Transcript
Speaker: Hey Cavs fans, welcome to another episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll podcast, the podcast for diehard Cavs fans. I am Corey and Alex, welcome back.
Speaker: Cavs basketball is finally here and this time for real. Yeah, it was great to watch a few preseason games. Get that that juice flowing, right?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. What did you think about them shortening it up? It was only three games this year. It was over before we knew it. yeah Yeah, it was quick. That's fine. That's good. You know, there's already yeah so many injuries just during those three preseason games.
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah, i saw a couple guys injured. I thought there was somebody out in Philly. I thought I saw a season-ending injury to to one of their bigs or something like that. you know not Not in beat or anything like that. It was one their younger guys or something.
Speaker: Yeah, there was a couple other bruises and stuff and you know minor injuries and stuff like that too. So, yeah. Not not mad that the Cavs only had three games. We got through it healthy, Alex.
Speaker: And that's kind of what we're going to start this episode off with. and We know the preseason's over. Cavs basketball's starting this week. We really didn't get a chance to just kind of give our thoughts on what we saw in the preseason. um The Cavs did go one and two.
Speaker: record really doesn't matter. It's more about how did the new pieces fit in ah how How did we look? How did we you know gel? What's our chemistry look like? And Alex, I'll throw it to you first. Kind of what's some things that that stood out to you?
Speaker: The Cavs opened up the preseason at home against the the Boston Celtics was the first game. And the Cavs lost. But anything that jumped out to you from the Celtics games or any the other two games?
Speaker: Man, we're looking pretty rough. like yeah um Yeah, ah not, I mean, it's preseason, so it doesn't mean anything. But seeing that starting five out there, it's kind of like, you know, these guys played together last season. it's They shouldn't like be... ah This discombobulated. It's like they weren't even running plays. They were just kind of free running, playing in the ball.
Speaker: a lot of guys were just taking a three as soon as they get got down court. You know, the ball wasn't moving. They weren't swinging it around. didn't seem like they were running plays.
Speaker: that first game That first game, they didn't have James Harden, so he had true point you had point guard Mitchell, which again is always a little bit of a different look. What kind of stood out to me from at least that Boston game was the Cavs pretty much played their starters minus Harden.
Speaker: And Boston didn't play any of their starters. And they they hung with us and and ended up winning you know the game. Atkinson obviously pulled the starters after the half.
Speaker: um And our second unit was able to come in and and do some nice things. But yeah, Boston pulls away with the win, but that's not really the the important thing. To go back to your point, they had some nice early kind of alley-oops and and some some nice plays to get the crowd into a little bit. But then just as the game started to wear on, it was just like, yeah, that same scheme wasn't going to work anymore.
Speaker: And the Boston Reserves kind of kind of figured that out and again was able to kind of hang with us. Um, it was our first look though, at several new pieces.
Speaker: um and and, and, and with this preseason in in total with the three games, um, Peyton Watson, Mario Hazonia and, um, you know, seeing those pieces integrated, it doesn't have to be just the Boston game, but just kind of across the preseason. what What did you think about those guys and how do you think they kind of, they fit so far in the preseason?
Speaker: I like what I saw from Mario a lot. um Definitely a big, strong guy. um He's a burly dude, man. Yeah, he wasn't giving up any you know any space. like The other bigs weren't weren't pushing him around. He sets a massive pick, like a super strong pick.
Speaker: He's going to be a great pick and roll partner for for any of our guards. So very impressed with that. He could shoot the ball really well. He was he was nailing the corner three pretty consistently, it seemed like.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm excited. I think Mario is going to be a bigger piece to the puzzle than than most people think. Yeah, we need them we need them to be because that's going to be an underrated kind of signing. And that's, I think, going to be the theme of this year. And we talked about a little bit, I think, on the last episode is, you know, everybody's counting the Cavs out and how they're going to take that next step is being able to improve within.
Speaker: Is Jalen Tyson going to take a next step? is who's going to claim that backup point guard role, right? These new guys that we brought in how are they going to make an impact? And Mario is is is part of that puzzle, like you just said, because even though he was a low-risk signing of of a $2 million dollar guy, if he can find 15 minutes a night and give you that 15 to 20 minutes a night playing your rotation consistently and give you a bit of a scoring boost, that's going to be so huge for him coming off the bench and being able to do that.
Speaker: um I like what I saw as well in in the Orlando game, the first Orlando game that was also at home. He put up 13 points, was a plus 15, and looked very comfortable out there running around with those guys. So i'm curious to see what ultimately his role looks like and and can he be consistent?
Speaker: But so far, like what we saw. what about What about Watson, Alex?
Speaker: Watson, watson ah he looks really good. He um really just a lot of hustle, a lot of energy. He gets around the court. Even when he doesn't have the ball, he's always moving. I like what I saw. he he seems to... um He's kind of an unorthodox player. Yeah. He was struggling from the three-point line, but, you know, just... just ah He was impacting impacting the game in other ways, I'll say that. like He was just all over the court.
Speaker: Yeah, from from from a scoring perspective, nothing impressive. ah Six points, seven points, and ten points across three games. um But he did get four block a total of four blocks in in those games, um which is pretty nice. Grabbing rebounds, um you know making it difficult for the defender. That's really what you brought him in to be, right? And you could just kind of tell Alex, you like especially that first game, he so badly just wanted to get going and get one to drop. And you know eventually he did. But he yeah, he he took a lot of he took a decent amount of shots and really didn't hit you know very many of them.
