Welcome Back Tristan Thompson

Justin and Carter react to the Cavs signing Tristan Thompson and discuss what they believe he can bring to the table. From there they discuss the FIBA World Cup, which Cavs could make the Olympic team and go over some of the things they're looking for from next seasons offense. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This crowd rises to its being what Carl slam it?

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh, Darl left wing reball perfect, Darl b pop.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Then helipt block the shot at the rim? How with
the lift Hed and of fowl.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to the Chasetown Podcast, part of the cas Media family.
I'm your host, Justin Rowan. The Chase Doown is presented
by Fobo TV. Watch over one hundred channels of live
sports and TV for half the cost of cable. There's
no contract and no commitment. Try for free at FuboTV
dot com. It is a beautiful day for Canada and
therefore the world. Tristan Thompson is back on the Cleveland

(00:36):
Cavaliers and joining me today to discuss it as my
co host, Carter Rodriguez.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Carter, how you doing, buddy?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Not the angle I thought you were going when you
were about when you were celebrating Canada. What a swerve
aoo oh.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I was going to get there, don't you worry. Canada,
of course won the bronze medal over the United States
and basketball big win in the World Cup, arguably the
largest win in Canadian basketball history. That's right up there, man.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
But I just.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Tristan Thompson being back on the Cleveland Cavaliers has to
take precedent even over that, because at the end of
the day, as much as I love my country and
I love Canadian basketball, Tristan was a big part of
that at the start. I think, you know, when I
watched some of the coverage talking about every kind of
version of the Canadian national team, Tristan was one of

(01:27):
those first guys that first started being with the program.
Was NBA caliber that kept showing up summer after summer.
And to have you know, Canada win on Sunday, which
I had to watch on delay because there's no way
I was getting up that early, especially after a bang
of bowle win. To watch that in the morning, and
then to have Tristan back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's

(01:49):
just it's surreal and I could not be more excited.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Sorry, you caught me in the middle of a drink there. Sorry,
That's all good, buddy. Yeah, I mean, it's just really
really exciting. It's it's exactly what the kind of veteran
signing that you know, you thought they might make with
that final roster spot.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
It was.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
It's you know, he was out of the league last year,
it's got to be noted. Nice to see the Jersey buddy,
you know, out of the league for most of the
last year, but then it ends up signing with the
Lakers right during the stretch run. You know, I thought
gave them some good minutes against Denver when he was
called on, which was like everyone's like really, you know,
the fact that they kind of had to go to

(02:32):
him was probably not the best indicator. But you know,
like I don't know if I don't think he's a
rotation guy for this team, but like I do think
he's got a little more juice in the tank than
some of these you know, inter bench bigs the Cavs
that had the last couple of years. And it's just
nice to have him back. You know, Like it's stunk
with the departure of Kevin, like losing that last connection

(02:55):
to the title team. So like getting that back, I mean,
how could you complain.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, it's great to have him back. I think it's
worth noting he's three years younger than Robin Lopez. Like
you said, he gave them some decent minutes against Denver,
also gave them good minutes in the Warrior series as well.
All I saw some of the immediate reaction of this,
which was like, well, you know, like if the Cavs
need to throw someone in there for rebounding in the
playoffs or whatever, Like I feel good with Tristan, And

(03:22):
as much as I'm excited about this signing, I don't
think that's kind of what the potential.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Role is here.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Like I think plan amb is obviously Jared Allen and
Evan Mobley, and then it's Damian much much much before
Tristan Thompson, because Nemian is a seven foot two hundred
and fifty pound behemoth, and I think, you know, you
have real hopes for what he can be in the rotation.
But I do think if you are in an emergency situation,

(03:48):
having someone like Tristan Thompson that you can potentially go
to is nice. But I think the real value is
going to be off the court, And I think you know,
you can have off the court leadership with guys that
you know have been there before that are able to
kind of gives wisdom to the younger players on the team.
But I think just having Trystan in there and practice,

(04:09):
you know, someone that's really going to push Mobile and Allen.
You fight for those offensive rebounds, like like he does
give that kind of effort, be someone in the film room,
someone that's going to hold them accountable. We've seen even
with Lebron, he was one of the few guys that
would yell right back at Lebron and say, no, you're
in the wrong spot defensively, Like, I think all of

