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Episode 138: Offseason Wrap Up
64 Plays9 months ago
Alex and Corey discuss the Cavs latest offseason moves of resigning both Isaac Okoro and Tristan Thompson. We also talk about the Terrell Brandon for Shawn Kemp trade that took place 27 years ago today! And of course we talk some NBA 2K25
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Transcript
Introduction and Catch Up
00:00:06
Speaker
stop
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey, Cavs fans. Welcome to another episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast, the podcast for die-hard Cavs fans. Corey, here with you, as always, along with Alex. Alex, man, it's been a minute. How you doing? It's been a few minutes. It always has.
Anticipation for New Season
00:00:36
Speaker
but It's crazy. It's crazy how fast time goes and summer's over now and then Yeah, I don't know where the I don't know where the years going but the good news is is we're approaching Cavs basketball and Excited to be back talking to you talking some Cavs basketball and lots of things to talk about today Yeah, a little bit of news since we last recorded and Yeah, definitely, definitely. One thing I want to ask you before we get into that, like, where are you at right now as far as like, are you doing anything like, are are you getting that itch for Cavs basketball? What do you, are you doing anything to like supplement that? Or are you just like, you know, like life's crazy, kids work, whatever, you know, and I'm just watching movies instead or something.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm definitely getting itch. I can't wait for the season to start. I already like got my subscription to Fubo TV going again so I can start recording the games like way too early. I don't know why I did that, but.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, I can't wait. Cannot wait. It's gonna be awesome. I know we're just basically running it back, but you know. Yeah, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. I'm with you. Same way. It feels like it's been forever since CAS basketball. The YouTube highlight clips are no longer, no longer doing it for me.
00:01:59
Speaker
And i'm ah I'm ready for some Real Cabs basketball. and The good news is that's right around the corner and we'll we'll talk about all that.
Offseason Moves and Akuro's Signing
00:02:06
Speaker
I mean, you're even wearing the jersey, Corey. I know. I know there's a story behind that and we'll we'll get to that too. So there's a story about why I'm wearing this jersey today on this episode.
00:02:16
Speaker
um But really, to kind of kick off this episode, you know, the Cavs had made some transactions, some moves, if you will, since the last time we spoke. And really, there was one big domino left to fall. Right. And that was Isaac Akuro. And what was going to happen with him and.
00:02:37
Speaker
to be honest with you it was relatively quiet over the summer as far as like even hearing of other teams having interest in him there was maybe like one week that i could recall somebody reporting that oh yeah this team and this team you know are showing interest and that was like it for the summer And then things got real quiet, and then kind of out of the blue, about a week and some change ago now. um You know, the the the Woj Bomb tweet came out about Akuro, signs a three year, $38 million dollar deal with the Cavs. What are your thoughts on that deal? Are you happy with that? I like it, I like it. I think, you know, it's it's a very team friendly deal.
00:03:24
Speaker
and he's still young. He's still a good ah contributor. you know He's not he's not your your flashy score or anything like that, but he gets up and down the court. He hustles. He plays great defense. you know We got plenty of guys on this team that need to get their touches, so I think he fits off them very well. um yeah Yeah, I like it a lot. 13 million a year.
00:03:50
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, it's uneven. It's just under that. It's 12 and some change, which in today's NBA market, um that's a that's a fairly cheap contract.
00:04:02
Speaker
um And like you said, he's still very young. And sure, is he ever going to develop into an offensive threat? Probably not. It doesn't look like that's really going to be his game, but he's still young enough to where he has time to develop. And he's early enough in his career to where if a year or so down the road, the Cavs are just like, you know what? ah Jalen Tyson's balling out. We got Caris Laverde over here doing things off the bench for us. And, you know, if he becomes expendable at some point,
00:04:33
Speaker
the Cavs are in a good position because he has an attractive contract with how cheap it is. And again, his age, his athleticism, his defensive tenacity, like teams, I could see teams around trade deadlines and stuff like that, you know showing interest if they're trying to find their 3 and D guy or or whatever, just a defensive specialist. So i'm i'm I'm happy with the deal as well.
