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Episode 145: 3 Game Losing Streak
60 Plays5 months ago
Alex and Corey discuss the latest happenings with the Cavs and around the NBA. We talk about the Cav's recent 3 game losing streak, Donovan Mitchell named as an NBA All-Star starter, and take a look at the up-coming game against Detroit.
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Transcript
00:00:13
Speaker
Hey
Introduction and Losing Streak Discussion
00:00:14
Speaker
Cavs fans, welcome to the Cavs pick and roll podcast. The podcast for die hard fans, buy die hard fans. I'm Alex and I'm here with Corey. How you doing Corey? Hey, I am excited as always to talk some Cavs basketball. And Alex, we get to talk about something we really haven't had to talk about all year yet.
00:00:31
Speaker
which is the Cavs largest losing streak at three games. Are we freaking out yet? Yeah, seriously, you good. You know, it's been hard to talk about. Are we going to are we going to be the first episode? We're going to like bash them and trash talk them a little bit. I don't know. Do we have some drama to talk about? I mean.
00:00:48
Speaker
kind of welcoming it at this point, you know, trade seasons here, we could talk about everything we need to do, blow it up. We're at three games. If we go to four, Alex, I feel like, I don't know, at the fan base might get a little, little crazy. Yeah, we are in a little bit of a slump. um You know, it it kind of reminds me of last season too, where we were real hot going into ah getting leading up the all-star break, you know, it's very reminiscent of that.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, let's not go down that path again. Yeah, no, you're right. But um yeah, I mean, we're were we're a little bit past the halfway point in the season now. And the good news is Alex is So far, this hasn't been a pattern, right? Up until
Reflecting on Losses and Learning
00:01:36
Speaker
this point, they only had one losing streak in the season that I recall, and that was the back-to-back losses against the Atlanta Hawks. And for the most part, the Cavs have always done a pretty good job at not letting these things string out too long. After they have a bad loss or a tough loss, they usually find a way to come back and bounce back pretty quickly.
00:01:56
Speaker
So, you know, they're at three right now. We'll talk about some of the reasons why. And it's just another good test for them. They got to realize
Adversity and Team Growth
00:02:05
Speaker
and hopefully they are um that they're not, you know, they're mortal, you know, and hopefully this kind of humbles them a little bit. Yeah, anything. So that's that's kind of the positives I'm trying to take away from every loss that has happened so far as it's a learning experience. Check your ego a little bit, right. And and come back humble and figure out a win, you know, a way to win the next game.
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm not too worried about it. You know, I think it's good. It's good. They need, they need it. They need to go through this. It'll, you know, they need some adversity. Like you said, it'll help them grow. It'll help them, you know, in the long run. This is, this is a good thing.
00:02:45
Speaker
It helps that they've been playing so great all year, have been able to build a little bit of distance ah from the rest of you know the teams in the East as far as standing. so like they have a little bit of They have some wiggle room to where in years past it's like, yeah, we'd be freaking out right now.
00:03:04
Speaker
especially with the trade deadline around the corner, we'd we'd be talking about the the three guys we got to ship out to bring in, you know, whoever. um So, you know, it's it's different. And yeah, it's easy to be like, you know what, they're going to bounce back, they're going to figure it out. um But we got to see it happen as well. Right. Otherwise, we will start having a different tone. But I don't think that's going to happen.
00:03:25
Speaker
No, I mean, and I think the main reason, right, is because we're not healthy right now. There's just too
Impact of Injuries on Key Players
00:03:31
Speaker
many injuries um with Lavert, Okoro, and Mobly. We're out for three of those last four games. um I mean, that's half of your rotation right there. So yeah, I mean, I'm not worried. We're just not healthy right now. That's why we're dropping some games.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and overall, I mean, it's not like the Cavs have been healthy all season up until this point. They've had some other, you know, injuries. Truce was out the first, you know, month and a half of the season. um Some of the guys have missed a couple games here and there, and the Cavs have been able to figure it out and and still win, you know, a lot of ball games, right?
00:04:11
Speaker
um
Challenges Against the Rockets
00:04:12
Speaker
But again, it was a matter of time before the Cavs were going to go through a little bit of, you know, a downward, um you know, momentum for a little bit. And just the month of January, Alex hasn't been the best month of the season for him. They lost three in a row. They lost earlier. europe I believe the Indiana game was earlier in the month. So they they've lost four games this month.
