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Episode 146: De'Andre Hunter is a Cav!
60 Plays4 months ago
Alex and Corey welcome De'Andre Hunter to Cleveland and offer a fond farewell to Caris LeVert and Georges Niang. They also react to trades around the league including the blockbuster Luca Doncic and Anthony Davis deal. They catch up on the previous loss to Boston and the stunning win over Detroit by way of a Darius Garland mid-court buzzer-beater!
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Transcript
Cleveland Cavaliers Trade Discussion
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey CAS fans, welcome to another episode of the CAS Pick and Roll Podcast, the podcast for die hard CAS fans. Alex, I want to open up this episode to give you an opportunity to pay homage, to say your goodbyes, to say your farewells.
00:00:33
Speaker
to give your spiel to the G Wagon, who is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier. This has to be a monumental moment in your fandom for the team. And before we get into anything, what do you got to say to G Wagon? The fridge? Was he the fridge too? Maybe I'm mixing that up.
00:00:58
Speaker
minivan minivan minivan minivan right the fridge the minivan it it's not you it's me um it just wasn't working uh you know i tried to be there we just couldn't connect you you know this season was better it was better than last season it just wasn't enough ah sorry we had to let you go Yep, George Niang is out, no longer a Cleveland Cavalier, as is Karis Lavert.
2025 NBA Trade Deadline Excitement
00:01:29
Speaker
That is the big story of the day, Alex, as we just wrapped up the 2025 NBA trade deadline. Always a fun day, but I don't know, Alex, did it feel like there was more trades this year than and normal?
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was it was a happening in trade deadline compared to ah seasons past from what I remember. There was a ah lot going off. Yeah, yeah, totally. We're going to get into some of that. um It was kind of funny because, you know, last time we recorded, we both kind of said, hey, you know, we're on the team of, of you know, they don't need to make a move or if they don't make a move, it's totally fine. And as a result, I really wasn't even thinking about the trade down line that much or like pumped for it until like yesterday.
00:02:17
Speaker
And then I started seeing some other trades happen. We'll talk about some of that. And then I started seeing the Cavs linked to a player or two. and then And then that excitement built up. And today, you know, kind of just constantly not, you know, refreshing the phone and checking notifications and all that kind of stuff.
00:02:33
Speaker
um So the trade deadline is always a fun day and I think we were talking about it at work. It always ah breathes some fresh air into the NBA 2K game because now all those roster changes will be made and and then it pulls out a reason to play the game that we all stopped playing a couple months ago.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, I was saying earlier, man, I need to boot up some 2K and run around his chunky G-Wagon before he plays in the game before they update the rosters. You're not going to have much time. You got pretty much tonight by tomorrow. All that stuff will be updated, I bet. So let's get into
Cavs Trade for DeAndre Hunter
00:03:07
Speaker
it. So Alex, the Cavs acquired. I'll let you drop it.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, so the Cavs made a trade. They traded Caris Lavert and G Wagon, George Nyang plus, what was it? Two picks? Three picks? Three second round picks. Three second rounders. And two first round swaps. Two swaps, yes. That's 2026 and 2028. Yes, for DeAndre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta Hawks went into fire sale mode.
00:03:41
Speaker
um This seemed to be the guy that everybody wanted. The other name that was out there for little for for a little while was was Cam Johnson. I heard a lot of people pulling for Cam Johnson. and even you know I was listening to the morning show, Frank Izzola was saying he preferred Cam Johnson for the Cavs. I don't know. but A lot of people seemed to jump on the hunter train as reports started to come out.
00:04:05
Speaker
um Starting yesterday that the calves were linked and that there are front runners. That's the kind of stuff that came out today They were having discussions, you know, so on and so forth and the calves land their guy and What do we know about hunter Alex? Well, I mean originally it came out. It was all Okay, the calves are looking at hunter. They're looking to trade care slivert Yeah, you know, it wasn't until later that we heard that G wagon was included as part of the trade or all the picks Yeah, but even just Hunter for Caris Lavert, I was kind of like, ah you know, I really like Caris Lavert. He's a great player. um He's one of Kenny Atkins' guys, man. He came from the Nets. Kenny loves him. yeah He's great on defense. He's a spark plug in that second unit for offense. He's kind of an instant offense guy. So I'm going to miss Caris Lavert a lot.
00:04:56
Speaker
DeAndre Hunter, though, you know I'm excited to see DeAndre Hunter come in. He's going to fill that three spot that we've had a need for for a very long time. Yes. ah Yeah, he ah he was actually teammates with... Ty Jerome. Ty Jerome at Virginia. Yeah, and they were drafted the same year. I didn't realize that. They were both drafted in 2019. Yandere Hunter was the number four pick, and Ty Jerome was the number 24th pick. I don't remember him being that high. I remember the Cavs having interests, but I didn't realize he went that that high in the draft.
00:05:32
Speaker
And Hunter kind of already had a link to the Cavs because he has the same agent that Mobley has actually. ah Okay. Interesting. Interesting.
DeAndre Hunter's Fit and Impact
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. What I like about Hunter is obviously his size. He's 6'8". So no more throwing a 6'5' guy in there or something like that. He can shoot the ball. He can get to the rim. He's actually having his best ah career season so far as far as points per game at 19 points per game shooting 39% from three. um Last night the Hawks played I think the Spurs or something like that. He played 39 minutes he won't be playing minutes like that here. No need to
00:06:12
Speaker
39 minutes, 22 points, 10 rebounds, I want to say, a couple assists. So he's he's capable of filling it up. And it seemed like the Hawks is kind of like the middle of the road and you know kind of trying to figure things out. And obviously they made their decision today with with the moves they made to to go into rebuild mode, basically. um you know he He kind of had the green light, and not that he won't hear, but you know, he's going to be your your third fourth option, something like that on on this team. And the biggest question whenever you bring in somebody brand new, I don't care who it is, is well, how would he fit in? How will he gel with the other players? But I'm not too worried about that. um I think with his athleticism, everything that he brings, he's going to have an easy time fitting in because the defense has to worry about Darius Garland dancing with the ball at the you know three point line.
