Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 144: It's Fun to be a Cav's Fan Again
60 Plays5 months ago
Alex and Corey discuss the latest happenings with the Cavs and around the NBA. We talk about the Cav's west coast road-trip sweep, NBA All-Star aspirations, and take a look at the up-coming battle with OKC. We also talk about reports of Dan Gilbert entering a bid to bring a WNBA team to Cleveland.
Twitter: @CavsPickandRoll
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cavspickandroll
Instagram: CavsPickandRoll
Email: CavsPickandRoll@gmail.com
Facebook: Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Holiday Gifts
00:00:08
Speaker
job
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey, Cavs fans. Welcome to another episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast, the podcast for diehard Cavs fans. Alex, my man, happy new year to you. Hey, happy new year. How was the holidays for you? It was great. It's nice having a little time off. Always, always. Did you get any cool Cavs gifts this year? Um,
00:00:40
Speaker
you know, I can't really think of anything. like I got the best calves gifts ever, Alex. You got some tickets. ah Even better than that. I don't want to brag. You got the the calves pool table.
00:00:58
Speaker
Yeah, and signed signed by Donovan Mitchell. Yeah, you know, the whole Cavs team signed the pool table for me. And yeah, I
Cavs Fan Joy and Season Start
00:01:05
Speaker
got it. And I'm i'm bringing it to your house next week. No, I got I got a kick ass Cavs team. That's for real. It isn't going away. And as a result of that, as a result of that, I couldn't be happier. And to be honest with you, for the first time in a long time, and I'll explain here in a second, it's fun to be a Cavs fan again.
00:01:28
Speaker
It's fun to be a Cavs fan again. and What do I mean by that? It's always fun for idiots like you and me to be a Cavs fan, even when we're drowning in our own misery of watching horrible teams over the years. But what I mean is, is think about this. This could have swung a very different way. If things didn't go the way they did over the summer, right? The Cavs make a coaching change. The Cavs secure.
00:01:52
Speaker
basically the, you know, the rest of the core four to this team and are now locked in. And we are now through not halfway through the season. We're through the first year, the 2024. Now we're in 2025 and the Cavs are still top of the league best team in the and NBA. And there's no drama. They're playing excellent basketball.
Cavs Game Talk: Charlotte Hornets
00:02:13
Speaker
And I can't remember the last time it felt like this. It certainly hasn't felt like this since we started this podcast.
00:02:20
Speaker
And, you know, I'm not trying to rag on anybody, but like the bandwagon fan and fans are here, right? When the team's winning, the fans are going to show. And just again, in general, it's cool. It's fun to be a Cavs fan again, especially with the Browns just ending their season the way they did. The Guardians are done. And man, it's just it's just enjoyable to watch Cavs basketball right now. It's a beautiful thing.
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's been awesome. So you didn't get any Cavs gear though for Christmas, huh? I got one Cavs shirt this year. It was a little light. It was a little light. I'm not gonna i'm not gonna lie. But at the same time, i didn't i but we talked about this last time. I don't um don't ask for anything. They just know. ah But this year, yeah, it was only a single Cavs shirt. Yeah, i can't really I can't really think of anything, which is surprising. I know i know that I had to of had to have. I did get NBA 2K25.
00:03:12
Speaker
I just haven't had a chance to load it up yet. It's fun playing with the cows on there. Donovan Mitchell is unstoppable. Just drive to the rim and dunk on people and you'll have a good time. But that'll be fun firing that up. Got that at a discounted price, right? It was a gift, so yeah. Oh, uh-oh. Cool, cool, cool. That's even better. That's even better.
00:03:36
Speaker
So Alex, the Cavs just wrapped up a game a little bit ago against the Charlotte Hornets Sunday night, six o'clock game. I kind of like those games um because they end a little bit earlier in the night and you still kind of have a night after that. And um I know you said you got a chance to catch this game. I got I caught most of the game as well. What did you see? Yeah, I like your your little clip you posted of Garland giving Lamello Ball the little bit of a push and lamello totally flopping yeah i i don't really know what happened because it it happened off camera at first this is early in the game uh first quarter maybe midway through or so and all of a sudden they cut to a replay of darius garland putting two hands on lamello
00:04:27
Speaker
And he he did, he he he pushed him a little bit, but it was so incredibly weak of a push and the mellow goes flying. And I saw my opportunity and and made a nice little YouTube short of it. And even John Michael commented that.
00:04:43
Speaker
that that'll That might cost Lamello a few bills because it was such a flop. Yeah, it was such a flop. and um Yeah, i you know what? I mean, maybe Alex, maybe that's it. Maybe that's what I did wrong as a kid. I didn't eat my vegetables. I didn't eat enough Wheaties.
00:04:59
Speaker
And I and I can't just manhandle NBA players like Darius Garland did in that video. And if you want to see what we're referring to, go check out our YouTube channel, go to the shorts and you'll see it posted on there and probably get a laugh out of it, to be honest with you, because it's it's pretty good. yeah It's pretty funny.
00:05:17
Speaker
He like, uh, man, he like goes to the floor and it's not just like a little fall over. It's a total like, like you just got dropped kicked. He like flies backwards with his arms out, slides across the court a couple of feet. So what in the world? And if you watch that too, the video, the camera captures some of the Cavs fans in like the front row.
