February 7, 2024 • 39 mins
Tim Alcorn is joined again by his partner, Jim Chones! Tim Alcorn and Jim discuss all things Cavs in the first half before being joined by Terry Pluto from cleveland.com in the second half.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Calves HQ presented by Betway.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you for joining us on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers
Audio Verse.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Here are your hosts, Tim.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Alcorn and Jim Jones from the Cavaliers production studios at
Rocket Mortgage field House in downtown Cleveland. Hi again, everybody,
and welcome to Calves HQ presented by Betway. Great to
have you with us, and of course, if you're a
Cavs fan, you're loving the way things are going as
(00:40):
of late. Cavaliers with two straight victories over high profile
opponents last night knocking off the Clippers at Rocket Mortgage
field House one eighteen to one oh eight, and then
on Friday night in Milwaukee beating the Bucks by ten
one ten to one hundred. The Calves have won nine
of their last ten games. Detroit's in town tomorrow night,
(01:02):
and then the Cavaliers will head to Memphis on Thursday
to take on the Grizzlies. Well, we've got some ground
to cover on this week's edition of Caves HQ. Of course,
not only was the win over the Clippers big, but
the return of Evan Mobley to the Cavaliers lineup stood
out last night, and Evan had a very nice ball game,
ten points to go along with nine rebounds. We'll look
(01:23):
back on Evan's return. Sam Ammick from the Athletic will
stop buy and pay us a visit. Sam always without
standing insights on what's going on all around the NBA.
And yes, we'll talk some Cleveland Charge basketball with the
voice of the Charge one Scott Zilla. Yeah, z Man's
gonna pay us a visit, So stay with us. Busy
(01:44):
show Ahead. Caves HQ presented by Betway continues after this
on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse hard on the
right hand, dribble, now the left Now the three ball,
dope rebound Mobley, Cam's down three eight twenty five to
go and a half, Mobley heading right to the buckets.
(02:05):
Pow in the left hand, bo with the throw down,
Ice into the paint, hands off Bobley, pow Ice pound
Mo Mo with the throw and at sixty two fifty
nine Mitchell.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Flop the Holy Pow the throw to moo ooh.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
How good it feels to say that. Welcome back. Cav's
HQ presented by Betway. Great to have you with us,
Huge thank you to the dynamic duel on the other
side of the window Kurt McLoughlin, along with Marty Allen,
putting together that highlight montage of Evan Mobley returning to
the Cavaliers lineup last night. Evan had been out for
(02:47):
six weeks to the day after undergoing knee surgery, but
in just under twenty one minutes, Evan with a nice
performance last night. Ten points and nine rebounds, so just
one re bound. Shy of a double double for Evan
Mobley after missing six weeks of basketball, and obviously the
Calves were thrilled to have him back, including head coach JB. Bickerstaff.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I mean, not good. He was gonna shoot close to
a double double, and you know, in limited minutes. You know,
obviously a little bit of rust, you know when you're
playing full speed, you know, attacking in those types of things.
I had some turnovers that he typically doesn't make. But
you know what I mean again, I thought he did
a really good job defensively. Offensively, he found his spots.
And again it's it's gonna take some time for him
(03:33):
to catch that rhythm in the one on one stuff.
But all in all, you know, all the team stuff
that we asked him to do, I thought he was
He was great.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
JB talking about the return of Evan Mobley and here's
what Evan had to say about getting back out onto
the floor.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
Did so two s. I fel like, got a few
travel calls, but that's just gonna happen, and got into
the fload of game. Uh as I kept playing just
uh felt better out there, felt more comfortable. Yeah, I
didn't feel too rusty. And then that dunk yet, I
feel like that got me going and I felt good
(04:08):
that that was my first points back.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So Kad said that Darius is extremely close to coming back.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
How much are you looking forward to that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And did you guys kind of lean on each other
and support each other because you went out around the
same time.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Yeah, me and him were like on the same kind
of timetable. I feel like he's definitely getting there, getting
ready and trying to join the team back pretty soon
with us as well. So hopefully we see him soon
get all the guys back. I think I'll really benefit
our team. And yeah, me and him was just spending
(04:45):
a lot of time together doing our own training, trying
to get right.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Have you allowed yourself to envision what you guys can
be full strength, because we really haven't seen that throughout
the course of this year. And if so, what does
that look.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Like to you?
Speaker 6 (04:57):
Yeah, a little bit. I feel like, yes, everyone gets back.
It's just so many weapons that we have so many options.
A lot of shooting. Dg Don with isoball if we
ever need a bucket as well, Me and Jay defensively
protecting the pain all movement, George as well. There's just
(05:18):
a lot of different weapons we can use and it's
just putting it all together.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And of course Evans running mate dads a big man
Jared Allen, who put together his fifteenth straight double double
last night. But here's Jared talking about Evans returned to
the lineup.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's good to see Evan back. Being injured like that,
having to watch the team play without you, go do
everything without you, it's not easy. But you know, Evan
stayed locked in, he did his treatment, he did everything
he could to come back in the timely manner, and
out of these back he did excellent tonight, but almost
a double double, blocking shots, catching lives, bringing the ball
up the court, you know, starting to pick and roll.
(05:56):
He's looking like his old tough again.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
It was six weeks ago you had knee surgery, right,
and the initial timeline was six to eight weeks in
any way, do you marvel at how quick this could
be covers from injuries?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, I mean we're still young, you know. I think
we could take advantage of that while we still have
these bodies that can recover from surgeries and injuries and
the timely manner. But like I said, he took the
injury seriously, he took the recover seriously, did all the treatments,
did all the weight room stuff, and he got better quickly.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
And we also mentioned that you Dean, Isaac and you
guys are kind of the core of.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
That defense with Evin being out.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Now, with Evan being back.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
It feels like you guys have the entire group.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
How is that going to change with Evan being back?
And how have you seen your defensive prowess grow?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right, It's just going to change the lineup. The core
is still going to be there. We can expand the
core of the four, you know, and now that Evan's back,
he's only going to add more defensive prowless to the
team and it's going to make us even better on
that end.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You guys have.
Speaker 8 (06:57):
Been convinced during this stretch that even and when Evan
comes back and Darius comes back, you can still play
the same way offensively and defensively, you can still have
the same rhythm. It looked that way again tonight. Why
were you so convinced? And what does bringing Evan back.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
To That's just a testament to our team, a testament
to JB just everybody in this Cavs organization. You get
guys who are willing to buy in, who are willing
to sacrifice for this team and not just think all
about them.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
So that's Jared Allen talking about the return of Evan Mobley. Boy,
it was great to see number four back on the
floor for the Cavaliers last night, ten points to nine rebounds.
We'll take a quick time out when we come back.
Sam Ammick from the Athletic will join us. Boy, We've
got a lot of ground to cover with Sam as
the NBA has reached a halfway point, So stay with us.
(07:48):
Cavs HQ presented by Betway, continues after this on the
Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio Verse Truce in the lane of
Boldly Boldly Up. Yeah, Then Bodley is double figures with
ten Clivert on Kawhi put it up spun and home.
Oh some English on that shot. Mitchell heads to the
(08:09):
fucking put it in.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And he got found.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
How about that? Here's Donovan Mitchell, Pox and the Landa
Labert live, Allen.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Pound Clivert with the throw to the row.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
To put the finishing touches on this one. Welcome back
calvs HQ presented by Betway All along the Medical Mutual
Cavaliers Audio Verse. Great to have you with us on
this Tuesday night, and of course those highlights from Monday
night twenty four hours ago the Cavaliers and the Clippers
at Rocket Mortgage field House. Cavaliers snapped LA's five game
(08:45):
winning streak as the Cavs knocked off LA one eighteen
to one oh eight. And of course the Cavaliers have
won nine of their last ten ball games. That was
a good ballgame last night at Rocket Mortgage field House.
And we want to welcome into calvs HQ a guest
that we've had on before. He covers the NBA really
(09:06):
on a global sense, because he covers it not only here,
but everything that's going around across the country neck around
the world, with the European flavor in the international flavor
that the NBA has Sam Amic from the Athletic joins
us to talk a little NBA hoop. Sam has always
great to have you on. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Tim, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Good
to be back with you.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Well, let's talk local first, that meeting the Cavaliers before
we expand into the broader sense of the NBA. As
I just mentioned, Calves have won nine out of ten.