00:07:03
Speaker
Mitchell trying to get to the rim, throwing oops to Mobley and Jared Allen, and Hunter's just going to be sitting there wide open in a corner somewhere, or catching the alley oops himself. And he just really gives us that size on the defensive end too when it comes to a wing, which we need to make up for our small backcourt. Were you surprised to see the Hawks blow it up? Because they started off the season pretty hot. They did. And I know they lost. And then they lost the last nine of 10.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah then yeah i traded by donavich who who's been struggling this season yeah yeah yeah they traded away by donavich too and that's that's what really signal to me like yeah okay they're they're going in rebuild mode. And you know i guess tray young can still be your franchise player but it's gonna be very interesting to see what the future holds.
00:07:49
Speaker
I mean, looking around the east, I mean, they they're they're they're miles apart from like where the calves are at, where the Celtics are at. So they decided to cash in their chips and the calves, yeah like we've been for the last several years, got to be the beneficiary of that.
Cavs' Roster and Rotation Post-Trade
00:08:07
Speaker
Um, and we got our guy that fills, you know, fills a need. And another thing I really like about this trade is people will say, well, you lost, maybe you lost some depth, right? Because Karis and Niang both came off the bench. Well, think about this. i'm I'm going to assume that Hunter is inserted into the starting lineup.
00:08:27
Speaker
There's no more of sometimes it's Max Trus. Sometimes it's Dean Wade when he's healthy. No. Yeah, Akuro. No, it's Hunter. And now, Strus, Wade, Akuro are all coming off your bench. And that trio, I feel, can outweigh the production that a Niang and a Lavert can, you know, gave you as far as a combination. Like, I feel like we're going to be okay with Max Trus.
00:08:51
Speaker
You know, coming off the bench, he's he's going to be okay. You know what I mean? Yeah, I agree with that. And Dean Wade, you know, too, gives you that depth as far as now he's another backup big option to come off the bench when you, when you, you know, you really don't want to throw twist Tristan out there for 25 minutes a game during the playoffs. You know, you want to throw him out there and you know, certain situations, but Dean Wade can be that young backup big that comes into the game, you know, and and helps with the big rotation as well. Right. well You know, we kind of had a log jam there. I mean, we have a lot of players that are good that just couldn't get the minutes that they need. Absolutely. I know we sent two players out and bring one player in, but that one player, I think, you know, the impact, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. Yeah. Though I'm going to miss Kerris and I'm going to miss Kerris.
00:09:39
Speaker
and um I'm going to miss Caris. But really, ah George and Yang, you know, the one thing about George and Yang I'm going to miss is after a Cavs win, he had a postgame segment with Tristan Thompson. Yeah. And it was always hilarious. They were so funny together. so i kind of reminded me and ah They kind of reminded me of the new era of like what RJ and Channing had together. Yeah. As far as just jelling and clowning and talking. and I could see Niang, I think we talked about this being you know in the broadcast game at some point when his career's over, like in a year or two. But it'll be interesting to see what ends up what happens with Lavert. you know he He is an expiring contract, 16 million, that'll come off the books. So it'll be interesting to see what the Hawks do with him, like if they try to bring him back or if Lavert
00:10:33
Speaker
You know, we'll be a free agent this off season and, and, and lands with another quality team because he is, he does bring value. He can fill it up. And, uh, what's funny is, is when we did our predictions episode, he was the guy I predicted that would be traded this year. And it was funny because he started off the season so hot. I'm like, Oh yeah, no, I gotta, I need to take them off that list. And here we go. You know, he ended up getting dealt and probably the salary, you know, probably played a big part of it.
00:11:02
Speaker
You know, you knew you weren't going to keep Lavert past the season. Basically, there's no way they can afford all these guys. Ty Jerome is having a hell of a season. You know, you want to find a way to bring him back. you know You bring in Hunter, who's making around 23, 24 million for the next couple of years. you know that that's That's some money there. So the Cavs are also doing this with but thinking about the future too because what's nice is it's not a scenario where you're bringing a guy in and then you risk losing him in the off season or you know hes he's locked up here for a couple of years and he falls into the timeline as far as an age with your with your core four and he's still he's still pretty young.
00:11:42
Speaker
So it's a good fit all around. Very excited to to see him get integrated with this group and, uh, you know, wearing a cash uniform. Yeah. You know what I, you know, when the trade was finalized and I started looking into Hunter, you know, one of the things that I noticed was that, uh, the past few seasons, Hunter was a starter with the Hawks, but this season he really wasn't. He was. You know, one of the best six men coming off the bench. He was the Hawks were using him as a spark plug, similar to the way that we were using Lavert.
00:12:11
Speaker
Except, uh, you know, I was real impressed with Hunter's production. He's just, uh, he's a score high field goal percentage, high three point percentage, very high free throw percentage gets his rebounds, assists, blocks, low turnovers, uh, low fouls. It just looks good all the way around. Yeah. and And when they want to play small ball, yeah. Like Hunter can move to your four and he's out there running around with Mobley and That's kind of good because your your your power forward can actually shoot a three ball. Mobley can hit one every once in a while, but you know i don't I don't want them jacking up more than one or two a game to where Mobley's running at the center and Hunter's running around at the four with like Garland and you know Sam Merrill out there. like that's a That's a small, quick lineup.
00:13:03
Speaker
Hunter could be, you know, he could take advantage of that. And, you know, especially if he's playing against a big that doesn't move that well, you know, between him and Mobley, they're going to be running you know races around these defenders and stuff. So it also gives the Cavs more flexibility that maybe they didn't have prior as well, even with Dean Wade when he was healthy and inserted into the starting lineup.
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, you know the thing that excites me the most about Hunter is how he's going to match up with Tatum. yeah We needed somebody to guard Tatum. I'll tell you what, it wasn't Lavert and it wasn't Yang. It's not even a Kuro. It's not going to be Dean Wade. It's not even a Kuro. Yeah. Kuro. Too small. Too small. Too small. We finally have somebody that you know we can match up with Tatum. And let's be honest, that's who we're building to beat. We need to beat Boston. Yep. You're not getting to the finals if you can't figure out a way to get past Boston.