Speaker: Or at least it didn't feel consistent throughout the preseason. But again, he he he's brand new. He's trying to get integrated in this offense. I think he'll be fine because, again, he's not option one.
Speaker: He's not option A. He's not option B. He's not even option C, right? so he just needs to be that that glue guy that plays hard on both ends of the floor and and every once in a while does some things offensively for you. Some nights he's going to go off for 15 to 20 points, and some nights he's going to get you you know you know maybe single digits or 10 points, but if he's making impacts in other areas of the game on the boards and defensively, he's going to fit right in, and and the Cleveland fans are going love him.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. I think he's going to be great addition. You could tell he was really trying to... prove that he belonged in that starting five. He was thinking about He was trying to force a lot of things. He was forcing a lot. yeah He needs to just let the game come to him and he'll he'll figure that out. But yeah, I got that same sense.
Speaker: And they were even talking about that in the broadcast as well. that you know He needs to just let it come to him. um Another interesting thing, Alex, that I wanted to see was Obviously, James Harden, he didn't play in the first game.
Speaker: He plays in the second game against her you know the the first home game, a second game, still a home game against Orlando, comes in and really lights it up.
Speaker: um And it was like night and day watching that offense between the Boston game and that first Orlando game with James Harden in there. um James Harden's going to he's your Kevin Love. He's your Colin Sexton. He's just always going to have that stigma about him and be the scapegoat forever. OK, but he looked pretty, pretty damn good that game. And and again, the Cavs, obviously that was their best game and the only game they won.
Speaker: Um, not so much the second game, second game. Everybody was a clunker the last game against Orlando, but let's just talk about Harden for a second. I was excited with what I saw. Did you get the same feeling?
Speaker: Yeah, he looked good. Um, He looked a little thick. He, uh, a little extra portly. You know what I mean? So I don't know if he's little, just a little out of shape from, what do you know, I don't know. He looked like that last season too. And him and Mario would be quite the tag team on him, man. They'd be quite the tag team. Those two Mario and James Harden. They'd love to come up with a tag team name for him, but dude, he was still out there lighting it up. i mean, what do you, what do go to the free throw line? Three separate times on three point three pointers. And he made a four point play.
Speaker: don't like that part of his game. He's always foul hunting. like yeah every Almost every time he takes a three-pointer, it's... trying to bait the foul. Like, i don't even know if he's even trying to make the three. He's just trying to get that foul so bad. ha I'll say you this, man. it's It's... And they don't call those in the playoffs, and that's what bid us in the postseason.
Speaker: Those look dangerous as well. You come down the wrong way, man. You're going to come away with ah with a badly sprained ankle or or potentially worse. So I do worry about that.
Speaker: But he is... very good at drawing fouls. And it's, it's weird. We talked about this when we first acquired him. He's a guy you hate.
Speaker: you hate to see, right? When he's not on your team, not saying we love him because he's on our team. So don't love that style of basketball, but you can't just sit there help but laugh because when it's working, it's working. And then especially when he had the four point play, it was just like, oh, this is, this is fun. Right.
Speaker: um But it was just nice seeing him out there running, running the offense, knocking down shots. And and it looked pretty effortless to be honest with you. It looked effortless. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was night and day compared to, ah you know, Mitchell running point.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. And then there was the Rook, Malik Thomas. we got some more We got some more looks at him. He had some moments, and especially in that last game, Alex, he he he had a nice little run there in the fourth quarter, one of the few bright spots of the Cavs getting blown out in the last preseason game. what what you think What do you think of Thomas the more you see him?
Speaker: Leak went off in that that last game against Orlando. I mean, he couldn't be stopped. at I don't know how many points he scored right at the end of that fourth quarter. He just, ah he was unleashed, man. He was lighting it up.
Speaker: Yeah, it's ah it's exciting to see ah what he's going to turn into. And again, he's another example. If you get anything out of him this year consistently, man, that's a huge win, right? And that's going to help this Cavs team propel forward.
Speaker: So it's not the the pressure isn't just on Evan Mobley to take the next step. No, the pressure is on the entire team, but it's also on guys like Thomas, like Mario, like Watson to come in, figure it out, be part of the rotation and contribute.
Speaker: um Another guy that I thought one of the guys that I thought looked the best throughout the whole preseason was Tyson. Tyson was consistently just.
Speaker: Very solid, double-digit scoring in every game. I read a stat that he was he shot 60% for the preseason, which is amazing. He just looked calm, collective, looked almost like a veteran out there.
Speaker: And again, like he he didn't... um you know like Mitchell and these guys, like sure, they they'd look fun and all that stuff, but they they only played so many minutes, right, where Tyson got a fair amount of minutes. and I'm excited about him this year because he's the guy that...
Speaker: Man, we saw such great flashes last year, Alex, before Harden came in. if he can if he can do what he did in the beginning of the year last year and make that kind of contribution to this team as like that sixth man, that first man off of your bench, that's going to be such a boost for this Cavs team. I'm very excited to see what he's going to do this season. and Him and Watson out there running around together, throw a Jared Allen with him too. Man, those guys are going causing freaking havoc. Throw Thomas in there at the point guard.
Speaker: Yeah. That's going be tough. That's going to be tough. Yeah, i like I like seeing Tyson attack a lot. Like, he can get to the hoop. He can shoot it. um I would just like to see him. He still makes some, like, inexperienced, boneheaded, ah you know, bad passes, you know, silly turnovers. Oh, he, you know, he gets the some goofy fouls sometimes. Or he'll he'll he gets hot real quick. Like, he'll get upset and he'll start – yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But also on the defensive end as well. Right. Imagine him and Watson and and Thomas and Jared Allen running around there there and then throw whoever else you want.