00:05:38
Speaker
And there's like these three guys there and you can kind of you see them laughing basically. Well, I didn't notice that. i didn't touch it Yeah. Yeah. Go back, go back and watch that. And you'll it's like an old guy and some middle aged guy and they're all laughing. It's like the hell's going on, man. NBA crazy. And what else is crazy? And we'll get into this a little bit more. But Lamello Ball has like the most all star boats in the East for all guards right now. And it's kind of crazy that, you know, that's the way it works. Yeah. Right.
00:06:08
Speaker
I don't know. I guess I'm surprised he has such a ah following. Yeah, me too. Me too.
Player Performances and Team Depth
00:06:15
Speaker
But we'll get in we'll get into all-star stuff here in a little bit. But the Cavs, you know, the Charlotte Hornets aren't a great team, Alex. But the Cavs did just come off a West Coast trip, which was a very successful trip. And we'll we'll get into a little bit of that as well.
00:06:28
Speaker
And even Atkinson admitted before the game tonight, like he didn't call it a trap game, but he's like, this is a this is a tough game because when you're coming back from a West Coast trip, only had a day in between from getting back home to playing the game, like this is a game we got to watch out for. And, you know, the Cavs got up multiple times, double digits on the Hornets. But the Hornets also never really went away in this game until late into the game. They hung around. um But Alex, the Cavs man, it's just There's so many firepower options from this team. You don't need anybody to go out and hit 35 points in a game to win. And that's that's really the, in my opinion, the beauty of this team. ah You know, and I would say that they actually struggled a little bit in this game because typically they're, you know, a little more better three point
00:07:20
Speaker
shooting like they're almost kind of lights out, you know, shooting 40% in this game. I think they, let me look, they only shot 34.9% from three, which is a little lower than there their typical average.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And they gave up a lot of threes, too. um What's his name? Brandon Miller hit six or seven threes himself, finished with 24 points. He was unstoppable. um So they were giving it up on the defensive end a little bit, too. But again, the Cavs have enough firepower to to to win this game, basically, um against an inferior team. They actually were out-rebounded, too, Alex, which you don't see very often.
00:07:58
Speaker
48 to 41 so the the Hornets were getting some second chance opportunities grabbing some offensive rebounds Yeah, yeah, usually more often than not go the Cavs way um So like I said the Cavs are that the Hornets definitely stuck around in this game but the Cavs luckily were able to overcome and Yeah, this was the third game in the season against the Hornets. The Cavs are 3-0. They'll play the Hornets again. It looks like March 7th. So we can see this team one more time. Yeah, one more time. One more time. um Did anybody anybody's performances stand out from you on the Cavs end that you noticed?
00:08:41
Speaker
I mean, Darius Garland, he's been killing it lately. He played really well in this game. ah Eight for 14 field goal, four for seven, ah three point line, five for five free throws. He was just out there, yeah, doing his thing. Doing his thing. Yeah, doing his thing. Yeah, I like I like Garland a lot this this season because it reminds me of what we saw a couple of seasons back right before he got his big deal. It's just, man,
00:09:10
Speaker
He can handle the ball and he's so shifty. like He's very hard to to keep up with. you know He's got a good first step. He can handle the ball. He can pull back and a train a three on you. He's just so deadly in so many ways. And it's just so nice to see him have his confidence back because I truly believe that if we would have got the version of Garland that we got last year again,
00:09:35
Speaker
um And I know there was the injury and stuff like that that contributed to that. But like if it would have been that again, i I don't feel we would have had the success we were having this year. So DG has been a big part of it. um And yeah, in the offensive end, scoring wise, he's he's looked great. To me, um Jared Allen was my MVP of the game, if you will. 19 points, 11 rebounds, only missed one shot out there. Jared does so many things, Alex, that just It doesn't show up enough. you know he never He's not in a highlight reel. He's a big man. He just you know got a bunch of dunks or put back. If you're not watching these games, you don't truly know or see the value that he brings to this team.
00:10:20
Speaker
And it just does it so consistently on a night and night and basis. And tonight was another one of those performances to where 19 points from Jared Allen from a guy who doesn't shoot the ball from five feet away from the hoop. Yeah, yeah he does that a lot, man. He just doesn't get enough credit. He should be in the All-Star running here. I mean, you said I guess the Lakers ah last week, you know,
00:10:44
Speaker
He had and had a crazy all-star night, 27 points, 14 rebounds against ah Anthony Davis. Yeah, so yeah, who I'm sure who I'm sure will be at the All-Star Game, Anthony meeting Anthony Davis, right? But Jared Allen was just just so fun to watch. um He's very um ah charismatic as well, energetic, just great. And, you know, Evan Mobley chipped in with 17 points, not too shabby there. Donovan Mitchell didn't have to do a ton, but he did enough. You know, he when when the game started to
00:11:18
Speaker
you know the charlotte horns are trying to creep back in you know that's when he pulls up for three and says nah you ain't coming back on us you know what i mean but just look at this box score alex we got one two three four five players in double digits scoring your boy niyang is the fifth double digit scorer at 10 points and a couple guys off the bench contributing as well and we've talked about that so many times alex you got five players or more in double digits scoring, you're going to be hard to beat. Yeah. And at least what two more that were one shot away. Yeah. Yeah. And tied Jerome and strews. So yeah, speaking of strews, we haven't really talked about strews since he's come back.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, the last episode, Strews wasn't back yet. Akuro just went out. We didn't hear the timeline until like the next morning after we posted the episode, right? And found out Akuro was going to be out for two weeks. And he I haven't looked to see if that's still the case because I feel like we're right around that two week mark. Yeah, we haven't gotten a chance to talk about Strews.