00:13:54
Speaker
And you know they got length on that team. And Hunter, you're absolutely right. Gives you some size. Again, now Dean Wade doesn't have to start the games guarding Tatum. But when you want to keep just throwing guys at him, Dean Wade now off your bench is another body. Because you were never going to throw George Niang on Tatum. right He'll get torched.
00:14:15
Speaker
you would probably throw a curl at him or curl. We bounce between Brown and but a curl is too small. Like, you know, Tatum has got that height on a curl should be a mismatch. Now you can have a curl thrown as another body to to Brown. You can have Hunter being, you know, at Tatum. And yeah, I just it just helps us a little bit with those teams that have a bit more length than what the Cavs do because past past Mobley and Allen, you know, we're not a very big team from a height perspective.
00:14:44
Speaker
Right. So yeah, great, great deal. um You know, I posted a poll, you know, what grade do you give? You know, the calves got about sixty five votes and it was like eighty nine percent. It was an A. So people love the trade. Saw a lot of comments in social media. And this does. This feels like an all in move.
00:15:06
Speaker
Without mortgaging the future like they didn't have to move really anything too significant i like the bird as well. But they didn't touch their core for didn't trade away you know some of the young gems that are sitting on that bench that you know and any other team would get rotational minutes.
00:15:23
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like, we didn't mortgage the future in any way, in my opinion. If anything, you know, Nieng and Lavert were two of our three oldest players. the only yeah The only player on the roster older is Tristan Thompson, so we even got a little bit younger. yeah And Hunter only being 27 years old fits our timeline. He's right there. He's right there, which is awesome, right?
00:15:47
Speaker
Um, and the calves also got below the cap. I think they're one point, they're one and a half million below or something. Like or they have 1.5 million of to to spend now below the first apron yeah before the first apron. So that gives them, you know, an option or so to bring someone in. And you know, now that the trade deadline is passed, the next season that starts is the buyout market.
00:16:11
Speaker
And I want your opinion on this. The Cavs almost immediately were already linked to none other than Ben Simmons, who is a buyout candidate in Brooklyn. What's your thoughts on that? Not really sure how to feel about that. Not a Ben Simmons fan. Yeah.
00:16:29
Speaker
He can't shoot the ball. He can't he won't shoot the three. yeah he won't he won't He won't shoot the three. You're right. A driving kick guy? Sure. I don't know how he is on defense. you know It's been a while since I've watched Ben Simmons in a game. I don't know. yeah I mean, he is a lengthy. He's a really tall, lengthy ah point guard. But yeah yeah and yeah and I don't know how he fits. i don't like if I don't see he'd get any minutes here. I don't either. i don't I'm not giving him minutes over Dean Wade.
00:16:57
Speaker
And I'm probably playing Tristan before I'm playing Simmons. If that deal for Hunter would have involved a Dean Wade or something like that, which I started to think like, oh crap, you know, what if they.
00:17:08
Speaker
trade someone like a Dean Wade or or someone like that, um then maybe, maybe it makes sense because now you know you know you need a big, but I would wait to see what other options are out there. But I thought it was interesting that the calves were immediately linked. There was one other their team as well. And I guess we'll see what happens here. But it'll be interesting to see what the buyout market turns into um and if the calves can can take advantage because they have an open roster spot now with two going out and one coming in.
00:17:34
Speaker
So that was probably by design as well. And I'm sure they'll they'll find a way to take advantage of it. They'll fill that roster spot in some way. Yeah. So kind of exciting, I wasn't really expecting you know a trade to actually happen. But again, this feels like a very all in move. The Cavs understand their window, their time is now. And that's what teams do you know in this scenario. so i you know I had no expectation. I think probably even the last episode, I was saying, you know I hope the Cavs just stay pat. like Don't make a move. Don't yeah do anything. We're the hottest team in the NBA right now.
00:18:11
Speaker
but when I started seeing the rumors of Hunter and looking into it, I'm like, oh, you know. It's hard not to get excited. Makes some sense, I could see that. Yeah. And yeah, yeah, now I'm glad it happened. So before we wrap this part up, do you have a favorite Charis Lavert or George Niang moment while they were here? A favorite moment? Yeah, sure. Oh, boy.
00:18:38
Speaker
Nothing off the top of my head, really. So their na their their jerseys aren't going to be hanging in the rafters then, I take it. Nope. I go to the game where, i don't i remember I can't remember if it was last year, I think it was last year, where Lavert and Mitchell both dropped, what was it, 41? They both had 40 point games in the same game. That was such a fun game to watch Lavert just go off like that.
00:19:06
Speaker
And he he reminds me a lot of um just like the Jamal Crawford's, the the Jordan Clarkson's, the the the scores of the NBA, but aren't starters, aren't necessarily household names or superstars. And we've seen Lavert get hot and he's so fun to watch, but that 41 point game is the one that sticks out the most to me.
00:19:31
Speaker
for kneeing. I don't know. There's just I think of so many moments where I'm just watching a game and he does something either so bad or something so impressive that I just I catch myself laughing when I'm watching him sometimes. And that's that's what I'll remember from him. He was kind of just this goofy guy that like if he showed up at the wreck, you would look at him, be like, yeah, he he he and then you see him pull some of these moves or knock down some of these shots every once in a while. you're Like, damn, you know, he's kind of that you know, under the radar kind of guy sometimes also horrible at times as well. But absolutely. He he gave he gave me some laughs over the last two seasons. That's for sure. Yeah. So Alex, the Cavs obviously weren't the only trade that happened. This was a busy trade deadline. Lots of moves around the NBA. I'm going to make the bold statement, though, before we get into some of the ones that caught our attention. I don't
00:20:28
Speaker
What I like about this trade deadline is I don't feel anybody else in the East significantly got better. Like any of the teams that I would worry about, like you know they they didn't add any pieces that that like scare me at all.