Speaker: That's going to be a tough defensive lineup for any for any offense. So there's just it makes me excited because it just allows for different types of of combinations. Yeah.
Speaker: Now that you have Watson here, now not now that Tyson's going to be even in a more established role, assuming Thomas is going to get playing time, whether it is as the backup point guard or not, he's going to get his shot to be part of this rotation. And I'd be very shocked if he doesn't do enough to earn consistent minutes in some form or matter. It's just going to be fun to see those guys kind of just running around and mixing in with that starting unit.
Speaker: Yeah, I think the starting unit, for whatever reason, they just struggled mightily in the preseason. And then they would bring in that second unit, man, with, like you said, Bryant, Hazonia, Sam Merrill, Jalen Tyson, Craig Porter Jr. like All of a sudden, they would bring it back. you know he was like much more high energy, much more, like I don't know, playing along better together, meshing better together. There wasn't like...
Speaker: one or two guys out there that felt like they had to hog the ball. I don't know what it, what it is, but yeah. Starting five, just, don't know. They just struggled. They just could. Yeah. I partly wonder how hard they're actually playing.
Speaker: Mitchell to me felt like the, the one out the bunch that felt like he was consistently trying the hardest. Um, Mobley was kind of a disaster. If I'm being honest, Allen was okay. Harden had the one good game, didn't play the other one, didn't really do much the last game.
Speaker: Um, you know, so, yeah and then Watson was Watson, right. Trying to figure out how to fit and everything. So yeah, it wasn't a great showing that just leaves you with a ton of confidence. But i I think we know that this those guys are better than what they performed in the preseason, and just hope that you know they were just out there just just getting loose, Alex, just getting loose. Yeah, I mean, speaking of Mobley, he was just terrible. i don't know There's no other way to put it. like His field goal percentage was bad. he what
Speaker: wasn't rebounding. like He was getting out-rebounded by whoever else was on the court. I didn't like what I saw. Yeah, I wasn't crazy about it as well.
Speaker: And, um you know, again, it's preseason, so we'll see what happens here. But this is why I said, like, Cavs fans, don't put all your eggs in one basket and and count on Evan Mobley to be that guy to propel this team. I still don't agree.
Speaker: that Evan Mobley needs to be the best player on this team. I still think it's Mitchell, but I think Mitchell needs to get consistent help from other people. And Mobley needs to be a part of that, don't get me wrong, but that's again where Tyson and hopefully Watson and somebody else you know can can also help fill those gaps so that there's just consistency on a nightly basis. It doesn't have to be the same three or so guys in double-digit scoring, right but you just have to have consistent scoring coming from somewhere. One night it could be Sam Merrill. One night it could be Tyson. One night it could be this guy, that guy, on top of what Mitchell and Harden are doing every night and Mobley and Allen and so on and so forth. If they could do that, this Cavs team is going to be in in good shape.
Speaker: Yeah, I know this is blasphemy and it it's not going to happen, but I would kind of like to see more lineups of with Hazonia at the four and Allen at the five and then maybe Mobley and then another lineup with Mobley at the four and Brian at the five. Brian at the five. Split Mobley and Allen a little more because I'm not sure that they're i don't know. I'm not sold that they can they're playing well together out there, that they space the floor well together because they they both play very similarly. They like to be in the same spots on the court. They both are in that paint constantly, and they that's where they work from. so yeah and They keep pulling Mobley out to shoot the three, which...
Speaker: Yeah, he does hit it, a couple yeah does he does hit it but it's not he shouldn't be. not It's not his bread and butter. It doesn't really space the court that much. It doesn't help the rest of the team.
Speaker: It's very strange. You could tell that they've been working with him, and yeah, they're trying to do that, maybe to deal with the spacing issues, but it's it's not a... It's not a good enough shot to where there's a consistent like reason for him to be away from the hoop.
Speaker: And to be honest with you, Mobley brings a lot of value bringing being around the hoop right as well, right? ah pick and roll to the hoop scenarios, grabbing offensive rebounds. And, and, you know, he could do some things if he's in the right spot.
Speaker: Mobley's biggest bugaboo for my tape, my opinion, at least is he catches that ball and he's 10 feet, 15 feet away from the hoop. And he has to back a player down to score.
Speaker: Can't do it. Dude can't do it. Nope. He can't do it. Right? um so And that's a problem. That's a problem. So it'll be interesting. We're going to get to our our kind of predictions and stuff like that. And I have some things I want to say a little bit further around the whole Allen and Mobley thing.
Speaker: The last thing, though, Alex, on the preseason is... is who earned, in your opinion, maybe we save this for predictions, going to say, who earned that backup point guard role in your mind?
Speaker: did any Did any of those guys stand out to you? Porter Jr., Proctor, or Thomas?
Speaker: i don't I don't know. i think it's it's way too early. And they got a game in 48 hours. Craig Porter's. and orders think got what They got a game in hours, is Alex. They figure this out.
Speaker: they don't got to figure it out. They got 82 more games to figure it out. You think regular season matters? It's more preseason, basically. ah You know, Craig Porter Jr., he's got the you know the the time on the team in his favor. He's been around, yeah, the tenure. So he's kind of the elder statesman of the... I don't know.
Speaker: Can you say that he's he's earned the backup position at this point, whereas Proctor and... Proctor's only been on the team for one season and Thomas is a rookie. Like, yeah. can Can one of them leapfrog Craig Porter Jr.? i don't know. Yeah, they they could outplay him.
