The Strus Is Loose

The Cleveland Cavaliers have completed a sign and trade for Max Strus, as well as signed free agents Georges Niang and Ty Jerome. Justin and Carter break down the Cavs free agent moves and what it could all mean for the roster next season. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This crowd rises to its being.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
What Carl slamming it?

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Oh Darl, left wing free ball perfect Darlin pop, then
the half block, the shot at the rim, how with
the left hand and a fowl. Welcome to the chasetownt Podcast,
part of the Kaz Media family. I'm your host, Justin Rowan.
The Chase Doown is presented by Fubo TV. Watch over
one hundred channels of live sports and TV for half

(00:24):
the cost of table. There's no contract and no commitment.
Try for free at FuboTV dot com. Free agency has begun,
and you know what that means. The struce is loose.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Baby.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Joining me today to discuss the start of the free
agency for the Cleveland Cavaliers is my co host Carter Rodriguez. Carter,
how you doing, buddy? I'm doing good.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
My myobs completely froze up throughout that whole intest, so
I have no idea what our listeners are gonna get
to see or hear. But you know, sad left Sea Biscuit,
we evened up in time to actually talk about basketball.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
That's the that's the important thing as well, And you
know what the intros in there for audio, I was
a little confused looking at the black screen. But you
know what, shaky start, but we're going to pull it together. Carter,
how you doing, buddy, I'm I'm I'm I'm excited to
talk about this. You know, we we had said that
we kind of expected the Cavs to get aggressive in
free agency. This is a front office that's routinely been aggressive.

(01:20):
This is a team that I think has made it
pretty clear that they have serious aspirations en when it
comes to their long term goals. And this is, you know,
a team that appears to have gone very creative and
found some ways to improve this team in ways that
I think are meaningful. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well, first off, I'm glad we can talk about it.
We're finally joining the party, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
And now that these official, these signings are official, you know,
the incas is drying. Might not be dry yet, Calves
might use DOCU sign who's to say. But either way,
I'm feeling really really excited about what the team did.
Because there's stuff to quibble with, and I think it's
we're going to talk about some of those things as

(02:08):
we go through this podcast. But the number one thing
I wanted out of this offseason, you can go back
and listen on the record. All I wanted was for
this team to address the obvious stuff first and make
it so we could have a better evaluation of the
coaching staff, of the core four of Evan Mobley, and

(02:34):
I think they've done that. It is now with the
additions of niang Strus and even Ty Jerome, who is
another player who fits. So I'm excited about that we
can jump into. I feel like they have added rotation
bodies that will make minutes very competitive. They've added shooting

(02:55):
that will, you know, make things spaced in a legitimate way.
I mean, we talked all last season about how Jetty
just kind of getting hot sometimes the way that changed
the game for the team. And they added a couple
maybe the two best shooters in free agency, So you know,
I'm very very excited. I think there's stuff to quibble

(03:16):
with there here. I think there's some questions that still
need to be answered, But overall, I think Kolby Altman
aggressively did the easy stuff in a weird way, you know,
like yeah, like I think you could have been for
an asset poor team. It would have been easy just
to use them at level and walk away. But I
think they did a really nice job of using what

(03:38):
assets they had to address clear needs. So I'm stoked.
I'm really excited to see what this team would look
like justin at no point last season, especially with Kevin
Love slump, and could this team throw out three bona
fide shooters at the same time time that teams would

(04:01):
panic if they were left wide open. I would venture
to say twenty seven other teams could say that they
could do that and the Cavs couldn't while they won
fifty one games. So I'm just so excited to see
what optionality this gives them heading into next season and

(04:23):
kind of how their presence will be the tide that
raises the boats for the calves best players. Yeah, I
completely agree with that, And I think you know, when
you talk about you know, looking at the startup free agency,
which I honestly like you look at the moves that
have been made, the amount of kind of options that

(04:45):
the Calves had to play with to begin with, I
wouldn't be surprised if we're pretty much done for the
offseason like this. This is quite a few guys that
you feel comfortable having in the rotation, and it's the
type of moves that we were hoping for right the
rotation pieces that you can put around the core to
as you said, better evaluate both the coaching staff as

(05:06):
well as the core that this Cavs team has. And
I think you've got to give credit to Kobe Oltman for,
you know, getting creative. We have to own up to
a mistake on my part, or I have to own
up to a mistake on my part where I said
you couldn't do sign and trade as well as use
the mid level exception.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Still getting my feet wet, would say, what we might
not be cap experts. We might not be cap experts,
but you know, finding a way to get the Max
Strus deal done. Who you and I both agreed that
was our top target going into free agency. Got that
deal done, and your backup target was to not use
the mid level exception but to split it. And the

(05:43):
number one guy you named was Bang Bang Yang Man.
And look who is on the Cleveland Cavaliers. George Niang
very excited to have in the minivan on this team.
But I think for Kobe to you don't make another
move to add another guard, a big six ' five guard,
so that you have a rotation where I mean, depending
on whether or not you're using Ricky Rubio, if certain

(06:05):
Knights you're using Ti Jerome instead of Ricky Rubial, or
if he earns that spot over Ricky, the only players
you will be playing under six foot five are Donovan
Mitchell and Darius Garland's. That's a type of option that
you didn't really have last season. And so I think
Kobe deserves a lot of credit, and I think ownership
deserves a lot of credit to cash Chairman Dan Gilbert,

(06:26):
you know, to continue to spend, to continue to be aggressive,
to empower Kobe to make these type of moves. I
think that this is another confirmation that this organization is
serious about trying to contend. And as we look west
to you know, Portland falling apart. One of the reasons
that didn't work out was because you know, they kind

(06:48):
of got complacent multiple times, right, multiple times throughout that
Liller window. It was all right, we're refine with the
guys we have here. We don't really need to make
any moves. Let's just solely really lie on internal growth.
Where's the calves. They've been aggressive. They made a swing
to add Donovan Mitchell and to accelerate the timeline to
accelerate the expectations. It didn't work out at the trade deadline.

(07:10):
You saw some reports that Philly turned down two second
round picks at the deadline for George Niang from the Cavs.
Right like, we know that the Caves are being aggressive.
Kobe said he was being aggressive at the deadline and
the options just weren't there. But now you have, you know,
you retain carousel vert which we probably should have mentioned
by now, on a two year deal, and added multiple

(07:31):
rotation players. I just feel a whole lot better about
how healthy this rotation can be. And I love the
fact that there's actually going to be competition for minutes
because there are viable options. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
Both the reported term in number for Kars felt really
really good. You know, I think that there was some
concerns that, you know, the Calves given up fair menal
leverage by not trading him at the deadline and going
into free agency kind of knowing that as an over
the team you were going to need to find a
way to you know, or or projected to be over

(08:04):
the captain, You're probably gonna have to find a way
to hold onto that salary slot for flexibility moving forward.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
And the fact that they were able to come to.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
A great deal for both sides. That that's really really
exciting because I thought Kars, you know, showed a lot
in that postseason run. I still have some quibbles about
the fit, but I'm quibbling a lot less when you
can put a Max Strus in lineups with him, a
Georgia s Nang in lineups with him, that kind of

(08:35):
allow him to play his game a little bit more freely.
You know, we talk about the value that shooting will
add for for our stars, and obviously that that's going
to be there. You know, I've talked a lot about
how Darius and DONI whenever they were staggered, whenever one
was playing, one was sitting, they were the only shooter
on the floor, and because the other one was sitting,