00:04:34
Speaker
which is like almost all of what they've lost up until this month came in this season. Right. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, whoa, what's happening? This feels weird. We're losing. We're losing some games here. Right. But but again, they have a little bit of a leash, a little bit of wiggle room here with how well they've been playing up to this point. Yeah. So you want to go back and and talk about a few of these games?
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, let's go back and talk about a couple of them. I mean, obviously a lot of games have happened since last time recorded, um you know, but we we'll won't go back too far because, you know, that doesn't make too much sense. But yeah, I mean,
00:05:10
Speaker
it's It's kind of weird, Alex, because the last losing streak we had was a scenario where we played the same team twice. If we didn't play them twice, when we played them two out of three, the Cavs dropped both games to the Houston Rockets, who are playing pretty well, by the way. They're 30 and 14 on the season. And the Rockets to me, Alex, are just such a weird, a weirdly built team, because like the biggest name, and and I don't mean this in any kind of disrespectful way,
00:05:37
Speaker
But the biggest name on that team is is Fred Van Vliet, you know, who signed for some money and they got Jaylen Green and, you know, Steven Adams and a couple other young guys. But yeah they're not they're not a superstar heavy driven team or they don't have like the the number of top five guy in the league playing on a team over there and they're playing pretty good basketball.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, i you know I think they make up for a lot of that with just their physicality and how aggressive they play. They got they got some scrappy guys on that team. They play with a lot of strength. They do. and I've always liked Steven Adams. um Going back all the way to his OKC days. he's just He's just an old school big to me. He's not out there shooting three pointers. He's just out there putting in work, getting rebounds, protecting the rim, playing in D, picking, rolling, you know, so, and, and, you know, the last game we played against them, he gives you, you know, 14 points, you know, and looking across, you know, the box score here. Hey, we've seen this. You have six, seven guys and double figures. It's going to be hard to lose, right?
00:06:41
Speaker
um yeah Unfortunately, the Cavs dropped this game and it's just weird, Alex, that they dropped both these games. I thought for sure they were going to get that but you know one of the two at least. yeah Yeah. I thought we'd get the one at home.
Individual Performances in Rockets Game
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah. and Garland, man, he came out.
00:06:59
Speaker
man had 39 points he in nine assists he had a big game Mitchell gives you 33 and this was the first game that Mobley came back but Mobley quite wasn't himself gave you seven points you know grab some rebounds and stuff like that but first game coming back from being out a couple I feel like if if if we would have got just a little bit more out of Mobley, we'd probably win this game, not trying to put it on him. Just kind of not a not a typical game for Mobley, I guess, from an offensive standpoint. Your boy, Niang, though, tried to make up for it with 21, so got to credit Niang whenever we can. I know that makes you happy. Yeah, I mean, Niang, he was on a he was on a ah good shooting streak there. He was knocking them down from three-point range.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. See? Stepping up, man. Somebody's got to. man i somebody I've been really disappointed in a and few people. Yeah. Yeah, but this game just I thought the same thing. I was like, this is a home game. They lost him before. There's no way they're going to lose this game and just man, I think, you know, one of the biggest problems, and not only are they missing some bodies, which contributes to what we're about to talk about, but really the biggest problem lately has has surprisingly been their defense, which, you know, for ah quite a while, they've been known as one of the best defensive teams in
Defensive Struggles Analyzed
00:08:21
Speaker
the league and.
00:08:22
Speaker
You know, the month of January, Alex is has not been very you know fond to them or fine to them or whatever. And I saw a tweet from Chris Fedor recently saying that in the month of January, they're like the second worst defensive rated team in the league, only ahead of the Washington Wizards. Not a good sign. Not a good sign. But is that basically is that basically what's going on here, in your opinion, is do you think it's the the effort on the defensive end?