00:20:43
Speaker
Which is nice, it's refreshing. like Remember when we saw the off season and we see the 76ers get Paul George, we see the Knicks get Mikel Bridges, we see you know Orlando at, who's a KPJ or whatever, like we see all these moves that were made and we're like, Jesus Christ, crickets man, crickets for the most part in the East. I love it, I love it. Yeah, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room trade. Yeah, why don't you go ahead and
00:21:14
Speaker
Kevin Porter Jr. trade, that's what you're talking about, right? I'm talking about the bucks ah big the brow. Anthony Davis. Yes. From the Lakers to the Mavericks for Luka Dokic. Who could believe that that happened? Man. That was i was, I was in shock. I was in shock for a good two days. Couldn't believe it. It's still being talked about. And it's been, you know, it's approaching, and you know, five, six days now almost. Wild. Wild trade. um You know, it's funny because a lot of people say that'll go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history. I'm actually wondering though, if for the next two years or so, it's going to look like the Dallas made out okay. Meaning, if Davis is healthy, he could be still ah a lethal player in this league. He's still a star player. And with Luca out, this now allows Kyrie just to go buck wild.
00:22:14
Speaker
Right? And it also opens up, you know, Clay Thompson, who isn't what he once was with with all the injuries that he had a couple years ago.
Major NBA Trades: Lakers and Warriors
00:22:23
Speaker
But I don't know. Sometimes things work out weird to where maybe Dallas looks decent here a little bit better than what they expected.
00:22:32
Speaker
But still on paper, yeah, it just it feels like a crazy trade as an organization to decide to get older and ship out your franchise player while he's in the prime of his career. It definitely has huge positives and negatives both ways.
00:22:53
Speaker
You know, the the Lakers get a new face of the franchise for many, many years to come. Yep. They'll remain relevant when LeBron retires. there's Exactly. yeah LeBron leaves in a year or two. They've got the face of the franchise. They got an all NBA player, probably top three, yeah top five, at least in the league.
00:23:14
Speaker
Uh, he could, you know, I'm hearing a lot of things about, he could extend the amount of time that LeBron plays now, take some of the load off. Yep. Um, at the same time, the Lakers lose their the best big man, their rim defender. They were already one of the worst defensive teams in the paint, you know, and now they lose the best player they had for defense.
00:23:38
Speaker
Right. Uh, and then with the Mavericks, you know, they needed a big man. They got the big man they needed, but at the same time they lost one of the best players, current, current best players there is. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's a, it's a wild move. There's all sorts of like conspiracy theories. I've seen multiple national people say, you know, the Dallas must know something that we don't know. And what else is crazy that has come out post the trade that this was all done secretively.
00:24:08
Speaker
for a month they were having conversations with with Rob Polenka, with the Lakers about you know organizing this deal. It's not something that Jason Kidd knew about, the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. like It was very secretive and that was to reduce risk of it being you know leaked. On top of it, it was Dallas approaching LA.
00:24:31
Speaker
not even willing to shop, Luca, because they would have gotten a ton of offers, as you can imagine, and probably something better than what they got, to be honest with you, meaning they probably got to get somebody a little bit younger, some young prospects, maybe a couple better of draft picks. They would have got a truckload for him. So it's just wild that like the Dallas just, nope, this is the guy that we want. We're going to call that team until we can make the deal happen and tell nobody about it, basically.
00:25:00
Speaker
So it's just wild how it went down. And then you also start to hear, well, what were some of the reasons why Dallas decided the trade, Luca? And then you hear like the conditioning stuff, the fact that he's up for super max, you know, things like that. And it's just, it's just.
00:25:18
Speaker
see all that. I hear all that, but it just doesn't fully add up. Why, why you still decided to do that and, you know, trade somebody else to get, to get David, find another way to get Anthony Davis. Like you could have got something better in my, in my. Yeah. Yeah. I had heard that the, uh, you know, the Mavericks were just as afraid of losing Luca this off season as they were of giving him the, the super max extension, you know, Luca, Luca, he even said it. And it's easy to say after the fact, but I felt like Luca was going to be that Nowitzki, that rare player these days that spends an entire career with it with a franchise. and And he said that after being traded, like, I thought I was going to be um a maverick for my entire career, which has got a gut you as a fan, if you were a Luca fan of, you know, in Dallas, but
00:26:08
Speaker
It's just, it's crazy. It's a man Lakers Lakers made out though. They did add a center after losing Anthony Davis. They added Mark Williams from, from Charlotte solid young, young, young, you know, young, big athletic big, you know, that'll fill, fill a void and he'll get a ton of, you know, ton of, you know, runtime and exposure out there just to continue to improve. But yeah, it's crazy because the Lakers could have very easily went the Hawks route.
00:26:38
Speaker
They've been a struggling team for the last couple of seasons, barely a fringe team, not even making into the playoffs last year. Like they could have blew that thing up. And now what this does is, you know, we'll see if they can get into the playoff race. And like you said, maybe it, maybe it keeps LeBron around for an extra year or two now. Were you concerned at all that?
00:26:59
Speaker
the Lakers were going to blow it up, getting Luca going younger, uh, off, try to offload LeBron. That was some of the reports that LeBron come to the calves. Yeah. Yeah. Like there was reports coming out saying, you know, now that they traded for Luca, they should trade LeBron to Cleveland and Brony and you know, all that crap kind of comes out whenever there's any kind of.
00:27:19
Speaker
possibility of LeBron could be done. You know, um whenever his contracts up next, you know, instead of them talking about him retiring and hanging it up, they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna see stories come out saying he's gonna do one last year in Cleveland just to end it. start You know, you're just always always going a retirement tour. Yeah, yeah, always gonna be linked to the Cavs in some way. But I never saw that as realistic, to be honest with you.
00:27:43
Speaker
um I did see that Golden State Warriors had some dream where they wanted to like bring in LeBron and KD to pair up with Steph and stuff. Yeah. that that That makes me laugh. That was a pipe dream. Yeah. create Crazy deal for the Lakers. I mean, man. Speaking of, speaking of the Warriors. Yep. Yep. They did make a move. They didn't get LeBron or KD, but they got somebody who they get Corey.