(08:56):
they were the only creator on the floor. That was
an elite creator. Kris is a good creator. But you know,
they were going to be handed the keys of the
offense when they're alone. So yes, obviously they're going to
have more room to operate with teams are going to
not be able to shade as heavy all that fun stuff.
I don't think enough is being discussed on Twitter right
now and among the fan base about how much easier

(09:20):
this makes the role players lives. Karris LeVert with a
space floor and a pick and roll has shown he
really can can make an impact as a as a
play initiator. You know, his reads are are solid, not elite,
so when you give him clearer sight lines, I think

(09:41):
you're going to get a better result. Isaac Ocoro went
from being a guy because of the lineups he's playing
in pretty much exclusively had to function as a spacer,
and when he did cut to the rim, he often
was cutting into congested space unless you know the shape
of the play allowed. Otherwise, if he's in lineups with
Max Strus and Georgia Sniang, well, all of a sudden,

(10:03):
it's going to be a lot easier for him to
be lurking around the dunker spot or setting screens.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
You know.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
So I just think writ large, they just so desperately
needed shooting. This is what I talked about at the deadline,
and part of the reason I was so disappointed they
didn't make a deal at the deadline, which is because
I just have felt that adding bonafide shooting, that bonafide
volume shooting, that defenses actually really respect and fear was

(10:31):
going to have that Channing Fry in twenty sixteen effect,
where once they traded for him, it was like, oh,
this is way harder for teams to deal with. And
I think they have that optionality now, And yeah, I
just think. I just think shooting is the one skill.
Shooting is really one of the only skills in the

(10:51):
basketball court that just by existing helps everyone.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, and they've added that. Yep, I agree. And speaking
of Channing Fry in twenty sixteen, this was a fun
little fact from DH to in our discord. We're definitely
dealing with some sticker shock when we look at the
contracts in today's NBA right now.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
But if you look at the.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Percentage of the cap that Max Druce got signed for
and Karris Lavert reportedly is around kind of the same
annual value, that is less of a percentage of the
captain Channing Fry got paid in twenty sixteen when they
won the championship, and it.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Is less slightly.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
More than Ammon Sumpert the following year in sixteen seventeen and.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Slightly below what Jr.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Was being paid in that year, right, And like that
just goes to show you, right, like we it's going
to take us a while to get used to that.
But I think that you look at the reported terms,
they look like what you pay role guys, right, this
is what you pay either bench players, which Chris fiedor mentioned.
You know, Karris Lavert took a pay cut. I think
he would have been one of the best free agent

(11:54):
options out there, just because free agency has.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
Been wing market was very narrow. Poor Kelly Race floating
in the ether right now, dude.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Honestly, free agency, I think in general has just kind
of been nerved with this new CBA, Like we do
not see stars hit free agency almost ever at this point,
Like it's that was kind of what you hear, right,
like Adam Silver. What they wanted to achieve is we're
now at a point where you know, free agents don't
hit or stars don't hit free agency. If teams are

(12:22):
going to lose a star, it's going to be for compensation.
Like it's a lot of kind of trades, a lot
of sign and trades, a lot of ways to figure
things out. But you look at what those guys are
getting paid, and you feel really good about it. And
I also feel really good looking back at the contract
that Jared Allen's on, Like, that looks like an incredibly
valuable deal at this point. It's not much more than

(12:44):
TT was being paid in those dollars back then. And
you look at the some of the contracts that were
signed Boosfitch, same reported value, Yaka Peartle, who is one
of the guys that we mentioned. Hey, you know you
could probably you could sign a Yaku Perle and get
eighty percent of the product for you know, a fraction
of the cost, same contract over the same term, right, Like,

(13:05):
I think that that is such a good value contract.
And the cas are now in a position where if
they have to make adjustments down the road, you have
these rotation players on movable deals. I hate talking about
players this way, and you hope that everyone you sign
works out with you, but having that optionality really matters
in today's NBA. So I think that they did a

(13:26):
really good job giving themselves depth as well as you know,
contracts that you can work with.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
Yeah, and here's the thing that's also worth noting, WHI
while we're talking about the money side of things, obviously
all these numbers are just reported. We're still you know,
we're always kind of in the ether on this sort
of stuff. They're not a tax team right now, Like
they are not in the luxury tax with Darius Garland,
Donovan Mitchell, Jared Allen, Karis Lavert, Max Truce, Georgis Niang,

(13:55):
Evan Mobley all sign this year.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
And next, like and.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Ruby have signed this year next and on a valuable
deal they get seen Wade, Yeah, so they have. They
are like not remotely close to that, you know, because
that second tax apron is going to scare teams, and
it should. The pro it is crazy prohibitive, and like
there's a reason why you're gonna see I think the

(14:23):
price for stars is going to get deflated by that
second apron on the trade market even I think people
teams are going to be pretty darn wary before trading
for sixty million dollars of Dame Lillard in his their
age thirty six season as a result of that. So
the fact that this team with this talent level is
not a tax team yet. Yes, Donovan Mitchell is going
to be due for a big fat extension here in

(14:44):
the next couple of years. Evan Mobley is gonna is
gonna get a nice payday. But also you got to remember, guys,
new TV deals coming, cap should be jumping. We don't
know for sure obviously, but like, I think they're in
a really really good place from a cap management perspective,
and like, so that's why I like, I think just

(15:06):
I think this is where we'll talk about some quibbles.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Like Struce.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
I thought Stru's at the mid level was like, that's
a little risky, he runs a little hot and cold.
He got more of the mid level yep. Reportedly Nyang,
I thought, you know, maybe half your mid level. He
got a little bit more than half. So like, I
think there were some goals in the actuals and the
values that are being reported out there, but that does
not in any way like undercut how excited I am,

(15:34):
because like for the Cabs, that two to four million
dollars a year per player is just not that meaningful
and how they're going to operate moving forward.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's the players, right, That's that's a VET minimum, Like
would you rather, you know, sign a lesser player that
addresses fewer of your needs to basically, like, would you
swap a VET minimum contract out to upgrade that position?

Speaker 3 (15:57):
I would?

Speaker 1 (15:57):
I I if it means keeping an empty roster spot,
for the rest of the season, even just to stay
below that luxury tax I am comfortable with that because
I think the guys that they added are meaningful upgrades,
and I think this is the time where we should
probably kind of transition into what these guys are actually bringing.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
I do.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Before we get to that, though, I do think we
need to kind of say goodbye to both Jeddi Osmond
and Lamar Stevens. I think Lamar was a great Actually,
both of these guys really are great player development stories.
You know, Jeddy was a draft and stash guy. Took
him a couple of years to come over. Remember, he
was a guy that did not really have a jumper

(16:36):
when he first came over to the Cavs, and that
was something that they worked year over year to develop.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Obviously we've talked about many times him being in and
out of the lineup and you know, responding to the criticism,
and you know, I think he deserves a lot of credit.
I think Lamar his willingness to always stay ready and
step in at times. I think we should definitely kind
of mention them at least as you know, departing members

(17:04):
of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah, you know, it's uh, you know, Chetty was the
longest tenured member of the teams, which is which is crazy,
and yes it is Darius now, which is perhaps crazier.
It's obviously you're gonna miss You're gonna miss him. You're
gonna miss uh, you know, in terms of the on
court stuff, you're gonna miss Jetty's kind of chaos. That

(17:28):
he could bring his speed and transition his size. That's
the thing that you if you're gonna quibble with the
way the roster looks right now, Jety was their only
six seven plus wing. That is a true wing, Lamar.
Obviously you're going to miss the fact that jab could
turn to them and go, hey, Lamar, the starters are
pissing me off, go play hard please and uh and

(17:51):
shame them.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
You know, so you are going to miss that kind
of stuff. There's no way around it. But you know,
with that said, I still think like the team is
going to be is gonna They're gonna miss them. But ultimately,
like I think these are the moves that they kind
of needed to make, They needed to shake things up.
My off season goal was two two no doubt rotation

(18:14):
players with a third maybe that person could sneak in,
and I you know, I think they've definitely checked box one.
We'll see if they end up checking box two with
any of their other editions.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
But really, you don't have Jerome in that Hey, maybe
you could sneak in kind of he could, I just
don't know if he will. That's like, that's question kind
of the whole defining concept behind the word could well
shut up?

