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Episode 159: The Boys Are Back!
30 Plays22 hours ago
It's 2025, and the boys are back! Alex and Corey discuss the Cavs first three regular season games against the Knicks, Nets, and Bucks. We also give our hot takes and predictions for the Cavs upcoming season. We also touch on how to tune in to watch Cavs games this season and a couple of the latest NBA TV shows now streaming.
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Transcript
Introduction to Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey Cavs fans, welcome to another episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll Podcast, a podcast for diehard Cavs fans. I'm Corey, I am here with Alex.
00:00:25
Speaker
Alex, the boys are back. Cavs basketball is back. How you doing? Great. It's been, yeah, three games so far. It's been great.
00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Cavs sitting at two and one um They just finished their home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks here a little bit ago as we record this.
00:00:49
Speaker
It was a bit of a battle. The Greek freak was ah making me a little bit nervous there, Alex. Yeah, yeah. Bucks, ah they got close towards the end there. thought they were going to come back.
00:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. So like you said, the Cavs have played three games so far. It's kind of just still surreal that the NBA is actually back.
Cavs Season Kickoff and Initial Games
00:01:11
Speaker
And i we we were just talking about offline before we started recording, or I made the comment of like, man, I'm looking at their schedule, and I'm like, i got to readjust my my my life again to, man, there's Cavs games on like almost every other day, it feels like, but it's also glorious at the same time that Cavs basketball is back, Alex.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, I was just looking at that too. They got ah busy schedule. Some good games coming up. Yeah. Yeah, they're going have an early test to the start of their season. And that's good, though, man. They gotta they they they got to build some grit here early on.
00:01:46
Speaker
And they're on a mission this year so to make a deep playoff run. And it starts, you know, starts right away. So, um Alex, let's get into um the games that have happened so far and some other bits and pieces of of news and stuff like that.
00:02:03
Speaker
So let's start with the game that that just ended. The Cavs home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis has been on a tear so far this season.
00:02:14
Speaker
And the Cavs did a decent job at containing him early. ah Second half was a different story, though. But what were some things that jumped out at you at this game? What did you like? What did you not like? Just what what kind of caught your eye?
00:02:29
Speaker
I mean, you said it, Giannis. he so He's a monster. He dropped 40 points. ah No one could defend him. Like, where was Jared Allen at?
00:02:40
Speaker
Where was Mobley at? Like, nobody could keep in trouble. Yeah, yeah, both of them. Yeah. yeah yeah yeah both of them yeah Yeah, it's like at some point, it's like, man, Giannis is going to age. he's gonna and He's going to lose a step. But no, that time is not here yet.
00:02:56
Speaker
And I heard during the broadcast, this is year 13 for Giannis, which is kind of crazy, right? um Luckily for the Cavs, though, Giannis didn't get a ton of help in this game. Sure, a couple other scorers, AJ Green, 20 points. Miles Turner had double digits.
00:03:16
Speaker
But nobody else had a had a huge game. Right. And I think that's ultimately what helped the Cavs, because with Giannis's performance and if they had maybe one more guy step up, I was waiting for Trent Jr. to go off. That never happened. The Cavs really kind of got lucky that they really only had to try to contain Giannis and nobody else.
Performance Analysis of Key Players
00:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, I like Trent Jr., but he's ah he's not the most consistent guy. He's either on or he's off. Yeah, he's streaky. Finished with six points tonight. Just six points.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, there's not a lot of big names on that Bucs team anymore. mean, you got Giannis and then Miles Turner, Gary Trent. Bobby Portis. like yeah it's kind It trails off pretty quickly, right?
00:04:01
Speaker
It trails off pretty quickly, and that team's success will definitely it'll be on Giannis' shoulders. I think it's going a long season as a result for them.
00:04:13
Speaker
But I don't care about the Bucs. I care about the Cavs. And um one nice thing about this game, Alex, it was the return of DeAndre Hunter. He made his season debut at home.
00:04:27
Speaker
It was nice to see Hunter back out on the floor. 27 minutes, 16 points, four rebounds, couple assists. And man, like I said before in the preseason, his his game is just, it's fun to watch because he could play that mid-range game and he has that size. And there was times he was matched up on Giannis. You know, he couldn't stop him.
00:04:50
Speaker
like anybody like nobody else could either. But it was nice to have Hunter back. It just felt like the ah roster and rotation was a little bit better, right?
00:05:01
Speaker
I had a little more confidence in the rotation with with Hunter out there tonight. yeah Yeah, Hunter looked sharp too. he didn't look like He didn't really have much rust to shake off, if you know what I mean.
00:05:13
Speaker
He kind of went out there, fit right in, did his thing. and he looked good. He made one bad play towards the end of the game where um the Cavs got a rebound with like under a minute left, and he kind of, maybe it was less than a minute even, there were seconds left, and he kind of freaked out, and he just he just passed it to a Bucs player.
00:05:29
Speaker
So basically, he just had to hold on to it. But besides that, yeah, I mean, ah good performance by Hunter, welcoming addition back into the lineup again. You know what? At the same time,
00:05:41
Speaker
I kind of miss Jalen Tyson being in that and that starting lineup. Yeah, Tyson. He played really well, and he fit right in with them the the first two games. Yeah, Tyson, Tyson. But at the same time, he still got 15 minutes in this game. But yeah, Tyson's number was called early.
00:05:57
Speaker
That speaks volumes in the confidence the coaching staff has in Tyson. And the reality is he lost Levert, he lost Ty Jerome.
00:06:08
Speaker
He lost some players, right? And, um you know, Struis is out, Garland's out. Huge opportunity for Tyson right now. And as the Cavs continue to get healthier, um we'll see what ultimately is the fate of Tyson in this rotation, which will shrink, you know, his his minutes and possibility once, you know, Garland and Struis return
Team Strategies and Player Roles
00:06:30
Speaker
as well. But yeah, it's good to see a a young guy out there running around.
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, he would i mean he he never really put up, you know, big numbers or anything, but yeah like, he's just purely for hustle. And yeah, he was, you know, just off off the ball movement and just getting after it.
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Donovan Mitchell has a very solid night tonight. 24 points. Evan Mobley, 23 points, eight rebounds, six assists.
00:07:01
Speaker
Got to give a shout out to Mobley. Mobley goes a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line, Alex, and hit some clutch free throws to secure that game. um What do you think about Evan Mobley so far? How does he look to you?
00:07:16
Speaker
Mobley's looking good. I want to see him be a little more aggressive, but yeah he looked he looked good.
00:07:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah no he's he's he's looking solid so far. um He's looking like he he belongs and he knows what he's doing out there and confidence and all that stuff. He had a big block on Giannis towards the end of the game. Unfortunately, Dean Wade got got called for ticky-tack foul.
00:07:41
Speaker
Brad Doherty going crazy on the on the broadcast on that too. was fun to see. They've been having him shoot the three ball quite a bit more. They have. Do you like that? Or what do you, what do you think about that?
00:07:52
Speaker
um i I don't know. it's It's pretty strange thing to see him just pull up and and shoot a three, but he's been hitting them at a pretty good clip.