00:12:22
Speaker
um He's back. He's still trying to find his way, I think I would say. I would say. Do you agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. um What do you think about, you know, what Atkinson is doing with Streuss as far as the lineup? You know, he's, he didn't just insert him back into the starting lineup right away. um You know, what do you think, you know, what do you think about Streuss's presence out there? Does it matter if he's in the starting lineup? Should he be in the starting lineup? You find with him coming off the bench.
00:12:50
Speaker
and What's your thoughts? What's his role? don I don't know if it matters. He's he's kind of a they've kind of got him in ah a similar role. The same way they use a Coro really is just you know go out there, play defense, help move the ball around. If you get an open look for the three, take it.
00:13:06
Speaker
You know, make make plays, play defense, try to get steals. That's kind of, ah you know, how they're using Max Truce. He had ah one really great game so far. I guess the Lakers, I thought he really stood out and made an impact in that game. He had 15 points. ah Yeah, yeah, four assists look great.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, tonight he had nine points, played 25 minutes, a couple rebounds, a couple assists. And yeah, I like Strews. He's just one of those players that just can do a little bit of everything, to be honest with you. He's always out there giving you effort on both ends of the floor. He can knock down a tray, and he had some moments last year that were very fun to watch. He had some bombs last year, some great games. So I'm totally expecting him to to have some great games here the rest of the season. ah But he also, man, he's not afraid to take it to the rim, and he had some nice dunks last year, too. And there was one play in the game, man. He got the ball to tap the key, um and he went right to the rim, and he was ready to slam it. And I was ready. I was like, gosh, oh, man, here comes the highlight. Here comes a YouTube short, right? And he ended up getting fouled. He got met at the top of the rim, and and some guy fouled him and stuff. but
00:14:20
Speaker
It's good to have streus back even though he's he's not really the consist, you know, it hasn't found that consistency yet. But man, just another weapon to add to this team. And when a curl does come back, and you're really at full strength, man, it's going to be interesting to see what Atkinson does with the rotation. But they even talked about it tonight in the broadcast. um Everybody's minutes are down. And it's not a bad thing. It's by design.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah. ah You know, it it was perfect timing with Strews coming back right as the Coro was going out. It just worked out really well. um Boy, i I don't know. I don't know.
00:15:00
Speaker
I, you know, I kind of, I'm missing a Coro though, you know, it's good to have Spruce back, but you know, I'm missing a Coro. He's, he's really stepped it up this season. So, yeah you know, I don't feel like Spruce is making as much of an impact as a Coro was.
00:15:17
Speaker
um Yeah, yeah, and it kind of becomes and it's it's a it's a good problem to have but at some point, you know, you got to address it in one way or another. You kind of got this log jam now of a kuro strews lavert. Right. And then you kind of got the the the Sam Meryl's the tiger roams like the next wave after.
00:15:42
Speaker
You are nying they play him as a big they don't play him as a wing player right they don't all right as a guard or anything like that So it's gonna be interesting to see Because any one of those players can go off in any night, but none of those players have like consistently, you know, been, ah yeah you know, just from a scoring aspect to consistent. And part of that is because there are so many weapons on this team, you don't you don't need Karis Lavert to go put up 20 points in a one-off game to go beat a team anymore. You don't need Donovan Mitchell to score 35 points every night to win a game. so
00:16:18
Speaker
Maybe that kind of contributes to the inconsistency of these players. But man, it's a great problem to have. I mean, Strews, Lavert, Akuro, I'm going to say at least two out of those three would probably be starters on any other team. And on this team, they're just fighting to play back up off the bench, you know, to Donovan Mitchell, basically, or Darius Garland.
Cavs as Championship Contenders?
00:16:42
Speaker
It's It's a great problem to have. I mean, and you still got, you know, we're still like blowing teams out like left and right. And so yeah the guys at the bottom of the bench are still getting, you know, three, four minutes here and there. And that's, you know, you got Jalen Tyson, you got J.T. Thor Craig Porter, Junior. Yep. Yeah. Tristan Thompson. I mean, it's it's such a deep team. It's a very deep team. And I was thinking about that ah earlier today before the game. I was like,
00:17:12
Speaker
You know what? We haven't talked about Craig Porter Jr. in forever, it feels like. We were excited that Luke Travers played a game early in the season and stuff.
00:17:26
Speaker
We don't talk about them anymore because really there's not there's there's there's not a spot for them in this rotation, which, you know, is yeah know yeah it was fun talking about those guys. Craig Porter Jr. was a great story last year. Yeah. But man, this is bigger than that. There's just not enough minutes to go around. There's not enough minutes. There's not enough minutes.
00:17:43
Speaker
so But again, it's a very good problem to have. It's a deep team. And I don't know, Alex, at some point, we're going to have to have the conversation. And maybe we need to wait until a little bit longer into the season. And maybe it won't happen until the offseason, until after we see what this team ultimately do does.