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Uh yeah, so uh, I'm I'm just I'm just really
excited and interested to see how this team is gonna
work together. Should we dive in and just start breaking
down these dudes? I talk about their games because you know,
I still think there's a lot We've got a lot
to learn.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Still, Yeah, I agree, And I think you mentioned it before,
like the disappointment we had that kas weren't able to
find a move at the deadline, a shooter like Max
Druce was the type of guy that we had wanted
to see the KAvZ Ad and the fact that it
only cost them one second round pick, so they still
have second round picks to mess around with in the future.

(19:17):
For just for the record, that's the LA Lakers twenty
twenty sixth second round pick that they moved and you
return retain carrosel Verda. I think is a big win. Obviously,
Max Drewce we talked about it on the last podcast
Fourth Percentile. In terms of how open his shots are,
this guy has legitimate gravity, and I think more importantly,

(19:38):
he has something that you had mentioned that you wanted
to see Carter when you were watching the playoffs, which
is a willingness to fire away on those contested three pointers.
Those you know, moderately open shots that we would have
complained about during the year, Well you know they were
contested looks.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Max Dreuce is.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Willing to pull off of all of those shots. He's
willing to pull coming off of which I think is
a big, big difference when you're talking about the difference
between he and Jeddi Osmon, Like, even though he's playing
with probably now the two best playmakers he's played with,
and Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, I don't necessarily expect
a massive jump in the openness of his shots because

(20:18):
he's still going to have a lot of those off
screen actions where guys are coming up to the level,
but he's coming off that screen already thinking I'm going
to shoot I'm going to take this shot, and he
makes those at a high level. Thirty two percent of
his scoring opportunities last year came off of a screen,
which is in the ninety six percentile. You look at
Jeddy Osman, only thirteen percent of his shots came off

(20:39):
of screens. We saw time and time again where he
would come off a ball screen, a dribble handoff and
because the defender was coming up to the level, he hesitates,
he passes the ball off to another guard. If we're
relayed in the shot clock, it's going to lead to
an isolation possession. The defense gets the chance to reset
and go down into rebounding position. Those opportunities will not

(21:02):
be there because Max Strews is such a willing shooter.
So I think adding a movement shooter is a big,
big deal.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Sorry to continue my rant here, Carter. I will let
you speak in a minute. We talked about his shooting
splits last year, right in terms of how he was shooting.
I thought it would be fun to take an average
of the last two seasons because last year, even though
he profiled as a better shooter than Jeddy, when you
look at those ratings, it was still a down year
for him overall. But if you look at the average

(21:32):
from the last two seasons three point percentage thirty eight percent,
pull up threes thirty four point one, catch and shoot
thirty eight point seven. Above the break threes he shot
thirty four point four percent and from the corners forty
seven point two percent. From three man he's shot forty
five percent last year, forty nine percent the year before.

(21:52):
This guy is money from the corners.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Yeah, I think that you're all this spot on. You
did all the research and work, so you know, you
get to rant and ramble.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
It's really the.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Only reason I do research is because I just love
to hear myself talk.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
And God, God bless you for it. But yeah, I
think that the one thing I'll note really smart relocator,
you know, you know, that's one of my favorite things.
And I so specifically remember I think it was a
Tony pasta tweet kind of just breaking down two or
three plays in the next series where Jetty if he
just relocated, if he had just slid over five or

(22:30):
six steps on a drive, he would have been wide
open for three but stayed where he was and you know,
let his man help while not you know, actually really
working himself open. Struce is gonna be able to do
that for you. I think he's got enough on ball
juice to attack a close out.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
He's not.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
I think he's not going to be as dynamic of
an attacker as Jetty. I think Jedty's a little better
with the ball in his hands. But the fact is
that I think you can trust him to make the
right play. And because teams are flying at him so
with you know, such reckless abandon most of the time,
he's gonna get easier rim attacks than Jedti got. So

(23:12):
even if the the you know, I remember we talked
about this with Steph Curry. Obviously, Streus is not nearly
the shooter Steph is. No one is, But I remember
we talked about.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
You just got Lima, you just got Lima ready to attack.
I know he's mad already.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
But like I remember, like people would talk about how
Steph is one of the great finishers at point guard
of his era, and I'm like, I mean, statistically, yeah,
but he's getting wide open layups because people are flying
at him, yeah, and so afraid of the three that
they're letting the drive up. And I think Strus is
going to have that. I do did want to note
to your point about kind of playoff shooting and about

(23:47):
still having to take tightly contested shots. I think the
idea of they're not gonna leave him is a misnomer,
you know, the idea of like I think people think
that because you're a shooter, you won't be helped off
of It's that that's not true. You still have to help.
If Donovan Mitchell has his man on an island and

(24:08):
beats that guy, Max Struce's guy is gonna have to
come down from the corner from the wing, and just.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Like they left Jr.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
To help right exactly, but they are going to have
to close out harder and faster on Struce, and that
bins your defense and gets it all out of shape.
The Calves had such such a struggle getting the knicks
out of their shell defensively, and I'm really hoping that

(24:35):
some extra shooting juice will give them that ability to
get defensive out of their shell just a little bit
more because they have the on Baldy stabilizers. But you
need that next step where you're not record scratching when
you kick it out.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
No, both Max Strus and George nying will be left
for the Calves Corp. The defenses are going to still
try to take away a Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland
are doing. You'll probably see in the playoffs the same
thing that we saw with Evan Mobley. You know this
year where Mitchell Robinson was sagging off of him at

(25:10):
the high post, saying, okay, we dare you to take
a floater or take a jumper. We're going to take
away your passing lanes and we're going to impact your
effectiveness as a role man. Playing in the short role,
Evan Mobley is going to need to develop that aspect
of his game to get defenses to come up to him.
He's going to need to recognize when the help is
coming and find Max Strius and George Nang. That's going

(25:32):
to need to be a very important part of his development.
But I think you are on the money that even
though guys are going to leave Strus, they're going to
leave Niang. It's going to be different. They're going to
close out harder. It's really the difference between helping off
of a guy and ignoring a guy in the corner, right,
That is such an important difference because they are going

(25:54):
to initially be with Max Streus, They're not going to
be in as good position to help as they would
be if it's a shoe they're flat out leaving and
living with. That's not going to be the case. And
even in instances where there isn't a lot of space,
that willingness to shoot is going to destabilize defenses, especially
coming off of movement, and that's going to open up

(26:14):
offensive rebounding opportunities. That should be a strength. As Evan
Mobley and Jared Allen continue to add strength and get better,
Donovan Mitchell crashes the glass, it's going to open up
opportunities for someone like Isaac oh Korrel if he's playing
with the second unit, to crash the offensive glass, which
is something he got better at as the year went along.
So I do think that that's a really, really important defense.