00:08:04
Speaker
and Yeah, he has. And if stretches the floor, then... He does. Yeah, especially from straightaway, like straightaway threes, he seems to be pretty good at. um And, you know, if he if he knocks down two a game or something like that, you know, taking four or five of them, six of them a game, like I can live with that.
00:08:22
Speaker
Right. Again, what I don't want to see is Jared Allen doing that. And so far, I haven't seen him do that in the season. He did that in the preseason. But yeah, Evan Mobley's been working on a shot, extending his range. And man, if he could start to knock that down on a somewhat consistent basis, it just makes him that much more lethal and unguardable in the NBA.
00:08:44
Speaker
I mean, and unfortunately, tonight, pretty much everybody on the Cavs was, well, besides St. Merrill, everyone was struggling to hit the three. You know, you had Hunter went one for four, Mobley one for five, Donovan Mitchell one for eight, Sam Merrill four for nine. So.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, we got we we got to talk about Sam because Sam is red hot for through the first three games. Fifteen threes already in the first three games. I heard them say after the game that that's a franchise record.
00:09:16
Speaker
um And I'll be honest with you, um' I'm liking what I'm seeing out of Sam so far. I'm still not happy that Ty Jerome's not here and stuff, and the Cavs ultimately pick Sam over him.
00:09:28
Speaker
But so far through these three, he's earning his his stripes because not only is he knocking down shots, he also hustles on the defensive end. He realizes he's always undersized, always under-athletic, if that's a word.
00:09:44
Speaker
But he's also great at picking up charges. And he picked up two big charges towards the end of the game as well. And I heard them say that, you know, last year he led the the team and and
Lonzo Ball's Team Integration
00:09:56
Speaker
taking charges. It reminds me of Kevin Love. Kevin Love was real big on taking charges and would lead the team. And it's just...
00:10:02
Speaker
It's just another way that Sam can affect the game, even though he is undersized. And most times he's he's not going to be able out jump anybody else or or so on and so forth.
00:10:13
Speaker
He had a big knockaway steal from Miles Turner as well late in the game, forced a turnover there. So Sam, he's out there, man. He's shooting it. He's shooting it well. And he's he's playing well on the other end. And so far, like I said, earning earning that play in time.
00:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's he's having a good start to the season and he he did the same thing last season. He had a yeah good start red hot and then he, you know, went ice cold for a few games and he's also kind of streaky.
00:10:38
Speaker
So, sure you know, hopefully hopefully this season he's a little more consistent with Stroke in the three so far so good. Yeah, and it'll be interesting for him. He's another guy to look out for, too, to see.
00:10:49
Speaker
you know Obviously, the Cavs are invested in him four years, $32 million or or whatever it is. He's going to be a part of this rotation. but it'll be interesting to see. like i don't i i have a hard time seeing him remaining in the starting lineup once Garland comes back, right? Because then Mitchell would move to his natural spot of shooting guard.
00:11:08
Speaker
Hunter's playing three and and Garland's your starter, but but Sam can also be or should be a great weapon off the bench as well as far as just being a sharpshooter or specialist and and could just bring in instant offense when when he's hitting. He has such a fast release.
00:11:26
Speaker
Um, he's just, it just makes him deadly. Oh yeah. He, Oh man, when he catches that ball, he squares up and fires it so quickly, so quickly. It's like he has a split second to turn his head. Look at the, and he's already in the shooting motion. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It is. It's it's something.
00:11:44
Speaker
It kind of reminds me of the Kyle Korver, except yeah maybe even a little more even a little quicker and a little... Yeah. I think he was smaller. I think i think Sam's smaller, too, than Korver. I would say a little more athletic.
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So there's that. There you go. Kyle Korver, former a Cavalier. you know who I wanted to get your thoughts about Lonzo Ball, the newest addition to the Cavs.
00:12:08
Speaker
What do you think so far? Three games in. That's what I was just going to bring up to you and ask your opinion. Yeah, wanted to get your opinion before you threw at me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:12:19
Speaker
So my my thoughts on Ball are this. One, he looks healthy. He looks confident. It doesn't look like he's playing at 70%. Now, granted, I haven't watched Lonzo Ball all his career, but I see him out there pushing the ball, creating
Cavs Roster Depth and Potential
00:12:40
Speaker
offense, he which he's great at. That's my favorite thing about him so far is you have somebody that can come in, whether with the first unit or with the second unit, and can run an ah offense, much like Ty Jerome could, much like Ricky Rubio could, you know so on and so forth. And that's huge, right?
00:13:00
Speaker
um And again, too, i don't i don't see him taking plays off. I don't see him going at half speed. He looks he looks confident. um His offense is, although tonight was was was decent for him, he finished with what, I think 11 points in 23 minutes, rebounds, assists.
00:13:20
Speaker
That's a solid stat line. I would take that nightly from Lonzo Ball. um He throws up a lot of threes, Alex, and he had two of them tonight. And, um you know, once his shots are falling, maybe a little bit more consistent consistently, he should be a very nice addition to this ball club.
00:13:39
Speaker
Right. Hit his shot. Those first two games. was was off. yeah he didn't He didn't score too much. He took a few shots. He just couldn't hit anything.
00:13:51
Speaker
And I think, you know like you said, he does a good job of pushing the ball up the court. and Good decision-making, good playmaking, racks up the assists and rebounds. you know He's always in a good position, both defensively and moving off the ball offensively. But like you said, when you said it looks like he's playing at 70%,
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree with that. He does seem a little... don't know what i said this it is. I said it doesn't look like he's playing 70%. seventy percent I think it does look like he's playing at 70%. think he... i don't know if it's because of the injury or he's just got some rust or... you know I don't know what it is, but he he seems like he hasn't taken ah quick first step. He seems like he's a little apprehensive.
00:14:38
Speaker
Maybe he doesn't have quite the confidence yet, or maybe he's just uncomfortable still with this team and we're in in how to fit in. But I think as the season goes on, I mean, he'll improve dramatically.
00:14:53
Speaker
i think what we're seeing right now is not quite the Lonzo ball that we will see towards the end of the season. and Yeah, and that'd be amazing if he is only playing at 70%.
00:15:04
Speaker
and And you are right about about his first like his first step and stuff like that. he's not You can definitely tell he has he has some speed, but so far he's not taking advantage of that in a one-on-one scenario to necessarily like get to the brim.
00:15:21
Speaker
right It's kind of catch and shoot. his his And his shot is kind of like ah like a line drive almost. Like he jacks it up. He's usually ah at least a step or two behind that three-point line. He jacks it up.
00:15:34
Speaker
It's kind of a line drive. And it's either going in or it's not. And he's not doing much more beyond that to create offense for himself so far. So it will be interesting to see.
00:15:45
Speaker
um So far, he has looked better than what I was expecting. And again, it's also with how well he can make that extra pass, set up teammates, get assists.
00:15:59
Speaker
and And that's huge right there, right? um Do I need him to score 15 points every night? no Do I think we're going to get those throughout the year though? Yes, because he is capable.
00:16:09
Speaker
And like you said, as he continues to play with this group, as he hopefully remains healthy and continues to build his confidence, you know, he's he'll get a little bit more brave and, and, and look for his own offense as well as, as long, you know, along with setting up his teammates.