Speaker: Yeah, i think I think it'll probably start with Craig Porter Jr. for everything you just said, most seasoned. he he's I like Porter Jr. He's scrappy. He's always out there giving effort.
Speaker: He's very kind of sneaky as well. He jumps through the roof. He can knock down a three, and he's he's competent enough to to run an ah offense. But what i what I'm interested to see or what I want to see is that healthy competitiveness between that trio because if they do that,
Speaker: they're all going to elevate each other. We know that there's going to be injuries. We know that there's going to be scenarios that if all three are on the roster, all three are going to play at some point this year for whatever reason, right?
Speaker: So we need those guys to be continuing to be ready, keeping you know the healthy competition, and they'll they'll all get their moments. um I'll be curious to see if Thomas eventually steals that role or not.
Speaker: Maybe somebody becomes – you know no no longer needed, right? If a guy or two are really breaking out, maybe they decide to flip one of them. They see him as an asset and they flip one of them, you know?
Speaker: So we'll see. um We'll see. I don't know if anybody has has grabbed that position and and is going to hold on to it for the whole season. I don't know if i buy that. So Alex, ah preseason, um done with.
Speaker: do you forget just say i want I want to stick with that for a minute. do you think that Malik Thomas could end up with that spot. Yes. Like, do you think he has a chance?
Speaker: Yes. Even as a rookie? Yes. Only because... Here's here's here's why. Size... what he was able to do so far. And we've been seeing reports come out that quote unquote, quietly the Cavs are very excited about him.
Speaker: Like what we saw in the summer league is what they were also seeing in practices. Like that wasn't a fluke thing. Right. And we saw it in that Orlando game and that spur where he had 13 points or whatever. Like you can see it now. he's is He is little bit raw. Sure. He's a rookie.
Speaker: right? He's going to get an opportunity and I can see him potentially grabbing that spot. Um, even if he doesn't, there was times where he was out there with Porter jr. They look fine together.
Speaker: There's times where he was out there mixed in with other starters. Like again, even if he doesn't, he he's going to be a guy that's going to be a part of this rotation. I find it very, i think Proctor is going to be the odd man out if I'm being honest. Um,
Speaker: And I think it's going to be Porter Jr. and Thomas. And it's just who's going to get that backup position at a consistent basis. I could see that. I mean, Craig Porter Jr., he's kind of the veteran guard at this point. He's kind of like the safe one to put in.
Speaker: Correct. um He has the experience. But at the same time, i i kind of think he's like reached his ceiling. Like what you're seeing from Craig Porter is what you're always going to see from Craig Porter. And that's the safe thing. It's not the, you know, he's not going to be lightning in a bottle like Thomas has shown that Proctor could be.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, it'll be interesting to see what happens with that. we We have three kind of intriguing options there and it's just who who wants it the most. Right. And again, that's only going to help us because healthy competition, man, there's nothing wrong with that. So it's something to definitely keep an eye on, you know, this season and and how that looks and how those guys progress.
Speaker: So Alex, what I wanted to transition to, so obviously with the preseason games and now with the regular season starting up here later this week, we kind of had our first real experience of of watching the Cavs games through the new streaming service, DAZN.
Speaker: And before we get into this and spend a couple minutes here, again, we talked about this on the last episode. Neither I nor Alex are happy or pleased about the fact that there are so few limited options.
Speaker: So this isn't an advertisement. This isn't you know saying you should sign up or not sign up. This is just... We talked about that. we signed up for it because we want to watch Cavs games and we wanted to share what our experience has been so far with the service.
Speaker: um We are Alex signed us up for um a package that allows us both to stream the games, even though we're at different IP addresses. And I think you can have a total of up to five streams on the package that we're on.
Speaker: And um Alex, what do you think so far? Did you have any streaming issues, buffer issues, glitches, anything weird that you noticed while we were watching these preseason games?
Speaker: No, I've watched all three games live on DAZN so far, and I haven't had any problems. I even switched going from watching it on TV to my iPad and back and didn't have any problems. And if you were doing the same, you know, maybe we were consuming three or four of the stream counts already at a time.
Speaker: So everything seemed to work flawlessly. I even paused it, walked away, came back, unpaused it. Yeah, no problems. Yeah, I didn't have any problems either. Like you, i did I did switch devices, TV to phone, back to TV again, tested that out, had had no issues there.
Speaker: um all All the replays were available after the games, tested that out and just made sure that, yeah, it's the entire game. I believe I remember seeing you can also watch ah like condensed versions and also just a highlight reel basically.
Speaker: So you have some watch options as well if you don't catch it live. If I had one complaint, um it would be that during commercial breaks, they don't play actual commercials. Right. right um And what they do is they basically play clips from other
Speaker: materials within their app, like like like um just some random interview with some athlete. Right. Or part of a clip from some calves. Let the calves legend show or whatever, you know, and that got annoying kind of quickly, Alex, if I'm being honest, because they were just like on rotation. And I remember that you about one of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and I remember the very first night, um Alonzo Ball clip comes up.
Speaker: And it's an interview of him like he's on the team. Like he just joined the Cavs. Like he just joined the Cavs. And I'm just like, what the hell is this? ah I highly doubt that that's going to change during the regular season. like All of a sudden, they're going to play different content.
Speaker: and Some of it was just kind of just annoying, if i'm if I'm being honest, and just very irrelevant because it had nothing to do with the Cavs. I get it, man, because like they're they're not going to be playing freaking Applebee's commercials and stuff like that, but it's just...