00:08:51
Speaker
I think specifically the you know the ah perimeter defense, the other teams are just knocking down threes on us left and right. And that's just going to kill you every time. Yep, absolutely. um The Cavs can light it up, right? They could fill it up. They can knock down threes. They could put up a lot of points, but guess what? Soaking about 85% of the teams in the NBA. So if you don't guard at the other end,
00:09:16
Speaker
It's like that Boston game early in the season. Remember that one? We were, you know, toast by halftime, basically. Right. um You can't you can't just let that up. And again, that has to be a learning experience, because when the games do count at the end of the season, come playoff time, you can't be giving up all those threes. Otherwise, you're going to you know, these seven game series are going to go by fast and you're going to be on the wrong side of that. It seems like in a lot of these games, besides the 76ers games,
00:09:43
Speaker
where it went back and forth quite a bit. But in these yeah these two rocket games, the Cavs were just extremely sluggish. yeahp I think the Rockets led you know both games the whole way and the Cavs just try to come back in the fourth, which they almost do yeahp both times. yeah exactly I mean, in this most recent game, they were down the entire game. And then fourth quarter, they dropped 47 points in the fourth quarter because they think they can turn it on and win the game.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yep. Yep. can't Can't always rely on that. it's it's It's worked a lot this season, right? um Where they've they've gotten some wins that, you know, but yet last year they wouldn't have because they turned it on. But they can't always bank on that. And you know what? Every team, there's just, the Rockets just feel like one of those teams where we just, I don't know, maybe we don't match up that great with them. I don't know.
00:10:39
Speaker
Sure, having in a curl running around out there, having a Lavert running around out there like the Energizer bun Bunny certainly would have helped as well. But the Cavs also have enough depth on this roster, Alex, to where, in my opinion, if the defensive effort was a little bit higher, those are both winnable games. All three of these were winnable games, in my opinion.
00:11:02
Speaker
So yeah so that's hard is I think it was just a tough matchup man. They got yeah yeah Sangoon ah you know in the center there and i mean he was really giving Alan a hard time that's for sure. Yeah, yeah, totally. So let's go into the 76ers game.
Ty Jerome's Standout Performance
00:11:19
Speaker
Man, Ty Jerome.
00:11:20
Speaker
I know we lost this game, but but but Alex, Ty Jerome had had a game. One of those Ty Jerome games. He is still so fun to watch. So glad he's on this roster. Dropped 33 points in 33 minutes. Sadly, despite his effort, the Cavs come up short. And again, this was one of those games where, yeah look at the box score. and Not only was the defense, I mean, he gave up 132 points, right?
00:11:47
Speaker
um That's a lot of points to give up. um But also, you know on the offensive end, we didn't have that balanced scoring between you know four to seven players. You had Mitchell, Garland, and Jerome in double digits. And that was it. Strew six points, Wade two points, Allen eight points, Merrill nine points. like You needed somebody else to be in those teams. And again, this is probably a winnable game along with a little bit better defensive effort.
00:12:17
Speaker
um Just hate to see a good Ty Jerome effort go to waste, Alex. Yeah, yeah, me too. I mean, typically he is on fire, man. It's usually Ty Sanity. yeah And I mean, he went eight for eight from three in that game against the Sixers. And then he went, what, 0 for five against the Rockets in this last game? Didn't have a good game. Didn't have a good game against the Rockets. So yeah Ty Jerome's awesome. He's, you know, he can be up and down a little bit, but surerp man usually he's on fire so yeah did not surprise me at all what bothered me the most about this game
00:12:51
Speaker
is Embiid didn't play in this game and we lose this game. And I've i've over the last year or two now, I've i've like, not that ever was really a big Embiid fan, but I've turned more on the like, yeah, I don't like Embiid. He just seems, I don't know, kind of whiny, gets hurt a lot. um I don't know. And I'm like thinking to myself, there's no Embiid. You can't lose these games to these teams when they're missing their best player like that.
00:13:21
Speaker
And, of course, this is the game, Alex, where Paul George turns back the clock and drops 30 on you. You know, that that really hurt. Maxi drops twenty nine. um You know, Oubre drops twenty two. It's just it's two. Eric Gordon's dropping fifteen. Like, come on, it's just too much. um The Cavs didn't have, you know, the answer on on the offensive end and and not enough of an answer on the defensive end this game either.
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. ah You know, Gordon and in George, every time we like started to make a run or or just get momentum, they would nail a backbreaking three. Yeah. It's like, oh, we just cannot. Can't get over the hill. Can't get over the hump, right? Can't get anything going. Yeah.
00:14:04
Speaker
yeah so that was that was a tough one to lose i mean on the road but the 76ers they're they're they're a lottery team this year on top of it right they're 16 and 27 going nowhere fast they're probably i'm curious to see alex what they're gonna do i know they just brought in paul george but I'll be curious to see if they're like starting to think about, hmm, should we flip Embiid for as many assets as we can get and start our rebuild now or not? And I'm thinking he might want to go play for another contender too. I don't know. I see i feel like this is coming to an end with the Embiid years there.