00:16:26
Speaker
So ah fingers crossed, it's only three
Game Recaps and Highlights
00:16:29
Speaker
games in, we got a long way to go. Um, the calves, the day that this comes out, the calves have a game against Detroit and the calves announced early ah in the off season, no back to backs for Lonzo. So that means he played in the home opener. He's not going to play on the road in Detroit.
00:16:46
Speaker
And like that takes me to the next player, Alex, which is allowing him to get an opportunity again. And that's Craig Porter jr. Um, and Porter jr. Looks to me, he's feisty.
00:16:58
Speaker
He's, he's, he's out there. He's, he's doing everything he can, because I think he realizes if he doesn't, he's also not going to be in this rotation long term. Once the calves get, you know, struise back garland backs on and so forth. So you could tell he's out there scrapping, doing everything he can to try to secure some sort of rotational minutes this year.
00:17:18
Speaker
What's your take on Porter so far? Porter Craig Porter, he's been playing well. um I think he's already, i I mean, he looks better than he did last season to me. You can tell he's much more comfortable.
00:17:30
Speaker
You can tell that the the minutes that he got last season, him he's you know improved since then into this season. So, you know, i don't know. He's you know he's's backup point guard behind you know Ball and Garland and I'm not expecting anything big from Craig Porter other than to get out there, you know, push the ball, make some plays.
00:17:54
Speaker
Not, not, you know, we don't need a whole lot of offense. You know, he, he just needs to be, be a energy guy, a hustle guy and, and keep things moving. Yeah. I don't, ah I don't have very big expectations and I, I think he's doing, he's doing well with what he's been given so far.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, he seems to, what I like about him, he seems to do a lot of little things. He seems to be in the right place at the right time and forced a couple turnovers tonight, couple steals.
00:18:22
Speaker
um His shot is decent. He could beat you off the dribble. You know, he had a horrible ah preseason game, which you talked about against the Celtics, but for the most part, he's pretty calm, cool, collective, even keeled, you know, that sort of thing.
00:18:36
Speaker
And again, if Lonzo Ball isn't going to play him back-to-backs, that should allow for Craig Porter Jr. to have somewhat of a consistent rotational you know presence um in those scenarios to be back up to to Garland.
00:18:51
Speaker
um Proctor got some minutes early on in the season. you know We'll see what happens there. ah But I think Porter Jr. is ultimately going to get that opportunity. Yeah, I'd honestly rather start to see Proctor get some. I like Proctor.
00:19:06
Speaker
I do, too. And, and i and you know, I I hate to say it, but because I like Craig Porter Jr., I just don't I just don't know that his ceiling is much higher than it is than than he's hitting right now.
00:19:18
Speaker
yeah And I think ah Proctor's is yeah intervention could be considerably higher. so It'll be interesting to see, for sure. so let's let's go So we kind of wrapped up the Bucs game. I mean, really, ah we didn't go into depth in it, but I mean, really, this was a game, Alex, where it it was kind of a slugfest. It was kind of back and forth, um close, Bucs up two, and then the Cavs have a 10-point lead.
00:19:43
Speaker
at halftime and they started to run away with the game and they kind of just let the Greek freak take over and, and let them back into it. And, uh, but the calves again, secured, secured this victory. And I think it was a good,
00:19:58
Speaker
a good gritty win, you know, at home to kind of help kick off, you know, where we're at in the season. You know, if it's if we're one and two right now, yeah, it's very early, but we're probably having a little bit of a different conversation. Right.
00:20:10
Speaker
Um, so it was just a good, a good gritty win for this team. And, um, you know, hopefully sets them up for, for a battle in Detroit against JB.
FanDuel Tip and Betting Experience
00:20:20
Speaker
Right. Yeah, yeah. Should we?
00:20:22
Speaker
Should I bring up my bet? Because I i placed a bet on this game. Yeah. So Alex, Alex first has a tip for you Cavs fans that are still struggling to figure out the best way, the most cost effective way.
00:20:38
Speaker
to watch calves games, Alex found a loophole that he also made money off of in this game. Lay it on them. First, first tell cast fans how they can watch calves games for the next three months for very, very cheap. Yeah. First off, no sponsorship. No, uh, yeah, no, no, uh, kickback here, but FanDuel Sports, uh, I do use their, their betting app occasionally.
00:21:03
Speaker
And if you log into the FanDuel Sports betting app and you there's a promo at the top of the app that if you place a five dollar bet, you can get three months of FanDuel Sports Network for free.
00:21:17
Speaker
um So I placed a five dollar bet. Well, looking at the odds and the the spread, I placed a bet on the Bucs to cover ten and a 10.5 point spread.
00:21:29
Speaker
ah Get off the podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, ah you you know, I just thought it would be a close game. You know, I knew the Cavs were going to win. i just didn't think that they were going to win by more than, you know, 11 points. So...
00:21:42
Speaker
So, yeah, I placed the $5 bet on the bucks to cover of the 10 and a half point spread. So how much did you win? You just won the five bucks back? Yeah. Well, I won $10. So you get the five bucks plus I won so five bucks. so So I got paid $5 and three months free of watching Cavs games.
00:22:00
Speaker
So there you go, has fans. That's amazing. And that's how we both watch the game tonight, because what is nice is is allows two streams at one time. Right, Alex, which is cool.
00:22:11
Speaker
And what's funny, Alex, is I remember a couple of years ago when it was Valley Sports were like, we will never give them our money. ballet sports is the devil. Like, no, right?
00:22:22
Speaker
Well, we we we bit the bullet, or you bit the bullet, I should say. Well, I'm still not paying them. They're paying me. No, no, but but but but but but I know. i know. Right now they're paying you, but what i'm trying to say is for folks that are like, i i don't want to do FanDuel. I've heard bad things about ballet sports and blah, blah, blah, blah. blah Well, we did FanDuel last year.
00:22:40
Speaker
And I got to say, and I think it was the same for you, didn't have a single issue with FanDuel last year. um And the game ran perfectly fine tonight. So I'm excited.
00:22:52
Speaker
And you did say that offer does end, though, here in November, right? Yeah, I believe it. 12th or something like that. Promo, yeah, only runs to November 12th. And, you know, yeah like you said, I've never had a problem with watching...
00:23:06
Speaker
ah Cavs games on it. It does let you replay the game the next day. so if you miss the game, you can watch it. ah They also stream Blue Jackets games. so They can catch a Blue Jackets game.
00:23:17
Speaker
So there's that. i mean I've seen rugby on there, like college rugby. They they have other stuff on there, too. So only you know the only complaints I hear about people having with it is if they subscribe to it through the Amazon Prime app.
00:23:31
Speaker
The Amazon Prime video app will let you subscribe for whatever a month, and then you can watch the FanDuel Sports channel within the Prime app. I hear people have problems with that.
00:23:42
Speaker
yeah if you get just the the standalone app, you should be fine. Yeah, $5, Cavs fans, for three months. That's that's an amazing value. um man I know we still would have time left, Alex, but maybe on the the day before it expires, I'll sign up for $5 and we'll get another month or whatever month and some change or whatever it is from the, from the crossover whatever. Vanduul is probably watching this, listening to this and they're going to, they're going to cancel my account.