Evan Mobley returned last night. DG's return is said to
be imminent. Detroit in town tomorrow night and then down
to Memphis on Thursday, So maybe in the next forty
(09:49):
eight hours. But just your thoughts on this Cavalier team
as you kind of watch them and hear about them
from Afar.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It looked good.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's funny, you know, I'm watching that game last night
and thinking to myself that admittedly, you know, I'm West
Coast based, and so I'm always having to fight that, uh,
that kind of West Coast bias and paying too much
attention to the Western Conference versus the easton And that
was a good reminder for me that that these caves
people are sleeping on them. They're having a good year.
(10:18):
They're right there where you know, a few more wins
during this this really hot stretch and we're going to
need to talk about them and in the context of
Boston and Milwaukee and and uh, I mean that for them,
all things considered, I think he's fantastic if you talk about,
you know, the injuries they've had, obviously getting Garland back
(10:38):
relatively soon hopefully, you know, and again taking out a
Clippers team that, uh, that has been extremely hot in
their own right with impressive stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
How surprised are you because believing in Cleveland, there's a
lot of dismay that they've done this well without Evan
and without Darius Garland.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Very surprise. I mean, it's funny because knowing that we
were going to visit it just kind of hopped into
the numbers that get a glance at the updated profile
and you know, especially losing Evan for as long as
they did, to be still sitting there as the you know,
third best defensive rating in the league with the part
that he plays on that end, that part is surprising
(11:22):
and impressive. And then you know, to spend it positive
in terms of where they can keep growing from here.
And I think this will take a little bit to
get the rhythm back again. But you know, bringing back
a twenty point per game scorer to an offense that
is sixteenth at offensive rating right now, where you know,
I'm sure you know JB. Bickerstaff and the group want
(11:43):
that to improve quite a bit. It seems like it's
nothing but kind of you know, upside right now to
this group. And again it's it's in an Eastern Conference
that timing wise, appears to be a little bit more
up for grabs than maybe we thought. You know, Boston
has shown a little bit of vulnerability lately, Milwaukee obviously
(12:05):
with the coaching change. You know, Philly very good team,
but Joel ANDBII keeps battling some of the health stuff,
and you know, and the questions about whether or not
they have enough star power. I think Cleveland is right there.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Again, we're talking with Sam Emmick from the Athletic covers
the NBA in just a terrific way for the Athletics.
So Sam, let's delve into that Eastern Conference you alluded
to the top teams. Of course, Boston along with Milwaukee
and Philly. Who do you tab as a favorite? Now
that we're about halfway through.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I mean, I still got to give it to the
Celtics for sure. You know, like last night, for example,
they take out a Pelicans team that's been pretty good
lately to do it without Porzingis. You know, they did
lose to they got not only locked, they got smoked
by the Clippers, and that was surprising. But you know,
the health stuff has been big for them. Por Ingas is,
(13:01):
you know, unfortunately one of the many big guys in
the league today. I mean, we mentioned Mobile, We've mentioned
embiid Joki seems to be the only guy who health
wise is it just somehow finds a way to be
out there all the time. But the bigs have a
harder time stand on the floor. So for them, you
saw last night, I thought, you know, the difference between
(13:22):
having Porzingis defend that rim and Al Horford. So as
far as X factors for them and the title contending conversation,
I think that's big. You know, Porzingis has had a
lot of help issues over the course of his career.
If he can be healthy, he's a game changer. But
I would still give it to Boston. I mean, they've
got the the experience that comes with being in the
(13:42):
finals a few years back. You know, Jason Tatum and
Jalen Brown have been knocking on this door for it
seems like forever now, so I do feel like, you know,
they're still going to have a leg up there.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Sam, You of course have terrific sources throughout the league,
as does everybody on the athletic staff. So give us
a behind the curtain. Look if you could what went
down in Milwaukee with Adrian Griffin and of course now
Doc Rivers taking the helm.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, it's tough. There's a lot of layers to it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I would probably start with this is, you know, in
defense of Adrian Griffin, the stuff that was outside of
his control, which is anytime you know, an organization hires
a coach and then makes a significant move after that decision,
that's tricky. Meaning, you know, they hired Adrian Griffin in
(14:34):
the summer when they had one roster true Holiday was
still on the team. It seemed like, you know, y'all,
Fanokopo was definitely a big time supporter of the decision
to hire Adrian Griffin. He had sat in on coaches
meetings and had a significant voice with some of the candidates.
But then they make the trade to get Damian Lillard,
(14:54):
and all of a sudden, their profile changes quite a bit.
Now you're going to be an offense first team. It
tries to, you know, to still be good defensively, but
you know, with all due respect to Dame, he's just
not a strong defender. So you're going to lose a
lot when you have Drew Holliday heading out. So Adrian Griffin,
I think, you know, struggled big time to adjust to
(15:16):
the new profile. And I think there's a pressure that
comes with trading for a guy of Damian Lillard's caliber
that even though the offense was very good, they struggled
in a lot of games against you know, inferior opponents
that they shouldn't have. The vibe was not great. There
were frustrations about him as a communicator, you know, And
(15:39):
I was around the team a decent amount and training
camp and early on in the season, and just to
be honest with the tim you could just tell that
it felt like, whether it was mid season or in
the summertime, like this was not a match made in
heaven when it came to this group and this coach.
So you feel for Adrian. He had been waiting a
long time for that head coaching opportunity the and then
(16:01):
you know the Doc Rivers choice. You're going with the
veteran coach, the guy who's got a title under his belt.
We'll see if it works. I do you know when
people ask you recently about Doc, I feel kind of
inclined to her mind. Folks that you know Turing sixteen
years since the title, and he's had a lot of
Hall of Famers on his rosters then and has not
been back to that stage. So we'll see how Doc does.
(16:24):
But you know, yeah, for sure fireworks in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
No, had no doubt about it. Again, we're talking with
Sam Amick from the Athletic We're gonna sneak in a
quick time out, but we have more ground to cover.
Trade deadline is coming up. Maybe Sam can give us
an insight or too, so stay with us. Cavs HQ
presented by Betway, continues after this on the Medical Mutual
Cavaliers Audio Verse.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
As part of January Basketball for All the Land program,
the Cleveland Cavaliers are visiting Esterbrook Recreation Center to support
a variety of physical, mental health and wellness initiatives that
promote resilient communities where all people have access to healthy
living to thrive. A basketball clinic will start the event,
including healthy eating tips and engaging with Calves sports coaches.
(17:14):
As part of the program, the Calves will distribute one
thousand basketballs to children in Cleveland through various partners including
law enforcement and community leaders Calves in the Community. It's
brought to you by Discount Drug mart. We'll be back
with the second half of Calves HQ presented by Betway
right after this on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audio Verse.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
This is Calvs HQ and the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audiovers
presented by Betway. Now back to the second half of
the show with Tim Alcorn and Jim Jones. Will you
welcome you back Cav's age Q. Great to have you
with thoughts on this Tuesday night, and great to have
joining us from the Athletic Mammick and of course the
Athletic covers things nationally locally. Just an outstanding subscription. As
(18:06):
I always say, if you're not subscribing to the Athletic,
you're missing now because their journalism is just top notch. Sam,
we talked about the East let's transition to the West.
Of course, a couple of young and up and coming
teams in Minnesota and OKC have been near the top
throughout the first half of the year. Of course, last
(18:27):
year's defending Western Conference champions Denver in the hunt. We
saw Los Angeles last night here in Cleveland size up
the West for us.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Super interesting. You know, we talked about surprises in the
east of for tim. If I would have told you
going into the year that teams like the I'm trying
to look here, I mean, the Memphis Krizzlies were going
to get John Ran back, right, so we thought maybe
they'd be back in the mix. We had the Warriors
with their usual suspects. We had the Lakers, you know,
(18:55):
having gone to the conference finals last season, Pelicans getting zyonback.
All these teams that had a lot going for him,
a lot of potential to be at the top of
the West, are nowhere near the top of the West.