00:18:01
Speaker
But we're going to have to talk about where we rank this team amongst all time Cavalier teams in franchise history, because they're starting to build a case to become one of the best in franchise history. It's interesting, though, isn't it? I mean, just that, yeah, if you think about it that way, but then you think of like some of the names that the Cavs have had, some of those great teams, you know, that Mark Price era team, the LeBron era team and There's some there's some big ah big names on those teams a lot of firepower and on the current team you know you got you got Donovan Mitchell and then I feel like you Dean Wade and then you kind of got everybody else like
00:18:44
Speaker
I don't know if it's, you know, I guess I'm going going back and looking at the All-Star voting again, like who on the Cavs could be an All-Star. Right now it's only Donovan Mitchell. I feel like, yeah you know, Garland could be an All-Star, Allen could be an All-Star, Mobley could be an All-Star, but they're just not getting, I don't know what it is, they're just not getting the ah the props that they need. They're not household names. But they should be at this point. Best team in the NBA.
00:19:10
Speaker
but Yeah, and or 31 and four now, but here's the thing Here's the thing when you become the more nationalized television television games the rest of the season How's that possible for because they because they make the schedule, you know before the season starts and last year the cash the Cavs were up and down man and And here's the thing too is from an outside of Cavs fan base Okay, great. I'm um'm a fan of I don't freaking know. The Portland Trail Blazers. Okay. What the hell do I care about what the Cavs are doing? If anything, I'm salty that the Cavs are doing that and my team isn't doing that. You know what I mean? So like, and Evan Mobley really didn't take the leap until this season.
00:19:59
Speaker
Right. So if he takes this leap and he replicates this the next next season and the year after that, and, you know, ah two years from now, he should be a household name. He continues to do what he's doing. Same thing with Darius Garland. And same thing if this team continues to be a championship caliber team year over year. They're a championship caliber team. Thirty five games into this season.
00:20:23
Speaker
I don't know if anybody truly believed outside of us that the Cavs were ever championship contender teams in the years past. They were a championship contender last season. You and them were the second best team in the NBA last season. They lost to the team that won the championship.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. As I'm saying, though, I don't know if everybody would have that take is what I'm saying. I don't know if everybody would have that take outside of cast fans. I don't even know if everybody would have that take that work has. Oh, come on. yeah Now, yeah because I read all the post afterwards, I read, I read the meltdowns, I read, I read all the negativity.
00:20:59
Speaker
that you know came with it. and um ah just But this year, that's where it's different. And I was telling my wife this the other day, she's like, man, the cals they did they just keep winning. I'm like, yeah, it's a great thing. But at the same time, they're having an an incredible season. And if it doesn't end with that chip at the end of it, nobody's going to care.
00:21:25
Speaker
Right, nobody's going to care. So they're also building up that that kind of pressure or that expectation. We can't we can't just make it to the finals this year, right? Like you you can't win 65 games or whatever it's going to be this year and get knocked out in the Eastern Conference finals again. You know, that just can't happen. So there there will be more pressure as well. um That's also why I like.
00:21:52
Speaker
that the minutes are down and this team is so deep so that players don't have to play 35 plus minutes every night and they're still finding ways to win without having to do that. And it's a beautiful thing. I can't, I can't remember the last time it was like this and there's no drama because the last time it was like this, Alex was, was the big three, right? LeBron, Kyrie and love. And I'm not going to sit here and act like there was constant drama.
00:22:17
Speaker
But we all had in the back of our minds, like, what's LeBron going to do? Is he going to stick? Is he going to stay? and he's He's talking cryptic stuff to Kevin Love fit in or fit out. Like, it always kind of felt, you know, like, OK, this thing can blow up at any time to where now, again, we come after a summer of where we just secured all these guys.
00:22:37
Speaker
at least contract wise, right? So it's just, it just feels different. I don't know if I necessarily agree with all that take. That's fine. That's fine. Not supposed to agree. I mean, did we not all enjoy the Warriors 70 plus win season? Because I sure enjoyed it. Hell no. As they got smoked in the finals against the Cavs. Exactly. Because the Cavs, I mean, how many great seasons did they have but only won one championship?
00:23:04
Speaker
And you had LeBron was household name. Love was a household name. Kyrie was a household household name. and But what I'm saying though is, is there's no Warriors fan and it kind of makes it easy because they've won multiple championships during that era. Nobody talks about that 73 and nine or whatever they did season because at the end of the day, it didn't end with a championship. I talk about it all the time.
00:23:30
Speaker
Well, the best season's ever. I don't know what you're going on about. it
00:23:36
Speaker
I don't know. It's just it feels good this year. And it also feels real ah as we continue to get deeper into the season. They continue to not only win games, right? They don't they don't need to. They're going to lose games again. They're going to have a losing streak. And that's that's fine. I don't care about that.
00:23:55
Speaker
But what I'm seeing is consistency. I'm not seeing fall off from effort. I'm not seeing a coach that can't figure out his rotations like we did years past. I'm not seeing injuries heavily influenced this team like it has in years fast. And luckily so far we haven't had any major ones, but we had some players go out, Alex.
00:24:19
Speaker
Strewst didn't even play the first six weeks of the year, Ocuro's been out, a couple other players got dinged up here and there, missed a couple games, and the Cavs didn't miss a beat. Yeah, yeah, luckily no serious injuries. I mean, I think that's what has derailed us the past two seasons.