00:14:37
Speaker
and't I don't know. Possibly. Possibly. Possibly. Just a bad loss. Not a very good team to lose against. And again, they're missing their best player. So that one that one out of the three is probably, I don't know. that I don't know if it bothered me the most, but it bothered me. I mean yeah know.
00:14:53
Speaker
We're also missing. We were also missing three players. You know, the Tristan Thompson got 10 minutes. so Hey, TT. Hey, I mean, Sam Merrill got 19 minutes. He only went two for six from three. You know, Merrill's been in a slump. He hasn't been hitting the three. They keep giving him, you know, 15 plus minutes. It's like, he's not great on defense. And if he's not hitting the three,
00:15:18
Speaker
You know, why is he on the court for 15, 20 minutes? It's tough everyone this game yeah because... It's because Lavert's out. I mean... Lavert, Lavert and a curable's out. It's just injuries. And you're just trying to find a spark, which he can bring. But yeah, when he's not hitting, he's a defensive liability. um He gives effort, don't get me wrong, but he, you know, he's just, he's usually smaller than the guy he's guarding. He's obviously not as athletic in most cases.
00:15:43
Speaker
He's not, you know, he's not dunking the ball. He's not meeting you at the rim or anything like that, or grabbing rebounds or away from anybody. um So Sam's getting an opportunity, but yeah, unfortunately, you know, not, not able to take too much of advantage of it. And even, even the Rook Alex got 14 minutes, Jalen Tyson getting some minutes in this game as well, but you know, wasn't able to do a ton, um unfortunately. So, um and then the game went before that back to the Rockets again, Alex, this one, this one hurt.
00:16:15
Speaker
This one hurt. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. I was just going to say, I mean, they came out slow rockets, punched them in the mouth right away. And the calves were playing catch up the whole rest of the game until they got to the fourth quarter. And then again, you know, they tried to turn it on at that last minute. They actually had like a six point lead with maybe two minutes left. If I remember right.
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah they've they even out they've not scored. They've not scored them in the fourth 25 to 15. It just wasn't enough. And then this was was this the was this the garland? Yeah, I'm pretty sure this was the garland free throw game, I believe, where he missed him at the end. And I mean, totally uncharacteristic. Like, I think I said it to you at work. I was like 99 out of 100 times he makes those free throws. The Cavs win the game, right?
00:17:11
Speaker
So very uncharacteristic, just unfortunate that that happened because you know you're seeing a loss basically slip out of the out of your fingertips out of being down most of that game battling back and and you know having an opportunity at the end of the game. um But this one kind of stung. um And then, yeah, again, to lose him again at home a couple of days later, just Man, the Rockets and the Hawks got the Cavs number this year, I guess. Yeah, I just couldn't believe that. When Garland got fouled and he went to the line to shoot three, I was like, all right, we got a chance here. Yeah. Yeah. And then he misses two out of three. Oh, that was rough. That was brutal. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:56
Speaker
That hurt. Um, but yeah, I mean, you already kind of said the story, you know, the rockets came out first and the Casa to play catch up and just, yeah, you know, St. Sangoon, you know, took it to us in the paint and there, we just had no answer mobile you out. Yep. Yep.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, so that's the last couple games. and The last game the Cavs won was against the Phoenix Suns. We probably won't get into that much outside of the fact we both said the same thing. It was pretty fun to mop the floor with the Suns and Kevin Durant, you know, even without Mobley, without Akuro. That's the last win the Cavs had, Alex.
00:18:33
Speaker
and stuff yeah on Yeah, that was a fun game to watch, you know KD Booker It's always fun to see those guys play and it's even better when you're kicking their butts all up and down the court yeah that was that That was real fun. So the Cavs are due for a win um And their next game is against our old pal JB JB Bigger staff. Yeah. Detroit Pistons are coming into town the day this episode will go live, which is on Monday. And Alex, you're gonna be there. I'm gonna be there. I got tickets. That's awesome. So I will be there.
00:19:14
Speaker
quaz ah No, I got there just nosebleeds. but Yeah, hopefully it'll be good atmosphere and I know I'll get to see a win, so I'm excited about that.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, bring your binoculars. You could look at JB. So the Cavs are still going to be without some players, Alex. They're going to be without Dean Wade. They're going to be out without Lavert and they're going to be out without Akuro still. Akuro has been out i had like six games now. This is the second game. Wade's been out and Lavert. I don't even know how many it's been. It's been a couple as well.