And if I would have told you that, it was Minnesota,
Oklahoma City, even the Clippers, because we got so programmed
to have, you know, have to deal with the load
management component. It came with their group and all of
(19:17):
a sudden, Kawhi Leonard's playing almost every night. So surprises
all over the place I didn't even mention the Phoenix Suns,
who you know, they're finding their way right now, but
you know they've struggled out the gate with their big three.
A lot of injuries there as well. So interesting is
the word that comes to mind. I love it. It's
been fun to watch. I mean last night, it's a
(19:38):
good example. You know, Minnesota versus OKC being a high
profile game in the twenty twenty four Western Conference is
not something that outsaw coming at all. You know, like
the Timberwolves, we thought for sure just had too many
big men, too many bloated salaries. You know, we thought
they'd have to trade Karlin Town to free up cap space,
(20:02):
things like that. But they've been really, really good. Okay, see,
was supposed to be on a rebuild that was maybe
two or three years out, and really we also thought
that that shake Gildess Alexander might not be patient enough
to wait for that rebuild. And lo and behold, you know,
chat Holgreen comes in. You know, it's been fantastic. Jaaneln
Williams becomes a borderline all star, so surprises all around.
(20:26):
But in the middle of it all, I'm sure we'll
kind of handicap it just like we did the East.
I will go with what I know, which is that
the Denver Nuggets remain a very, very good basketball team,
and I think they're in a really good spot in
the West right now.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
So you like Denver. But I do want to ask
you about the Clippers because we saw them last night
Calvs knocked them off. But man, they have really turned
things around going into last night twenty two and four
in the months of December and January combined, and they
really struggled after acquiring James Harden. So what sparked that turnaround? Sam?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, the biggest thing that you know that people point
to with good reason, because I think it was the
situation we've seen a couple times last couple of years,
was the Russell Westbrook factor. You know, he was in
the starting lineup early on when James Harden came to
the Clippers, and it was just way too much kind
of duplication of skill sets. You can't have, you know,
(21:21):
four wings like that and expect to be effective. And
but you have egos, you have personalities, and Russ is
a proud guy who's headed for the Hall of Fame.
And much like his Lakers experience, it was a question
of all right, can they convince him to come off
the bench, and then if they do that, are they
going to lose him or is he going to become
a productive member of that second unit. And it's been
(21:44):
the latter like he hasn't been amazing, but it's like
the most important thing is that by putting him into
the second unit you unlocked the best of what James
Hard and Paul George Kawhi Leonard have to offer. And
they've been really rolling ever since then. You know, they
they've got you know, size down low with Zubos, who's
an underrated big and a guy that fits beautifully with them.
(22:05):
I saw something recently that I thought was really insightful
with Zubos talking about James Harden when he first got
to the Clippers. And then, I know James's reputation with
you know, it's been pretty bad past couple of years.
But the idea of James Harden making Zubos wait, you know,
in practice long after practice is over from day one
(22:26):
when he got to the Clippers so that they could
refine their pick and roll sets and really get down
to the nitty gritty of I need you to cut
off here. I need you to do this there. That
kind of showed me that the James was in a
different headspace and all that stuff seems to be paying off.
So they are right there with the Nuggets. I'm just,
you know, naturally, gonna give kind of the hat tip
(22:47):
to the champs. But but the Clippers body of work
this past couple of months has been impressive.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Well, I think it's going to be fascinating, especially in
that Western Conference. Totally agree with you speaking of the
Western Conference. Read an article recently in The Athletic that
you were a part of. And of course, the showdown
that was supposed to happen last Saturday between Joel Embiid
and Nicola Jokic did not transpire, as Joel Embiid sat out,
(23:15):
What will be the repercussions of that and the what
do you foresee the NBA doing as far as these
marquee matchups that are supposed to happen. You don't see
as much load management as you have in the past.
But where do you see that going?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Sam, Yeah, it's not a great situation. It's funny you
asked that, Tim this morning. I actually was trying to
dive into some of the history to remind myself, all right,
it's easy for us to say, all right, Embiid hasn't
played there forever, and yet again he was missing an action.
But I wanted to go back to all of the
absences and kind of remind myself what led to them
(23:54):
were their injuries? Was he just taking the night off?
But however you slice it, the optics are really bad
for Joel, They're really bad for the NBA. You know,
this is the exact type of game that the NBA
was trying to prioritize. A Saturday afternoon, you know, high
profile ABC affair one day before you know, the NFL's
(24:15):
Championship Sunday, no less, where it felt very much like
the NBA's chance to get their little kind of chunk
of the ratings before they all go towards football the
next day and everybody tunes in to see the two
big fellas battle it out, and Joel has gone yet again. Now,
the way I do my job, and you know this
(24:37):
just being a media guy yourself, like, context matters a lot, right,
So I think in fairness to Joel, it should also
be shared that some of the reporting since then has
been that, for one, there's there's definitely video clips from
his previous game against the Pacers where he hits his
knee and it looks very very real, very very serious,
(24:58):
where he's holding his knee hobbling, you know, and then
he did keep playing, So that's what people are going
to point to. But it didn't look great, and I
can understand where the concern about the knee was. And
then in regard to the fact that the Sixers did
not even have him on the injury report heading into Denver,
which is that's going to be the red flag for
(25:18):
the NBA. The reporting from this is, you know, I
have not confirmed this independently, but promoter shell work from
ESPN had indicated that Joelle was so held in on
playing in that game, ironically, that he told the Sixers
just don't even worry about putting my knee on the
injury report. I'm playing the damn game. And then ultimately
the medical staff said, you're not. It doesn't look good. So,
(25:41):
you know, I'm sure that's the stuff that the league
has been sifting through in its investigation. I'm curious to
see what they ultimately decide to do, but it was
it was certainly unfortunate for everybody involved.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
All right, before we wrap things up, they have a
couple of minutes left. I do have to ask you
about the trade wins that maybe swirling. We've seen some
moves already Siakam to Indiana, Ognanobi to the Knicks, anybody
else that you see being on the move. What might
happen in the next ten days?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean Dejante Murray of the Hawks is certainly
the guy who is now front and center. Feels very
much like the next guy to go, but not quite
sure where he's gonna go just yet. I felt like
it seemed inevitable that he was headed towards the Lakers.
But you know, there have been extensive talks between those
two teams and it seems like an obstacle is D'Angelo
(26:35):
Russell's future. Where the Hawks don't appear to have interest
in Russell as part of their group. And so then
the question becomes, can you find a third team to
work with and have that be a Russell landing spot?
Do you need to do a side deal where you,
you know, trade d Angela Russell for an expiring contract
that you could then give to the Hawks. But if
(26:57):
you do that, that gets complicated, becau because the team
taking Russell might push for for a draft pick, in
which case you're you're losing assets that you thought you
were going to use and in the deal with the
Lakers or with the Hawks. So we'll see what happens.
But Desonte, you know the Hawks have been bad organizationally.
They clearly decided that the fit with Trey Young is
(27:20):
not what they hoped that it would be. They gave
up a lot of assets to get Deconte a couple
of years back, and you have a new group running
the front office that is trying to salvage that which
you know, their rivals really obviously don't care about about
those those aspirations. So a lot of a lot of
stuff to get through. But Dejonte to me, is the
(27:40):
next big name.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
There we go. Sam, can't thank you enough always outstanding
insights on the NBA, and we really appreciate you dropping by.
We know it's a busy time of year for you,
no doubt about it, so for you to spend a
few moments with us greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You got it.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Thank you, Tim, Thank you Sam Amic from the Athletic
joining us on this week's edition of Cabs ahe Q
presented by Betway Quick time out, more to come, so
stay with us on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
Charif left elbow, I'll front the zaire white slot.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
I'll lead forth to three. All so wish I'll lead
for thirty points coming down left side with the left hands,
put it off the class, put it up an in
serief with nineteen jarif with.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Five at top of the key, hooked at the zaire
left slot, another.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Three, he got another one tire Smith twenty three back
to back freeze Welcome Back cavs age Q presented by
bet Way, all along the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse.
Great to have you with us, and boy, great to
hear those highlight calls from the voice of the Cleveland Charge,
(28:52):
Scott Zerrilla and as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz,
there's no place like home. The Urgs back home after
a seven game road swing in which they went three
and four, and those highlights are from the finale of
that seven game swing as the Charge in Portland, Maine
(29:13):
one on Saturday night over the Main Celtics one ten
to one oh three, and we thought it would be
fun to have Scott Thrilla stop by and pay us
a visit as he gets used to being back home again.