00:28:08
Speaker
They got Jimmy, Jimmy but Butler, yeah Mr. New Complainer, who even got a extension on top of it. So he's signed for two years. You know what's going to happen in two years, Alex? Steph Curry's going to be announcing he's retiring from the NBA. I think this is going to be, I think this is going to be the last stint for, for, for Steph. Cause he's man, Steph and, or Jimmy and Draymond Green. Oh, they're going to clash hard, I think. Oh my God.
00:28:36
Speaker
And what's funny is what came out was that the Warriors wanted KD back and Steph Curry even had a phone call conversation with KD and got the sense very quickly that he wanted nothing to do like with Golden State and going back there. And that kind of publicly recently came out to over the last day or so as well.
00:28:56
Speaker
Which is kind of funny. you know just to It's just kind of crazy to think about that. like You want a ring there, but I don't know. yeah It was just a weird thing because he was only there for what? A season and a half, two seasons or whatever. and then there was He won two two rings with him. Did he win two rings? I think he was there for three seasons. So it's just kind of wild that like he wanted nothing to do with that. And yeah, the the the Warriors went the Jimmy Butler route instead, which netted the Heat Andrew Wiggins.
00:29:23
Speaker
um So the Heat's probably the only team I would say that maybe got a little bit better because you traded out an old older star player that basically wasn't even playing for you the last two and a half, three weeks now, has been disgruntled and been nothing but a distraction and was owed some money on top of it, right? And you brought in a younger player that probably gives you better production value at this point in their career than Jimmy did.
00:29:51
Speaker
And, you know, Wiggins is going to come in with the chip on his shoulder, you know, and he'll fit in with with BAM and and hero Tyler hero and rosier still out there and stuff like that's a nice little piece to add to their, you know, core of their roster as well. um But we'll see how big of an impact that makes.
00:30:11
Speaker
What's crazy is five teams were involved in that trade. I don't remember all the details, but like, again, like bullet dodge, like nobody in the East, like the Celtics weren't involved, the Bucks weren't involved. You know what I mean? Nobody in the East really got much from that deal outside of the heat getting Wiggins. Right. Yeah. You know, and and all the early reports were that Butler wanted to go to the Suns, right? He wanted to go play with KD and Booker.
00:30:38
Speaker
yeah And I don't know, it didn't work out. He didn't get to go to the Suns. And there were also reports that he was like completely flat out denying any other, you know, rejecting any, a trade to any other team. His list was very small. I heard it got down to four or something like that. And that's just, that's the kind of stuff that, you know, as a fan that can only dream about the, cat kind you know, getting to play basketball for a living, the money they have and all that, like that's the kind of stuff that just turns you off as a fan.
00:31:08
Speaker
to where, like, we all know it happens, but you don't want to see a star player dictating where they go. You know what I mean? Basically whining publicly and then getting what they want at the end and then going to a contender and then getting a contract. Like he's basically rewarded for that. And these young superstar players that are coming up in the league and they see that type of stuff. They see how LeBron still controls the NBA. They see how Jimmy Butler can determine where he goes ultimately.
00:31:37
Speaker
And it's just like, man, that's as a fan. That's not good. He's not. He's now on my list. You know what I mean? Like, yeah yeah. Screw Jimmy. If you sign a contract, you should honor that contract. You're making millions of dollars. You should yeah show up. You should do the work. Yep, exactly. So whatever. But it's done.
00:31:56
Speaker
um
00:32:00
Speaker
It is what it is. I mean, you know, Jimmy Butler's like on his 15 now in his and MBA career. So. what other What other trades kind of caught your eye besides besides that one in the Luca trade? What other trades?
00:32:19
Speaker
How about ah Brandon Ingram going to Toronto? Yeah, yeah that's ah that's a good one. That definitely helps Toronto a lot. so Yeah, Toronto's struggling. I don't like to see that. No, I don't i don't like that either, but Toronto's know, they're they're struggling this year. They were a team a year or two back that you know seemed like one of those rising teams for like a season, and then it just went south from there.
00:32:46
Speaker
So they add a piece, but they're not they're not any kind of immediate threat. So, you know, whatever. They got to add some more pieces around around him now.
00:32:58
Speaker
um Let's see. I mean, there's a bunch of ah little trades, right? The Pistons got Dennis Schroeder. Yeah. The Grizzlies got Marcus Smart.
00:33:10
Speaker
How about the Bucks deciding to move on from Chris Middleton for Kyle Kuzma? Some other small pieces involved, but basically... Yeah, I don't know what to think about that one. That's just kind of a...
00:33:25
Speaker
It's kind of a weird one. I mean, Middleton, you know, yeah yeah, I mean, Middleton's been there for a long time, but he's getting up there a little bit. um And Kuzma is just, I don't know, it is what it is. I was wondering if Middleton would be a buyout candidate potentially. um Because that's a weird, I mean, if I'm Middleton, you know, on the other side of, you know, my prime, basically, I don't i don't want to be on a team like the Washington Wizards.
00:33:53
Speaker
And I highly doubt they want to make Middleton like the beginning of their rebuild, basically, you know, so that'll be interesting to see. How about how about Zach Levine going out to Sacramento and the Aaron Fox landing with San Antonio gets the pair up with Wembley. That should be pretty interesting. I like that move.
00:34:17
Speaker
that's That's good for the Spurs because that's another that should be another cornerstone right in their in their you know franchise moving forward. Chris Paul doesn't have that much time left. He's not the guy anymore. Darren Fox, rising star, you know can fill it up. I was actually kind of surprised you know the Kings decided to move on from him. and And Zach Levine finally gets out of Chicago. And he's playing with the Rosen again, which is kind of funny, which he played with in Chicago. Yeah. Yeah, that's funny.
00:34:47
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, some some some names were involved this year for sure. um But again, like none of these guys ended up on on a team that I'm worried about, which is.
00:35:01
Speaker
what I like to see. All right, Cory, I got to lose the Mozgov hat. It's way too hot. Getting hot. Yeah. Alex has been rocking for those cast fans. If you're not watching this episode on YouTube. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you should be. Yeah, you should be. For you older cast fans, you might remember a center by the name of Timothy Mozgov, who played for the Cavs during the championship runs. And he had a hat.