00:19:52
Speaker
um And JB's got Detroit playing competitive basketball. like If you look in the standings, they're down there around that 8-9 range. And the Cavs gotta be careful. they they They need to figure out a way to win this game because in all seriousness, you don't want to drop to four and a you know four losses in a row, losing at home, you know so on and so forth. It's time to right the ship, if you will.
00:20:17
Speaker
And Alex, what do the Cavs, what do you want to see them do tomorrow night while you're there live in the flesh? What do they need to do adjustment wise to win this game? I want to see him get back to moving the ball. You know, they got in the habit of getting down court, making a couple passes and just lining up a three. And it's three after three after three. I'd like to see him get back to moving the ball around. I want to see more alley oops to Allen.
00:20:44
Speaker
in the paint. I want him to get back to, you know, Alan is a beast and he can be an offensive weapon and they just got to get back to using him. Absolutely. Do some pick and roll action, throw him the hoop and let him slam it and animal. And one I mean, yeah, I would love I would love. That's one thing that's missing to out of these couple of games here. And again, not that I'm expecting Alan to give you 20 points every night or whatever, but we all know he's capable of it and he's had plenty of those kind of big offensive nights.
00:21:14
Speaker
and yeah we need it we need an allen offensive night and i just looked at the standings i haven't i guess i haven't checked in a couple days the pistons are the sixth seed right now alex in the east that's crazy yeah it is you know i took a look through the pistons roster just to see you know who all is going to be there and of course kade cunningham yep who else is really on that team you got tim hardaway jr Ron Harper, Jr., there's some familiar names, right? Yeah. Tobias Harris, but he's out injured. And J.J.I.B. Paul Reed. Household names. Yeah, I mean, that's and and like I said, J.B.'s got them playing, got them hooping. They're six and four out of their last 10.
00:22:00
Speaker
So, you know, you look at this game on the schedule, you're like, oh, the Detroit Pistons, Cavs are going to end this three game road streak, you know, losing streak, easy win, right? At home, book it. Cavs got to be careful. They got to come out ready to play, focused and, you know, because the thing about the piston dude everybody that you rattle off there i didn't hear a lot of outside of tim hardaway jr i heard a lot
Trade Rumors and Speculations
00:22:24
Speaker
of young names so jb's probably got them you know running and gunning and you know a bunch of young athletic guys out there so it'll be a good little test for the calves um i'm confident they can answer the call come away with the win but they just gotta
00:22:41
Speaker
They got to approach this game, um you know, humble, respect the opponent. Don't just assume and go out there and get a win. But that's going to be an awesome experience to go to the game. That'll be fun. Fun way to start off the week.
00:22:56
Speaker
With the Cavs at the top of the standings, you know, they're going to get, you know, everybody's going to get in their best game. Absolutely. You know, and with the Cavs struggling these past three games, I'm sure Detroit smells blood in the water. They think they're going to come into our home and try to get a win.
00:23:13
Speaker
i don't I don't see it at all. I think we're going to crush them. I hope so. Mark my words. Caves need to get back on the right side and start winning again. The calves have the heat um and then the hawks again. Actually, we do get the hawks again. So maybe we can get some vengeance there.
00:23:31
Speaker
So Alex, one thing I wanted to ask you, um you know, the Cavs are struggling a little bit. You know, their defense isn't so great. um You know, some players are out. It's trade season. Trade season is gonna, you know, it's gonna come to a close here.
00:23:47
Speaker
um Before we know it, we we talked about this on the last episode, um but we didn't lose four games and and missing as many people as we were. Are you still on the camp of the Cavs don't need to make a move? Or now are you a little bit more open-minded to making a tweak? I did hear, I've been told that Jimmy Butler is available. and Any interest there? No, I have no interest in Jimmy Butler.
00:24:15
Speaker
You don't want a 36-year-old, $50 million- He's on the wrong side of his prime, prima donna, nah. Who winds himself out of a city that, yeah, you don't want any of that?
00:24:28
Speaker
I sure don't. I sure do not want any Jimmy buckets over here. did you real quick real quick Real quick, and then I seriously do want to ask you about you know a trade. um One of the places that he's been linked to is the Phoenix Suns. and Did you see the trade that the Suns made with the Utah Jazz? They basically acquired the first round draft picks, the Jazz acquired in the Donovan Mitchell trade with us, with the Cavs.