00:24:34
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. It's like we're finally getting to see what this team was supposed to be for the last two, three years now, you know, ever since acquiring Mitchell. And yeah, it's just it's just fun, man.
Recent Wins and Player Highlights
00:24:48
Speaker
It's fun to be a Cavs fan right now. I mean, i would I would argue that we saw it last season. I mean, the Cavs had like a 20 game win streak last season going into the All-Star break.
00:25:00
Speaker
We did, but that was the only part that was consistent. Everything else outside of that was, was up and down. It was injuries. hit a art and injuries had garland go out He got his jaw broken. Garland was out. And then, uh, yeah, Mitchell got hurt. Yep. Yep. Allen was out there for a long, uh, a long period as well. Yeah. Yeah. Injuries played a major factor last year. No doubt. No doubt.
00:25:25
Speaker
So we probably won't go back to too far in any games. Alex, I mean, there's there's there's been a lot of games that have been played since last time recorded. um The cows haven't lost a single one, though, so that's kind of cool. They're on a 10-game winning streak right now. um But I do kind of want to take a quick look at this this Mavericks game, which is the game before Charlotte. Last game of the West Coast road trip.
00:25:48
Speaker
The Cavs win 134 to 122 over Dallas Mavericks who are having a ah pretty solid season at 20 and 15. Over 500 ball. No Kyrie this game, Alex. So it would have been fun to watch Kyrie and Garland battle it out. I haven't been keeping up what's going on with Kyrie.
00:26:07
Speaker
Injury, I don't know what's going on and also no No, no Luca. So it's just clay Thompson out there was with everybody else running around um But the Casio there says do they're supposed to win this game? ah When when two other star players are out, but the reason why I want to talk about it was because we had another monster performance from Evan Mobley with 34 points and and 10 rebounds and Yeah, Mobly was a monster in this game. It was it was awesome. right you know I'd love to see see him do this every night, but yeah I know it's not always in the cards. you know The Cavs just seem to
00:26:45
Speaker
Whoever we need to step up just does. you know it's it's been It's been great. It's been awesome. and it's really like Like Darius Garland, um it's it's great seeing Mobley have his coming out party this year. and you know It's not like he's doing that every night. Again, we don't need him to.
00:27:05
Speaker
But he's doing this enough to see like, okay, not only is this team for real, this version of Evan Mobley is for real, and he's only going to continue to evolve, get better, um get stronger, continue to work on his game.
00:27:21
Speaker
and continue to be a major piece of of this franchise, hopefully for many years to come. And again, looking at this game, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven players in double digits. There's your boy, Nying, again, 15 points. He's always there at the bottom because i'm I'm looking, you know, it always goes starters down and Nying down there again, proven proven the Alex of the world wrong as well this year. What more could you want? It's still terrible. I don't care.
00:27:49
Speaker
but short The Charlotte game tonight, he looked terrible, so whatever. yeah But Mobley, man, he's also been hitting the three pretty consistently, which is which is awesome. It's exciting. It's something we don't need him to do. But when he's open out on the perimeter and they just leave him out there, he hits it.
00:28:06
Speaker
Let's shoot it. Yeah, shoot it. I mean, we'll we'll take it any way we can get it. It's just going to make him more dangerous and make it even harder for teams to to figure out how to not only guard this team, but how the heck do you guard Evan Mobley? You know what I mean? He also has a first a good first step for a big man, and he'll beat you running down the floor as well, and he'll score on you a lot of different ways. so It's just been fun man watching this team and watching these players and looking at this box score to Very well balanced scoring the vert had a nice game with 17 points Mitchell and Garland it didn't have to do a ton 16 and 15 from those two and Jared Allen ah darn near another other double-double
00:28:51
Speaker
um But yeah, man, the Cavs get this win. And man, it just in years past, too, it doesn't feel like very often we go out on a West Coast trip and just just sweep it. I can't remember the last time we did that. And so it felt good. It felt good. That Warriors game. And kid, can' tell me that didn't feel good. And then and then beating LeBron after. Oh, man. No Lakers game and stuff. It was fun watching. Those are some late games. But it was fun kind of over over the holiday break.
00:29:22
Speaker
you know, catching those wins against some of those teams that usually, you know, they they tend to be a little bit of a thorn in our side. You mentioned Kyrie and what he's been up to. It's funny, I happened to watch the Uncle Drew movie today. You remember that? Of all movies to just randomly watch today. Yeah, it was on TV and I saw it was on i saw like it was like halfway through it was on and I clicked on, I clicked start from beginning and I just watched the whole movie. Does it still hold up?
00:29:52
Speaker
I mean, it's it's ah it's really hokey. It's cheesy. yeah yeah But it's still a fun watch. It's got you know it's got some some great players in it. Chris Webber's in it. Shaq's in it. um Nate Robinson.
00:30:10
Speaker
a Man, who am I forgetting? Is it Grant Hill? I can't remember. there's There's quite a few players in it. Nice, but's it's good. Yeah, that's where wow it wasn't great. But I can know I can always appreciate a basketball movie that brings in other former basketball players and do it somehow. This is like, oh, that's cool. There's Mugsy Bogues in Space Jam. You know what I mean? Just like random players and stuff. yeah I mean, it's a comedy. it's meant It was meant to be funny and it was pretty funny. It had its moments. That little realm was in it. um
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it was all right. I just watched it because I'd never seen it. and I remember when it came out, like I thought I was going to watch it and I never did.