00:24:10
Speaker
They're going to know I'm sharing my, my account with you for two streams and we're going to get banned. I'll never be able to watch another Cavs game. Unless I sail the high seas. We'll just create a different email address, Alex. That's all. Yeah. There's always a way.
00:24:24
Speaker
There's always a way. But good, good tidbit for cast fans. Again, looking for a way to, to watch games on the cheap.
Cavs vs. Knicks Game Analysis
00:24:31
Speaker
So Alex, let's, let's talk about the other two games real quick. So um the game before this was against the Brooklyn Nets, the youngest team in the NBA season.
00:24:43
Speaker
um I think they also now own the most amount of first round draft picks here over the next several years. um So there'll be a team to reckon with at some point.
00:24:56
Speaker
But for right now, Alex, they are not a very good team. I almost forgot that Michael Porter Jr. was traded there to rot. um Although he dropped 31 on the Cavs this game and Cam Thomas went off as well.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah. sort Yeah. I, I did not know they were the youngest team. That's, that's good trivia. I'm used to hearing that the Cavs are the youngest team the past few seasons. Seems like old now.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Getting, getting a little long in the tooth. Um, Yeah, Cam Thomas. Who the heck is Cam Thomas? Where'd he come from? How'd he drop 33 points on us, man? He came out of nowhere. He had a breakout season. He had a breakout season last year, too.
00:25:34
Speaker
um He's just a spark plug, man. He could just score buckets. The world be free of of our era, I guess. I guess. um This game, Alex, the Cavs were in control of for for for for most of it.
00:25:49
Speaker
And then, um you know, Michael Porter Jr., Cam Thomas, Zari Williams puts in 25. And all of a sudden, this becomes a game down the stretch.
00:26:03
Speaker
Brooklyn Nets outscore the Cavs by 15 in the fourth quarter. And the Cavs still win this game by seven one thirty one to 124 no shortage of offense in this game the calves put up 45 points in the third quarter alex it was beautiful but not much defense in this game donovan mitchell gave a very uh energetic post-game interview about you know the calves getting up by 20 and keeping it keeping uh keeping them down the whole game and then
00:26:39
Speaker
letting them back into it at the very end and talked about how they can't do that. And they, you know, that was something that, that plagued them all of last season. ah You know, they would get these huge leads and then, and then it would be a tight game down the stretch. And he said that they needed to break that this season and they needed to learn to keep, keep the, you know, foot on the pedal on the gas and, and really close out games confidentially.
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, that's that's great. I didn't see that, but that's great to hear. and I can only imagine what the spread was in this game. But again, you're on the road. It's the home opener.
00:27:16
Speaker
Anything is possible, right? From that fan base and that team's perspective. Again, we're having a very different conversation after they lose a tough game against the Knicks, which will get into your you know we'll get into here in a minute.
00:27:28
Speaker
Again, can you imagine if they would have somehow dropped this game, let the Nets come back and win? We'd be having a different conversation right here. So even though, yes, it's the Brooklyn Nets, it's it's still an NBA team and any team could beat any other team on any given night.
00:27:42
Speaker
And the Cavs do need to learn how to close out games. The Cavs do need to learn how to win, even though they don't have other guys. Because this point, they not only didn't have Garland and Strews, they didn't have Hunter yet.
00:27:53
Speaker
So they were down some bodies in this game, and it was it was good to see them pull out a win. Donovan Mitchell looks like Donovan Mitchell, 35 points. Gerald Allen makes up for the stinker against the Knicks, chips in 22, and Sam with another big night, 22 points in this game as well.
00:28:13
Speaker
um Just great balanced offensive scoring. Mobley with 13 as well. Kirk Porter Jr. drops in 14. um Again, no shortage of offense and and and a great first road game win for the Cavs against the Brooklyn Nets.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah, the ah the thing that jumps out to me about this game is a non-basketball uh, event, which was a fan running out onto the court to, uh, you know, fist bump, uh, Donovan Mitchell and Donovan Mitchell saw the fan out the, it was like during a timeout or break in the, yeah he had the ball, he had the ball in his hands.
00:28:53
Speaker
yeah There was like a timeout or something. No, yeah no. And, and the fan ran from the baseline onto the court and Donovan Mitchell's like backpedaling and, uh,
00:29:04
Speaker
And then the pant the fan stops and he just starts like pumping his fist in the air. ah Donovan Mitchell's like brushing him off. and yeah Security gets the fan pretty quickly, but it was still kind of funny.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yeah, that is pretty crazy though because, again, the the NBA, out of any professional sports team, probably is at the biggest risk for something like that because what would happen if five guys ran out at one time?
00:29:34
Speaker
Is the two security guards that are over there going to get, you know what i mean? Like you see, you see all the time how there's some fan that runs onto an MLB field and it's so big, right? And you see the guy last for 30 seconds or whatever, which is a very long time, by the way. and then he finally gets tackled.
00:29:50
Speaker
right It takes about two and a half seconds to get from your seat to to to to the player on the court. right And imagine if just, man, it's just crazy how close and how many people are there. And you know luckily, it was it was very non-threatening.
00:30:06
Speaker
um But man, just still scary. Just kind of a crazy situation, right? can To be in that scenario and just... I don't know. Make a good point. You know, there is only like a couple security guys and yeah the fan was out there and he was like right on Donovan Mitchell's heels for which seemed like an eternity before they yeah grabbed him.
00:30:28
Speaker
yeah He could easily tackle them if he wanted to. And like you said, if it was more than one guy, oh there there'd be no stopping him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Donovan Mitchell gave a postgame. They asked him about it in the postgame interview, and he said that, you know, he didn't, you know, he was so locked in and focused on the game. He didn't see the fan right away. That's why the the fan got so close to him before he started backpedaling away from him.
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah, because you saw him kind of like kind of like do like a whoa. You know, like, yeah, yeah, he didn't like see the guy coming out of his peripheral until the guy was basically in his face. Donovan Mitchell said something like, you know, you see that kind of thing happen in a football game or a baseball game or a European ah soccer game, but you never really see it during an NBA games, which made it even more bizarre to him.
00:31:13
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I think he said something along the lines. Like the guy probably got a great selfie though. He's probably, he's probably in jail, but he also got a great selfie. Yeah. So there you go.
00:31:24
Speaker
There you go. Hope it was worth it.
Injury Updates and Season Predictions
00:31:26
Speaker
But the Cavs take care of the Brooklyn nets to get their first win of the season on the road. um Opening night though, Alex was against the New York Knicks in New York.
00:31:39
Speaker
Um, I kind of had a feeling going into this game. This was going a tough one to win. Again, you're on the road. You're in the garden. I couldn't even keep track of how many celebrities are at this game.
00:31:51
Speaker
and And let's be honest, the Knicks, as much as we hate to admit it, are a good basketball team. um They are who you are going to have to get through if you want to make it to the finals this year, I think.