(26:37):
Strews isn't an elite shooter. He's a very very good shooter,
but he's a streaky shooter. And I think you pointing out,
you know it was hot and cold in the playoffs,
that's an important thing to bring up, but it's not
an uncommon thing even when you're talking about elite shooters
because This is a guy that shot thirty six percent
from three prior to the NBA Finals and shot terribly

(27:00):
the NBA Finals. He had that like zero of ten
game he just did not click. He did perform well.
I think it was Game five where there's a fair
bit of kind of pressure on him and whatnot. But
I don't think this is necessarily a reflection of his
ability to perform in the playoffs because some of the
best shooters in NBA history we see this, right, It's

(27:21):
the whole reason why you had guys like Barkley say
you can't win with a jump shooting team, because even
the best jump shooters do go cold for a game
or for a series. Danny Green has had ten playoff
series where he shot below thirty percent from three Kyle Korver, six,
Kevin Durant eat Ray Allen, eat Donovan Mitchell or in

(27:42):
fact is obviously one of those was the next that
was his fourth that wasn't even in his bottom three
shooting performances from three in a playoff series. And we
know that's a guy that can shoot, and we know
that's a guy that has been a big time playoff performer.
It goes to show the variance. But I do think
the gravity that Excruce has is really important even when.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Justin, I think we lost justin everybody, did did we
lose me? That's the next question. Uh, listeners, can you
hear me right now? Uh?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
In the in the chat? What a day? What a
d Indeed? All right? Are you here? I'm back now?
I lost your video? I see that stall talk to podcasts.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
This is rough stuff, everybody, We're gonna have to go
full screen.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Well, justin, just keep talking now, We'll get you. We'll
get you. We'll get your camera back in here in
a second. Yeah, yeah, okay, so there you are.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
Where did you did your internet die?

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Bro?

Speaker 1 (28:47):
My internet did not die. It just all of a sudden,
the USB did not recognize my microphone and apparently my camera. Technology. Guys,
happens happens is the best of us, you know what,
most of us. Just like Cold Shooting series happened to
even the best shooters. Sometimes technology will fail the best podcasters,

(29:08):
which we are certainly not even that, so it definitely
can happen to us.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Where did I cut off Carter?

Speaker 2 (29:15):
You?

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Gosh?

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Remember now, I'm so flustered, but you know, you know what,
didn't let us down. Justin is our video conference. Software
support for this podcast and the following message come from Zoom.
Half a million businesses connect using Zoom, a single platform
for phone, chat, workspaces, events, apps, and video. Zoom enables
real time collaboration for teams around the globe. Zoom how

(29:37):
the world connects. Let it be Let it be known.
This technical flow was not Zoom's fault. It was Justin's
shoddy computer. But we're okay, we're back. Okay, let's talk
about Max Strus's defense because I think that is you know,
again if we're quibbling, uh, that he's not a great

(30:00):
So what have you seen from watching Strews on that
end of the ball.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, so I obviously talked to our buddies at heat
Beat and what about Max Strus? And it was funny
because even though he was my top free agency target,
I was probably a little lower on them, lower on
him than even they were. I was corrected that, you know,
he's a good not great defender, Like he's someone that's

(30:27):
going to compete on that end. You look at the data,
he's someone that does you know, navigate screens very well defensively,
but on ball he has a lot of limitations. This
isn't someone that's going to be a big time the
difference maker on the defensive end of the court, but
you know he's someone that's going to compete. He's going
to be in position, and I think with the defensive
infrastructure of Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, you probably are

(30:50):
going to feel good about him being on the court.
And I think the most consistent thing with JB. Bickerstaff
is if the effort is there and you are where
you're supposed to be, do you You can get beat defensively
at times, but as long as you're giving that effort
and you're competing on that end, you're going to continue
to get minutes. And I think that was the spot

(31:10):
we saw with Jety where just sometimes you know, the
focus just wasn't there, where he get beat on a
really bad backcut or just have those type of lapses
that we get him out of the rotation. I don't
necessarily think that's going to happen with Struce, but I
think people that are labeling him as a like flat
out three and D stopper, that's that's not the guy you're.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Getting who's labeling him? Is that one thing that I
find interesting about Struce is that even though he's only
six or five, he does guard up pretty well. Per
Basketball Reference, last year he played fifty seven percent of
his minutes at the small forward position and another twenty
seven percent at the power forward. You know, Miami played very,

(31:52):
very small last year. That's that's no secret. They really
only had one big they trusted, and that was Bam
out of Bio. But knowing that you can survive in
those lineups at the three and at the four, I
think is is really helpful for a team that obviously
is going to be playing their two guards quite a bit.
I think if he's playing at the three, you know,
the onus does go up on Darius to guard point

(32:14):
of attack point guards and for Donnie to do his
job on the defensive end as well. Like you you,
I think the big wings, you can still probably throw
Evan Mobley on and fits and starts and have Struce
guard a non threatening big. You know, I'm not terrified
to stash Max Strus on an Al Horford while Evan

(32:36):
Mobley guards Jason Tatum in lineup combinations like that, but
it is going to be an interesting limitation to work around,
you know, something that they've really liked in the JB
Era is being able to have Isaaca korro out there,
or a Dean Weight out there that's more of a
defensive specialist, or even Keris, who while I still don't

(32:58):
think as an elite defender, is a.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
So yeah, he competed, Like help.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
He competed, and especially on ball, I still think plenty
of off ball lapses to quibble with with Carris and
used him quibble a lot today. I gotta change it
up either way. But Strews isn't giving you what even
Caris gave you on ball last year. So it's like,
how willing are you to trade off and how willing

(33:23):
are you just to say, Evan you got to go
be a perimeter stopper, which is not probably his best utility.
Like he I think he's proven to be best as
a free safety that can roam. But like you know,
I think those are the interesting trade offs that come
when you sub defense for offense.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
On your roster construction. Yeah, and this is one of
those spots where I think it helps that this move
was done this early in the offseason that we kind
of have an idea of what the roster is going
to be because there's still a good amount of time
before we get to training camp, and if we are
to assume that Max Drews is going to start at

(34:03):
small forward for the Calves, which I'm not sure I'm
ready to do, by the way.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
I'm yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
I'm just saying, if you're operating under that assumption, or
if you think that that's going to be a possibility,
I think you're going to see the Calves do what
we asked of them at various times last year, which
was kind of just stick. Trust the guys to guard
their man, Trust Darius Garland to guard point guards, Mitchell
shooting guards, and Stru's you know, compete and stay in

(34:31):
position against small forwards, and that help side defense is
going to be there. I'm comfortable with that, but I
think that goes into the off season plan for a
guy like Darius Garland, right like, Okay, I'm I'm this
is going to be asked of me. I need to
understand that I need to add some strength here. We're
not going to be able to swap in Isaac Ocorro
as frequently. I think that's fair to say, because Max

(34:54):
Drews is going to play with them a fair bit,
whether it's off the bench or not. I'm going to
need to add some strength because Garland has improved, I
think in a very meaningful way over the last two
years on the defensive end, but the shortcomings come when
he gets out muscled, right, when guys can kind of
body him up a little bit. I think you even
saw that a little bit with Jalen Brunson. He's not
getting blown by his footwork, his positioning is all sound,

(35:18):
it's just kind of you know, the limitations of being
someone that's six one six two in slight, right. So
I think that that goes into the offseason preparation and
I'm comfortable with that. I'm really good with that. And
I think you already touched on some of the ripple
effects that we might see in terms of how you
can use guys like Okoro with shooting around him. But

(35:41):
I'm very good with them kind of plain defense straight up.
I think that there is enough kind of talent and length.
As you mentioned, Strews is used to guarding up Donald
Mitchell has a freakish wingspan, and Garland does a good
job on point guards when you put behind them to
all defensive team caliber big men. I feel good about
that line up's ability to compete on the defense end. Yeah,

(36:03):
I do too.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
Let's move to uh to Nyang because I am just
a little surprised at at the you know, even though
I would have expected the reported number to be a
little lower, I'm a little surprised by people like WHOA,
they really went for it, because, like, I just don't
understand why a six seven power forward that played rotation

(36:26):
minutes for what we thought was going to be a
finals contender, that shot has shot forty percent from three
on high volume the last three straight, for three consecutive years.
I'm just a little surprised why that wouldn't be a
reasonable going rate for a guy like that. I know
the defense is just so so. He's not a great rebounder.