Great to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's great to be home and great to be with you. Tim. Yeah,
we were. We were joking earlier that it's fun. I know,
you know, travel is fun, but it's still travel. And
that was quite a trip of the guys, as you mentioned, three,
three and four on seven days, seven games in fifteen days,
that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
And to win that final game. You and I have
been around basketball and sports in general a long time.
That last game of a long road trip. We've seen
it the guys going, man, let's just get back home.
But to be in Portland and knock off that Celtic
team and a heck of a ball game Saturday night,
that speaks volumes, you know, Tim.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
They lost the night before on Friday, and I think
the most impressive thing not only I mean, they did
so many things well in the win on Saturday, but
they came out strong and you need that, you need
to kind of have that belief. And then they had
the lead and they didn't allow the Celtics. The Celtics
kept making runs, but they never really let them get
(30:28):
back into the game. So that quote intestinal fortitude. As
you said, it was huge. It's so easy to just
I'm tired, you know, blah blah, I want to go home. Yeah,
but they didn't. And that's as much on the players
as it is on the coaching staff to have those
guys ready and to convince them, Hey, every game counts
(30:49):
and you never know at the end of the year
how many wins and losses, you know, et cetera. There's
going to be, but you don't want to look back
and say you gave a game away. And if you're
able to sneak in by one game, you can look
back in Maningal, that might be the one that was
the clincher to, you know, to make the difference in
making the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Scott, everybody has heard about the exploits of Imani Bates
with the charge, and we'll touch on Amani here in
a minute. But during that highlight montage, we heard some
terrific basketball from Aleen Ford and Zaire Smith talk about
two guys and are those two guys and really anybody
else that stood out for you?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Well, I'll tell you what, Aleen Ford, I'm so glad
we heard that highlight because while I have not tabulated
his up to date three point shooting. He did have
that season. I thirty points on Saturday, I hit five
three balls in the last pretty much through that trip,
he hit about forty five percent from beyond the line.
At one point he was about fourteen of twenty seven.
(31:49):
He's just a nice, solid three and D guy at
six 't eighty. He's got good size. They rely on
him to shoot the three ball and usually between he
and Zi Smith taking the best offensive player on the
other team and Tire Smith, same thing. The guy's been
mister reliable, you know, twelve points per game. He had
a season nine twenty three in the win, a couple
(32:11):
of three balls, shooting thirty seven percent from beyond the
three point line. You know, we've heard the name, as
you said, Amani Bates, Isaiah Mobley, Shari Cooper, but there
have been other guys we got to talk about. Pete
NaN's two other guys that have just really stepped up
and played well for the Charge.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Well, let's touch Onny Moni real quick, because of course,
word broke earlier this week that Imani has been chosen
to participate in the twenty four NBA G League up
next game and that'll be All Star weekend at G
League Park. But just talk a little bit about what
Amani has shown and really what an honor this is
for him.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Well, the first thing, and you've seen him, he's so
much fun to watch. Yes, his his stutter steps, his enthusiasm,
how he clears space, how he's able to just hop
to it left top to his rights, cross you over,
and then those ridiculous high arcing threes, and he gets
(33:06):
so hot in these stretches where it's just so much
fun to watch. Now, that's the fun part. He's averaging
twenty four points about five rebounds. But I think he
and the coaching staff would also be the first ones
to tell you that he definitely he still has to
tighten up his game a little bit. He's a little
loose with the handle and he needs to be a
little bit better of a defender. But that's why he's
(33:28):
playing fifteen games with the Charge thus far, because, as
we saw with Sam Merrill a full season with the
Charge last year, tighten up the game, fine tune it
a little bit so that when you get your opportunities
with the Cavaliers, you're ready to go. Sam has done that,
and again, Amani's he's nineteen years old, you know what
I mean, he turns. Matter of fact, he just turned
(33:51):
twenty years old. Pardon me, but you know he's one
of those guys that you see, all of the potential
is there. Now. We just have to coach in work
him up a little bit. But I think the sky's
the limit for him. And again for the listeners right now,
if you haven't watched a Charge game, if you haven't
been down. We'll talk more about this later too, but
come down because he has so much fun to watch.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Hey, real quick, I'm gonna let you toot your own horn.
Not that you've ever done that before, but a year ago, Hey,
you called Sam Merrill. You said, Tim, this kid might
be the best shooter I've seen in a long time.
Wait till he gets regular minutes at the NBA level.
You called it on Sam.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Well. I mean, as much as I'd like to say
how incredibly smart and talented I am, which I am,
but just you see him because his footwork and the
way he squares and his quick release. And I saw that.
A couple of coaches, Tarron Lou last night, Jamie Bickers
haven't said it. He's kind of a I say, poor man.
But he's a lot like Kyle Korver. He just can
(34:53):
get the shot off. And when you're shooting forty three
percent from beyond the line, give the guy a little
bit of space and he's gonna make you. And look
what he has done for the Cavaliers this season.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
It's been fantastic, boy, no doubt about it. Again, we're
talking with Scott Zerrilla, he's the voice of the Cleveland Charge.
Charge back home tomorrow night. In fact, Scott, there's some
things coming up down at the Wolstein Center as far
as the Charge are concerned. That, as you said, hey
go down and see this basketball team. Talk a little
bit about that.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, Tim, how about that? A three game homestand it's unbelievable.
I'm shocked. I don't know what to do with myself
other than laundry and grocery shop. Well, tomorrow night at
seven o'clock they play Greensboro. It's what's called a winning
week night. So if the Charge win tomorrow night, if
you're in the stands, you'll get a ticket to Friday's
game against Delaware. Winning week nights, just like the greatest
(35:44):
invention ever, right be there. They win, you get a
free ticket to the next home game, so that's tomorrow night.
Friday is a Salute to Service night, and you know, Tim,
you know this between the Cavaliers, a Monster and the Charge,
we do such a great job with salute the you know,
celebrating the men and women you know that take care
of the sacrifice and defend our country. So we will
(36:06):
be doing that on Friday night. And then Sunday, that's
just seven o'clock game as well. Sunday one of the
fun games. It's Marvel Superhero Day and that's to be
presented by Immagumate Cleaning. It's a three o'clock tip, but
the first three thousand fans we'll get a charge Marvel
comic book. I've seen them. They're really cool. And the
(36:26):
team will be wearing Captain America jerseys.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Scott, what are you wearing?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I'm actually gonna be wearing Captain America red, white and blue.
I've got my blue suit, my red tie, my white shirt. Right,
come on, that's no cape. Captain America doesn't wear a cape.
You think superheroes, I don't think you do, otherwise you
wouldn't have said it. But anyway, those jerseys are great
(36:53):
and Sam Armstrong and the marketing department do such a
great job of coming up with the unifor. But the
uniforms afterwards, you're auctioned off after the game with all
the benefits going to the Greater Cleveland Fisher House. So
it's a really good Homestand I said seven o'clock tomorrow,
seven o'clock on Friday, three o'clock Sunday afternoon. Lots going on,
(37:15):
and I mean I'm being the shield. But it's the
fact ticket's only five dollars, right, the five dollars. Come
on down. It's great atmosphere. Two plus we've got the
great new video scoreboard which has really made the in
game experience so much more fun. So come on down,
give us a try.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
There you go. It's great entertainment, it's great basketball. And
of course Scott Zrilla, even without a cape, is a
guy to be seen down there.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Ze man, we appreciate the time, tim anytime I'll stay
to talk with you.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Scott Zrilla, a superhero in his own right, joining us
here on keVs HQ presented by Betway. We'll take a
time out. We'll put the finishing touches on this week's show.
After this on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audio vers that's
going to do it for this week's edition of Cavs HQ,
presented by Betway Fun Show. Huge thank you of course
(38:08):
to the Dynamic Duo, Senior producer Kurt McLoughlin, technical director
Marty Allen, our guest Sam Amick from the Athletic and
of course this e man Scott Sorilla from the Cleveland
Charge CAP's back in action tomorrow night they host Detroit.
That game will tip at seven Huntington tip Off show
at six point thirty on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audiover So.