Speaker: Man, that recycled content is just going to get old real, real fast. Yeah. ah Yeah. At least it's not like a drug commercial or all these political commercial commercial. Good God. I'm so tired of this. Yeah, for sure. So that's my only complaint.
Speaker: um It has worked out fine so far. It has been smooth. We'll continue to monitor it throughout the season, but, but, but had pretty good confidence that we're going to be okay. Yeah.
Speaker: And um yeah, so far, no issues. You know what I haven't noticed is one of the cool things that not that I was a ah fan of the FanDuel app for watching Cavs games either, but the FanDuel app, when you were watching a live game,
Speaker: on when I was watching ah on my iPad, there was like a little, you could just tap the side of the screen and it would open a live box score and you could check the stats of the players. That was always like a pretty cool feature of the app. And I haven't noticed that with the DAZN app yet. Yeah, I haven't seen anything like that. That would be cool.
Speaker: That would be. We'll see. We'll continue playing around with it. I think we mentioned before, there's some other content on there as well that you can watch. You can watch all the Road Back episodes. They have some other kind of interview-like shows on there and stuff like that. And there's still...
Speaker: there's still Lonzo ball. There's still tied your own. There's still like their back catalog of that content is on the app as well. So it's been solid so far. I don't have any complaints outside of the commercials and and hopefully it remains that way throughout the season.
Speaker: So, Oh man, at the beginning of the episode, you were talking about, preseason and I was mentioned people getting injured. Max Struess was one of them. Oh, that's right.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. He like injured is so long ago. Now we, we didn't forget about that. Very first preseason game. He like hobbled off the court. It was like the first couple minutes of the game or something like that.
Speaker: And of course it was Darius Garland of all people throwing him a pass that was uncontested by the way, like Max Struess just like came up to the three point line to catch a pass and And he just he just tweaked his he just tweaks something and threw the ball right back to Garland as he hobbled out of bounds.
Speaker: And that clip went viral on social media, not only because of the Max Struess injury, but from what I saw, more so because of Garland's reaction, which was he took the ball. He saw what happened. He took the ball because Struess threw it back to him as he was falling out of bounds.
Speaker: And he took it. And he' so he like three times slammed it against his head and then looked back at Struis as they were walking to the bench because obviously there was a timeout at that point. like He was like he's like, God damn it. you know garlet i don't want I didn't plan to spend time here, but man, I'm not saying I feel bad for him.
Speaker: But considering what's going on with the Clippers, there ain't no help coming to him anytime soon. There's no draft picks for the next five years cause everything that went down with the Kawhi thing and and now he just lost Max Struess who won't be reevaluated for another month.
Speaker: There's no Kawhi there anymore. there i Who's their second best player out in Los Angeles? Clippers. I couldn't even tell you, Alex. I'm sure they have a couple of decent role player guys, but Garland's going to be out there on an island. He's go be out there on an island, and he's going struggle as a result. That team's going to struggle.
Speaker: But yeah, Max Street is good call. can't believe we didn't call that out.
Speaker: Hope it gets better. Hope it gets better. Yeah, i hope so. I know it was the other foot. It wasn't the one that he had the Tommy John surgery on last season. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. So regular season basketball starts this Thursday. Cleveland Cavaliers open up the season on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Speaker: In Philadelphia, I still say that is a massive miss by Adam Silver to not have had had that game in Cleveland. It would have meant so much more.
Speaker: Philadelphia fans don't give a rat's ass about what do they care about the Cavs? At the same time, though, they're going to be one pumped up and ruckus crowd because it's going to be the first time.
Speaker: That's their season home opener, right? Seeing their team. Alex, this is going to be, let's be honest, this is going to be a very difficult game for the Cavs to win.
Speaker: just going to throw it out there now. Yeah, I agree. Especially with what we saw in the preseason. Yeah. It's not looking good, Corey.
Speaker: But man, sliver of hope. What if, just imagine, what if, The Cavs can go in there. I don't care how they do it if they can sneak out of there with a win.
Speaker: Yeah, it would it would be big. It'd be huge. because Because the whole narrative all summer was about LeBron... Going to Cleveland, right? And then LeBron spurting Cleveland again.
Speaker: yeah yeah You don't want you don't wanna to give them that first game. And you can't come out smiling and all that bullshit that you did in the preseason. Come out as the freaking dog. Come out as the aggressive for once.
Speaker: Come out and make a statement. Play with emotion. Treat it like a playoff game. You know, that's that's what I'm hoping to see.
Speaker: I don't know if that's what we're going to see. That's what I'm hoping we're going to see. What I don't want to see is the Cavs get blown out, you know, 20-plus points or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah, know I don't how seriously they'll take this game. They need to. They need to. They need to take it seriously because it'll be a bugaboo against them all year. You can't go you can't go ah one in three against LeBron this year, the four times you play him or whatever it is. You don't want that. Get ah yeah out of here.
Speaker: But I am excited, Alex, for Cavs basketball to officially start. um After the 76ers, we have the Nets at home this coming weekend on Saturday, followed by the Timberwolves and then Washington to kind of open up the first few games here.
Speaker: So Philadelphia is going to be tough. Timberwolves will be interesting because they just added the mellow ball out there. And even even Washington will be interesting because you got to remember there's now Trey Young and Anthony Davis out there.
Speaker: Haven't been following them at all. I'll just assume they're both healthy. But Alex, I think the biggest change in narrative this year that at least everybody's talking about from a national perspective is just it feels like the East in general has has risen, has gotten better almost across the board. Even a team like the Wizards, if you have a healthy Trey Young and an Anthony Davis, they're going to right there playing for a playoff spot, right? At least at least a play-in position. Yeah.