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah. And the Cavs, unfortunately, although they had opportunity, dropped this game against the Knicks, Alex. um One thing i I will say before I get your take on this game is where I will give the Cavs a little bit of credit was the game was starting to get out of hand a bit early.
00:32:24
Speaker
The Cavs were down 15 at one point, I believe, in the first half. And the Cavs battled back, made it a game, took the lead on a ridiculous Donovan Mitchell three-point shot, and had a chance to win this game.
00:32:40
Speaker
They just couldn't hold on and and did some other things that we'll get into that that kind of hurt them. But this game feels like an eternity ago now already. But what's your thoughts or what do you remember from the New York Knicks game?
00:32:54
Speaker
This game was hard for me to watch. The Cavs just didn't seem like themselves. they I think it was just Kenny screwing around with the rotation, honestly. and you know They started first time starting you know Sam Merrill and Jalen Tyson together yeah ah as your two guards. so I think they struggled running offense, and you could really tell. It seemed like a lot of guys were kind of lost on offense out there.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Just just seems sluggish. And then it was just, you know, it it translated the same way to the defensive side. Like guys didn't they weren't switching right. They weren't rotating. They weren't they seem really sluggish. Like no one wanted to step up and, you know, take a charge. And i don't know. It it it all seemed a very lackluster and half hearted in this first game.
00:33:47
Speaker
i don't know why. it it's it it made me it made me I was texting with some other buddies for the game, and I'm like, what version of the Cavs is going to show up? Is the version going to show up that was scared a couple years ago against the Knicks and and intimidated in the playoffs?
00:34:05
Speaker
Or were they going to show up as a confident team and and take control? And I'll admit, when I saw the starting lineup and you know come out from the Cavs, social media posts, and I saw Tyson and Sam together, I was just...
00:34:18
Speaker
I immediately took a screenshot. I texted it to them. I might have texted it to you too. I don't remember. I'm just like, Brunson's going to eat up either one of them, whether it's Tyson or Merrill guarding them. I said, i don't like the starting lineup.
00:34:30
Speaker
I hate Mitchell at point guard. This is going to be potentially a rough game to watch. And and it was, it was a rough game. um But again, the Cavs had a chance, but they also had some uncharacteristic things happen in this game, in my opinion.
00:34:45
Speaker
you look at the rebounding, Alex, they got, they got out rebounded. yeah i mean Yeah. 48 to 32. Are you kidding me? You got freaking twin towers with Jared Allen, who was a no show in this. Yeah, was. Yeah. I don't know where Jared Allen was at. You know, I was already seeing comments about, oh, the lights are still too bright for Jared Allen in New York, you know.
00:35:06
Speaker
it And it seemed like it was like, I don't know where, he where he was at, you know, it was crazy. Those are the type of games where, you know, the Cavs sweep the Knicks last year, um which means nothing at the end of the day. Right. Cause who got farther, the Cavs or the Knicks? Well, the Knicks did right.
00:35:21
Speaker
And the Knicks, like I said, you know, they, they are, they are the ones that gained the experience. I wanted the Cavs to get last year in the playoffs, which is go through wars and win, how to learn how to win playoff series. Yeah.
00:35:33
Speaker
And to give Mike Brown his first win of the year, and know, Alex, I had to keep you up all night. I hate that. Yeah, it's still so weird seeing him there.
00:35:45
Speaker
But along with the rebounding disparity, there was also a lot of calls that went New York's way. They got to the free throw line 31 for in this game, Alex, compared to the for the And that that's a huge difference maker right there that is pretty hard to overcome, I would say.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I noticed that too. Like the Knicks were just having every call go their way. And there were so many celebrities on the sidelines like yelling at the the players and almost almost freaking interfering. I hate that. I hate seeing you know Spike Lee you know talking to the officials and yeah like, that's not right.
00:36:30
Speaker
They shouldn't be doing that. Yeah. And, and I, you know, speaking in like Donovan Mitchell was kind of uncharacteristic in this game because I think he took a nap in the first half. He woke up and was amazing in the third quarter finished with 31 points, but you know, he he, he didn't have a great first half. Jared Allen didn't have a great game.
00:36:52
Speaker
Tyson starts, puts up five points. Um, Merrill starts gives you 19. Merrill was was solid in this game um and Mobley gave you 22, but you needed you needed more.
00:37:03
Speaker
Larry Nance and Dean Wade chipped in 10 each, but it just wasn't enough. Lonzo Ball had a had a horrible game. Craig Porter Jr. couldn't do anything. Like you just didn't have enough in this game. And on top of it, you got out rebounded, you got out hustled, you know, so on and so forth. So, but that would have been such a statement if they could have won that first game, like seasons here on the road, bright lights, celebrities everywhere. We don't give a damn. We're going to come and win this game anyways. That's what I wanted to see. And you know what? The cows will get another crack at that. They'll have other big games, you know, on the schedule, whether they'll have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves.
00:37:42
Speaker
And one thing you got to keep in mind as well, Alex, is this team isn't 100% and it's going to be a little while before we see 100% Cavs, right? But that's something that we have in our back pocket.
00:37:55
Speaker
If there's a little bit of inconsistent play here early on in the season, don't want to use it as an excuse. The Cavs got to find a way to win games. But they do have an all-star point guard coming back and a pretty solid shooting guard as well in Max Strews that'll be returning to your lineup at some point this season.
00:38:13
Speaker
Right. And we were still missing Hunter for this game. We were missing Hunter for this game too. We were down three rotational, three
Speculations on Trades and Roster Changes
00:38:20
Speaker
starters. Yeah. Yeah. It was going to be a tough game to win. It was be a tough game to win.
00:38:25
Speaker
um Speaking of Garland, Alex, I am starting to see some articles, some rumors, some whispers, if you will, of Garland might be coming back sooner than maybe what we all thought.
00:38:39
Speaker
um You know, nothing too official as far as like, you know, this isn't like Shams tweeting this or anybody national yet.
00:38:50
Speaker
I'm starting to see chatter about early November. for Garland, which is right around the corner as we're going into Halloween week. Man, how huge will that be to get Garland back?
00:39:03
Speaker
assuming he returns to form and man that's just like I was saying earlier like Hunter being back just made me take like a breath of fresh air and like the rotation feels so much longer and solid and and confident like going Garland back into the mix and him out there Mitchell back at the shooting guard Alex man things should really fall into place real quick when that happens yeah that was one of the nice things uh that we had really going for us last season was just how deep the team was with shooters and uh you know definitely two of those shooters are struce and garland and you know we're missing hunter and in those two games so that's that's three really good shooters that we were missing
00:39:43
Speaker
so Yeah, I don't know. yeah I lost where i was where I was going with that. Just to say, I'm excited to get the PG back.
00:39:55
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, start to go on you know, our crazy dominance of the East. The East still runs through Cleveland. that's That's what we want to hear, Alex. Yeah. You know, it's good to see these young guys, these end of bench guys get minutes, but at the same time, hey, we need ah but we need our starters back and we need to start.
00:40:13
Speaker
getting people to gel and getting comfortable figuring out our, our rotations. Uh, it's still long season, you know? Oh yeah. 79 more games. So yeah it is what it is.