00:04:58
Speaker
It didn't seem like there was anything out there trade wise or anything like that that was really going to net us back anything of equal value or better. um And he still fits within the age demographic of our of our core group, right? He's right there with them as far as age and he'll continue to develop and already has that chemistry with those guys he's been playing with since he came into the league. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, even last season,
00:05:23
Speaker
He improved quite a bit. I thought, you know, he was taking more threes. He's so athletic and strong and he can slash and get to the hoop. um Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we don't really need him to be an offensive weapon. We just need him to to contribute a little bit while he's out there with the minutes that he has.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And last year he did have moments where he's like, I'm like, wow, he's be it like three, three pointers this game or, you know, whatever. he He unfortunately fell off during the playoffs, but you could tell he's been putting in work and he's been putting in work on his shot. And assuming he's still, he's doing that right now during this off season. And again, he's just going to continue to evolve and grow.
00:06:06
Speaker
And like you said, we just need them to to be out there contributing in in any way. And that can mean rebounds, that can mean defense. Yeah. And every once in a while you knock down a three or throw down a slam. So I like the deal. I think it was a, you know, a good decision on the Cavs to bring them back. and And I love that contract number. I saw some fans saying overpaid. I'm just like, maybe they don't understand today's market or what the market's going to be next TV deal. But that's a steal of a deal.
00:06:33
Speaker
yeah to bring to bring someone back like an Isaac Caro. Yeah, I agree. Totally. Especially when you see some of the other contracts, these other, you know, towards the end of the bench players are signing. It's like, oh no. Yeah, totally. And also, you know what? this ah Breaking this news was the very last Woj Bomb.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Isn't that kind of crazy that he tweets that out and then what was it? I don't i don't think it was that day. It might not be until the next day. He announces he's retiring from the game of um you know um reporting on this stuff. And what is he gonna be doing now? Do you remember? Is he gonna be doing something with his alma mater or his? Yeah, I thought he was gonna be a, was he a coach? Is he a coach or in the front office? like I can't remember.
00:07:21
Speaker
i don't know Yeah, something weird, some college, college ball. I don't know how he turned it into a coaching gig, but pretty interesting. Just kind of crazy, though, that the last, the last whoege bomb is related to the Cleveland Cavaliers and and Isaac Okuro of all people. That's just kind of nuts, but.
00:07:41
Speaker
Hey man, Shams is a happy guy right now because he just he just you know he just moved up to number one. Yeah. And we'll see who else rises from the ranks. Wendy. He's he's got the the market cornered. I also heard they were talking about on ah NBA radio that you know they they think that WOGE will be back next year. Like this is WOGE taking a year off before the huge TV deal comes back and they'll have all kinds of
Cavs' Strategy and Coaching Impact
00:08:08
Speaker
suitors.
00:08:08
Speaker
you know wanting to get Woj on their network and they think he's going to sign. Just throw him ridiculous money. Yeah, ridiculous money next year. Never know. It's a good strategy. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Fans wouldn't hate it either to have Woj back, so it's going to be kind of weird without him, but crazy that that Akuro is connected to that history, if that does remain.
00:08:31
Speaker
But um besides a curl, another recent move or a couple of transactions that have been made as well is your main man is coming back. Alex, your main man TT. Yeah. yeah te Top is coming back. He signed for another year. He even waived his no trade clause.
00:08:51
Speaker
Um, whatever that does, but he is back for another year. And from what I recall from that, cause that was a couple of weeks ago now, you know, the Cavs like his, his veteran leadership. We got a lot of young guys on this squad, right? And TT brings that veteran presence. He brings that just toughness and sure he had the, uh,
00:09:11
Speaker
you know the the performance issue thing, the you know the drugs or whatever and that and that knocked him out for a while but you know we both said he he not only met but he beat expectations that we had at least as CAS fans for for his return last year so um you know you don't want to throw him out there for 30 minutes a night but 10-15 minutes a night or as needed as an injury TT could still play he could step in and and and fill a role as needed so i don't hate that signing and and bringing him back as well
00:09:43
Speaker
yeah like t tt he was playing really well beginning last season yeah you know well he was ah juicing but if he gets back to to playing that well again yeah i mean
00:09:56
Speaker
it was just wild It was just wild seeing him in a Cavs jersey again, and him still looking like a 25-year-old kid, yeah to be honest with you, because he just doesn't age. He gave us solid minutes. he gave a solid Yeah, he did. He did. um So the Cavs bring back TT. Some other moves that I remember happening are some two-way contracts.
