooter since Windler can't be that, since he can't be healthy and get on this team, get in the rotation. Maybe they go find somebody like that, like a 3ND guy or something like that, to add. And that's a smaller trade where you're trading someone like a Windler, or maybe they decide it's time to move on from someone. A Windler.
00:35:52
Speaker
He was supposed to be that. He was. Maybe it's someone more like a Kuro. I don't know. But I feel like if they do make a move, it'll be something like that because they won't want to disrupt the chemistry that the players have on and off the court. That'll be the
00:36:08
Speaker
the quote unquote political answer. If bigger staff ever got asked that question. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, yeah, first off, it's it's way too early for me to even ask you that question. You know, we won't know up until all star break whether, you know, oh, we need we need another piece or hey, everybody's getting along well, everybody's playing great together. We're meshing. You know, and we're rolling or we're not rolling. I think I think we'll know.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Totally. I feel like there's another month of basketball yet to really get a good look at where we're at and determine from there whether the Cavs need to make any kind of moves and whether it needs to be serious moves or not. You know what I mean? I don't even know who's out there in free agency. You know, maybe there's someone out there that makes sense.
00:37:00
Speaker
I don't know. It'll be interesting. It always feels like I can't, I'll say this. I can't remember a calf season where the calves didn't make one single transaction throughout the year. You know what I mean? It just, and maybe that's for most NBA teams. It just feels like something will happen. Someone will get waived and we'll sign somebody or somebody, some minor trade will happen or some big trade will happen. Um, so we just have to wait and see at this point.
00:37:28
Speaker
Speaking of moves, have you heard anything? Have you been following the news about the possible NBA expansion, adding two teams?
NBA Expansion Discussion
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, so I've been wondering about that. So you're going out on the road again, right for work. So we've... Man, work has been... We have to schedule our podcasts around work now. Oh, I know. It's crazy. It's crazy, right? I have to start traveling with my setup. You guys are taking your mic with you, bro. You just start taking it with you, man. Just right up in the hotel room. Who cares?
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm leaving for Columbus this week and should I just go down to the just go down to the bar at the hotel and people be looking at you like you're some celebrity or something. Yeah, I doubt it. They'll be like, who's this weirdo? Security himself. Security. Doing shots of tequila.
00:38:17
Speaker
So you're going out to Vegas. I know you're going to Columbus and then you're going out to Vegas. Yeah. I was wondering, is there any updates on our Las Vegas Sparkles expansion team? I did buy a Las Vegas Sparkles basketball t-shirt to wear. So I will be definitely trying to enforce that movement.
00:38:37
Speaker
So chaos fans real quick before Alex goes on I don't know how long ago it was a month or so back When there was some trade rumors pop or not trade rumors expansion NBA expansion rumors prior before the season started I think or maybe right after it started we're talking about Vegas and we were talking about, you know, what could be potential names and Las Vegas sparkles man, that's that's the one that's just stuck with me and you know who's actually in the market who wants to buy an NBA team right now Alex and
00:39:05
Speaker
I did. I just saw this today. It was, um, Oh, Oh, the boxer for Floyd Mayweather, right? Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather is interested in buying an NBA team. Supposedly has already offered 2 billion to who we don't know that, but he's offered 2 billion. Um, which according to something that you read, Alex, that's in the ballpark, right? Didn't you read like 2.5 billion? Yeah. Yeah. I heard they were looking for about 2.5 billion per team.
00:39:34
Speaker
So if he, if he really offered 2 billion, that's a pretty competitive offer. Um, and I could see him wanting the Vegas team and who knows, man, Floyd Mayweather might own the Las Vegas sparkles. That would be pretty wild. That'd be cool. I'd love to see Las Vegas get a team. And, uh, of course, Seattle.
00:39:55
Speaker
Man, gotta bring back Seattle, man. The Sonics. Seattle's gotta come back before Vegas comes back. That would be amazing. But I do think it'll be two teams. I don't think it'll just be one. But man, Seattle, yeah, that'd be amazing. Didn't you hear? Yeah, that Mexico City is also a possibility for a team.
00:40:17
Speaker
The sparkles dream is dead already because you know what? I bet you the NBA wants to get a team in Vegas. But man, getting a team down in Mexico is probably pretty tempting to them. Oh, yeah. Mexico team, a Canada team. And then, you know, of course, all the teams in the United States fans with that ad to have a team in Mexico. Yeah, incredible, incredible reach. Interesting. And I mean, we got a team in Canada. Why not have a team in the country to the south?
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, I could totally see that happening. It was a couple episodes back we talked about who we'd protect and who we wouldn't protect for an expansion draft. Imagine if three NBA expansion teams all happen at the same time, man, you might lose a couple players if that happened. I don't want to think about that.
00:41:13
Speaker
You don't want to give up any of them. No. Maybe Windler. Maybe Windler. Injured players, they don't qualify for the expansion. I don't know if he's so injured or not. Yeah, who knows. I haven't heard any updates on him, so I have no idea what's going on with him.