(36:47):
He is, you know, more of a one trick pony
even in terms of his play style than than Max Strus.
But like that that one trick is pretty darn good man.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
He's really damn good at that trick. And you know,
he's someone that does have grid. He's he's a competitive guy,
loves to talk trash. I honestly, I haven't heard a
con of that. I know Simmons and Russillo, I think
had some sticker shock surprise. But listening to a lot
of national podcasts, but this seems to be like the
second year in a row where the national voice seems

(37:17):
to be higher on the Cavs than kind of the
the call coming from within the house where I think
fans I mentioned line with twice on the pod, and
and you know what, let's clarify, I love Tony, He's
a potster. And you know what, it's good to have
conteerual lind Stepper. And you know what, My my favorite

(37:39):
sports conversations are the ones where I'm arguing ninety nine
percent of the time, so I'm here for it. But
I think a lot of the kind of the like
you listen to Hoop Collective, you listen Alo like I
Calves are routinely coming up in kind of the off
season winners, and I think it's because they added, as
you said, probably the two best shooters on the market.

(37:59):
When it comes to Strews and Yang, they're not perfect,
They're far from it. They are still guys that will
be left at times, but they're not going to be ignored,
and they're guys that are willing to take those tough shots,
and you'll get George Niang twenty second percentile in openness
rating last year. So again, defenses cover him and he's
willing to take tough shots. That's That's the other thing

(38:20):
about those ratings. How tightly your guarded isn't going to
be registered unless you're actually out there taking that shot.
So for Max Stews and George Niang to kind of
have that consistently in their profile, it shows what willing
shooters they are, even if the defense is coming up
to them. Ninety two percent of his threes were catch
and shoot versus pull up. That's a lot of catch

(38:41):
and shoot jumpers, and he shot forty one point two
percent on them, fifty three percent from the corner shoot.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Yeah, we got shooters. Yeah, I'm I'm really excited for him.
I do think from the A utilization perspective, he is
going to be more of a pick and pop guy
or a post up in the corner guy, uh in
the weak side to prevent help or even strong side
to prevent help from crashing onto Darius or Donnie. I

(39:16):
think that he he is definitely more of a standstill
offensive player. Like if you're watching on YouTube, you're gonna
see a lot of highlights. You're not gonna see him
dashing baseline to baseline like you're gonna see Max struce.
You're not gonna see him running on a split cut
and then up through another, through another pin down and Carl.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
I just don't think that's his game. But he's got
a quick release.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
He takes them when they're open, and again, I do
think he competes.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
On the other end.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
I felt like in past playoff runs they kind of
went away from him prematurely and we're too worried about
the defense. I think the defense is fine. I think
he works hard. You know, he's got a famously uh
famously uh, a good posterior uh that can that he
can kind of clear out space with. And I think

(40:04):
like the foot speed stuff is going to be relatively
mitigated by the athleticism around him. I think when we're
talking about Isaac Ocoro running mates on the floor, I
think he and Niangle will be one of those two
man pairings that has really good lineup data because I
think some of that athleticism, you can just say, Isaac,
go get the guy that's harder, you know, or or

(40:28):
you know, you can kind of stash him a little
bit more easily. One thing I was kind of curious
in your opinion on with him is he played I
want to say, like near ninety percent of his minutes
at the four last year for Philly. Would you give
him run at the three at all for this team,
knowing how many options they have there, do you or

(40:50):
do you expect him to almost exclusively exist as a
backup four.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
I expect him to have a very similar ratio, like
ninety percent of it his minutes coming at the power
forward position, just because there is going to be a
bit of a glut at the three. And I know
people dispute this, and you know, I think if you're
going to have a quibble with the Kaz off season
they didn't get a big small forward three and d
wing because one, that's one of the hardest things to

(41:15):
get and those guys aren't available for the assets that
the Kaz had. But you know, like they still do
have a lot of options there, right, Like there's ninety
six minutes between shooting guard and small forward. You have
Donnovan Mitchell who's going to eat a lot of them.
Sure he'll play some at the point guard, right, So
that'll free up some. But you got Kroselvert, you got
Max Strus, and you got Isaac O Korro, who's probably

(41:36):
going to get minutes there. You might even see maybe
a little bit of George Niang, you might see a
little bit of Dean Wade, right, Like, I we'll see
how these guys looking camp, and they're going to have
their opportunities to earn minutes. But like, there are a
lot of options there and not a lot of minutes available.
Like if you're assuming Kroslavert and Max Strus are playing

(41:57):
twenty eight minutes each and Donnie's getting forty two to
thirty three minutes, all of a sudden you've ran up to,
you know, fifty five sixty minutes pretty easily, or more
than that even Like you basically have fifteen minutes left
over for another option at small forward, and that probably

(42:18):
would be Isaac O Coral if I had to guess, right, So,
I think George Niang is kind of the perfect guy
to put alongside Mobile and Allen as you kind of
rotate them so one of them's playing center at all times.
He's really going to space the floor. I'm interested to
see what that opens up. I think You're right in
identifying Isacle Cora as a guy that would really benefit

(42:39):
from those lineups, and I'm excited to see him almost
play shooting guard, like I think I'd almost have like
Max Struzer Karis Lavert slotted in as the small forward
in a lot of these lineups with George Niang and
have Acorra playing shooting guard because we've seen so many
guard to guard screens within the Kavs offense. And I
like the idea of having iciccle Core going downhill on

(43:01):
a space floor with Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland as
the ball handler, seeing what he can do and growing
his game in that way that really excites me, even
if it's just in limited minutes, I think those can
be really really effective lineups. So George Niang, I think
he's a better shooter than Kevin Love. I think he's
a better defender. Wish the rebounding was a little stronger.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
I wanted to talk about the rebounding because I think
I think when you're looking at things that the team
has not really addressed yet with any of their official moves.
Is there kind of the fact that they had a
really really bad rebounding back half of the year, dead
last in defensive rebound rate after the All Star break,
sertainly dead last in the playoffs in defensive rebound rate.

(43:45):
And if you're looking for something that Nieing does really well,
it's not rebounding. Even though playing you know, even playing
ninety percent of his minutes at the four, he only
averaged four defensive rebounds per thirty six. They are going
to still have to work to gang rebound when he's
on the floor. That's one thing that kind of interests
me about him at the three. And I do think

(44:08):
if you play him a little more at the three
than he played in Philly, I do think you can
reap some rewards of habit, of the switch ability of
Mobley and Allen and how well they guard on the perimeter,
the sense that you know, you can still stash him
on the on a big who's not particularly threatening. But
I do wonder if you could stagnate a little bit.