(38:29):
Until then, tim Elcorn saying thank you for listening, and
so long everybody
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Now, long long nine list
Welcome to Calves HQ presented by Betway.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you for joining us on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers
Audio Verse.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Here are your hosts, Tim.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Alcorn and Jim Jones from the Cavaliers production studios at
Rocket Mortgage field House in downtown Cleveland. Hi again, everybody,
and welcome to Calves HQ presented by Betway. Great to
have you with us, and of course, if you're a
Cavs fan, you're loving the way things are going as
(00:40):
of late. Cavaliers with two straight victories over high profile
opponents last night knocking off the Clippers at Rocket Mortgage
field House one eighteen to one oh eight, and then
on Friday night in Milwaukee beating the Bucks by ten
one ten to one hundred. The Calves have won nine
of their last ten games. Detroit's in town tomorrow night,
(01:02):
and then the Cavaliers will head to Memphis on Thursday
to take on the Grizzlies. Well, we've got some ground
to cover on this week's edition of Caves HQ. Of course,
not only was the win over the Clippers big, but
the return of Evan Mobley to the Cavaliers lineup stood
out last night, and Evan had a very nice ball game,
ten points to go along with nine rebounds. We'll look
(01:23):
back on Evan's return. Sam Ammick from the Athletic will
stop buy and pay us a visit. Sam always without
standing insights on what's going on all around the NBA.
And yes, we'll talk some Cleveland Charge basketball with the
voice of the Charge one Scott Zilla. Yeah, z Man's
gonna pay us a visit, So stay with us. Busy
(01:44):
show Ahead. Caves HQ presented by Betway continues after this
on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse hard on the
right hand, dribble, now the left Now the three ball,
dope rebound Mobley, Cam's down three eight twenty five to
go and a half, Mobley heading right to the buckets.
(02:05):
Pow in the left hand, bo with the throw down,
Ice into the paint, hands off Bobley, pow Ice pound
Mo Mo with the throw and at sixty two fifty
nine Mitchell.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Flop the Holy Pow the throw to moo ooh.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
How good it feels to say that. Welcome back. Cav's
HQ presented by Betway. Great to have you with us,
Huge thank you to the dynamic duel on the other
side of the window Kurt McLoughlin, along with Marty Allen,
putting together that highlight montage of Evan Mobley returning to
the Cavaliers lineup last night. Evan had been out for
(02:47):
six weeks to the day after undergoing knee surgery, but
in just under twenty one minutes, Evan with a nice
performance last night. Ten points and nine rebounds, so just
one re bound. Shy of a double double for Evan
Mobley after missing six weeks of basketball, and obviously the
Calves were thrilled to have him back, including head coach JB. Bickerstaff.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I mean, not good. He was gonna shoot close to
a double double, and you know, in limited minutes. You know,
obviously a little bit of rust, you know when you're
playing full speed, you know, attacking in those types of things.
I had some turnovers that he typically doesn't make. But
you know what I mean again, I thought he did
a really good job defensively. Offensively, he found his spots.
And again it's it's gonna take some time for him
(03:33):
to catch that rhythm in the one on one stuff.
But all in all, you know, all the team stuff
that we asked him to do, I thought he was
He was great.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
JB talking about the return of Evan Mobley and here's
what Evan had to say about getting back out onto
the floor.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
Did so two s. I fel like, got a few
travel calls, but that's just gonna happen, and got into
the fload of game. Uh as I kept playing just
uh felt better out there, felt more comfortable. Yeah, I
didn't feel too rusty. And then that dunk yet, I
feel like that got me going and I felt good
(04:08):
that that was my first points back.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So Kad said that Darius is extremely close to coming back.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
How much are you looking forward to that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And did you guys kind of lean on each other
and support each other because you went out around the
same time.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Yeah, me and him were like on the same kind
of timetable. I feel like he's definitely getting there, getting
ready and trying to join the team back pretty soon
with us as well. So hopefully we see him soon
get all the guys back. I think I'll really benefit
our team. And yeah, me and him was just spending
(04:45):
a lot of time together doing our own training, trying
to get right.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Have you allowed yourself to envision what you guys can
be full strength, because we really haven't seen that throughout
the course of this year. And if so, what does
that look.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Like to you?
Speaker 6 (04:57):
Yeah, a little bit. I feel like, yes, everyone gets back.
It's just so many weapons that we have so many options.
A lot of shooting. Dg Don with isoball if we
ever need a bucket as well, Me and Jay defensively
protecting the pain all movement, George as well. There's just
(05:18):
a lot of different weapons we can use and it's
just putting it all together.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And of course Evans running mate dads a big man
Jared Allen, who put together his fifteenth straight double double
last night. But here's Jared talking about Evans returned to
the lineup.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's good to see Evan back. Being injured like that,
having to watch the team play without you, go do
everything without you, it's not easy. But you know, Evan
stayed locked in, he did his treatment, he did everything
he could to come back in the timely manner, and
out of these back he did excellent tonight, but almost
a double double, blocking shots, catching lives, bringing the ball
up the court, you know, starting to pick and roll.
(05:56):
He's looking like his old tough again.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
It was six weeks ago you had knee surgery, right,
and the initial timeline was six to eight weeks in
any way, do you marvel at how quick this could
be covers from injuries?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, I mean we're still young, you know. I think
we could take advantage of that while we still have
these bodies that can recover from surgeries and injuries and
the timely manner. But like I said, he took the
injury seriously, he took the recover seriously, did all the treatments,
did all the weight room stuff, and he got better quickly.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
And we also mentioned that you Dean, Isaac and you
guys are kind of the core of.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
That defense with Evin being out.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Now, with Evan being back.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
It feels like you guys have the entire group.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
How is that going to change with Evan being back?
And how have you seen your defensive prowess grow?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right, It's just going to change the lineup. The core
is still going to be there. We can expand the
core of the four, you know, and now that Evan's back,
he's only going to add more defensive prowless to the
team and it's going to make us even better on
that end.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You guys have.
Speaker 8 (06:57):
Been convinced during this stretch that even and when Evan
comes back and Darius comes back, you can still play
the same way offensively and defensively, you can still have
the same rhythm. It looked that way again tonight. Why
were you so convinced? And what does bringing Evan back.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
To That's just a testament to our team, a testament
to JB just everybody in this Cavs organization. You get
guys who are willing to buy in, who are willing
to sacrifice for this team and not just think all
about them.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
So that's Jared Allen talking about the return of Evan Mobley. Boy,
it was great to see number four back on the
floor for the Cavaliers last night, ten points to nine rebounds.
We'll take a quick time out when we come back.
Sam Ammick from the Athletic will join us. Boy, We've
got a lot of ground to cover with Sam as
the NBA has reached a halfway point, So stay with us.
(07:48):
Cavs HQ presented by Betway, continues after this on the
Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio Verse Truce in the lane of
Boldly Boldly Up. Yeah, Then Bodley is double figures with
ten Clivert on Kawhi put it up spun and home.
Oh some English on that shot. Mitchell heads to the
(08:09):
fucking put it in.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And he got found.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
How about that? Here's Donovan Mitchell, Pox and the Landa
Labert live, Allen.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Pound Clivert with the throw to the row.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
To put the finishing touches on this one. Welcome back
calvs HQ presented by Betway All along the Medical Mutual
Cavaliers Audio Verse. Great to have you with us on
this Tuesday night, and of course those highlights from Monday
night twenty four hours ago the Cavaliers and the Clippers
at Rocket Mortgage field House. Cavaliers snapped LA's five game
(08:45):
winning streak as the Cavs knocked off LA one eighteen
to one oh eight. And of course the Cavaliers have
won nine of their last ten ball games. That was
a good ballgame last night at Rocket Mortgage field House.
And we want to welcome into calvs HQ a guest
that we've had on before. He covers the NBA really
(09:06):
on a global sense, because he covers it not only here,
but everything that's going around across the country neck around
the world, with the European flavor in the international flavor
that the NBA has Sam Amic from the Athletic joins
us to talk a little NBA hoop. Sam has always
great to have you on. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Tim, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Good
to be back with you.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Well, let's talk local first, that meeting the Cavaliers before
we expand into the broader sense of the NBA. As
I just mentioned, Calves have won nine out of ten.