Speaker: Miami got better. Toronto adds Kawhi. New York Knicks just win the championship and Philadelphia and and and so on and so forth. Atlanta will be a team that continues to to figure it out.
Speaker: So as we're going into this season, Alex, let's let's get into some kind of predictions and just thoughts and so on and so forth. If you had to today say, where do you think the Cavs end up at the regular season? Let's just start there. I'm even going to ask for a number of wins yet.
Speaker: Just from a seeding perspective, where are you putting this Cavs team? Are they still within the top four? they on the fringe? Five, six? Are they sliding? Are they climbing?
Speaker: Where are they going to be at? I think they're going to slide a little. I think there'll be a fifth or sixth seed. Fifth or sixth seed. Yeah, I think there'll be maybe 46 and 36.
Speaker: Okay. hi Check that math. ah i'll just I'll just take your, yeah, it sounds good. Yeah. On your math there. yeah You know, i actually, and this is kind of not happy about this by the way, but this is what year four of Mitchell.
Speaker: Right. And for the most part, this is the fourth year of like the core being together, just, you know, you swap out Garland and Harlan and Harden and so on and so forth. Like this is supposed to be the year, or this is the year that we're all hoping that they finally get over the hump.
Speaker: Because again, they're the team that I feel has less amount of stuff to figure out versus some of these other teams. Miami has pressure on them to figure out, okay, we have Giannis now, our windows now, we but we don't have very many other assets. How are we going to make this work?
Speaker: Philadelphia has to worry about flying in LeBron every freaking day for a practice and deal with his ego and that pressure that comes with that. Miami has to deal with, can they go back to back? Boston has to figure out who's going replace Jalen Brown. Like those are some big things that have to be figured out.
Speaker: And the Cavs have to figure out how to incorporate Peyton Watson. Like, okay, you know, Mario Hazonia, like a piece of cake, easy, right? Their biggest thing is, okay, what does a full season of Harden look like, right?
Speaker: um So this should be the year really where the Cavs quietly, as everybody is doubting them, should be able to sneak their way up and figure it out. And to be honest with you, I'm with you.
Speaker: I think they're going to win less games. I think they're going to win under 50 games this year just because the East has gotten better. What matters the most is will they turn it on at the right time? Kind of like what New York did, what New York did last year, right?
Speaker: Yeah. And that's a team that had been together for a couple years, failed to get over the hump, finally got over the hump, right? um Without making moves, you know, in the middle of the season and and so on and so forth.
Speaker: I think Kenny will spend a lot of time early in the season trying to figure out lineups, trying to fit guys in, trying to get guys minutes. Some of these young guys, is he going to get Malik Thomas a lot of minutes? Is he going to get Jalen ah Tyson a lot of ah lot of minutes? you know He's going to experiment with the lineups, you know moving Peyton Watson around, moving Herzogna around. I'm sure it will result in a few more losses than last season.
Speaker: But you know as long as everybody stays healthy, They figure out their stride but towards the end of the season after the All-Star break. um You know, I think they could really make a good run and go deep into the postseason. So even though I'm predicting less wins of the regular season, I think ah I'm optimistic that this will be the the year.
Speaker: Yeah, so I'm going a little bit less as well. Going a little bit more than you. I'm going 48, 49 wins um under the 50 mark. I think they'll be under the 50 mark. And I think, yeah, they'll be they'll be they'll be around a four or five seed.
Speaker: And um you know I think it's going to be a tight, just like last year, man. It was so tight, that playoff race. If you remember, two through nine was like two, two and a half games you know separation. I think it'll be like that again. And the biggest factor, the biggest key is will the Cavs stay healthy this year, Alex? that That in itself will make a huge difference. I forget which preseason game it was, but they were talking about on the broadcast how the Cavs, don't know if they tied a record or or set the record, but they had over 41 different starting lineups last year.
Speaker: That is absolutely insane. um and And, you know, at the end of the day, that's not something you think about as a fan. In the moment, you're like, I don't care. These dudes make millions of dollars. But when you sit back and think about it, you're like, holy crap, right? Imagine if you had ah eight different quarterbacks rotation starting in your 16 games. and a foot Like like that's that's half the games. They had different starting lineups, right? Imagine if half the games you had a different quarterback every time. Of course, it's going to mess with your chemistry. So if the Cavs need stay healthy this year, um that that's going to be huge, Alex.
Speaker: Okay, so next question that I have is, who's going to the All-Star game this year?
Speaker: It's going to finally be the year. Finally be the year for Sam Merrill. Three-point contest. I don't think so. I don't think so. Is that a serious question? I don't know. He got off to a hot start last year. i don't know if he could do it again. i don't i don't know if it matters how high he gets. He doesn't have the... ah The clout?
Speaker: Yeah, he doesn't have the clout. he doesn't He doesn't got the big name. He's not flashy enough. you know it'll It'll be Mitchell. It'll be possibly Mobley if Mobley grows up and develops an offensive game around the hoop.
Speaker: um Maybe Harden if he ah gets back into good form. Yeah. I'm going to go with just Mitchell this year. i think there's too many good players for Harden or Mobley to step in there and make it in there. I hope they point they they prove me wrong.
Speaker: I would love what we did a couple years ago where we sent three guys to the All-Star game you know when when it was what was a Garland, Mitchell, and Allen, I believe. Allen got in there because of injuries, but still.
Speaker: I would love to see that. right This team is really too good on paper to not be sending multiple players to the All-Star game. um But I think mitchell Mitchell will be there, assuming he's healthy.