00:31:04
Speaker
I think it came, didn't it come out like right after Kyrie left the Cavs? I was gonna say, it was right around that time. It was like right when he went to Boston and I was like, I'm not watching that. Yeah, yeah, I didn't watch it right away either because of that. I was like, I ain't watching this crazy person's movie. Yeah. What's crazy too is Alex, you know, we're, and I got the banner hanging up behind me with it being 2025. This is crazy to say, in one more year will be a decade.
00:31:33
Speaker
from winning that championship. How crazy is that? That that it's been ah it's almost been a decade already. Yeah, that's crazy. Time flies. Since Kyrie hits that shot, the block, the shot, J.R. Smith running around, Tristan Thompson running around, and now he's out there you know playing garbage men in his force at the end of the game. um Man, it's just it's just crazy. And the reason why I pulled it out, too, was because, again, kind of what I was talking about earlier, like It's amazing this team is having the start they are to this season. But man, those expectations go up real high, real quick from a fan base. um and And the players have talked about it as well. Mitchell has talked about it as well. Like, yeah, it's cool. We're winning all these games, but we got we got bigger aspirations. And he he he said it might have been after the Mavish game. it It was a pretty recent game. Somehow LeBron came up, probably the Lakers game is when it was.
00:32:24
Speaker
And Mitchell was talking about how he basically wants to replicate what LeBron did here and is to bring a championship to Cleveland. Well, Mitchell gave us a, this is for you, Cleveland. I don't know. I don't know what he would say. I don't know what he, maybe, maybe, maybe it'd be like that Instagram post after a re-sign. I always knew we were going to win a championship. Just like he said, I always knew I was going to re-sign. He's going to be walking around with the ah the wwe WWE championship belt on their shoulder. which
All-Star Voting and Selections
00:32:51
Speaker
play I don't know. it be been anywhere it it It'd be fun if they actually but any yeah kind of thing we would compare like who would today's players be on that team like tied your own would be deli knee-ang will be Channing fried like we have to go down the list and stuff but um Only if that happens Alex, that'll be that'd be fun though
00:33:12
Speaker
So we' we're talking about a little bit ago, the NBA All-Star game and voting is still going on. And, you know, Mitchell seems like a shoe in well-deserved. But yeah, man, Alex, the the rest of the Cavs aren't getting very much love. Darius Garland and Jared Allen don't even show up.
00:33:35
Speaker
in the updates that have been provided. um doesn't think edit mobile in the top ten of each It shows the top 10. So i don't i don't know i got i gotta I don't know where to go to see what's but past the top 10. But like Evan Mobley is number 10 right now in the Eastern Conference for front court big men.
00:33:58
Speaker
and i Can't say I'm I'm totally surprised I kind of said this last episode I just he's not enough of a household name, so I'm not gonna I'm disappointed, but I'm not shocked But man when I see the name is above him. This is where I get a little disappointed Alex Number nine we have Paul George Okay Number eight, we have Joel and Bead. How many games have the two of them played combined this year? and What's their team doing right now? Franz Wagner. Number seven, the Jimmy Butler. Do you know what's going on with Jimmy right now? Alex, have you heard? and
00:34:37
Speaker
No, I haven't heard anything. He's suspended until he is traded because he basically, unfortunately, is another NBA player who makes millions and millions of dollars doing what they love for a living, is not happy and wants out and has basically come out saying that much in recent ah press conferences to the media.
00:35:02
Speaker
And the Heat have suspended him for several games and are now listening to trade offers. My, my, my, how do we know that scenario of basically having no leverage when one of your star players comes out and says, I don't want to be here no more.
00:35:19
Speaker
That's, yeah, that's lousy. That's pretty lousy, right? Jalen Brown is above him. I'll give you that. ah Banchero, Banchero, I always say his name wrong. Number four, I'll give you that. Carlton's Anthony, who like just got here like two weeks ago to the Eastern Conference. Okay. Jason Tatum and then Giannis at the top two.
00:35:43
Speaker
um I'm not saying Evan Mobley should be up there, like even in the top three, but man, he's probably right below that four, five, six, I would say Alex, like I could easily leapfrog Evan Mobley over three or four of those names above him. But yeah, man, like you said, it's it's a fan voting system. It's just the way it works. Yeah. I mean, people just got to vote. It's just a popularity contest, whether they play or not or how the how well they're doing. It's just all the big names.
00:36:12
Speaker
I always forget, and it's possible they could have changed it. But outside of the starters, like for the reserve players, is it player voting? I feel like in years past has been player voting. And in years past, probably before that, it was like coaching voting or media voting or something like that. Maybe, maybe somehow Mobley can sneak in that way. I doubt it.
00:36:38
Speaker
Um, but man, it'd be really cool to see Mobley at the All-Star game, but yeah, I mean, I've been voting for the core four and I can't remember who the fifth, I think I usually just throw in Dean Wade or something. And then, uh, yeah, for the, yes I typically vote for like Lori Markinen, Colin Sexton, Yokich, Luca. I can't remember who the fifth is because it doesn't matter to me, but.