Evan Mobley returned last night. DG's return is said to
be imminent. Detroit in town tomorrow night and then down
to Memphis on Thursday, So maybe in the next forty
(09:49):
eight hours. But just your thoughts on this Cavalier team
as you kind of watch them and hear about them
from Afar.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It looked good.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's funny, you know, I'm watching that game last night
and thinking to myself that admittedly, you know, I'm West
Coast based, and so I'm always having to fight that, uh,
that kind of West Coast bias and paying too much
attention to the Western Conference versus the easton And that
was a good reminder for me that that these caves
people are sleeping on them. They're having a good year.
(10:18):
They're right there where you know, a few more wins
during this this really hot stretch and we're going to
need to talk about them and in the context of
Boston and Milwaukee and and uh, I mean that for them,
all things considered, I think he's fantastic if you talk about,
you know, the injuries they've had, obviously getting Garland back
(10:38):
relatively soon hopefully, you know, and again taking out a
Clippers team that, uh, that has been extremely hot in
their own right with impressive stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
How surprised are you because believing in Cleveland, there's a
lot of dismay that they've done this well without Evan
and without Darius Garland.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Very surprise. I mean, it's funny because knowing that we
were going to visit it just kind of hopped into
the numbers that get a glance at the updated profile
and you know, especially losing Evan for as long as
they did, to be still sitting there as the you know,
third best defensive rating in the league with the part
that he plays on that end, that part is surprising
(11:22):
and impressive. And then you know, to spend it positive
in terms of where they can keep growing from here.
And I think this will take a little bit to
get the rhythm back again. But you know, bringing back
a twenty point per game scorer to an offense that
is sixteenth at offensive rating right now, where you know,
I'm sure you know JB. Bickerstaff and the group want
(11:43):
that to improve quite a bit. It seems like it's
nothing but kind of you know, upside right now to
this group. And again it's it's in an Eastern Conference
that timing wise, appears to be a little bit more
up for grabs than maybe we thought. You know, Boston
has shown a little bit of vulnerability lately, Milwaukee obviously
(12:05):
with the coaching change. You know, Philly very good team,
but Joel ANDBII keeps battling some of the health stuff,
and you know, and the questions about whether or not
they have enough star power. I think Cleveland is right there.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Again, we're talking with Sam Emmick from the Athletic covers
the NBA in just a terrific way for the Athletics.
So Sam, let's delve into that Eastern Conference you alluded
to the top teams. Of course, Boston along with Milwaukee
and Philly. Who do you tab as a favorite? Now
that we're about halfway through.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I mean, I still got to give it to the
Celtics for sure. You know, like last night, for example,
they take out a Pelicans team that's been pretty good
lately to do it without Porzingis. You know, they did
lose to they got not only locked, they got smoked
by the Clippers, and that was surprising. But you know,
the health stuff has been big for them. Por Ingas is,
(13:01):
you know, unfortunately one of the many big guys in
the league today. I mean, we mentioned Mobile, We've mentioned
embiid Joki seems to be the only guy who health
wise is it just somehow finds a way to be
out there all the time. But the bigs have a
harder time stand on the floor. So for them, you
saw last night, I thought, you know, the difference between
(13:22):
having Porzingis defend that rim and Al Horford. So as
far as X factors for them and the title contending conversation,
I think that's big. You know, Porzingis has had a
lot of help issues over the course of his career.
If he can be healthy, he's a game changer. But
I would still give it to Boston. I mean, they've
got the the experience that comes with being in the
(13:42):
finals a few years back. You know, Jason Tatum and
Jalen Brown have been knocking on this door for it
seems like forever now, so I do feel like, you know,
they're still going to have a leg up there.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Sam, You of course have terrific sources throughout the league,
as does everybody on the athletic staff. So give us
a behind the curtain. Look if you could what went
down in Milwaukee with Adrian Griffin and of course now
Doc Rivers taking the helm.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, it's tough. There's a lot of layers to it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I would probably start with this is, you know, in
defense of Adrian Griffin, the stuff that was outside of
his control, which is anytime you know, an organization hires
a coach and then makes a significant move after that decision,
that's tricky. Meaning, you know, they hired Adrian Griffin in
(14:34):
the summer when they had one roster true Holiday was
still on the team. It seemed like, you know, y'all,
Fanokopo was definitely a big time supporter of the decision
to hire Adrian Griffin. He had sat in on coaches
meetings and had a significant voice with some of the candidates.
But then they make the trade to get Damian Lillard,
(14:54):
and all of a sudden, their profile changes quite a bit.
Now you're going to be an offense first team. It
tries to, you know, to still be good defensively, but
you know, with all due respect to Dame, he's just
not a strong defender. So you're going to lose a
lot when you have Drew Holliday heading out. So Adrian Griffin,
I think, you know, struggled big time to adjust to
(15:16):
the new profile. And I think there's a pressure that
comes with trading for a guy of Damian Lillard's caliber
that even though the offense was very good, they struggled
in a lot of games against you know, inferior opponents
that they shouldn't have. The vibe was not great. There
were frustrations about him as a communicator, you know, And
(15:39):
I was around the team a decent amount and training
camp and early on in the season, and just to
be honest with the tim you could just tell that
it felt like, whether it was mid season or in
the summertime, like this was not a match made in
heaven when it came to this group and this coach.
So you feel for Adrian. He had been waiting a
long time for that head coaching opportunity the and then
(16:01):
you know the Doc Rivers choice. You're going with the
veteran coach, the guy who's got a title under his belt.
We'll see if it works. I do you know when
people ask you recently about Doc, I feel kind of
inclined to her mind. Folks that you know Turing sixteen
years since the title, and he's had a lot of
Hall of Famers on his rosters then and has not
been back to that stage. So we'll see how Doc does.
(16:24):
But you know, yeah, for sure fireworks in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
No, had no doubt about it. Again, we're talking with
Sam Amick from the Athletic We're gonna sneak in a
quick time out, but we have more ground to cover.
Trade deadline is coming up. Maybe Sam can give us
an insight or too, so stay with us. Cavs HQ
presented by Betway, continues after this on the Medical Mutual
Cavaliers Audio Verse.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
As part of January Basketball for All the Land program,
the Cleveland Cavaliers are visiting Esterbrook Recreation Center to support
a variety of physical, mental health and wellness initiatives that
promote resilient communities where all people have access to healthy
living to thrive. A basketball clinic will start the event,
including healthy eating tips and engaging with Calves sports coaches.
(17:14):
As part of the program, the Calves will distribute one
thousand basketballs to children in Cleveland through various partners including
law enforcement and community leaders Calves in the Community. It's
brought to you by Discount Drug mart. We'll be back
with the second half of Calves HQ presented by Betway
right after this on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audio Verse.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
This is Calvs HQ and the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audiovers
presented by Betway. Now back to the second half of
the show with Tim Alcorn and Jim Jones. Will you
welcome you back Cav's age Q. Great to have you
with thoughts on this Tuesday night, and great to have
joining us from the Athletic Mammick and of course the
Athletic covers things nationally locally. Just an outstanding subscription. As
(18:06):
I always say, if you're not subscribing to the Athletic,
you're missing now because their journalism is just top notch. Sam,
we talked about the East let's transition to the West.
Of course, a couple of young and up and coming
teams in Minnesota and OKC have been near the top
throughout the first half of the year. Of course, last
(18:27):
year's defending Western Conference champions Denver in the hunt. We
saw Los Angeles last night here in Cleveland size up
the West for us.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Super interesting. You know, we talked about surprises in the
east of for tim. If I would have told you
going into the year that teams like the I'm trying
to look here, I mean, the Memphis Krizzlies were going
to get John Ran back, right, so we thought maybe
they'd be back in the mix. We had the Warriors
with their usual suspects. We had the Lakers, you know,
(18:55):
having gone to the conference finals last season, Pelicans getting zyonback.
All these teams that had a lot going for him,
a lot of potential to be at the top of
the West, are nowhere near the top of the West.
And if I would have told you that, it was Minnesota,
Oklahoma City, even the Clippers, because we got so programmed
to have, you know, have to deal with the load
management component. It came with their group and all of
(19:17):
a sudden, Kawhi Leonard's playing almost every night. So surprises
all over the place I didn't even mention the Phoenix Suns,
who you know, they're finding their way right now, but
you know they've struggled out the gate with their big three.