00:40:24
Speaker
It'd be nice though to get, it'd be nice to get Garland back within the early, you know, teens of the season. I was thinking it wasn't going to be till closer to the end of the year. and We're going to be 30 games into this thing, 35 games in. And, you know, you know, the team will look like how they look at that point.
00:40:42
Speaker
You know, if if if those rumors are true and you're getting them back, say within two weeks, that's huge because it's still so early in the season. And other players can kind of go back to their natural fits on this team.
00:40:56
Speaker
Those rotations can build themselves, especially in the second unit. People can gel and get used to playing with who they're going to play with. So, man, I really hope that's true. It'd be great to see Garland out there again.
00:41:08
Speaker
So Alex, let's kind of end with this. So um you were a little bit under the weather here um through through earlier this week, so we kind of missed an opportunity to do what we traditionally do, which is ah you know some some predictions.
00:41:24
Speaker
We're three games into the season. i think it's still early enough to where we throw some predictions out there. So let's let's kind of rapid fire through a couple of them. I have a couple in my head. Maybe maybe you can come up with one or two as well.
00:41:37
Speaker
But the easiest one, the biggest one that you will see anybody and everybody ask whenever you do any kind of season predictions. And they're two and one already, so you got take that in as a factor. But how many wins do you see the Cavs getting this season?
00:41:54
Speaker
Ooh, that's a tough one. he Let me think. I'm going to say...
00:42:02
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:42:06
Speaker
I got to think about it. um I'm going 59 23. Okay. Okay. I'll trust your math there. I know that's pretty high.
00:42:18
Speaker
I know they went 64 and 18 last season, but I think they're going to lose a few more of this season just because of the injuries But yeah yeah I was going to say they were going to lose more games than that. But then I'm thinking about the rest of the teams in our division and the injuries that occurred.
00:42:37
Speaker
ah You know, Jalen Brown and in Boston, Halliburton in Indiana, ah some of the guys that are out. And I think the Cavs will get some wins because of that.
00:42:50
Speaker
yeah so Yeah, hopefully. I'll stick with 59-23. I heard Boston's on three Jalen Brown, I think you meant Jason Taitum. Oh, yeah, Jason Taitum. Jalen Brown dropped 41 points. They were up 17 against Detroit, and Detroit came back and won, by the way.
00:43:06
Speaker
So that had to be disheartening for him. And and to see Boston start the season 0-3 is kind of wild. um And we get a crack at them here soon in the schedule. I am with you.
00:43:17
Speaker
i think they're going to win less games than did last year. and don't think they'll be able to match that. I don't think they necessarily need to though, either. I had them at 57 wins this year. So a little bit less than you, 57 wins, um, which is still put them, you know, ah towards the top of, of the East.
00:43:36
Speaker
Um, so let's talk about that next Alex, where do they finish in the playoff seed at the end of the year?
00:43:46
Speaker
I think they'll be first. Okay. I think they'll still win the East. I think they'll still win the East. Yeah. ah Yeah. Who in the East is better?
00:43:58
Speaker
Next. But it's so early in the year. There's so much that can happen. Next. There could be an injury. There could be a trade. There could be a firing of a coach. There could be some scandal like somebody's gambling on game. Wait.
00:44:09
Speaker
Oops. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's there's so many things that can happen. Right. um And there'll be some other team, by the way, that will surprise us and somehow be there. Right. Because after one and two, there'll be a three.
00:44:24
Speaker
There'll be a four. It's just how far apart will that gap be between Cavs, Knicks and anybody else in the East? But yeah, I'll say the Cavs edge out the Knicks and win the one seed.
00:44:37
Speaker
I feel like we're jinxing it. Maybe, maybe. I originally was going go with the second C, but I switched the last second. Maybe you should say second, just so we get first. Who will be representing the Cleveland Cavaliers at the NBA All-Star game this year, which I don't even know where it's at this year. Do you know where it's at? No, I haven't heard. I don't know.
00:44:55
Speaker
All right. Who's going to be Alex? Mitchell and Mobley. Mitchell and Mobley. Can we get Sammy finally in a three-point contest? No, I doubt it. I know.
00:45:06
Speaker
I know. Maybe though. You never know. You never know. If he's, if he's ah you know, having a, yeah. If he's like leading the league in threes or something like that, maybe. Who is one player that could potentially impress us the most outside of the core four?
00:45:28
Speaker
Like who kind of has that Ty Jerome-esque season that nobody kind of saw coming outside of the core four?
00:45:42
Speaker
I'm going to boy, it's almost too easy to say Hunter. I'm going to go with Hunter. Although I feel like ball could also be, if he returns to form, he has a very high ceiling and he could play. Like I said, I think he's like at 70% right now, but I'm going to, I'm going to go with Hunter.
00:46:03
Speaker
Yeah. I should have included him because I think we all know Hunter can ball, but to be fair, um man, Hunter could be such a difference maker if, if, if, and when the calves and get to ah finals with this group, he really could be.
00:46:18
Speaker
And we had him coming off the bench all last season. So this season, if he's going to be in the starting five, then i think there's a much higher potential of him, of his ceiling being higher and him really coming into his own this season.
00:46:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's totally fair. I don't disagree with that. Um, Kind of didn't even think about Hunter, to be honest with you. It's a great pick, an easy pick, like you said. I'm going to go in a different direction, and I'm going to continue to roll with Sam with sam Merrill.
00:46:51
Speaker
Wow. I do think Sam is going to not stick in the starting rotation. Will Sam even necessarily be the first guy off the bench?
00:47:02
Speaker
I don't know. Probably not. But I think Sam has the potential to continue to play rotational minutes and make an impact, which for the last couple seasons, he has been here has not been a consistent thing for him.
Player Potential and Team Dynamics
00:47:19
Speaker
Sure. We've seen, we know he can shoot the ball for a while, But there's stints where he plays a week or two. There's stints where he doesn't play. He's in the rotation. He's not in the rotation. so on and so forth.
00:47:30
Speaker
And I'm kind of going with Sam also because the Cavs also are vested in him. Right? They gave four-year contract for 32 million. So I know at the very least, whether he's starting or not, he's going to get the opportunity. He's going to get the minutes. He's going to play 20-plus minutes a night.
00:47:47
Speaker
It's just whether or not he can continue to make an impact out there. And if he does... He's going become a fan favorite very quickly, and he's going to be a guy that you know maybe, just maybe, will make it a little bit easier to forget that Ty Jerome is no longer on this team.
00:48:05
Speaker
Yeah, Sam's a good pick. I mean, he is a weapon, right? like He is Kenny's weapon. like If we need some points, put Sam on the on the court, let him fire off a few threes. he's easy either there's He's either going to be on or he's not...
00:48:20
Speaker
um Yeah, that's a good pick. I could totally yes see Sam. He's easy to root for too, right? he's He's very humble and he just, you know, he's out there working, man. So I got i got one, maybe two more.
00:48:35
Speaker
And if you got any two, then I'll throw it over to you. but So let's go to the flip side. Who will be the biggest disappointment on the Cavs roster that's on the team today?