00:10:16
Speaker
ah Luke Travers got a two-way contract. um So he'll probably spend a lot of time on the charge, right? But you never know. At some point, maybe he gets an opportunity and I know there's certain Cavs fans that will appreciate that. um And then JT Thor, I believe is his name, is another guy that got a two-way contract. I don't know a lot about him, to be honest with you.
00:10:42
Speaker
But the CAS basically, you know, have seemingly finished making all their transactions that they're going to make. They threw out their two-way contracts. They bring back TT.
00:10:53
Speaker
They re-sign Akuro to a three-year deal. And it feels like they're probably most likely done at this point. um And before all that, obviously, was the big transactions earlier in the summer with with Mitchell extending, Mobley extending, and the Cavs drafting Tyson, number 20, in the first round pick.
00:11:16
Speaker
That's about the extent of the Cavs off season. They committed a lot of money this off season and the new coach but and a new coach and a new coach, right? Um, but really no new bodies outside of the draft pick. And we've talked about this off and on all summer, but kind of reflecting now at this point, a month away from the season, realizing like, yeah, the Cavs really went all in on basically running it back.
00:11:43
Speaker
The only guy that's not coming back is Marcus Morris, believe it or not, who signed with New York, I saw. Yeah, disappointing. I hate for him the to be i know and on the Cavs playoff team and then go to New York who is going to new york's gonna be like a serious rival. you know He's going to light us up at least a game or so. but um Yeah, man, the Cavs really went all in with running it back. And I guess if you had to look and reflect back on the last couple months and look at all the transactions they made, which, they again, they were pretty aggressive. they They committed a lot of money. What grade would you give the Cavs for this offseason with the moves they've made? You had to grade it. Ooh, a grade. Sure. I mean, ah that's pretty tough because they didn't do a whole lot, right, other than run it back.
00:12:31
Speaker
um Committed a lot of money though. i mean they were I mean, guys are locked up for a while now, right? I guess it depends what you're grading on. like How much did they improve? like They ran it back, so right you can't really say they made any moves to improve. I don't know that there was a whole lot of whole lot out there, a whole lot of potential for them to improve. I think the coaching change, I hope, I really hope will get us over the top.
00:13:02
Speaker
but I'd probably give them maybe a C plus. Ooh. Alex, you're always Mr. Positive, I feel. You think a C plus is positive? No, no. I'm shocked at your rating. I thought you were giving an A or an A minus. I was like, there's no way he's going for an A. If you're asking me to grade the team as it's constructed, I think I would give it like a B plus, A minus.
00:13:29
Speaker
but if we're talking about just off-season, grading their off-season moves, yeah, like C+, like they really didn't do anything to move the needle, right? They got a new coach. In the four years we've been doing this podcast, I think it's been four years now, maybe longer now, I think that's the most negative comment or grade you've ever given. I mean, you beat up on Yang, I guess, that's always given. Yang. He's still here too Alex, don't worry. Maybe it's this beer bringing me down. Oh, there you go, there you go.
00:13:58
Speaker
I was going to give them ah like a B minus or maybe a B at most. Again, I applaud the fact that they basically have committed a boatload of money between Mitchell and Mobley. They're obviously banking on that, you know, that duo along with some of the core pieces moving forward.
00:14:16
Speaker
And um you know they were kind of in a unique scenario where they could have wrote another year with JB if they really wanted to. We talked about that. his His record from where he started with this team to where he got them to, you know he he was on an upward trend year over year. um But at the same time, the Cavs, they didn't fall victims to that. And let's just run it back another year with the same coaching staff and all that.
00:14:44
Speaker
And that was a, we're gonna see, right, but that's a pretty big change in itself. I know it's not players, it's not that that sexy, you know, off-season moves that cat you know that any fan base wants. When you see other teams trading for Paul George and, you know, Mikel Bridges and all this stuff and, okay, the Cavs change head coaches, big deal. But we'll see if that actually pays dividends because as those other teams now have to figure out a way to incorporate those new stars, we don't have that problem here.