00:37:06
Speaker
No, it doesn't. You should just vote for Tristan or something. I don't know. Go vote for Ricky Rubio. I don't know. I don't think you can. I can write a man. i yeah You can just write a man, pencil a man. Speaking of Evan Mobley though, what's pretty cool is he was named the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month.
00:37:28
Speaker
Well deserved and mobile making a presence on the defensive end and coach Atkinson for the second consecutive month was named the coach of the month, which is pretty cool to see. And hopefully, hopefully it builds up his case for consideration for all star coach.
00:37:48
Speaker
or at least on the coaching staff. I think we touched base on that. It'd be pretty cool to see Kenny there. um Definitely would be well deserved with the start to the season that he's having with this team. um But I guess we'll just have to see here after a little bit longer who's going to be there, who's not. um If you had to pick one player from this Cavs team.
00:38:12
Speaker
Feel like we talked about this last year to to represent the team in the three-point contest because you gotta remember There's the game and that's where we want to see our players, but there's all that other crap, too, right? You know you got the dunk contest three-point contest whatever else they come up with skills challenge. I don't know what they're doing this year The three-point contest we know will be there. We have a lot of good three-point shooters, too Who would you pick to represent the Cavs?
00:38:40
Speaker
that's tough I mean I don't know you know I kind of like to see tight room do it just because he always seems like he's hot from three but realistically probably Garland said that's how I was gonna go with yeah I'd like to go with Ireland too I'd like to see him Get there somehow get to the game and I think he he would he would have a chance, you know to me Because he can get going too real quick and he has a fast release like he would definitely and zip around those racks and You can knock it down as well. It'd be fun with anybody going.
Upcoming Games and Expectations
00:39:15
Speaker
I wouldn't have picked tied your own probably though He could definitely shoot it, but he'd probably be
00:39:22
Speaker
like fourth or fifth on my list, probably. I probably go like fifth. Well, you got to remember, man, you got you got Sam Merrill on this team, you got Donovan Mitchell, you got Garlin, you got Max Cruz. I was purposely not picking Mitchell because yeah last season he didn't do well. No, no, he didn't. But I still would probably pick Mitchell over Ty Jerome if I had to choose Merrill. and then meryl's never goingnna get meryll He's too low on the he's not even in the rotation right now.
00:39:52
Speaker
Yeah. We'll see, man. We'll see. Yeah, the Cavs play in great basketball. They are going to have a a little bit of a test here, though, Alex, in their next game ah because the Cavs aren't the only team that has been red hot so far this year. And it's kind of funny because.
00:40:14
Speaker
The Cavs are a small market team and this other team I would say is a small market team. It's not the the typical Celtics and Lakers and you know Miami and New York and you know some of those teams are good, but it's not the two teams at the top of the league, right?
00:40:29
Speaker
um But this Wednesday, they play at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who helped us out a little bit tonight, Alex. I don't know if you saw, but they beat the Boston Celtics. Oh, nice. Just kind of, and we won tonight as well. So, you know, just kind of helping us pad, like who would have thought that you have like a five game lead on the next team in the seating. And that team happens to be the Boston Celtics of all teams.
00:40:54
Speaker
It's just crazy. But on the Thunder, you know, have been playing out of their minds this year. SGA, you know, rising, so you know, see not a rising star. He is a star will be a star for four years to come. And I haven't been paying attention to them like watching any of their games or anything like that. But I do check up to see like, OK, they're neck and neck with us. But I'm curious to see what that matchup is going to look like.
00:41:23
Speaker
um I don't know, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, it should be a really great game. ah Man, I didn't realize they just beat Boston. That's great. Yeah, I feel like both teams are going to want to prove themselves. Yes, the top two teams in the NBA, yeah both in the East.
00:41:42
Speaker
right so that'll be fun and we actually play OKC twice this year or this month um we play him this week and then we play him again like on the 16th or something like that I heard so we'll we'll see them again here you know very good that's right around the corner too um but it'll be it'll be an interesting test for the Cavs and it's a home game so that helps as well but man That'd be a big one if we won that game as well. It just continues to put the league on notice that this team's for real. And ah you know I'm not crazy about um like JJ Redick and all that stuff, but I do appreciate that he basically said the other night, you need to play you know basically perfect basketball to beat this Cavs team this year.
00:42:30
Speaker
um Which is always good when you see an opposing team or an opposing coach calling it like it is and not just saying, oh, we had an off night and, you know, we had three guys out. and He's like, no, man. He's like, they're they're they're a great team and you got to play perfect basically to beat that. Right. Right. That feels good, man. It feels good and to hear that.
Cleveland's Basketball Legacy
00:42:50
Speaker
And i getting a big win against the Oklahoma City Thunder at home would be would be huge as well.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be tough. We'll see. Yeah, it will. It will. Last thing i um I could think of, Alex, and then I'll turn it over to you if you had anything. I don't have much to talk about. I just just want to get your thoughts on it because we talked about it the last time we saw each other at work or whatever.
00:43:16
Speaker
ah You actually brought it up. Yeah, I was gonna bring it up if you didn't go ahead bring it up bring it up bring it out Yeah, so there were reports that Dan Gilbert's talking about bringing a W NBA team back to Cleveland whether that would be the return of the Cleveland Rockers or You know possibly a whole new franchise um There is expected to be a WNBA expansion happening in 2027 or 2028. And I heard or I've read that Dan Gilbert is officially submitting a bid to have a team in Cleveland.