00:48:49
Speaker
Man. Yeah, buddy. I hate to say, I hate to pick anybody. know. There'll be somebody though. Oh man.
00:49:00
Speaker
i keep, I keep going back to Jared Allen, unfortunately, like I'm a Jared Allen fan and I, I want him to be great, but he is, has not been living up to, ah man, to the expectations.
00:49:19
Speaker
Um, Last couple seasons, so far this season. Yeah, I just so i just so i hope Jared Allen ah becomes ah stronger force in the paint than he has been.
00:49:32
Speaker
We need him to get over those not being those lights being too bright, that's for sure. Yeah, no, we need him to be consistent. um and And yeah, he needs to show when when it counts, right?
00:49:46
Speaker
And I did see a little bit of, like, he was up against Carl Towns' Anthony, right? Or he was matched up a lot with Carl Towns' Anthony. and I know Mobley was as well. Nixon had Mitchell Robinson.
00:49:58
Speaker
But he seems to be less aggressive when it's a bigger center out there. um And Jared Allen is is quick enough to get around anybody he wants to. He's he's athletic. He can jump through the roof, through the through the gym or whatever.
00:50:14
Speaker
um And he made up for it these last two nights. He drops 22, I think, in Brooklyn. And you know he he had he was in double digits tonight. um So we'll see what's in store for Jared Allen. Still to remember the contract he's on, um you you know, which is still very team friendly based on the production he does give you in the regular season where he needs to earn it, though.
00:50:36
Speaker
And so they'd be fair, the whole Cavs team where they need to earn it his is in the playoffs. Right. That's where we need to show up. I mean, I say Jared Allen because my expectation is is high, and he's the one that I fear could disappoint us.
00:50:50
Speaker
Yeah. So my last one is a little bit of an open one. give us Give us one hot take on this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wait, did you have a pick? Who was your pick for oh who could disappoint us? Oh, yeah, who's going to disappoint me? Dean Wade.
00:51:06
Speaker
Dean Wade. Drippy Dean. Drippy Dean. Drippy Dean. Yeah, I think i think again... he hasn't really been getting that many minutes. i'm trying to i'm trying to think. Have I even really seen him play much? these pet Well, dang, he got 28 minutes against the Knicks. played a bunch. He was up he was up against Giannis, especially when Mobley was picking up some fouls. I mean, here's the thing with Dean Wade. I like Dean Wade.
00:51:29
Speaker
Dean Wade is a great story. Another one of those diamond in the roughs like Chetty, like Craig Porter Jr. These, these like Matthew Delvede, these undrafted guys that somehow the Cavs find and turn into rotational NBA players. That's, that's amazing, right?
00:51:45
Speaker
Also on a very team friendly contract, but there's two problems that I have with Dean Wade. One, he hasn't taken the next step. kind of been the same for the last two plus years now, right?
00:51:58
Speaker
On top of it, I've read plenty of articles in the offseason that he is the number one candidate to get moved during the trade deadline as the Cavs approach their season.
00:52:09
Speaker
financial situation and him being on a, uh, a contract where he would be a free agent at the end of this year. So although I liked Dean and he's out there, he hustles, he can knock down a three. He's, he's another, he's a, he's, I won't call him a big, but they, they consider him a big that is versatile and can at least keep up with, you know, most players in the NBA.
00:52:33
Speaker
I also will be shocked if he's here past the trade deadline. Yeah. I think this is the last run for for Dean, and I don't know what his NBA career will look like beyond the Cavs, but again, he just hasn't taken that next step, and he's had plenty of cracks at at at earning a starting role or six-man role, and he just hasn't been able to do it consistently.
Future Predictions and Hot Takes
00:52:55
Speaker
Nice player, but you know at the end of the day, in the history books, not a lot of people, lot of Cavs fans going be talking about the Dean Wade years. Right. Yeah. ah Jeez.
00:53:08
Speaker
Dean Wade. Yeah. Well, my but expectations i haven't been real high for Dean Wade anyway. He's just kind of a a filler. um He is a big and he can typically shoot the three pretty well.
00:53:24
Speaker
Other than that, he's not overly athletic or... a lockdown defensive player or, you know, he's just been a solid end bench role player.
00:53:36
Speaker
I don't know how high his, you know, trade value really is either. So I don't know. Yeah. To me, to me, he's in that Chetty territory now. Chetty was here for what, six years, seven years, something like that.
00:53:52
Speaker
Before he got shipped off to San Antonio and Popovich, you know, some to die and now he's playing overseas. um But Dean Wade's kind of entering that territory. Hasn't been here quite that long, but it's just like, OK, you're either going to take a step or you're not.
00:54:05
Speaker
and And he hasn't been able to and not consistently at least both players on a team friendly contract. Both players were likable guys. Didn't really do anything wrong, per se.
00:54:16
Speaker
But again, just not taking that next step for you. And, you know, as Max Juice comes back, as Thomas Bryant takes over the backup starting role and starts to get into Alex's heart, I just don't know where yeah just don't know where the minutes will be for Dean Wade, especially when that rotation shortens in a playoff run, hopefully deep playoff runs this year.
00:54:39
Speaker
they can So we'll see. I do think that we could see the Cavs be very active at the trade deadline. They'll have a lot of assets. And you know what finally gets some teams over the hump?
00:54:52
Speaker
Making a move nobody saw coming. Right? Make some kind of flip Max Drews for somebody. Right? ah Go flip Jared Allen for somebody.
00:55:03
Speaker
Right? um So on and so forth. I mean, they have plenty of assets, both veterans, both young guys like cra Craig Porter Jr. and stuff like that. Team-friendly, team contract-friendly guys like Dean Wade.
00:55:15
Speaker
star players like a Jared Allen, you know, so on and so forth. So it will be very interesting to see. We're a long ways away, but it'll be a very interesting to see what the Cavs, um, what the team looks like at that point in the year, to be honest with you.
00:55:30
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe we can trade for Ty Jerome. I hear he's pretty good. ah Yeah. Who got unfortunately is not going to be able to make his Memphis Grizzlies, uh, uh, you know, uh,
00:55:42
Speaker
he, he got hurt, right? He's, he's out for at least the next four weeks with a calf injury. I didn't hear that. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. That sucks. I wanted to go look up some Ty Jerome.
00:55:53
Speaker
Yeah. he Yeah. I was, I was looking forward to the cast Jerome Grizzlies debut to see how he looks, but no, he's out. That's crazy. So my last one, Alex, for you is give us a hot take.
00:56:07
Speaker
Your hot take for the hot take. Yeah. Give us a hot take. Oh man. I don't know anything. in Anything. be Anything. Anything. something silly, something stupid, something serious.
00:56:20
Speaker
I'm not that creative. I know, but I like putting you spot. I know. And like doing all this without telling you before we record, too. just makes for better entertainment, I think, Alex.
00:56:34
Speaker
Man, I'm throw um'm drawing a blank. i I can't really think of any any hot take. Will you place more bets against the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout the year? Ooh. Probably not. Yeah, like I would say. I guess it would depend on the spread. No, no, no. That's a one and done right there. got to retire. You go out on top with your $5 and your three months of free Cavs basketball. I don't know, man. Cavs like to let teams come back in.