00:15:14
Speaker
We just need our stars to be healthy. And actually, you know, um stay consistent throughout the year so that this coach doesn't have the same problem as the last coach where it's basically a different starting lineup every week. um And hopefully that's what will pay dividends. um But I'm giving them a solid B for right now just for the sake of, again, the the money they committed. I wish they would have added a new body or two. So I'm kind of thinking of that fan base that wants that too.
00:15:41
Speaker
But I'm not overly cautious. I'm not overly beating them up. And I'm going to give them kind of a middle middle of the road grade.
Upcoming Season Schedule
00:15:49
Speaker
And we'll kind of see what happens. Yeah, I mean, they drafted well, I think. I'm looking forward to seeing the rookie out there. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I like i like what we saw in and Summer League. And we'll see you know what he does in the preseason, which is a notch up as far as competition.
00:16:08
Speaker
Speaking of preseason, Alex, another thing that happened since we've been away is the 2024, 2025 NBA schedule came out, um the Cavs schedule came out, and we now know when Cavs basketball will officially start. um The regular season is just under a month away. October 23rd, they will be going out to Toronto to play the opening game of the season.
00:16:36
Speaker
Um, you know, I'm going to be all over that with, with it being Toronto. Um, but preseason, Alex kicks off here right around the corner, October 8th against the Chicago Bulls. Awesome can't wait. Yeah, it's gonna be great and four games for preseason They got the Bulls the Pacers the Pistons and the Bulls again and then they open up against the Raptors the Pistons The Wizards and then the Knicks the Knicks are game four So we'll see Marcus Morris and that new look Knicks pretty early in the season
00:17:11
Speaker
And after that is LeBron with the Lakers and the Magic and the Bucks back to back. So, you know, the Cavs are going to be ready nice and early. they Got some easy ones to start off the season with Detroit and Washington in there. But then they got some formable teams right out the gate. And it's going to be interesting to see how the Cavs come out this year.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I expect to see the young guys get a lot of minutes early to see who's going to kind of make the team right. You know, I, I even expect to see a bit of Travers. I'm sure he'll play in some preseason. We'll get to see Tyson.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm looking forward to that because you're probably going to see some players that you might not typically see during the regular season, right? At least not in the beginning. Travers isn't going to get an opportunity unless it's a Craig Porter situation like last year where there's two or three injuries that happen in his range of position he can play, right? he's gonna write He's gonna not even be called up unless that scenario happens. Tyson will be interesting because since you brought back Akuro and you have Laverde and you have Mitchell and Garland, you kind of have a, he has a lot of competition for minutes there. It'll be interesting to see if Atkinson gives him an opportunity early in the season or not.
00:18:26
Speaker
or kind of just relies on his core four and his, his max streuses of the world and Leberts and, and so on and so forth. Maybe he doesn't get an opportunity until a bit further into the season.
Streaming Options Debate
00:18:39
Speaker
But ah yeah, it's always fun, interesting to see what is that line I'm going to look like. Is there going to be any shake ups, any roster changes as far as you know kind of who's that first player off the bench and all that and the preseason you know offers a little bit of a glimpse of what the coaches may be thinking. And it's always fun to just see some Cavs basketball again.
00:19:03
Speaker
So you already said, I was gonna ask you, but you kind of already called it out. I was gonna ask you, what was your plan? How do you plan on watching the Cavs this year? So you already bit the bullet, you're Fubo, you're 90 bucks a month or whatever that is, and you're all over it. Yeah, committed, yeah. Well, it's not just, yeah, it's like, I get it, like 90% for watching the Cavs, right? But I still, like, I'll record some hockey games and some other things. It's not just all Cavs.
00:19:32
Speaker
um If I do see, I know Bally Sports has their own... I don't know if it's app or subscription service. i I should probably check it out just to see what that offer is. I don't know what it is offhand. I'm debating it. It's 20 bucks a month or 189 a year. um You get access to the Cavs and I believe the blue Columbus hockey team. um No Guardians baseball is on there. So I've been debating that and my like heads like, yeah, you should check it out.