A lot of injuries there as well. So interesting is
the word that comes to mind. I love it. It's
been fun to watch. I mean last night, it's a
(19:38):
good example. You know, Minnesota versus OKC being a high
profile game in the twenty twenty four Western Conference is
not something that outsaw coming at all. You know, like
the Timberwolves, we thought for sure just had too many
big men, too many bloated salaries. You know, we thought
they'd have to trade Karlin Town to free up cap space,
(20:02):
things like that. But they've been really, really good. Okay, see,
was supposed to be on a rebuild that was maybe
two or three years out, and really we also thought
that that shake Gildess Alexander might not be patient enough
to wait for that rebuild. And lo and behold, you know,
chat Holgreen comes in. You know, it's been fantastic. Jaaneln
Williams becomes a borderline all star, so surprises all around.
(20:26):
But in the middle of it all, I'm sure we'll
kind of handicap it just like we did the East.
I will go with what I know, which is that
the Denver Nuggets remain a very, very good basketball team,
and I think they're in a really good spot in
the West right now.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
So you like Denver. But I do want to ask
you about the Clippers because we saw them last night
Calvs knocked them off. But man, they have really turned
things around going into last night twenty two and four
in the months of December and January combined, and they
really struggled after acquiring James Harden. So what sparked that turnaround? Sam?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, the biggest thing that you know that people point
to with good reason, because I think it was the
situation we've seen a couple times last couple of years,
was the Russell Westbrook factor. You know, he was in
the starting lineup early on when James Harden came to
the Clippers, and it was just way too much kind
of duplication of skill sets. You can't have, you know,
(21:21):
four wings like that and expect to be effective. And
but you have egos, you have personalities, and Russ is
a proud guy who's headed for the Hall of Fame.
And much like his Lakers experience, it was a question
of all right, can they convince him to come off
the bench, and then if they do that, are they
going to lose him or is he going to become
a productive member of that second unit. And it's been
(21:44):
the latter like he hasn't been amazing, but it's like
the most important thing is that by putting him into
the second unit you unlocked the best of what James
Hard and Paul George Kawhi Leonard have to offer. And
they've been really rolling ever since then. You know, they
they've got you know, size down low with Zubos, who's
an underrated big and a guy that fits beautifully with them.
(22:05):
I saw something recently that I thought was really insightful
with Zubos talking about James Harden when he first got
to the Clippers. And then, I know James's reputation with
you know, it's been pretty bad past couple of years.
But the idea of James Harden making Zubos wait, you know,
in practice long after practice is over from day one
(22:26):
when he got to the Clippers so that they could
refine their pick and roll sets and really get down
to the nitty gritty of I need you to cut
off here. I need you to do this there. That
kind of showed me that the James was in a
different headspace and all that stuff seems to be paying off.
So they are right there with the Nuggets. I'm just,
you know, naturally, gonna give kind of the hat tip
(22:47):
to the champs. But but the Clippers body of work
this past couple of months has been impressive.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Well, I think it's going to be fascinating, especially in
that Western Conference. Totally agree with you speaking of the
Western Conference. Read an article recently in The Athletic that
you were a part of. And of course, the showdown
that was supposed to happen last Saturday between Joel Embiid
and Nicola Jokic did not transpire, as Joel Embiid sat out,
(23:15):
What will be the repercussions of that and the what
do you foresee the NBA doing as far as these
marquee matchups that are supposed to happen. You don't see
as much load management as you have in the past.
But where do you see that going?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Sam, Yeah, it's not a great situation. It's funny you
asked that, Tim this morning. I actually was trying to
dive into some of the history to remind myself, all right,
it's easy for us to say, all right, Embiid hasn't
played there forever, and yet again he was missing an action.
But I wanted to go back to all of the
absences and kind of remind myself what led to them
(23:54):
were their injuries? Was he just taking the night off?
But however you slice it, the optics are really bad
for Joel, They're really bad for the NBA. You know,
this is the exact type of game that the NBA
was trying to prioritize. A Saturday afternoon, you know, high
profile ABC affair one day before you know, the NFL's
(24:15):
Championship Sunday, no less, where it felt very much like
the NBA's chance to get their little kind of chunk
of the ratings before they all go towards football the
next day and everybody tunes in to see the two
big fellas battle it out, and Joel has gone yet again. Now,
the way I do my job, and you know this
(24:37):
just being a media guy yourself, like, context matters a lot, right,
So I think in fairness to Joel, it should also
be shared that some of the reporting since then has
been that, for one, there's there's definitely video clips from
his previous game against the Pacers where he hits his
knee and it looks very very real, very very serious,
(24:58):
where he's holding his knee hobbling, you know, and then
he did keep playing, So that's what people are going
to point to. But it didn't look great, and I
can understand where the concern about the knee was. And
then in regard to the fact that the Sixers did
not even have him on the injury report heading into Denver,
which is that's going to be the red flag for
(25:18):
the NBA. The reporting from this is, you know, I
have not confirmed this independently, but promoter shell work from
ESPN had indicated that Joelle was so held in on
playing in that game, ironically, that he told the Sixers
just don't even worry about putting my knee on the
injury report. I'm playing the damn game. And then ultimately
the medical staff said, you're not. It doesn't look good. So,
(25:41):
you know, I'm sure that's the stuff that the league
has been sifting through in its investigation. I'm curious to
see what they ultimately decide to do, but it was
it was certainly unfortunate for everybody involved.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
All right, before we wrap things up, they have a
couple of minutes left. I do have to ask you
about the trade wins that maybe swirling. We've seen some
moves already Siakam to Indiana, Ognanobi to the Knicks, anybody
else that you see being on the move. What might
happen in the next ten days?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean Dejante Murray of the Hawks is certainly
the guy who is now front and center. Feels very
much like the next guy to go, but not quite
sure where he's gonna go just yet. I felt like
it seemed inevitable that he was headed towards the Lakers.
But you know, there have been extensive talks between those
two teams and it seems like an obstacle is D'Angelo
(26:35):
Russell's future. Where the Hawks don't appear to have interest
in Russell as part of their group. And so then
the question becomes, can you find a third team to
work with and have that be a Russell landing spot?
Do you need to do a side deal where you,
you know, trade d Angela Russell for an expiring contract
that you could then give to the Hawks. But if
(26:57):
you do that, that gets complicated, becau because the team
taking Russell might push for for a draft pick, in
which case you're you're losing assets that you thought you
were going to use and in the deal with the
Lakers or with the Hawks. So we'll see what happens.
But Desonte, you know the Hawks have been bad organizationally.
They clearly decided that the fit with Trey Young is
(27:20):
not what they hoped that it would be. They gave
up a lot of assets to get Deconte a couple
of years back, and you have a new group running
the front office that is trying to salvage that which
you know, their rivals really obviously don't care about about
those those aspirations. So a lot of a lot of
stuff to get through. But Dejonte to me, is the
(27:40):
next big name.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
There we go. Sam, can't thank you enough always outstanding
insights on the NBA, and we really appreciate you dropping by.
We know it's a busy time of year for you,
no doubt about it, so for you to spend a
few moments with us greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You got it.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Thank you, Tim, Thank you Sam Amic from the Athletic
joining us on this week's edition of Cabs ahe Q
presented by Betway Quick time out, more to come, so
stay with us on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
Charif left elbow, I'll front the zaire white slot.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
I'll lead forth to three. All so wish I'll lead
for thirty points coming down left side with the left hands,
put it off the class, put it up an in
serief with nineteen jarif with.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Five at top of the key, hooked at the zaire
left slot, another.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Three, he got another one tire Smith twenty three back
to back freeze Welcome Back cavs age Q presented by
bet Way, all along the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audio verse.
Great to have you with us, and boy, great to
hear those highlight calls from the voice of the Cleveland Charge,
(28:52):
Scott Zerrilla and as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz,
there's no place like home. The Urgs back home after
a seven game road swing in which they went three
and four, and those highlights are from the finale of
that seven game swing as the Charge in Portland, Maine
(29:13):
one on Saturday night over the Main Celtics one ten
to one oh three, and we thought it would be
fun to have Scott Thrilla stop by and pay us
a visit as he gets used to being back home again.