00:35:28
Speaker
probably giveaway night and Alex was rocking Matt along with some Cavs winner gloves that you just got. Let's be a MOSGOV 2020 2020. I don't think he was still. Incredible commercial look at the MOSGOV hat commercial on YouTube. It's great. It's absolutely hilarious. It's hysterical. yeah Yeah. And I'm rocking the the Cavs knit gloves I got at the Detroit Pistons game. That was the giveaway. Very cool. Very cool.
00:35:58
Speaker
But yeah, anytime you can pull out the MOSGOV hat. got You asked me to last episode. I did, I did. And I had the Christmas hat next to me, so this time I grabbed the MOSGOV hat. I do have one more other Kev's hat that was a giveaway that I'll have to break out if I can find it. Nice, nice.
00:36:16
Speaker
So besides the trade, you know, deadline and the CAS making a move, the other bit of news that came out in between our episodes here is the all-star reserve selections were announced. And I was so happy when I saw this, Alex. Darius Garland.
00:36:36
Speaker
and Evan Mobley both made the All-Star squad for the East. So the Cavs have three players plus a head coach representing yeah Cleveland at the All-Star game this year. I haven't seen like three-point contest contestants and slam dunk contestants and all that stuff, but pretty cool that Mobley and DG both got in.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's awesome. I still feel like Alan got the snub, but yeah, it's great to see three Cavs get in. I was a little worried after seeing the fan vote yeah and only Donovan making it in. I'm glad the the players, coaches, media, whoever fills out the second half of that vote, you know, did them justice.
00:37:17
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. They they rewarded the Cavs for playing as well as they did. And I mean, they don't play that well. that that They don't have the season that they're having if DG and Mobley didn't make the leaps that they made. And just it's crazy to think about where both of they were you know a year ago. you know Every Cavs fan won the trade, Darius Garland, and Mobley hadn't yet you know consistently taken that leap yet. And you you start to get nervous because you know you're you're on year three at that point.
00:37:47
Speaker
So the team does not have the success that they are having this year if both those guys would have repeated last year, basically. So they get rewarded by that by going to their first ever all-star game in their careers, hopefully the first of many. And it just makes it that much more you know exciting to watch. The only bad thing, Alex, at least in my opinion, is after that was announced, ah shortly after that found what the format is for the all-star game this year.
NBA All-Star Game Format Change
00:38:16
Speaker
It's not your traditional East versus West. It's a knockout tournament. Alex 14 knockout, um, round Robin style and Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille and Neil are the coaches and they made their draft selections the night that we're recording this episode, actually. And Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are on the same team. Kenny Smith drafted them.
00:38:47
Speaker
And Charles Barkley drafted Donovan Mitchell. And the last thing I'll say, and then I'll shut up and get your reaction is the games are to 40 points. And then that's the game. So it's the first one to 40 points. You're the winner basically. Wasn't it, wasn't it like that last season? Maybe it was similar. It was similar last season. It might've been, it might've been. I don't, I don't fully remember. And each, each win that they got a certain amount went to charity. Yeah. I'm kind of remembering this a little bit. It might, it might've been, but what's your,
00:39:19
Speaker
What's your thoughts on that? Uh, as long as you know, I, you know, they're just trying to figure out a way to make these games competitive, right? I mean, yeah the last, I don't know how many years of all star games has just been, they don't really play. Nobody plays defense. yep It's just kind of a, a sideshow. It's not that interesting to watch. It's not competitive. So if this is the format that gets them to play, Hey, you know, there's something on the line, you know, first of 40 points.
00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah, hey, let's do it. I think it's kind of cool. It it should minimize because I mean, and and and an NBA game, including an All-Star game is it's pretty long game, right? And it's like, yeah, nobody plays defense. So like, yeah, it's fun watching some dunks and alley-oops, but like to watch that for pretty much a full game, you know, kind of gets boring. So with these games going by faster, which I think is the idea here,
00:40:15
Speaker
is you know it should reduce that a little bit and and up the competition so we'll see i'm just you know me man i'm i'm just that old school like man i remember you know watching so many classic all-star games growing up that it's, you know, anything different is get off my lawn, basically. But yeah you could tell that Adam Silver, with a lot of the changes he's made the last couple years, the mid year tournament, this, he's talking about I don't know if you heard this one, he's talking about he threw out the idea on a podcast recently, of shortening NBA games to 10 minute quarters. I don't know if you heard about that one yet.
00:40:55
Speaker
no but i already hate it yeah well totally i mean there's so many things that that that that would mess up um historical records being one of them but you can just tell he's trying to to do things to spice it up because you know ratings probably aren't where they where he wants them to be and this is just another attempt at that i think is is changing the all-star format Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. There was a lot of that, you know, when baseball added the, uh, pitch clock, which I really like. I'm not a baseball purist. I just watch it for the entertainment. I usually don't even start watching until it's almost playoff time. Yeah. I know they're trying to spice up the NBA. You know, I've been hearing ratings are down across the board for NBA games. So it doesn't surprise me that they're kind of brainstorming some changes, but yeah, I don't, I don't know how.
00:41:43
Speaker
lowering the number of minutes per quarter does anything. You ain't going to lower the price of my ticket. Yeah. Right. And that Detroit game I went to, man, I got a $14 can of beer ah geez and a $10, you know, nachos. And it's like, oh, crap. It's too expensive to be here. Yeah. Yeah. You pay the parking was up to, I want to say the parking garage at the that's attached to Rocket Mortgage Field House. I'm pretty sure it was 40 bucks, jesus which is wild. I didn't work there. I went.
00:42:11
Speaker
right past and parked in one of the lots next to it for 20, so. Right, right, right, right. Yeah, it's got to be an investment to go there. And you took your fam, so that's four tickets and all the food in the park. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's not cheap. It's not cheap. So so be interested to see, you know, you know, the all-star game this year, you know, cool again that we get to see three, you know, three players represent you know Cleveland at least and Yeah. Now we, now we add Hunter to the mix and and see, you know, what, what this team looks like with, so with a new face on it and what they do in the buyout. Another funny thing I saw about the All-Star game was that, uh, LeBron and AD are on the same team. I did see that. Reunited i'm already. Kevin Durant's there too, actually. I saw, I don't think, I can't remember if stuff is there, but yeah, they're reunited already, which is kind of funny. Yeah.