(44:28):
I remember when Philly played that Mando lineup with Tobias Harris,
Al Horford and mb Even though Harris and Horford were
quote unquote shooters, they were was stan still shooters. They
weren't movement shooters. And I do worry that, you know,
given that Niang is such a catch and shoot, just
a pick and pop guy, not a not a baseline
to baseline kind of runner, that you could get a

(44:49):
little slow footed out there. But I still am interested
in seeing them try, you know, of seeing what finding
ways just to get that X just spacing on the floor.
If if you want to play the two bigs together,
you know, like would I hate a Darius Struce, ni Yang,
a Mobley Allen lineup? No, I think it would be interesting.

(45:13):
So I think JB is just going to have so much,
so many toys to play with from from a lineup
perspective where you know, I and that was a big
gripe I had with the postseason, was like what the
hell is he supposed to do? You know, he's only
gotten six guys he trusts, so like there's not that
many different combinations you can cobble together with six guys.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Right, And you couldn't even put Lamar in right because
Lamar wasn't a strong rebounder, and that was one of
their worst rebounding lineups. Like you look at the defensive
rebounding percentage for George Niang's not great. It's one percent
better than Karris Lavert, Max Struce slightly better to rebounder
than Jeddie Osmond. So it's marginal, but that's probably going

(45:54):
to need to be one of those areas where you
get that internal improvement, right that Evan Mobley add some
strength becomes a better weight room. Yeah, to get another
year a weight room? Yeah? Isacle Corral another year weight room?
I think one of the biggest things I want to
see is I think this is a situation that's more
conducive to a corel being that glue guy that fills

(46:16):
in everything. He's going to need to be a stocks guy.
He's going to need to be a guy that gets rebounds,
that does the other things, that plays as a connector.
This is the type of roster that he needs to
do that. And honestly, Carter, I think from just a
roster bound standpoint, I think I'm starting Max Struce on
this team and I'm having a Coral come in off

(46:37):
the bench because I think he's going to have more
spacing to play with, and even from developmental reps, from
that standpoint, I think there's going to be more opportunity
for him with the second unit and considering the fact
you know, it looks like the roster is kind of
said as it is. Obviously something can change. I'm sure
the Cavs are always going to look at options. Developing

(46:58):
Icacle Coral is really important. The internal growth at maximizing
the opportunities for all of these guys is really really important.
And I think a spaced out second unit that's pushing
the pace as a guy like George Niang, you know,
running to the corners, Evan Mobley getting up and down
the court because he's usually the second unit, big Arius
Garland out there along with either you know, Max Strus

(47:18):
or Karis Lavert. I think those are lineups that can
really utilize the cutting in skills that Ocoro has, his
great ability to finish at the rim, he's growing, you know,
improvements as a screener. I think you can use him
in creative ways. And I think there's just more personnel
to allow this team to be more creative on the
offensive end. And that's always been something that I've enjoyed

(47:41):
with JB. Is when the team has added more talent,
I think the offense has gotten more creative and they've
added wrinkles, but there just hasn't been a whole kind
of infusion of that, and I think this is finally
a roster where we're going to be able to properly
evaluate that. We're going to see if that growth continues
with the improved personnel, or if you have to, you know,

(48:03):
look at other options to improve, whether it's you know,
challenging players to perform different roles, or or making schematic changes,
you know, collaborating with the coaching staff, whatever the case
may be. I think we can feel a lot better
about the options that JB's going to have as disposal,
and the track record so far says that he's going

(48:23):
to make improvements along with that change.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Absolutely, buddy, and I'm really excited to see the way
Niang fits. But I'm also really geeked about ty Jerome.
How you ned, I know, year two in a row
of Kobe chasing a player to fill out the rotation.
That is a bit of a pet cat, you know.

(48:47):
I just think Jerome does some really cool step for
this team, and I just think he's kind of a
chameleon on the offensive side of the ball and the
defensive side of the ball. When you're a six to
five point guard who can shoot, it's really easy to
fit wherever you go, like something that you know, I

(49:08):
was thinking about Jerome's fit on this team, and I
kind of landed on a funky comparison from Calves past
that is pretty flawed, but like there there are enough
through lines that I thought it was worth making. Remember
how nice it was to have Dante exem come in
with Sexton and Garland being able to have like a
big guard that had a little bit of playmaking chops

(49:30):
that could defend up to the two to the two
guard position but still be a connector. And obviously Dante was,
you know, on his way out of the league at
that point, and by the way, congrats he's back. Yeah,
mav signed him. Jerome, I think can kind of do
that for the two small guards, uh in this calvs
backcourt where he can add you know, he can run

(49:52):
the offense, but he can also just as easily play
off Donnie or Darius and be a really nice connector
and secondary play maker and a great catch and shoot player.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
He's got a.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Weird basketball reference page justin It's like, he shoots twenty
eight percent from three to one year, then he shoots,
then he shoots thirty eight, then he shoots twenty nine,
then he shoots forty one, and it's like, I don't
know what to make of the jumper from looks.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Clearly we're talking about a sub thirty percent three point
percentage next year, because that's just the pattern. Yeah, I mean,
I have it in front of me now, twenty eight
percent is rookie year, then up to forty two percent
the next year, all in high volume, by the way,
never below five three point attempts per thirty six weird
basketball referty.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
Two hold on twenty eight, then forty two, then twenty
nine and thirty nine. So I don't know, man.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Speaking of weirdness on his page, do you want to
scroll up and tell us his nickname on Basketball Reference? Oh,
Man Milk what I don't know.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
I can't believe that I didn't make it in the
Calves announcement, tweety.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
How about it?

Speaker 3 (51:10):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (51:10):
Yeah, I'm just I really like his game. I think
he's a smart, heady player. I think his inclusion kind
of says that the Calves are He kind of feels
like a nice break class in case of emergency option.
If Rubio does not bounce back, he is entering his

(51:31):
age twenty six season, which is kind of nice. You know,
the Calves have been filling out the the ends of
their roster, typically guys later in their careers where they're
there for teaching and training and to be called on
in spot moments, but maybe not. You know, even though
even as the world's pre eminent Howell Netso fan, I

(51:54):
knew he wasn't going to be like a four year
player for the Calves.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
Uh, And I'm not saying that ty Jerome is going
to be that for this team, but the chances are
much higher. Yeah, And so I really like that. And
I think that in a world where Rubio does not
have enough juice moving forward, he is a really really
capable backup guard that can that can play even I

(52:20):
think he could earn rotation minutes even if the team
is healthy, but especially if they're not healthy. If a guard,
you know, happens to get punched in the face thirty
seven times in a season, he could come in and
give them real minutes. So I'm immediate about the Simon Warriors.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
The Warriors had a better record without Steph and a
big part of that was, you know, him stepping in.
And you know, this is probably why the Warriors went
out and actually got themselves a point guard this offseason.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
Honestly, I think he'd be back with the Warriors if
they didn't happen to add Chris Paul. Yeah, you know,
the position, the position will need just wasn't there anymore.
But he gave them good minutes. We talked with a
few Warriors fan friends and they were like, yeah, he's
a smart player that was able to play off of
Steph or initiade offense. And you know, we've compared Darius
and Steph quite a bit over over the years in

(53:09):
terms of like the way that we think they can
impact the game on and off ball, and I think
I think the fit is pretty darn clean here and
again I would not be surprised to see him get menaced.
I really think it's going to come down to how
big the Calves want to play rotationally, you know, I
think that that ninth slash tenth rotation spot is going