00:20:06
Speaker
Cause it's 20 bucks a month. I don't want to pay Fubo prices. My heart is telling me though, it's Bally Sports and we don't like Bally Sports. And I always hear negative things about them and their service.
00:20:17
Speaker
but i'm getting tired alexa watching it you know the ways that we've watched it in the past and the unreliability of all that and you know all the porn ads and all that garbage so i want a legit way and we'll see uh i might check that out the other thing i was thinking about too was league pass and uh maybe doing some vpn trickery um They have for a single team for an entire season, it's 89.99, so 90 bucks for the for the season basically to to watch games from whatever team you pick. and But obviously that's blacked out here locally. so
00:20:57
Speaker
way around that, could be using VPNs potentially. A little shiesty but still more legit than you know those free sites that throw a bunch of ads at you and aren't always reliable. I'm determined to find a way um and we'll see. so
NBA 2K25 and Cavs Nostalgia
00:21:13
Speaker
do Do you know if the Bally Sports app lets you, like if you miss the game, watch it later or is it only live stream?
00:21:20
Speaker
I don't know. I need to look into that. I believe there's cloud recording. um I believe there is, but i need to look I need to research a little more on their website. I could have swore I saw a cloud DVR recording or something like that, but I don't know if it was unlimited. I don't know if there was you know any kind of restrictions around that or or whatever.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, there was an article on cleveland dot.com about the calves and guardians moving to amazon prime as part of a new deal It would still be 20 a month I don't know because that doesn't happen until after this season This is the last season of the current deal and all that and then that moves over to prime So i'm very interested about that because i'm a prime user my fear is um one and Realistically, that's probably going to be an additional fee right but two If the same blackout rules apply, that apply today, it doesn't really do me anything, right? So I'm hoping that there's a way to watch it legit through Prime, even if it costs a little bit extra, I'm willing to pay, but that's not till another year, unfortunately. And and that's when like TNT loses the rights and all that drama around that and Charles Barkley's retiring after this year because of it and no no longer, you know, that show and all that stuff, so.
00:22:39
Speaker
It's gonna be interesting. I saw something that said they would have nationally televised games every day of the week, but it would be on different networks or something like that. It was it was weird.
00:22:50
Speaker
um It'll be interesting to see how that all plays out. Yeah. you I mean, that's another nice thing about having Fubo is I can just, if I've got some downtime, I can turn the TV on going to Fubo. There's a whole sports category. You click on it. It shows you every live sports game that's on right then. And I just go look and see what NBA game is on. I might flip it on and watch it for 10, 15 minutes just to see who's playing.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, the the benefit of that is is is it's reliable, right? it's you know Whenever I used it when I had my family members logins and stuff, I never had a problem with it. It's just it's it's costly. it's not and you And you just pick a team. You just pick the Cavs and it automatically records every single Cavs game. Yeah. Go back, watch it whenever you want. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. So we'll see. It's pricey, it's expensive, but I mean,
00:23:42
Speaker
It's hard to beat. Gotta find a way to watch them calves, man. Yeah, I mean, you gotta watch the games. So um I asked a question a little bit ago how you've been itch you know getting your calves itch. And one thing I wanted to talk about, one thing I've been doing is NBA 2K25 recently came out a couple weeks ago and I'm usually not a guy, Alex, we talked about this, we're both gamers and stuff like that. um I'm typically not a guy to pay $70 for a game. I'm the guy that's going to go buy five or six, five to $10 games for $70.
00:24:20
Speaker
and be good. you know Corey, it's $70 for a roster upgrade and the Cavs are just running it back. What are you doing, man? i know I know, but here's the thing, Alex. For the first time and for as long as I can remember, I skipped out on last year's Duque.
00:24:37
Speaker
I didn't buy 2k24. So for me, jumping from 23 to 25, that'll be a big jump from roster and all that stuff. And I've been having fun with it so far. I played a couple games with the current roster. Donovan Mitchell is a blast to play with. He has a 92 overall rating in it.