00:43:05
Speaker
So besides that, you know, we're not going to go too deep into it, but there's been basketball games, the calves have won, you know, every game except
Cavs' Key Moments and Challenges
00:43:13
Speaker
for the Boston game. Since the last time we recorded, we won't go too deep in any of these games, but got to talk about the DG game winner against the trait. Oh man. That was awesome. was that Yeah, that was, that was sick. I watched that, you know, probably a dozen times over and over and over again in slow mo.
00:43:32
Speaker
Absolutely. Oh man, it was so beautiful. So beautiful. It was, it was um you know, the Cavs were up late in that game and they kind of let Detroit back into it at the end. Questionable, and you know, refereeing going on as well. But, you know, the Cavs kind of escaped, escaped that. Like, I don't know what would have happened if that game would have went to overtime.
00:43:53
Speaker
There's no Donovan Mitchell playing this game. You had some other heroes in this game, though. Mobley had a huge game with 30 points. Garland drops 25. And the combination of Ty Jerome and Porter Jr. give you almost 30 points off the bench as well.
00:44:09
Speaker
And I was telling you at work today, you know, before the trade became official, um I hope they don't throw in someone like a Porter Jr., because, you know, Porter Jr., although he's kind of buried in the rotation right now, he prove he just proved that he could still produce for you when needed. And I'm thinking of past this season, you know, Ty Jerome's having a huge year. He's up for a payday. Don't know if the cows will be able to afford him or not. I hope they find a way to bring them back.
00:44:39
Speaker
But I'm just glad they didn't move a piece like a Porter Jr. They didn't give up our rookie Jalen Tyson. They didn't give away our sharpshooter, Sam Marrow, who just went off a game or two before that against the Dallas Mavericks for nine three-pointers. like you You didn't give up some of those other diamonds in the rough on this team, which is why I love this trade even more that they made for Hunter. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I was thinking the same thing.
00:45:07
Speaker
Yeah, and DG hitting that shot from the logo, man, that's a big moment for him. Oh, that was incredible. I'm trying to i'm trying to remember exactly, was it six seconds on the clock, or was it even less than that? it was it wasn't It wasn't very much. Yeah, there was only a few seconds. But he brought the ball all the way up, dribbled through like two defenders, he did a pretty piss poor job you know ah allowing him to get by him.
00:45:30
Speaker
And just just pulled up and just drained it. And the Cavs bench goes crazy. Donovan Mitchell in street clothes comes up, gives him a big bear hug from behind and just... Oh man. I just could not believe you he made that shot. I was just... yeah Yeah. I went back. Yeah, I just kept watching it over and over and... Looking at the crowds reaction players on the bench reaction and just taking it all in and that was in the trite so if you're the trite yeah and yeah he likes that ball from the detroit logo uh hit the shot and then just when he landed he just just there crossed his arms yeah and posed just gotta to be got a place just exploded yeah
00:46:08
Speaker
You got to be gutted though as a fan of that game because you know you you watch your team basically battle all the way back in it. JB's got to be gutted, you know you got smoke the first time and then you know you think maybe you're gonna sneak one out you know sneak one in especially with Mitchell out and then you just have your former you know point guard just nail one from the logo.
00:46:28
Speaker
to send you home for the night. Watching the the instant mass heartbreak on every all the fans' faces in the arena was was beautiful. and Then after the shot, and he's kind of like walking back towards the bench, do you see him like motioning with his hand to fans? and People were barking at him, and he like yeah went up to a guy along the sidelines. I couldn't read what he was saying, but you could tell it was getting heated with the fans and telling them,
00:46:54
Speaker
where they could go shove it, so. Yeah. Loved it. And, and you know, we should get to you talk a little bit about before all that happened with the Jared Allen. Yeah. Set up a pretty ah hell of a pick. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to remember who who he took down. Was it Thompson on the other team? I don't remember. who Yeah, I think it was Thompson. He set up pick. Yeah. Thompson ran into him. Jared Allen, I mean, it's not like he pushed the guy down or you know, yeah shoulder and do them or anything. He just stood there like a solid wall. Yeah, he'd been thompson he leaned into him a little bit, but it wasn't just yeah it wasn't like some dream on green crap where he just threw up elbows and you know kicked him in the nuts on the way down yeah or something like that. He immediately just turned and and went to the bench. He's like, all right. Yeah, he kind of gave him like a chest bump, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Thompson just flapped to the floor and Jared just immediately turned and started walking to the bench. and
00:47:49
Speaker
Uh, shoot, I'm trying to remember if it was a Kate or, or somebody, he ran over and he tried to run him up and yeah alllan even ran hour and Alan didn't even acknowledge. This is funny because Alan is such like, he just reminds me of a big kid. He just seems like a goofball. You know what I mean? So, but you knew that every once in a while you need, you need to kind of send a message and, um, you know, teams definitely have sent, you know, messages to us over the years and you know, they gotta be ready to bring it come playoff time.
00:48:19
Speaker
and be a little bit physical so I I liked it um and just again we escaped with the win it would've sucked if we would've lost that game especially after losing the Boston game the night before and let's I guess let's get into that Boston game real quick I I feel like I feel like it was a missed opportunity Alex You know, the game's in Cleveland. You got smoked the last time you face Boston. If you remember that game, that's where they hit a ridiculous amount of threes. The game was over by halftime. The Cavs claw back into it and lose late in the game. um This was your opportunity you know to send a message. You get them one more time, but now it's on the road. And like we said earlier, Alex, you ain't winning a chip if you can't figure out a way to beat Boston. And I'm not talking about one time in a regular season, but in a series.