00:43:57
Speaker
I always, when the rockers were around, um I looked it up, you know, cause I had to kind of refresh my memory. 1996, 1997 to 2003 was when the rockers existed in Cleveland. So that's six years basically. And you know, we were old enough to be paying attention at that point. I'm watching Big Z and Sean Kemp, Reverend Knight running around. And then shortly after the rockers go away, we drop, we you know, we draft LeBron and the rest is history.
00:44:26
Speaker
And I'll be honest, you know, didn't pay attention very much to the WNBA or the Rockers. um But it is pretty cool that the Cavs are not the Cavs that Cleveland at one point had a WNBA team. And when I do think back of it, what I do always remember about that is what a what a name, what a perfect name. The Cleveland Rock. That is a great name.
00:44:48
Speaker
It's like if they do somehow bring the team back, I really, really hope they're able to bring them back as the writers. I agree. I was just thinking that the other day. It's like they do bring them back. I hope they keep the rocker's name because it's it's just so great. It's perfect. Rock and roll Hall of Fame. Yeah. And I always liked the jerseys and like the guitar theme and.
00:45:08
Speaker
It'd be like Seattle finally getting a team back, but it's not the Sonics. Maybe that's bigger. Maybe it's not apples to apples there. But you know what I mean? If we get the team back, it's like you got to bring them back as the Rockers because you're not really going to come up with something better as far as a name, as far as a theme and all that. It'd be interesting, though. I don't know how Cleveland would... I don't know if they would embrace that or not. I don't know. I don't know.
00:45:36
Speaker
I guess, you know, you just never know who who they're going to draft and who's going to be popular. Yeah, yeah, exactly. ah But I think it's pretty cool that that Dan sees an opportunity and and has a desire, you know, and we don't hear a ton about Dan Gilbert these days, right? Not like we used to a couple years ago. Yeah, I think it's pretty cool that he he's he's submitting a bid for that. And I guess we'll see what happens there.
00:46:03
Speaker
um But wanted to quickly bring that up because yeah, once upon a time, you know Cleveland did have a WNBA team here. ah for those that did not know. Yeah, I mean, I had totally forgotten about it. I don't really even remember hearing much about them when they were here. or I never paid attention to them. I couldn't tell you a single player. Yeah, same same here. I don't even know. remember like I remember the name. i remember the name like I remember there were the Cleveland Rockers. I remember I saw the logo and I was like, oh yeah, I remember the logo. I don't i don't know if I ever watched a game.
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Different times, man. We had Ricky Davis, you know, so much, much washed. I did look at like the Cleveland rockers Wiki and read it for it for a minute. And they did have like, they did do like a draft. Um, and they had, I want to say they had a player from, that was like from the Harlem globe trotters on the team. Oh, wow. It was kind of interesting.
00:47:07
Speaker
Yeah. um And they did it does look like they made it to a playoff or two. Yeah, they were good. yeah I think they were a playoff team, they're maybe their final season or the season before their final season. So they were a good team. They just didn't couldn't get the support, I guess. 2001, they were first in the East at 22 and 10. That was when gun Gordon Gunn and the team They lost in the conference semifinals against Charlotte. Looks like they they were three game series, three game playoff series back then. So.
00:47:44
Speaker
But yeah, no I mean a couple years here. The year before that, they were second in the East. Their last year, they were fourth in the East, lost in the conference semi-finals. So yeah, I mean they were they were making playoff appearances in the WNBA for what that's worth. I just think, and it says here too, I mean basically that there just wasn't enough interest though from from a fan base revenue standpoint.
00:48:06
Speaker
Um, and they did have one person in the basketball hall of fame Lynette Woodard from saying that correct. So that's pretty cool. Um, they did have somebody from the team make it to the hall of fame. Uh, Wayne Embry, general manager, Jim Paxson. There's some names we know.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see what happens there. But that yeah that's pretty cool. Will this and did this podcast become the Cavs and Rockers podcast? I don't know. Maybe they draft like a Caitlin Clark. Maybe. november day That's what I'm saying. You just never know. That's all it takes to light up a fan base or a franchise. Still waiting for the Blue Jackets to hit on somebody.
Episode Wrap-up and Listener Engagement
00:48:48
Speaker
You got the monsters, man. Oh, man, I love going to monsters games. The monsters are fantastic. They're always winning. The games are so much fun to go to. Highly recommended. If you live in the Cleveland area and haven't been to a Monsters game yet, you gotta go. It's just a blast. It's great for the kids. Lots of action. Non-stop action. Yeah, definitely.
00:49:12
Speaker
Well Alex, I think we'll ah we'll go ahead and wrap this up. You need to start playing some NBA 2K 25 with the Cavs and maybe on the next episode or two, let us know what you think about it and I think that'll be fun to talk through but I want to thank you Cavs fans as always for tuning in and listening. And Alex, you want to let them know where they can follow us and connect with us. Follow us on Twitter at Cavs Pick and Roll, shoot us an email, Cavspickandrollatgmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, watch this episode on YouTube. Wherever you're listening, click like and subscribe. Leave us a rating or a review and we'd appreciate