00:56:58
Speaker
So if it's like greater than 10 points, 12 points, I don't know. i might might I might bet on the other team to cover that spread. How about I give you my hot take? All right, let's hear it. Okay, so my hot take.
00:57:12
Speaker
If the Cavs don't win a championship this year, core four will be no more. They will absolutely 110% break up the core four. It will finally happen, Alex. Yeah, I could see that.
00:57:24
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, i you know when i when I was saying that I thought the Cavs would be be very active at the trade deadline, might like like we were saying Dean Wade, but also I was thinking this might be it for Jared Allen.
00:57:36
Speaker
Yeah, if they don't if they don't see it. If they get a sense of, man, right there, but we need a different need a different fit somewhere. when hes I don't think they'll move Mitchell, though, or Mobley. No, no, no, no. It won't be Mitchell. When you say break up the core four, you know that i only think Allen and possibly Garland.
00:57:55
Speaker
Correct. Absolutely. Absolutely. mitchell Mitchell and Mobley will be here until the Cavs can no longer...
Cavs Players and NBA Show Crossover
00:58:04
Speaker
have them. yeah Basically when Mitchell asks to be traded and and same for Mobley one day, right which hopefully doesn't happen, but you know it's it's today's and NBA. Let's just be realistic. right No, I'm totally talking Allen and Garland. and Listen, you can get a boatload for those guys.
00:58:21
Speaker
right? To where the team could look very, very different and, and maybe gives you what you're missing. I don't know if if you could flip Jared Allen and go get a double, double machine that brings the toughness that you're so badly needing in a deep playoff run.
00:58:35
Speaker
um Yeah. I mean, if that's what Cavs feel they need, sure. Let's go get you honest. Yeah. ah So did you come up with any hot takes or or no?
00:58:48
Speaker
ah No, not really. can't think of anything. right. do you have any? Do you have any? ah I'll try to have a I'll try to have a hot take for tonight the next episode. All right. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough.
00:58:59
Speaker
Anything else, Alex, from your end? We're pushing an hour here. Yeah. Yeah. ah Real quick. I did watch the season two of The Starting Five on Netflix. This season followed Tyrese Halliburton, james Harden,
00:59:15
Speaker
uh shy gilgis alexander ah very good season kind of follows them you know their home life to the and nba to all the dramatics that happen throughout the season oh and kevin duran of course so very good season check it out i mean any nba fan would would love this show season one was great season two's just as good Do you think um you've talked you talked pretty positively about this show for a while now when you discovered it last year? I still haven't watched any of it, even though i keep saying I'm going to.
00:59:49
Speaker
um so I have no idea the the feel the show, the flow of the show. do you think anybody on the Cavs would be a good fit?
00:59:59
Speaker
For a show like that. Because like when i when I hear James Harden, when I hear Kevin Durant, I don't get very excited. Maybe just because they're they're not they're star players, but they're not like today's star players. and they're not star players that I really... you know I was never really ah James Harden guy or a Kevin Durant guy, to be honest with you.
01:00:19
Speaker
The show really hits on, on you know of course, the drama, right? like The drama that surrounds these star players. And it's not necessarily during... all the drama that's during this one season, it's, you know, they went back and they talked about Harden and Katie and Westbrook and OKC and how that broke up. And then Katie and, or not Katie, was it Katie? Yeah, Katie and Harden reunited in Brooklyn and how that ended up breaking up and...
01:00:50
Speaker
you know, KD and his, his obsession with replying to Twitter trolls and, uh, Shai Gilgis Alexander, ah his quest to win MVP over Jokic.
01:01:04
Speaker
Um, I mean, there's so many storylines that have that happened in this show. what's the one with, um, I'm trying to remember what some of the others were, ah Halliburton's injury in the finals. It went into that.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yep. Of course, they ah followed Halliburton through the playoffs and, you know, all the crazy comeback games they had where they were down big and then came back to win in the final seconds. One of them was against the Cavs.
01:01:35
Speaker
So they went into that, showed him doing his stupid choking celebration, big ball celebrations. And it really annoyed and pissed me off and annoyed me. i can't stand Halliburton after watching that show.
01:01:45
Speaker
But um yeah, like all the all the storylines are really good. Um... And it follows their home life. So, you you know, you get to see their kids and their wives, girlfriends, their, their parents, you know, the thing with Halliburton's dad going out onto the court and getting into a verbal argument with the honest and the follow up from that.
01:02:05
Speaker
So, you know, if you want to see the behind the scenes and all that and all their personal discussions that they're having, you know, on their cell phones, talking to their agents, talking to the, the and NBA telling, you know, Halliburton, his dad can't be there for the next series. Uh,
01:02:21
Speaker
You know, it the trades, the trades that are happening, happening the rumors around KD being traded and KD getting upset about it. The Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers.
01:02:33
Speaker
And then you get to see all of their real time reactions to that trade about nobody being safe. And yeah, like it's it's it's just a really good show. Like it hits on everything.
01:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, it feels like the obvious choice from like the Cavs roster would be like a Donovan Mitchell, right? See, that's that's what ah the what i was getting to, though. But like, I don't I don't know if there's enough probably Donovan Mitchell. I just don't think there's any drama around any of the Cavs players enough. Like the the the charisma and the presence and yeah be good on camera and all that stuff.
01:03:04
Speaker
His mom, his mom is at every game. and Yeah, his mom, yeah that's fine, but he doesn't have kids and he doesn't really have, he's not egotistical. He's not, you know, I mean, yeah, I just don't know if there's enough drama there, right?
01:03:17
Speaker
It sounds like out of that. Yeah, him, you know, leaving. ah with go Utah maybe his relationship relationship with Gobert and yeah leaving Utah but that's all I can really think of it's like four years ago now though right so joining the Cavs joining the Cavs and stuff like that um but Yeah, it'd be it'd be cool to see um him or or somebody on the Cavs eventually make a show like that. I don't know how long that show will will continue to run.
01:03:46
Speaker
But ah yeah, fans, go check it
Podcast Wrap-up and Engagement Encouragement
01:03:48
Speaker
out. I think you said it's on Netflix. Netflix. And what's it called again? Starting five. Starting five. So there you go, fans. if you're looking for another NBA fix in a different way, go check it out Netflix. And then I just saw there was Allen Iverson TV show.
01:04:05
Speaker
I can't remember if it was on Netflix or one of the other streaming services, but I'm looking forward to watching that next. Interesting. Okay, cool. All right, Alex. Well, we went an hour plus, but that's all good. Lots of good stuff going on. Cavs basketball is back. We have officially dropped our season predictions and looking forward to watching some more Cavs basketball this week.
01:04:26
Speaker
Halloween week, Alex, as well. So that's always a good time. And just the return of Cavs basketball. So 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.
01:04:42
Speaker
Follow us on Twitter at Cavs Pick and Roll. Shoot us an email, CavsPickandRoll at gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. Watch this episode on YouTube. Wherever you're listening, watch and leave us a rating or review. We'd appreciate it All right, Cavs fans, there it is. we will talk to again soon.
01:04:59
Speaker
Peace out, Cavs fans.