00:24:58
Speaker
basically saying, well, Mitchell's good, the Cavs are good, he re-signed, their core re-signed, they're probably gonna be good for a while, these first round picks are worthless to us, we're gonna go ahead and ship them out. And the thought was that Phoenix would use that in a trade with Miami to land Jimmy Butler. um And what Utah got back in that trade is a 2031,
00:25:26
Speaker
first round draft pick i believe it was and i think it was jason loyd i saw tweet out um or put out on social media whatever that the utah jazz will not now not see a first round draft pick from the donovan mitchell trade until nine years after the trade was made That's insanity. that be like oh That'd be like us trading LeBron. And and and again, you know I don't remember everything right that happened. I don't remember all of the picks or whatever we got. I know it wasn't a lot. and I don't know what those picks amounted to be. But I'm i'm pretty positive that it wasn't almost a decade later and that we saw some sort of draft return from making that LeBron trade.
00:26:15
Speaker
We'd be crushed. I'd say it's more like when we traded Kyrie and we got a lousy. Oh, we lost. Yeah. Thomas in return. But but that trade turned into Colin Sexton. And that trade turned into some other things, too. And it wasn't nine years later that it feels like it was nine years. It does spend nine years. Yeah, well, just crazy that ah that Utah is not going to get a pick now for nine years.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, that is crazy. They did get some good players from us, though. Yeah, yeah. But in all seriousness, um trade seasons here, do the Cavs need to entertain making a move?
00:26:59
Speaker
I don't think so. I don't think... I don't see it i don't see it happening. I don't know who's out there that would be available. I know there was talk about trying to get Cam Johnson.
00:27:12
Speaker
yeah but who are we gonna give up? There's very few players that'd be willing to give up and I just don't see i still' see you know anything that we do that could make an impact really.
00:27:28
Speaker
ah three-game losing streak At the at past, the halfway point of the season is not enough justification for me to stop believing in this group, in this team. We've seen throughout the season that especially when they are healthy, they're pretty tough team, right? It's worn to them being the best team, not only in the East, but in the NBA up until very recently. I'm sure after these three games, OK, sees a little bit ahead now.
00:28:00
Speaker
But, and even with people out, like a max truce in the beginning of the season, we've seen other people step up and we've seen the team come together and still be a dominant team in the NBA. So why you would mess with that is would be questioning, would be, you know, I would question that. And Cam Johnson is the biggest name I've heard as well. And you most likely would have to package multiple players to go get someone like Cam. And Cam's a nice player. But now all of a sudden, when you ship out
00:28:32
Speaker
two to three guys to bring them in that were part of your rotation or knew their roles and gelled with the gelled with the players not only on the court but in the locker room and egos are in check and all that and then you got someone like cam who could play you know trying to fit in you know with this with one of the best teams in the NBA versus being on a team that's kind of struggling which gives them a little bit more of a green light and able to do a little bit more things I don't know. I don't know if I would bank on that, you know, working out very well. So I'll be I'll be curious to see if the Cavs do anything. But I'm still on the camp of I really don't need them to do anything because I've already their their track record this season so far ah speaks speaks for what this group is capable of doing. Yeah, exactly. You can't base base a trade decision on
00:29:25
Speaker
these past four games where, you know, three, four players are out hurt. So once we're healthy, I think we'll be unstoppable again. Yep. Yep. Agreed. So you, you, you have signed off on keeping Niang for the rest of the season. Oh, don't get me wrong. There's players that would move. I'd have no problem moving Niang at this point. yeah He just dropped 21 the other night. yeah Yeah. Yeah. One, one game out of 44.
00:29:56
Speaker
That's not a good sample size there. I'm going to go back and count how many games he's had this year, 15 points and up. It's probably more than you think. I bet you he's getting close to that 10 game mark. Possibly. He has played better this season than he did last season. There's no doubt about that. Yes, definitely. No question. Definitely.
00:30:15
Speaker
So we'll see what the Cavs do here. um You know, these next couple of games, hopefully bounce back. We'll see if they entertain any trade ideas. um Alex is going to the game you know against the Pistons, so that'll be fun.
00:30:29
Speaker
Mobley's back but now Wade's hurt and I just saw that Wade's knee soreness got upgraded to a knee sprain, which is what happened to him last season and he was out from March to May. so oh Yeah, it is not that lengthy of an absence again, right and that could change things a little bit right because you know Dean Wade is He's been playing that starting role for for a lot of the season and for the most part it has worked out and Dean Wade, out of the starting five, is your fifth player, your fifth option, if you will. But he's capable of doing some nice things and complements the other starters, right? But he's also a very under the radar player. But all of a sudden, you know, if you lose someone like him, you you would say, well, yeah, you just slide in Stroust. Stroust started last year. What's the problem, right? Well, Stroust brings a different dynamic than Wade, and Stroust has been a little bit up and down so far this season.