Great to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's great to be home and great to be with you. Tim. Yeah,
we were. We were joking earlier that it's fun. I know,
you know, travel is fun, but it's still travel. And
that was quite a trip of the guys, as you mentioned, three,
three and four on seven days, seven games in fifteen days,
that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
And to win that final game. You and I have
been around basketball and sports in general a long time.
That last game of a long road trip. We've seen
it the guys going, man, let's just get back home.
But to be in Portland and knock off that Celtic
team and a heck of a ball game Saturday night,
that speaks volumes, you know, Tim.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
They lost the night before on Friday, and I think
the most impressive thing not only I mean, they did
so many things well in the win on Saturday, but
they came out strong and you need that, you need
to kind of have that belief. And then they had
the lead and they didn't allow the Celtics. The Celtics
kept making runs, but they never really let them get
(30:28):
back into the game. So that quote intestinal fortitude. As
you said, it was huge. It's so easy to just
I'm tired, you know, blah blah, I want to go home. Yeah,
but they didn't. And that's as much on the players
as it is on the coaching staff to have those
guys ready and to convince them, Hey, every game counts
(30:49):
and you never know at the end of the year
how many wins and losses, you know, et cetera. There's
going to be, but you don't want to look back
and say you gave a game away. And if you're
able to sneak in by one game, you can look
back in Maningal, that might be the one that was
the clincher to, you know, to make the difference in
making the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Scott, everybody has heard about the exploits of Imani Bates
with the charge, and we'll touch on Amani here in
a minute. But during that highlight montage, we heard some
terrific basketball from Aleen Ford and Zaire Smith talk about
two guys and are those two guys and really anybody
else that stood out for you?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Well, I'll tell you what, Aleen Ford, I'm so glad
we heard that highlight because while I have not tabulated
his up to date three point shooting. He did have
that season. I thirty points on Saturday, I hit five
three balls in the last pretty much through that trip,
he hit about forty five percent from beyond the line.
At one point he was about fourteen of twenty seven.
(31:49):
He's just a nice, solid three and D guy at
six 't eighty. He's got good size. They rely on
him to shoot the three ball and usually between he
and Zi Smith taking the best offensive player on the
other team and Tire Smith, same thing. The guy's been
mister reliable, you know, twelve points per game. He had
a season nine twenty three in the win, a couple
(32:11):
of three balls, shooting thirty seven percent from beyond the
three point line. You know, we've heard the name, as
you said, Amani Bates, Isaiah Mobley, Shari Cooper, but there
have been other guys we got to talk about. Pete
NaN's two other guys that have just really stepped up
and played well for the Charge.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Well, let's touch Onny Moni real quick, because of course,
word broke earlier this week that Imani has been chosen
to participate in the twenty four NBA G League up
next game and that'll be All Star weekend at G
League Park. But just talk a little bit about what
Amani has shown and really what an honor this is
for him.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Well, the first thing, and you've seen him, he's so
much fun to watch. Yes, his his stutter steps, his enthusiasm,
how he clears space, how he's able to just hop
to it left top to his rights, cross you over,
and then those ridiculous high arcing threes, and he gets
(33:06):
so hot in these stretches where it's just so much
fun to watch. Now, that's the fun part. He's averaging
twenty four points about five rebounds. But I think he
and the coaching staff would also be the first ones
to tell you that he definitely he still has to
tighten up his game a little bit. He's a little
loose with the handle and he needs to be a
little bit better of a defender. But that's why he's
(33:28):
playing fifteen games with the Charge thus far, because, as
we saw with Sam Merrill a full season with the
Charge last year, tighten up the game, fine tune it
a little bit so that when you get your opportunities
with the Cavaliers, you're ready to go. Sam has done that,
and again, Amani's he's nineteen years old, you know what
I mean, he turns. Matter of fact, he just turned
(33:51):
twenty years old. Pardon me, but you know he's one
of those guys that you see, all of the potential
is there. Now. We just have to coach in work
him up a little bit. But I think the sky's
the limit for him. And again for the listeners right now,
if you haven't watched a Charge game, if you haven't
been down. We'll talk more about this later too, but
come down because he has so much fun to watch.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Hey, real quick, I'm gonna let you toot your own horn.
Not that you've ever done that before, but a year ago, Hey,
you called Sam Merrill. You said, Tim, this kid might
be the best shooter I've seen in a long time.
Wait till he gets regular minutes at the NBA level.
You called it on Sam.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Well. I mean, as much as I'd like to say
how incredibly smart and talented I am, which I am,
but just you see him because his footwork and the
way he squares and his quick release. And I saw that.
A couple of coaches, Tarron Lou last night, Jamie Bickers
haven't said it. He's kind of a I say, poor man.
But he's a lot like Kyle Korver. He just can
(34:53):
get the shot off. And when you're shooting forty three
percent from beyond the line, give the guy a little
bit of space and he's gonna make you. And look
what he has done for the Cavaliers this season.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
It's been fantastic, boy, no doubt about it. Again, we're
talking with Scott Zerrilla, he's the voice of the Cleveland Charge.
Charge back home tomorrow night. In fact, Scott, there's some
things coming up down at the Wolstein Center as far
as the Charge are concerned. That, as you said, hey
go down and see this basketball team. Talk a little
bit about that.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, Tim, how about that? A three game homestand it's unbelievable.
I'm shocked. I don't know what to do with myself
other than laundry and grocery shop. Well, tomorrow night at
seven o'clock they play Greensboro. It's what's called a winning
week night. So if the Charge win tomorrow night, if
you're in the stands, you'll get a ticket to Friday's
game against Delaware. Winning week nights, just like the greatest
(35:44):
invention ever, right be there. They win, you get a
free ticket to the next home game, so that's tomorrow night.
Friday is a Salute to Service night, and you know, Tim,
you know this between the Cavaliers, a Monster and the Charge,
we do such a great job with salute the you know,
celebrating the men and women you know that take care
of the sacrifice and defend our country. So we will
(36:06):
be doing that on Friday night. And then Sunday, that's
just seven o'clock game as well. Sunday one of the
fun games. It's Marvel Superhero Day and that's to be
presented by Immagumate Cleaning. It's a three o'clock tip, but
the first three thousand fans we'll get a charge Marvel
comic book. I've seen them. They're really cool. And the
(36:26):
team will be wearing Captain America jerseys.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Scott, what are you wearing?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I'm actually gonna be wearing Captain America red, white and blue.
I've got my blue suit, my red tie, my white shirt. Right,
come on, that's no cape. Captain America doesn't wear a cape.
You think superheroes, I don't think you do, otherwise you
wouldn't have said it. But anyway, those jerseys are great
(36:53):
and Sam Armstrong and the marketing department do such a
great job of coming up with the unifor. But the
uniforms afterwards, you're auctioned off after the game with all
the benefits going to the Greater Cleveland Fisher House. So
it's a really good Homestand I said seven o'clock tomorrow,
seven o'clock on Friday, three o'clock Sunday afternoon. Lots going on,
(37:15):
and I mean I'm being the shield. But it's the
fact ticket's only five dollars, right, the five dollars. Come
on down. It's great atmosphere. Two plus we've got the
great new video scoreboard which has really made the in
game experience so much more fun. So come on down,
give us a try.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
There you go. It's great entertainment, it's great basketball. And
of course Scott Zrilla, even without a cape, is a
guy to be seen down there.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Ze man, we appreciate the time, tim anytime I'll stay
to talk with you.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Scott Zrilla, a superhero in his own right, joining us
here on keVs HQ presented by Betway. We'll take a
time out. We'll put the finishing touches on this week's show.
After this on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers Audio vers that's
going to do it for this week's edition of Cavs HQ,
presented by Betway Fun Show. Huge thank you of course
(38:08):
to the Dynamic Duo, Senior producer Kurt McLoughlin, technical director
Marty Allen, our guest Sam Amick from the Athletic and
of course this e man Scott Sorilla from the Cleveland
Charge CAP's back in action tomorrow night they host Detroit.
That game will tip at seven Huntington tip Off show
at six point thirty on the Medical Mutual Cavaliers audiover So.
(38:29):
Until then, tim Elcorn saying thank you for listening, and
so long everybody
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Now, long long nine list
Hosts And Creators
Tim Alcorn
Jim Chones
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