00:24:56
Speaker
Mobily is real fun to play with, you know, so on and so forth. But the other thing I really like and enjoy doing in the game, and I've talked about this before in the past, is the My NBA eras mode that they've incorporated since 2K23. And that's really the reason why I didn't buy 24, because I was enjoying the My NBA eras so much that I felt like I don't need 24. How much you pay for that, Alex?
00:25:22
Speaker
Alex is flashing. Oh, idea I didn't. 2K24 on the PS5. Yeah, i didn I didn't. I got it like late in the season when it's like cheap maybe 20 bucks or something. Yeah, that's the way to do it. That's the way to do it, but I couldn't resist this year.
00:25:35
Speaker
and But I don't regret it because I've been playing it a lot and I've been using the Kobe era, which is 2002, and the LeBron era, which is 2010, and I've been using the Cavs teams. And you might be thinking, well, wait a second. 2002, that's before LeBron. 2010 is after LeBron left us, those Cavs teams were shit. Why would you want to play with them? Because I'm the type of guy that likes to play with those shit teams.
00:26:04
Speaker
and see how good I can make them. You know what I mean? The 2002 roster had Ricky Davis, Darius Miles, Smoosh Parker, the headband gang, man, they all had headbands on, ah big Z's there, and I've been having a blast playing with them. It's hard as hell to win games because the Cavs aren't very good. That 2002 roster, Bimbo Coles, remember Bimbo?
00:26:30
Speaker
He's on there. Just some real funny throwback names on that roster. And unfortunately, Dewan Wagner's not there. He must not, 2K must not have the rights to him. um But I've been having fun playing that. And then with the 2010 roster, that's after LeBron leaves to go to Miami. So you're left with Mo Williams.
00:26:50
Speaker
Antoine Jameson, Anderson Verjow, Anthony Parker, um you know, and and guys like that. And that's been fun too because there's no real standout superstar on that team. And it's just, I could kind of use everybody, you know what I mean? And I just been having a lot of fun playing 2K25 with both the current roster And with those 2010 and 2002 rosters. And I'm looking forward to seeing where I can take those teams. and so So what are you doing? Are you just going into exhibition mode? and and know so back cas steam or No, no, no. So the era is like franchise mode, but you pick a starting point.
00:27:32
Speaker
and they have like five errors right now okay um i did the magic and bird era and and which is 83 84 and 2k 23 and i was playing that still all the way up until this year and i was only at like the year 2000 Um, cause it just takes forever if you don't just straight simulate everything, but basically you're saying I'm going to start the Kobe era in 2002. So you have the calves roster from that point in time for the players. They have licenses for, they were missing a couple of players, unfortunately. And then moving forward, you could draft whoever you draft, you can make trades, you can make free agent signings. I, uh, I signed Earl Boykins.
00:28:13
Speaker
because the 2002 Cavs roster has the worst trio of point guards. They had Milt Pelagio, Smush Parker and Bimbo Coles and I can't do Jack with any of them. Earl Boykins is sitting there as a free agent so I went ahead and picked him up and I got Earl Boykins running the point guard now. So but moving forward, you basically determine what that roster looks like and and it's fun. It's fun. I enjoy it a lot.
00:28:38
Speaker
I won't be able to draft LeBron, I don't think, but we'll see. And in the 2010 era, Kyrie is a rookie that year. So I'll see if I could draft Kyrie, or maybe I change history and draft somebody else. but Get Dion Waiters? Yeah, gotta get Waiters. I might've asked you do this before, but does it have the players that historically they haven't had licensing for?
00:29:04
Speaker
like ah No Reggie Miller, no Charles Barkley. Shack Barkley, yeah. OK. Yeah. Shack's in there, but no bark no Barkley, no Reggie Miller. Oh, that's a bummer. It is. But that's that's because those those players don't want to be in the, you know, they don't give their approval for that stuff. That's crazy. Dwan Wagner, and he's not in there. Harold Miner's not in the game. I was real excited to to get Harold Miner on the Cavs. But sha um Sean in there. Sean Kemp's in there.