00:31:33
Speaker
So you know I'm hoping this isn't the case, but if the calves determine that they're going to be without someone like a Dean Wade for any significant time, all of a sudden that might open up the window, the door, if you will, to entertain making a small move to bring somebody else in to help fill whatever void they they feel they're missing you know if someone is out for a little bit or whatever.
00:31:57
Speaker
So you'll be curious. Hopefully, hopefully it's nothing too serious. um You know, i like Dean, um like I said, he's able to do some things. And ah for the most part, he's been doing, you know, solid this year.
00:32:13
Speaker
So Alex, the other thing that's going on or that had recently kind of just happened was we found out the All-Star fan voted in starters for this year's All-Star game.
All-Star Selections and Hopes
00:32:30
Speaker
um
00:32:33
Speaker
Not a surprise, I don't think, right? That Donovan Mitchell is, again, a starter for the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Pretty cool to have a a guy that's pretty much penciled in, um probably for the next foreseeable future, for the next couple of years, right? Yeah, yeah, totally. Well deserved.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I will say from the last time we recorded, I did start to see some Cavs player creeping up on that list. Mobley went up in the rankings. I think I saw him as high as like six, I want to say. He was like 10 when we recorded last. And I saw at one point, Alan jumped to number 10 and Garland started moving up on the guards. I think he made it up to like five or something like that the last time I saw the results come out. I don't know where they're at you know now or whatever.
00:33:23
Speaker
But ah pretty cool that we have a starter, but we not only have a starter Alex We also have a head coach that's gonna be at the all-star game Kenny, Kenny Atkinson. Yeah well deserved man We were talking about that last episode. How cool is that? Yeah, you know I'll be interested to see if any more calves make that make the reserve list Yeah, um I'm hoping I'm hoping at least one more can sneak in there um I don't care who it is, but if I had to pull for one of the three, it'd probably be Mobley, right? Just because you want Mobley to be that next guy, right? That next star, um you know, in the NBA, that up and coming star. And I think it'd be really cool to see Mobley make it in that game. I will be honest with you, an all-star game doesn't really serve Mobley's
00:34:15
Speaker
style very well, right? He's not like a flashy guy. He's not gonna jump out of the gym per se. He's not gonna sit there and knock down five or six threes in the game. Garland would could do that, right? He's got the handles. He could make some moves, get to the rim, make some crazy passes, knock down some threes. So between the two, Garland will would would fit better in an all-star game. But if I had to pick, I'd probably go with Mobley just to see him get that recognition. Who would you pick between the three?
00:34:46
Speaker
If you can only have one.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Mobley. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, you know, the, the fan vote is the the fan is the fan vote over. I believe that's done. Yeah, the fan votes over. So now it's media and what coaches.
00:35:05
Speaker
ah Do players I think players and players coaches players. I don't know if they switched it up or not But like but definitely the fan vote is a household name popularity vote and I feel like you know, the players coaches media will be more Get the players that deserve to be there more votes. So I'm hoping that the cast players will rise more and yeah through the list than they did from the fan vote, if that makes sense. Definitely, definitely. and you know we'll see if um you know back Back in like the early 2000s, when you had the dominant teams, like the Detroit Pistons, like the San Antonio Spurs, you were seeing dang near the whole starting lineup going on in these All-Star games.
00:35:53
Speaker
that slowly at some point no longer became a thing. One, because typically you I guess you had the Warriors and the Cavs for a little while you know being dominant and you know you would have three players from those teams going, but it feels like it's been a while or it's not like the thing to do anymore to send like four players from a single team to the All-Star game. And I have my doubts, but I do wonder if the Cavs will get some love just based on the fact of what they've done up until this point in the season, which is be the best team in the NBA and and really dominating. You know, hopefully that's going to get them some some brownie points, if you will. And it'd be very cool to see to at least to sneak in. I'll take one. um And I even would take Mobley making the game and like a garland being invited to the three point contest. Like I think that'd be really cool, too. Yeah, that would be cool. I would like to see that. Yeah.
00:36:49
Speaker
That'd be awesome, because I think Garland would have but have a great shot, because he can get as hot as anybody in the NBA. I still want Ty Jerome in that three-point contest. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. Ty, Ty. Great. That game, man. It was awesome. It was amazing. It was awesome. So much fun. Yeah. Yeah, totally. So did you ever get a chance did you ever get a chance to check out 2K25 yet?