(53:33):
to be an interesting battle between Rubio, Wade, and Jerome.
I think all of them have a real shot at
earning men's and really, you could probably honestly throw Akro
into that. I wouldn't, but you could. I think o'coro
is I would be stunned if a Kora is not
in the rotation on an opening night, so I wouldn't

(53:54):
throw him in. But like I think, I think that
you know pretty much past the eighth spot where you
have really past seven, you have the core for you
have Ni Yang, you have Lavert, you have Struce. I
think all seven of those guys, no doubt getting minutes
eight and on is going to be I think a

(54:14):
real dog fight because I think they have a lot
of really helpful players that could fill minutes in those spots,
which is really nice. Like again, I really wanted Tie Tie,
I wanted JB to be able to have you know,
eight guys that he really trusted in the postseason, maybe
ten in the regular season. I think they're way better
set up for that than they were just a few

(54:37):
months ago.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Yeah, I think it's important that Ty Jerome Yang, like
those are guys that the fan bases they're leaving are like,
you guys are going to really like them. These are
you know, Jerome's able to step in, He's able to
play either guard position. He had his assistant turnover ratio
is over four, Like that's fantastic, Like he takes really
good care of the ball, and as you mentioned, like

(55:00):
he played with either guard and that's that's again one
of the nice things about Darius Garland, like that just
seems when it comes to young point guards in the league,
there's not a lot of them that can play both
on and off ball, and it just goes to show
like how malleable his game is, how easy it he
makes roster building because he is so damn good at

(55:20):
playing off of ball. Right, Like even last year I
mentioned that thirty two percent of Max Strus's shots came
off of screens, twenty seven percent came off with Garland,
like he's someone that was playing as a movement shooter.
Also forty two percent for Donovan Mitchell. He was really
running around out there. But you know, like that gives

(55:41):
me confidence that they're going to be able to utilize
that skill set Witstrews and Yang and to have another
ball handler to take advantage of these off ball movements
and actions that the Cavs can have. That's a really
nice advantage. And Max Strus I felt good about, you know,
the people that come the team saying, you know what,
he's better than you think. We're happy for him. Whatnot

(56:04):
makes sense? You know, we're going after Dame and whatnot. Obviously,
the general reaction is going to be a little bit
lower on him just because he shot so poorly in
the last series they played. But we've seen that fans
can get a little irrational when players on their team
don't perform well in the playoffs. I think I think
there's a few very good cast players that didn't play
so well against the Knicks that I'm pretty confident are

(56:27):
still very good players that can be helpful. Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
I think before we wrap, I just kind of want
to talk about the general volume of three point shooting
that the team added, because when you look, one of
the reasons I think we grumped so hard at Darius
for his relatively low three point rate compared to his
ability is that there was no road to attempts. Otherwise,

(56:53):
it's like, hey, Darius and Donnie, if you don't combine
for seventeen threes, we're not getting past thirty tonight. And like,
that was really hard. You know, it's really hard to
win the mat to win games in the NBA when
you're losing the math problem. And most of the time
they lost the math problem. And for a team that

(57:15):
hangs its hat on the defensive end that you were
really beholden to the variants on low, low volume Knights
last year. Among rotation players that actually finished the team
or finished the year on the team, so I'm not
counting Kevin Love, Donovan Menchell led the team in three
point attempts for thirty six minutes at nine point four.

(57:37):
Jetty was up next at seven point three. Darius was
next at six point one. Max Struce took eight point
nine threes per thirty six Georgis Niang took nine point
one threes per thirty six minutes. So just swapping out
low usage, low volume three point uh minutes for high

(58:01):
volume pre point minutes is just going to do so
much for the Varians to this team. There's a reason
why it was so noteworthy that all the Cavalanches the
last two years started with Jetti getting hot, Because when
you have rotation players who can bomb from three, and
it's a regular season night in February and everyone's tired

(58:24):
and they really only read the first couple pages of
the scout and it was mostly about the stars, then
that's when you get those those kind of bombs away
kind of nights where all of a sudden you're up thirty.
I just don't think we are understanding enough the difference

(58:45):
from a the how the court is going to look
and feel. I don't think we're acknowledging it to the
extent we should. This CAB's team at a top ten
offense in the regular season with two bona fide shooters
that played on the roster. I got to ask you,

(59:05):
how where do you expect that offense to land this year?
Knowing that you've got a year growth from your core
and you've actually added some actual bona fide spacing and
in the form of volume shooters and strews.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
In the air. I'm going to give you a really
boring answer.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
I think me boring answers when I ask these, like
give me a rank, you ask whole questions.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Yeah, yeah, but you know I don't like you don't
like them. Oh no, I'm giving you a rank. But
I'm going to do a little bit offense sitting here,
I think I think it's going to be around seventh,
like five through seven, kind of in that range. But
I think that's going to be more the result of
this team's going to be good enough to sit guys

(59:50):
and their best lineups. The offensive ratings of those best
lineups are going to be a lot better than it
was last year. I think they're going to be more explosive.
I think they're going to be able to get out
and transition a little bit more with the guys they have.
I mean, one of the quickest ways to up your
pace is pull up threes in transition, and these guys

(01:00:10):
are going to go out there and take those type
of shots. And we've seen the effect that that can
have on opposing teams, right, Like, if you're bombing away
and you're hitting those shots, you start rushing them right
and you're rushing them into a set very good half
core defense and generating turnovers and stuff off of that.
So I think that they're going to be very improved,

(01:00:30):
and their core lineups are going to have an even
better offensive rating than they had last year, which is
saying a bit because they had pretty damn good offensive lineups.
I just think overall, you're probably going to have a
little bit more downtime. You have depth that you can
use throughout the regular season. You can rest guys when
they are a little bit banged up, And I thought

(01:00:52):
your point about the lack of shooting if Garland and
Mitchell don't have it is a really important one because
you look at that January where they went five hundred.
Garland's dealing with a hand injury to a shooting hand,
Mitchell's dealing with a groin injury, and he dealt with
a hand injury later on in that season. Right Like,
there were kind of those little bruises and injuries, lingering

(01:01:16):
issues that impacted their ability to kind of fire away
as they did when they were fully healthy. And there's
just more options now to go out and take those shots.
So I do think that the offense is going to
be improved. I just think the overall ranking, I think
it'll probably be around the same range. It's just going
to be a kind of a more sustainable version of it.
That's fair.

Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
I will buy that take. You know, you did mention
minutes as well. I do think with this, you know
many bodies that you really want to play. I'm interested
to see how JB kind of parcels at their rotation.
There were times he was playing the seven man rotation
in the regular season. Yeah, last year, and I've talked

(01:01:58):
a lot about having four you know, quote unquote core
players that you really really believe in. Makes it hard
to have a nine or ten man rotation because you
want to give those guys thirty five minutes in games
that you're trying to win that are important. I'm interested
to see how deep in the rotation JB is willing
to go this year, and if you know, you can

(01:02:21):
get Alan down to like a thirty minute a game, like,
think about how much more impact he gets to have
if he's if he's playing three or four last minutes
and can really, you know, really exert more and not
have to hold anything in reserve because he has to play,
you know, forty minutes in a postseason game. That that
those are the kind of things I'm interested to see.