00:29:32
Speaker
Um, and I always try to grab him whenever I can. I'm trying to think of who another Cavs player that's not in the game. I was disappointed about. Trajan Langdon's not in the game. I know people are like, who? That's the type of players I enjoy playing with. Only you look for. Yeah, exactly. It's like, man, I want to play with the, what was he called? Like the Alaskan assassin or something like that. He was a sharp shooter and all that stuff. What about the Ukraine train? Ukraine train. You know what? I'll have to see if he's in there. Tally Patapico. Alonzo G's not in the game. That's the one that hurts me the most.
00:30:04
Speaker
Alonzo G, I was looking forward to playing with him ah with that 2010 roster. That's so odd. I wonder why, like, if you're Alonzo G, you're like, I'm not going to sign to be in a video game. Like, why not? I don't know. I don't know. I don't get it either. But that's what
Sean Kemp Trade Reflection
00:30:21
Speaker
mods are for. And people people there's people that create rosters to fill the gaps and so on and so forth. So maybe at some point somebody creates them.
00:30:29
Speaker
but Yeah, man, 2K25. I liked it. I've liked this so much, and I've enjoyed my time with it. And Alex, when it goes on sale or whatever, I would suggest getting it. It always hits PlayStation Plus at some point late in the year too, as usually when you grab those games. but Yeah, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I'm a sucker at that $20 price point though. Yeah, I hear you, usually I am too. I might have got this one for like $15. I remember it was just like so so stupid cheap that I couldn't pass it up. The digital version of $24 got down to like $6.99, like two weeks before $25 dropped and I'm just like, should I just do it?
00:31:09
Speaker
Because remember, you're like, just buy it for the switch and you have it. Like when you're traveling or whatever, I just, I still didn't do it. Cause I'm just like, I don't feel like downloading that and that just eating up all my space. But yeah, I have one of them on my switch and maybe it's 2k 23. I'm not sure, but it's worth to have just one of them. Yep. Yep. Agreed. and Agreed. So Alex, the last thing that I had at least.
00:31:33
Speaker
um for this as we're no longer talking current Cavs basketball. Today is September 25th as we were recording this episode and today is, I will say, a big day in Cavs history because the Cavs made probably one of the biggest trades in Cavs franchise history.
00:31:57
Speaker
And I am rocking a jersey for that very reason. I don't have very many jerseys. I don't wear them very often. I've talked about that before. But Alex, before I kind of call out what that is, um, any idea, it was 27 years ago. That's the only hint I'll give you. 27 years ago today, September 25th, 1997.
00:32:24
Speaker
Sean Kemp. Sean Kemp. This was the Sean Kemp trade and I still remember this trade so vividly. you know This is when a 13 year old kid still got all my calves news in the newspaper. right Every day I go check the standings, check the little article on the calves, a little write up.
00:32:46
Speaker
And that morning, or the next morning, I should say, I open up the paper and I see it. And I'm like, holy crap. but you know um And this trade just sticks out to me so much because the Cavs traded up until that point, my favorite Cavs player of all time, which was Terrell Brandon. So I was torn because, oh man. I thought, when I saw you wearing the jersey, I thought, oh, it's a Terrell Brandon jersey. It's Terrell. And that's what your trivia was gonna be about. I was all like, Terrell Brandon, but. I only owe two jerseys and it's two of the greatest, one of the two greatest point guards I've played for the Cavs, Matthew Della Vadova,
00:33:29
Speaker
And Terrell Brandon, that's how I roll Alex, all right? Yeah. But man, Terrell Brandon was my favorite player um at that time at the Cavs. Love Sean Kemp, obviously, right? freaking Freaking the rain man and just so athletic. And I was so excited to get Sean Kemp. It's so sad that we we had to let go of Terrell. Imagine that duo paired up together. Like Terrell and Sean Kemp would have been a heck of a duo. um But that was a big deal. And that was a big trade because it also included Vin Baker. Vin Baker got traded from Seattle to Milwaukee. Sean Kemp comes to Cleveland.
00:34:09
Speaker
and Cleveland sends out Terrell Brandon and Tyrone Hill ah back to, um what was it, Milwaukee. I think there was a draft pick in there as well. So it was ah it was a blockbuster trade for that timeframe. And we talked about the Sean Kemp, you know, stint here multiple times. um i Maybe I remember better than others. I thought he played pretty well for about the first two years. And then after that, things kind of fell apart.