00:37:17
Speaker
Shoot, no, I haven't. Come on, man. Oh, I know. She'll be playing with Ty and Mobley. All right, that's your homework assignment. go play Go play the Detroit Pistons game tomorrow before you go watch the Detroit Pistons games tomorrow. I'm on it, Coach. Go play against JB before we go play against JB.
00:37:36
Speaker
ah
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah, um the other thing, too, I saw real quick um I was like, man, I didn't even know this was a thing. Maybe you said to me at work at one point and maybe I just missed it. But did you know that Netflix has it's called Starting Five. It's kind of like a behind the scene series where they follow five NBA players.
00:38:02
Speaker
And like last year they filed like LeBron James and it's going to be your household names, right? It it reminds me of what did the gosh, I forget what it's even called. What was it called when what was it HBO or whoever was following is like the football teams like the Browns got it one year. It kind of kind of feels like that, but they're following a player, right? And they just announced the players that were going to be for season two.
00:38:31
Speaker
And i was I opened up the link and I was like, oh, give me Donovan, give me Donovan, give me Donovan. He wasn't on the list. And I forget who was all on there because I didn't see any cosplayer and I didn't care.
00:38:42
Speaker
But I got to go check that out and and watch that just to see how it is. And it would be really cool to see someone like a Donovan Mitchell on that because I don't know. He's got that personality and that like charisma and that superstarness to him. But I think he'd be good for something like that if it is what I'm imagining.
00:39:01
Speaker
Don't you think he'd be he'd be good for something like that? Oh man, that sounds cool. I gotta check that out. You said it's on Netflix? It's on Netflix. Man, how have I not heard of this? I know, I know. I watch everything basketball. Yeah, yeah, so I gotta check that out too. Didn't even know about it until I saw something pop up today. um One thing I will say, Alex, that I'm disappointed on, unless I've missed it, I feel like it's been a minute since we got a road back episode from the Cavs. Has it not? Yeah.
00:39:32
Speaker
I haven't even checked their YouTube channel to see if there has been anything. Yeah, but usually I get a notification or I see somewhere on their social media pop-up. Like I said, maybe I've missed it. Don't live on my phone. But, man, with how fun of a season this has been, it's like, take advantage of that, right? Put out an episode every two weeks. Probably a lot more production work goes into that than we can ever imagine, but it feels like we're due.
00:40:00
Speaker
We're due for one. ah We'll have to go check their YouTube, Alex, and see. Because it's been a while since we've talked about one of their episodes as well. And it's always fun kind of giving a quick breakdown and a review of those episodes. They're usually a pretty good watch. Yeah. Well, Alex, you got anything? I can't really think of anything else.
00:40:25
Speaker
Looking forward to the game tomorrow. yeah is It's a promotional night. They're giving away knitted gloves. So I will be back with knitted gloves. but you got it You gotta to yeah okay you got it you got to you gotta to wear them. I'll wear them on the next episode. You gotta wear the hat.
00:40:47
Speaker
He's got it right there. Oh, I got it right here. It's not. We're not. It's not. No, nothing. What I'm thinking of is going where Alex has multiple. You look like an elf. I got the the Christmas camp set. Now you got to wear. You got to wear the mosque off. Oh, the mosque. I got that one sitting right here, too. And then the gloves. That'll be that'll be awesome. And that'll be awesome. That'll be fun. We just put away our Christmas tree today. So.
00:41:13
Speaker
Got it. Yeah. Yeah. Finally. yeah I was like, well, let's just keep it up. Eleven more months. It'll be Christmas again. Right. Right. Might as well. You're going to rock a jersey to the game. Which jersey? Yeah. Yeah. I'll probably wear my Mobley jersey. Yeah. Very nice. Well, that'll be fun. Have a good time at the game. Hopefully you will watch the Cavs win. And Cavs fans, we want to thank you as always for tuning in and listening. And Alex, you want to let them know where they can follow us and connect with us.
00:41:44
Speaker
Follow us on Twitter at Cavs Pick and Roll. Shoot us an email, Cavspickandrollatgmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. Watch this episode on YouTube. Wherever you're listening, watching, click like, subscribe. Leave us a rating or a review. We'd appreciate it. All right, Cavs fans. There it is. We'll talk to you again soon. Peace out, Cavs fans.