(01:02:43):
You know, the roster is still imperfect. I think if
you were hoping to come out of this offseason with
a no doubt perfect playoff starter at three, you didn't
get that. You know, Oubra would have probably been that.
I think he probably if they had, if they had
gone the Uber route, I probably would have started him.
You know, the shooting, you know, shooting woes be damned,

(01:03:06):
and you would have felt more confident in your top
six or and definitely you're closing five but I still think,
you know, Kobe addressed this off season the way I
wanted him to. You know, the only thing, you know,
it's I think it's one of those things where maybe
at an individual level, you give every one of these deals.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
I don't know if.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
I'd give any of them better than a B or
a B plus, but the aggregate of them I would
give like an A A minus because of what I
think they do for the team. So, like you know,
I talk a lot about how basketball is about a
team becoming more than the some of their parts. I
think this off season was more than the some of
their parts off season, and I'm really really excited to

(01:03:50):
see how they impact everyone around them.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Yeah, I'd probably give it a B plus. I think
A grades are always kind of revert or reserved or
start level. But I thought they did a great job
with the options that they haven't And really what the
Cavs added was seasoning. Like your core, the core parts
of your meal need to be great, great quality. You

(01:04:12):
need Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen. You
need those guys to play well. If they're not playing well,
none of these moves are going to bail you out.
But I do think that what they do well can
be enhanced by the guys that they added, and it's
still going to come down to that internal development. That
is still the absolute most important thing. As I said,

(01:04:33):
if defenses are sagging off of Evan Mobley and not
respecting them even at the free throw line come playoffs,
they're going to have some issues. Once again, that's still
Evan Mobley's growth in that spot.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
We talked about it all last year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Given what defenses can do in the playoffs against small
guards who need a front court initiator, and on this
roster that has to be Evan Mobley. That's probably one
of the most important things. But it's I think I
think it's going to be harder for defenses to cheat
to the extent that they did. Given the guys that
the Calves added, I think there's more functional depth. I

(01:05:08):
think guys aren't going to be as tired throughout the
regular season. Not that the Caves were like near the
top of the league in minutes played, but like you said,
there were some nights where there's a really really short rotation.
They were dealing with a lot of stuff. They really
played hard. I just think that it's going to be
a less difficult regular season on their bodies because of

(01:05:30):
the guys that they added.

Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
Absolutely, Buddy, I'm really really excited. You know what else
I'm excited for before we wrap summer league, Baby Oh
charts tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
A roster full.

Speaker 4 (01:05:43):
I've never in my Cavaliers fandom seen a roster this
full of dudes.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
I have heard of and care about.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
So many guys like three deep, and we got two
starters around, Like, who the hell is that guy We've
got I'm just gonna count them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
We got a money base, we got Craig Porter Jr.

Speaker 4 (01:06:03):
We got Luke Travers, we got Khalifa Jopp, We've got
Shariff Cooper, we got Isaiah Mobley, We've got uh, I'm
forgetting someone now, God, Sam Merrill. I got all seven,
uh seven guys that the Cavs have you know, invested
second round picks or have been uh you know in

(01:06:23):
the Charge organization and played really really well, or have
on two ways or yeah, we p Man's there's eight uh,
A lot of guys that I'm really excited to see playball.
You know, I think that even from a like a
getting ready for the season, standpoint, it's really cool that
Bates and Travers get to go up against each other

(01:06:43):
in summer league camp. You know, talk about a you know,
talk about the stuff Bates needs to work on. Travers
is right there as as kind of that gritty guy
that's going to challenge him with size and athleticism and length.
You know, Porter Junior and Shariff Cooper camp battles sound
real fun to me. The stuff the team is has

(01:07:06):
shared looks really, really good. It's gonna be a really
informative summer league because you know, we talked when we
had Adam Spinell on for the post draft pod about
how you know when you have these there are six
guys on the summer league roster that are either unreportedly
on two ways or or or you know, could be

(01:07:27):
two way players, or the team is you know, expended
draft capital on, or are currently under contract with the team,
and the odds are if you get one of those
guys to be a rotation roster member on a team
that you know has title aspirations in the next couple

(01:07:48):
of years, that's a huge win. If Isaiah Mobley hits,
if Traverse hits, if Jop hits, and are become guys
you can count and that's awesome. And like, what I'm
going in to the summer League looking for is like,
who's that one, Who's who's showing the signs, who is
who looks ready to make it up to the big
club in play minutes right now on a team that's

(01:08:10):
so I and I and I really think the odds
are Even though the odds are long for any of
them individually, I think collectively there's a really good shot
that they'll find someone.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
I'm also just excited to see, you know, Isaiah Mobley
in a summer league setting where there's a point guard
he actually played with last year is sure Reef Cooper,
right Like last year it was r J Nemhart essentially
running point guard and you know, going out trying to
get his own contract.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
The fact that he's got.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
You know, Craig Poord Junior, who's a great, you know,
pick and roll ball handler that's going to be able
to utilize him, Shreef Cooper, who he obviously has a
lot of experience with, Sam Merrill, who he has the
experience with.

Speaker 4 (01:08:46):
A good role guy in job who looks man. The
frame is really good on that guy. It's not surprising
that this guy got drafted as a as a project
because the frame looks amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Yeah, and he's so light on his feet too, Like
I watch kind of the highlights of him moving around
out there, and you look, Okay, you know, mobile, big
man that's got touch, light on his feet can catch
Like that's uh that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
That gets you a role in the NBA.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
So it would be really nicely if one or more
of these guys that eventually panned out for the Cavs,
especially projecting forward, like you said, in a couple of years,
PAP situation is going to get interesting, right, Like I
think they're if you're going to be a contending team.
I think at some point we expect the Cavs to
kind of, you know, sprint into that luxury tax, right,
And I think the mobile extension is probably going to

(01:09:34):
be that point. If I had the guests, finding these
cheap guys, these late round picks, developing them and having
those guys as part of the rotation is going to
be so important. We talked about it with Phoenix even right,
like signing a bunch of rotation players for them, Yeah,
hell of an off season for them, signing rotation players
on these contracts is so important when you do go

(01:09:59):
over the luxury tax and if you go over the
second apron, because you have to get more exact when
it comes to salary matching, right like, you won't have
the mid level exception. So your mid level exception might
be trading a guy that you already have on your
roster for someone else that just kind of fits a
little bit better. And I think the Cats are setting

(01:10:20):
themselves up up well for that kind of optionality. Absolutely, buddy.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
I want to keep talking about free agency, but we
got to save ourselves some content for the rest of
the summer, man.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
We really do. I mean I didn't even prepare us
sixty seconds of Sea Bears because I just there's too
much to talk about. Let it. We can't let that
die on the vine. Though. That's two pods in a row.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
Yeah, I know that does.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
The people who are definitely who definitely exist are asking
for Sea Bears, buddy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
There's got to be at least five of them. Brief quick,
how's the season going. We don't have to throw this
timer on. How's the season going? You still at the
top of the league, at top of the West eight
and five. There's a team out West that's nine and five.
Awesome game last home game against Niagara. To look at
that clock. The last game against Niagara was awesome. They

(01:11:08):
were down sixteen, came all the way back. Massive performance
from Teddy Allen and the boys to pull off the
winning that one. Lost back to back games on the road,
So I'm a little bummed out about that. No home
games until Tuesday next week. That kind of sucks, but
you know, most of the season's underway. Number one in
the West, feeling good about it, feel good about their

(01:11:28):
ability to make the playoffs, and let's make something happen.
Let's win it in our first year. Go Bears. Thank
you ry Wow, that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Really came down to the wire.

Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
That was a little laxed, daisical stroll through sixty seconds
of Sea Bears. Thank you Carter for forcing me to do that.
And thank you to our listeners that tuned in, supported
us dealt with our technical difficulties today. We really appreciate
all you guys. Big thanks to everyone on YouTube. Make
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(01:11:59):
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staying safe out there. Until next time, Go Cass