00:34:37
Speaker
But man, it's still just such a, so I just remember it so vividly and just like, I still like, man, we had Sean Kemp at some point and we had him after his career goes downhill. Like, oh man, what a missed opportunity because I checked before we started recording. He was only 27 when he came here, Alex. He had plenty of basketball left. Do you remember that? Do you remember that timeframe at all? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
00:35:04
Speaker
Yeah, it was awesome. you know i just i just My mind just started wandering because I see we're in the Cavs, number one, Terrell Brandon jersey there. And I was like, you know Max Trusz wears number one. Who else wore number one? boby Booby Gibson wore number one. That's where I was ye daydreaming. And what's kind of crazy about that trade, too, is there was three star players in that trade. You had Vin Baker, Terrell Brandon, and Sean Kemp.
00:35:29
Speaker
And if I'm being honest, sadly, the Cavs probably lost that trade, to be honest with you, because out of those three players, Sean Kemp probably had the worst remaining NBA career.
00:35:42
Speaker
Right? Because he plays two two and two and two years and some change for Cleveland. One year they get to the playoffs. One of the years he has the best career numbers of his career. But then he goes to Orlando, starts to put on the weight. He bounces to Portland. And before you know it, he's he's out of the league, right? To where Terrell Brandon was a stud in Milwaukee for years to come before his injuries took over.
00:36:05
Speaker
And then Baker, you know, had a long fruitful career after that. He wasn't out of the league, you know, within five years or something like that. So it's just unfortunate and kind of crazy like the Cavs took that big gamble at that time. And unfortunately, it didn't pay off because Sean Kemp didn't have a, you know, five plus a year here and multiple all star and playoff appearances.
00:36:26
Speaker
his career basically ended after Cleveland, which is crazy to think about.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:36:31
Speaker
So, I just wanted to bring that up because 27 years ago, man, that's a long time ago now, brother. Yeah, that is a long time. That's a long time ago. That was a fun era though. That was. but I used to listen to all the games on the radio in my bedroom.
00:36:47
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and that's when ah Brevin Knight and Derek Anderson, Cedric Henderson well gopherson gaki yeah that was That was the young squad, a lot ah lot of rookies and stuff. um Yeah, that was ah that was a probably one of my most fun, that's probably my my most fun era pre-Lebron, I would say, is is that era.
00:37:09
Speaker
so Yeah, man. Good stuff. So yeah anything else from your end that you want to talk about or bring up that you could think of? Some other cast players that were number one. Who else? um Dante Exum. Derek Rose.
00:37:28
Speaker
Really? i just saw I just saw that Derek Rose got waved by the Grizzlies. and man Man, I hope, I don't know, man. He's another one. He's like Sean Kemp. It's like, wow. at some point somebody You're going to be thinking about this 10 years from now. At some point, the Cavs had Derek Rose. At some point, the Cavs had Dwayne Wade. At some point, the Cavs had Sean Kemp. You know what the problem was? It was all after their primes.
00:37:54
Speaker
But Derek Rose is the one that bothers me the most because he actually had good years after the Cavs. He just had a horrible year while he was here, right? And he's still in the league. And when I saw he got waived, I'm just like, oh, man, it's kind of going to be sad to see if, like, this is it for him. Like, will he get picked up by somebody else? I hope he does. I hope his career is not over yet. But that's funny that Derek Rose, number one as well. Anybody else on your list? Not that I can think of. That's all I can think of.
00:38:24
Speaker
Nice. I was trying to Google for a list, but I couldn't really find one. Cool. Well, I think, Alex, we've babbled long enough. let's Let's go ahead and wrap up this episode of the CAS Pick and Roll Podcast. I want to thank the CAS fans, as always, for tuning in and listening. And Alex, you want to let them know where they can go ahead and follow us and connect with us.
00:38:46
Speaker
Follow us on Twitter, at calvespickandroll, shoot us an email, calvespickandroll at gmail dot.com, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, watch this episode on YouTube, wherever you're listening, click like, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we'd appreciate it. All right, CAS fans, there it is. We will talk to you again soon. Peace out, CAS fans.