00:49:08
Speaker
because that's who you're most likely going to meet before, you know, in in the East, you know, finals, basically. You're going to have to be Boston. So I feel like it was a missed opportunity. um You know, we were missing some bodies that game, you know, Noah Kuro, no Dean Wade. I think somebody else was out. But I said this the last time we played them, Alex, and the same thing happened this game. And maybe it'll be different after this trade.
00:49:33
Speaker
But I hate Boston constantly puts our guards in a pick and roll situation, which is smart on their part, which we have a small backcourt. I don't need to see Sam Merrill guarding Porzingis and Darius Garland guarding Jason Tatum, because guess how often that worked out for us on the defensive end? It's a losing formula and just can't can't it can't happen. You can't you're not going to win a seven game series if that's what you continue to do from a defensive match standpoint.
00:50:03
Speaker
Hopefully you have a curl back. you know You have Hunter in the mix. You have Wade coming off the bench. You got Strews coming off the bench. So maybe that looks a little bit different. But to me, it was just so aggravating, along with the turnovers we had that game. We had some stupid turnovers as well. um And we just couldn't get going. you know but no Neither team was scoring. the The game was almost six minutes into the first quarter, and it was like seven to six. yeah And then Boston started to score, and the Cavs just couldn't. And the Cavs were basically playing catch up the entire game from there.
00:50:32
Speaker
Yeah, i I agree. I mean, you pretty much nailed it. It was, uh, they kept forcing matchups that I don't, I don't know. I don't understand why the calves. All right. So you get in a bad matchup on a pick and roll, you know,
00:50:46
Speaker
You need to fight through the pick or go over the pick or go under the pick. You got to do what you got to do to stay with your man because they were forcing yeah you know Tatum onto Merrill, Porzingis onto Merrill. They were just taking advantage of our our small ball lineup that we were kind of forced to play. right They were also killing us on the boards, which was also part of that same problem. like We could not get a a rebound to save our lives. ah They were getting second and third opportunities on the offense and ah offensive end.
00:51:13
Speaker
It was just ugly. We got down early in that game and could just just could not catch up the whole rest of the game. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first game where Porzingis played. I don't believe he played the first two games because he was out with an injury earlier in the season. So that added another dynamic that we hadn't seen yet. And early in the game, he blocked both Mobley and Allen, which, you know, in the previous games, he didn't have, you know, basically a seven footer sitting down there waiting for you.
00:51:42
Speaker
What I will say was pretty bad ass though, was that dunk that Donovan Mitchell had over Porzingis. I'm gonna going to go on off a memory so far this season. I'm going to say that's been the dunk of the year ah so far for for both Mitchell and the team. That was sick. That was a poster. And then we just didn't score again after that. Oh, yeah. That that dunk was just so, so great. I mean, he just went in there with authority. He pulled it back. Tomahawk dunked it.
00:52:12
Speaker
he he landed he let out a roar it was it was and then and then like a player two later it might even have been the next set that boston had it. Porzingis went for a dung and and dunk and jared allen blocked him and i'm like okay here we go this is gonna light the fire. It just unfortunately never happened in the cabs with sometimes get it down the single digits boston would just go on another run push it back out.
00:52:35
Speaker
And you know they have that chemistry as well. you know they They have some pesky players and Derek White, ah Drew Holliday, even Pitt Pritchard, their little backup point guard. He's he's tough as well. ah Forced a nice turnover. image he see Scrappy.
00:52:52
Speaker
Al Horford somehow finds a way to still be a thorn in your side and then you got Tatum and Brown and and you know Porzingis so we're officiating. Yeah, they they they got us so they they got a squad, you know what I mean? So it's gonna be a hell of a matchup and the Cavs, you know again another reason why they made that trade today to bring in Hunter specifically probably to match up with Boston
00:53:16
Speaker
So looking ahead though, Alex, the Cavs have the Washington Wizards as their next game. um And then we get to see Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves coming to town um ah in Cleveland on Monday. So they play tomorrow on Friday against the Wizards, Monday, Timberwolves, and then they go play the Raptors after that. And then the Nets. So they kind of have a couple of games here where, you know,
00:53:44
Speaker
kind of the bottom feeder teams of the league, except for the timber wolves, where they should be able to take advantage of that before the schedule gets a little bit harder. When you, when you get towards the end of February with the Knicks, the Grizzlies, the magic, the Celtics, which will be your final matchup against them. So, um, yeah, I wonder how soon we'll see Hunter enter the lineup.
00:54:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it'd I'd be surprised if he plays tomorrow. Monday is probably more realistic. You know, it'd be hilarious. um We play the Nets next week. Not that I want to see it happen, but what if what if ah Ben Simmons is wearing a Cavs jersey and that's that game is in Brooklyn.
00:54:23
Speaker
and that's his first game with the team. I just saw a Shams post 9 44 pm tonight that uh the Cavs and the Clippers are in talks for what? For the buyout of Ben Simmons. Oh oh like they're the two team they're the two for the two teams that are yeah yeah yeah if he gets bought out.
00:54:44
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know what the calves are smoking, but I don't know. why I don't see you the value. I'll give JT Thor minutes before I want to give Ben Simmons minute how give me Luke Travers like I or just see what else who else gets bought out. Like the buyout market is just starting. You know, wait a couple of days, see, see who gets out there. But I don't know, man. We'll see. But exciting times. Cavs add a new piece to their to their roster. Excited to see his him make his debut. And, you know, the Cavs play here for a couple more weeks until the All-Star game. So that'll be fun to look forward to. um They even dropped a new road back episode. Alex, I'm about to tell you that I didn't go to watch it, ah but we we're just talking about how we haven't seen one in a while. We need to we need to talk about that in the next episode.
00:55:33
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I need to go watch it right after this. Yes, definitely. Definitely. All right, Alex, let's go ahead and wrap up this episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast. Want to thank you Cavs fans as always for tuning in and listening. And Alex, 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 or watching, click like, subscribe. Leave us a rating or a review. We'd appreciate it. All right, Cavs fans, there it is.
Podcast Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:56:05
Speaker
We will talk to you again soon.
00:56:07
Speaker
Peace out CAS fans. Black lives.