Speaker: and But I think that might be it. We'll see, though. I hope I'm wrong. I really do. Who will be the biggest surprise on this team this year?
Speaker: Oh man, that's a tough one. Standout player, like biggest jump, biggest leap, whatever, biggest impact that we didn't see coming.
Speaker: Do we see Watson coming? Probably her Zonia. I think her Zonia is going to surprise a lot of people. Assuming he gets the minutes. I think, uh, Well, I think he's going to play a lot better than a lot of people expect, but I don't think he's going to set anything on fire. You know what I mean? he's ah Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going quietly produce and be a good role player. Yeah.
Speaker: Merrill Merrill's always good. You know, Malik Thomas could if he gets the minutes. I kind of doubt that he'll be given that much leeway to do that, but
Speaker: I don't know. Yeah, there'ss's there's definitely some candidates, which is why it's an interesting question, because it feels like that starting core when you go through them, it's like it kind of feels like they're all at their ceiling.
Speaker: Very good basketball players, very talented. But I don't know if Jared Allen can get any better. He's not all of a sudden going to develop you know an offensive game. Although we did miss talking about his freaking three pointer in the preseason game.
Speaker: And then the fact that he took another one right afterwards and air balled it. Yeah. He did that last prison as well. He jacked up a couple of three pointers. um You know, Harden's freaking 38 years old. Like his game is his game, right?
Speaker: Mitchell is now entering his thirties. I don't know how much more he can elevate his game. Watson still has the most room to grow along with Mobley. But I don't know if Watson's going to turn into 20-point-a-night scorer. There's just not enough room on this offense anyways.
Speaker: And Mobley's on year six. I feel like by now we pretty much have seen about everything he's he's got to offer, right? So to me, it feels like it's someone on that second unit that is potentially going to take a leap or and or surprise us.
Speaker: and And I kind of already showed my car earlier. I'm going with Jalen Tyson. would love see it be Jalen Tyson. I would love to see it because, man, he just showed such flashes and he just plays with effort out there. And it's just you want to reward a guy like that, right? You could just tell he's worked so hard on his game, especially...
Speaker: people don't People don't even remember his rookie season. That's how like in, not not inferior, but just how a little impact he had. And then what he did the first half of last season, that was a hell of a jump.
Speaker: And he could build off of that. And if he can do that on a consistent basis, again, that's going to be what keeps us in games. When the starting unit is flopping and Jalen Tyson checks in and Malik Thomas checks in and these other guys check in, that's going to be what's going to keep this team afloat and hopefully in contention you know throughout the regular season. but I'm going to go with Jalen Tyson. i want him to be the sixth man of the year kind of guy, at least for the Cavs and just come in there and make a consistent, consistent impact.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, yeah, I would love for it to be Jalen Tyson. I just don't know how much opportunity he's going to get, how many minutes he's going to get. I mean... Atkinson, he's a wise up, man. He is he needs to use him, run him. He just needs to stay aggressive. like Yes.
Speaker: yeah When he's in the game and he's aggressive, he's great. But when he's being passive, yeah you wouldn't even know that he's in the game. It's kind of... you know he he gets stuck deferring a lot. like he gives He gives the respect to Mitchell, to Harden, to Mobley, to Allen.
Speaker: if If he demands the ball and like plays aggressively, then yeah, he's he's great. yeah Yeah, exactly. The last one I had, and if you have any, you can you can ask as well, is this the final year for Kenny Atkinson if they did not win a championship? Is this the final year for Kenny Atkinson as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Speaker: um
Speaker: I think it it'll just depend how far they go. there's I think there's a chance that they replace him if they stumble out you know in the first or second round.
Speaker: Yeah, I think if it's first, second round, absolutely. I think if even if they only get back to the Eastern Conference Finals again, i say it's a 50-50 at that point. He's already saying some goofy things in interviews. The season's just getting started, so yeah that's not a good look either.
Speaker: yeah kind of reminds me of that coach, you know, Coach Blatt. You know, he would say some crazy things in interviews, and it's like, oh, he shouldn't have said that. yeah I feel the same way with Kenny. Like, he seems like such a smart guy, and he's like so in tune with everything that's going on.
Speaker: And then he'll say something that it's like, you know, maybe that's something you say to your assistant coaches. It's not something you say to the media. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm going to be curious to like, you know, how does how does this react any differently this year in scenarios where the Cavs are yeah in a tough spot?
Speaker: you know, he he took a lot of criticism, not only for what he said, but his coaching in the playoffs didn't, you know, didn't call a timeout to to start to to to stop that Knicks run and that freaking game. One of that series that, that really changed everything, right? You know, you lose that game from what being 20 something points up.
Speaker: And, uh, you know, it's the same series. You started making the the crazy comments. So are those lessons learned or is it still just going to be kind of, you know, just letting it ride and, and, and so on and so forth.
Speaker: ah playing a very short rotation when it matters like you have some young cats on this team i think you and i try to figure out i don't know if it was last episode or or maybe off we weren't recording yet who who's the oldest guy in this team is it mitchell it's gotta be harden oh well well i'm sorry okay okay after harden sorry sorry yeah after harden after harden who's the next oldest guy might be right It might be Mitchell. It might be Mitchell or maybe Brian. But what I'm saying is is like their next oldest guy is like 30 or 31. You have some young cats on this team. Let them run.
Speaker: Let them run. right Let them be free. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm hoping it works out, but if it doesn't, I do feel like this will be Atkinson's last year. It's just after so many years, things just run its course. Just like there's certain players that are scapegoats, coaches are scapegoats as well.