Podcast Milestone Teasers
00:41:35
Speaker
And I guess the last thing, going as far as injuries and stuff like that, because I don't know if we talked about it, but Rubio,
00:41:41
Speaker
Um, something popped up on Rubio this week. Um, he's supposedly going to meet with doctors soon, um, to determine, start to check them out and see how his progress is going. And I feel like, um, maybe just maybe, maybe it'll be a Christmas gift to us CAS fans. We'll get some sort of an updated timetable on him and start to get a realistic timeframe of when he's going to be back on this roster. And that'd be great if it was going to be sooner than later.
00:42:09
Speaker
You know, like end of January or something like that would be great. Yeah, I would love to see Rubio back on the court. The missing piece. You don't mean to make a trade, see? You just need Rubio back. Yeah. Whose minutes is he gonna take? I don't know. I don't know either. It's not like Neto's been playing a lot.
00:42:31
Speaker
No, no, he has garbage minutes. He didn't even, he didn't even get any run in this, uh, next game. I don't know. Maybe he was sick or something. I don't know, but, um, you know, I don't know. Cabs trying to figure it out, man, plugging in the holes. They keep coming though, and they'll keep coming. That's the NBA for you. It's, it's a long season. There's going to be injuries. And, uh, the casual just have to continue doing whatever they can do to plug in the missing pieces and get some wins.
00:43:03
Speaker
calm down those fans that are ready to jump off the cliff already. Well, Corey, we're about to hit a milestone here. This is episode 99. 99, man. Remember the Bone Thugs and Harmony CD, East 1999? Do you remember what year we started this podcast? 2017.
00:43:30
Speaker
What? No way. 2018? I don't remember. It's been a few years. 2019 maybe. 2019? It was, I thought it was like right after LeBron left. 2019. 2019. It was in April. April 2019 was our first episode.
00:43:50
Speaker
And, uh, still going. So a little over three years now, Alex. Yeah. Episode 99 is this one and the big one. I know. I know. I always, I always laugh because we were the a-holes that decided to start the cows podcast after the title run years. When everybody else was shutting their podcast down, we said, you know what? Now's a great time since we didn't know what we were doing and all that stuff. We're like, yeah, let's, let's, let's start a podcast.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yeah, about to hit 100, 100 episodes here in the next one. And Alex, you wanna, I'll let you do it. You wanna tease them a little bit? I don't know, are we teasing that something's happening? Let's tease them, let's tease them. I don't wanna give it away yet. I wanna tease them. Oh, I don't know how to tease it without giving it away. No, no, no. So cast fans, there's gonna be at least one big announcement on episode 100.
00:44:49
Speaker
with a pretty good chance of there being two announcements. I think there's going to be two. I think there's going to be two. I think we should. Oh, I see what you're saying. There's definitely going to be two. OK, OK. Get on it for me. And episode 100 should be right around Christmas time. So yeah, that's we're kind of going to make two big announcements right around that Christmas episode. It may be a little bit before Christmas, we'll see.
00:45:16
Speaker
But yeah, man, it'll be good as long as Alex is back from wherever wherever our work is sending him. Either that or you need to take your mic with you. But yeah, Episode 100, it's gonna be a good one. One of these surprises is the change of our intro music. Right, Corey?
00:45:31
Speaker
Man I Guess I guess I gotta I guess I gotta start on that. Yeah hundred episodes in maybe it's time to change it. I don't know I Don't know. It's just so it's just so twangy and so funky though, man. It just there's nothing else out there like it I know I do enjoy it. Yeah, I don't think I could make it We'll see I could sing something Just gotta get Curtis blow to give us the rights to
00:45:59
Speaker
to, uh, to basketball is, you know, that song. You'll, you'll definitely want to listen to the next episode though. That's all I gotta say. Definitely, definitely be ready for that. Should we say there's, there's going to be a prize or? I don't know. The prize is listening and figuring out what the announcements are, I guess. All right, let's wrap it up. One of the announcements is a prize, Corey. We're not, we're not going to do this. You did a good tease up until you just gave one of them away. Oh, oh, right.
00:46:28
Speaker
No. Well, they don't know what the prize is. Yeah. It could just be Alex, you know, singing our new intro song. That's right. It could be. All right. All right. Let's get out of here. Alex, let's wrap up this episode of the Cast Pickle Roll Podcast, episode number 99, 100, coming around the corner. And Alex, you want to let them know where they can go ahead and follow us and connect with us.
00:46:54
Speaker
Follow us on Twitter, at calvespickandroll, shoot us an email, calvespickandroll at gmail.com. We have a Facebook page, check that out. And wherever you're listening, click like, subscribe, leave us a rating or a review, and we'd appreciate it. All right, CAS fans, appreciate you listening, and we will talk to you again soon. Peace out, CAS fans.