Speaker: I think the team like Atkinson, I think they respect him and and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, I don't know. This feels like a make or break year. and And not only for Atkinson, to be honest with you, this could be the last, I think this will be the last year of Allen and Mobley as well.
Speaker: If things do not work out and we do not continue to make a deep, deep run, this will be the last year Mobley and Allen because you just, you can't go to year five of doing the same thing and running up against the same brick wall.
Speaker: You have to change it up. um So this is a huge year, not only for Atkinson, but but for the Cavs team and for for for several players on on this roster, in my opinion. It's a huge, huge year.
Speaker: Dang, Corey. Yeah, man. Hey. End of times all of a sudden. Hey, man. It can't be all fun in games. At some point, you got to produce. You got to produce. I think they've been producing. the Each of the last three seasons, they've gone farther and into the playoffs. yes Yes. Hopefully, they continue that trend.
Speaker: Yeah. That's what we want to see, right? No step backwards. That's all. They haven't taken a step backwards yet. So yeah if they do it this season, it's most likely to happy happen this season, right? They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. There's only only one step beyond that, which is the finals. finals the finals so Right.
Speaker: I mean, that's that's extremely difficult to achieve. So we'll see. Like, you know, let's say they just make it to the Eastern Conference Finals again. Does Kenny keep his job? I think so.
Speaker: I think so. I think that's where it's 50-50 if he can get there again. and then and then how did how did it end? You know, was it another sweep? Was it was it a seven-game series and, you know, a nail-biter? Just, you know, how how how does it end at that point?
Speaker: Mm-hmm. But that's so far away, Alex. We've got so many games to look forward to. We're jumping pretty far ahead. We're jumping pretty far ahead, predicting people's futures and lives here. yeah um But no, I'm excited for Cavs basketball to be back.
Speaker: I saw that we have a game on Halloween this year, which is cool as well. ah Saturday night, 8 o'clock game, right when trick-or-treating is done, Alex. You can... you know Turn on the Cavs game, and that's going a ton of fun. and Man, it's going to be a fun season.
Speaker: The Cavs are, again, they're under the radar, which is nice. That takes away a lot of national heat. They're getting no respect. they get Everybody says they didn't make any changes this offseason. No changes. They're just running it back. they're running in Detroit also just running it back. chety Chetty Osmond's still out. like They think Mario's like Chetty Osmond, like Chetty's still here or whatever. They're like, yeah, they didn't do anything.
Speaker: But I think internally, i think they'll be under a microscope, though, from like a Cavs fan perspective. It's like, okay, yeah, this is a good team. We get it. But this is year four of like you guys not being able to to figure it out and get there. We're kind of like getting tired of this. You know what mean? We kind of already heard that, right, ah the the last two off-seasons now. There was a healthy amount of the fan base that wanted them to to do something bigger than what they did and and break it up and go a different direction. so Um, it'll be an interesting season, Alex. It'll be interesting.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm not, I'm not, uh, on that quick, on that bandwagon to, to blow it up if they're, you know, they don't make the finals or get a ring this season. Like I'm happy with us fielding a, uh, very good, very competitive Cavs team.
Speaker: Like, I've lived through the years of them being trash for 10 seasons in a row, 15 seasons in a row. Like, you know, yeah I don't want that. You know, I'd rather them always be on the cusp of winning a championship rather than them being on the cusp of drafting the number one pick. Like absolutely not even comparable. So people saying, oh, let's blow, you know, this team isn't going anywhere. We just keep running it back. Let's blow it up. Like,
Speaker: No, I don't want to do that. That would be terrible. i don't want to do that either. and i get it. You got to make some changes occasionally. You might have to make some changes. but This is where I think, again, this can be a sneaky year for the Cavs. And again, almost like the Knicks. Even going back to the Celtics, when the Celtics won it a couple years ago,
Speaker: They were right there knocking on the door for several seasons prior to that. This is after the the run you know the the Paul Pierce years and stuff like that, where they went it at that time around.
Speaker: They were knocking on the door for a little while, and so they had to make some tweaks. They Crowder and Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah Thomas and stuff like that. yeah They swapped them out. They did some other things. Leon Powe.
Speaker: Powe? Powe? Yeah, whatever his name was. Yeah. I think that was... Came to the Cavs for a season. Yeah. But my point being is, like, those teams that are kind of right there knocking on the door, not all of them, but some of them find a way to get over that hump.
Speaker: And that's also... the position the Cavs are in right now. They can go one of two ways. They can, they completely can, can flop again, or they can finally figure it out and get over the hump because they are still a good enough basketball team to be part of that conversation. If they're playing at their highest level and they're a healthy basketball team when it matters later in April, May, and June.
Speaker: Yep. So we'll see. It's just luck. Yeah. So it was just luck. What, what ah injuries other teams are dealing with. Like yeah once you get to this level, this, so so such an elite level,
Speaker: Yeah. Well, Alex, that was everything that I had. Anything else from your end or or just before this regular season starts, anything you want to get off your chest? No, man. I'm just happy. ah Cavs basketball is back. I'm ready.
Speaker: That's right. Let's get it. I love it. I love it. All right. Well, let's 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, let them know where they can follow us and connect with us.
Speaker: Follow us on X at Cavs Pick and Roll. Shoot us an email, CavsPickAndRoll at gmail.com. Follow us on fakes Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. Watch this episode on YouTube. Wherever you're watching and listening, click like, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We'd appreciate it. All right, Cavs fans, there it is.
Speaker: We'll talk to again soon. Peace out, Cavs fans.