(04:30):
that has a lot of value in it. I think
that's primarily what we're getting here. But from a sentimental standpoint,
this is something that you know, just tugs right at
my heart strings.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, and you know he was you know, it's impossible
to know, you know what kind of leader someone is,
you know off the court, you know, if you if
you're not able to watch, but you know, someone dragged
up a clip from his last year in Cleveland where
he's like telling you you can seem literally dragging Darius
to his spot on an ato down the stretch of

(05:02):
a game and then pointing it that you call him
where to go, Like just you know, one of the
only guys who really had no how left on those
teams in the in the post Lebron era, So you know,
a very special place in our hearts. You know, he's
a guy who you know helped us win a finals game.
You know, you I was playing highlights of his Game

(05:22):
six in twenty sixteen, where he was legitimately the second
best player on the court, just absolutely ruined Golden State's
life on the boards and was really you know, I
think it's our boy David Zevac who always says, like,
you know, the Warriors had this death line up and
no one there was nothing to be done about it.

(05:45):
And then Tristan Thompson came, you know, and he was
really successfully switching onto stepf switching on to Clay, coming
up actions, punishing them for playing small, punishing them for
playing Draymond at the five, you know, And I watched
all those Game six highlights yesterday when the when the

(06:07):
signing was first reported, and you know, just so many
times where he was just carving out position, carving out advantages,
sealing off of those Golden State help defenders so Lebron
or Kyrie could have a clean look at the rim.
You know, just a true talent. You know, I think

(06:27):
I will always have a soft spot for him because
we had to defend him so vociferously after that contract.
The following summer, when every when a bunch of you know,
Maroons who didn't understand how the cap worked were losing
their minds. And you know, here we are again in
another summer like that, where the nobody is used to
these contract numbers. Then everybody's overreacting to everything.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
So you know, I'm very, very fond of the guy.
You know, I think once he started getting hurt, it
was a little bit hard. You know, it's hard for
him to overcome like that, you know, ten fifteen percent
loss as he got older. But again, as you mentioned,
he's still a young guy. I still think he has
utility in the right matchup, and and I think off

(07:10):
the court, he's certainly is going to be on those
guys about their box outs, and I hope he's on
the old freaking team about the way they're they're rebounding,
because I thought this was a poor gang rebounding team
and they just added you know, the best rebounder in
the history of the franchise, you know, right up there
at least on the offensive end he was. And obviously

(07:32):
the statistics don't bear that out for like raw volume,
but I mean he certainly there.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
It's kind of funny that on the last podcast I
was talking about how Tristan was, you know, a twenty
fifteen to seventy fifth percentile defensive rebounder, and then his
defensive rebounding got up to basically kind of where Evan
Mobley's was last year, like not even where Jared Allen's is.
So that's why it's kind of funny when you hear, Okay, well,
like he'll go in there and clean up on the

(07:57):
boards kind of thing. His contributions really did come on
the offensive glass more than the defensive. But it also
just kind of goes to show you, which ties into
conversations we've had in the past this summer about how
it really is a team effort because having Kevin Love,
who was such a good defensive rebounder, having Lebron James
that was such a good rebounder, Kyrie was able to

(08:17):
get boards every now and then right Jr. It was
always a team effort. So you never really felt, okay,
like his individual defensive rebounding is good but not great.
That never really came up in an individual series. But
I definitely think having him there, you know, attacking the
offensive glass in practice, showing these guys how to set
good screens and whatnot, that's going.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
To make a big, big impact.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
And you said it's hard to kind of assess what
somebody's leadership value is.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
But you also I dug up.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
The story that Chris Fiedor had been the year after
Kristen had left, when he was in Boston and Darius
was crediting him for texting him every single day saying, hey,
you need to be more of like keep your head up,
be aggressive, take those shots when you come up over
half court, be ready to pull getting it.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
If I just had Darius's number, I'd be sending the
same Texas Tristan.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Thompson, right, But like Tristan was someone that was still
invested in and that was Darius's, you know, a second
year in the league. Tristan had left at that point
but was still there to kind of provide that kind
of mentorship.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
So that to me is exciting.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I do want to ask, like there is opportunity costs,
Like they do have one remaining roster spot, However, it's
pretty unlikely they're going to fill it given how close
they are to the tax and you know, like I
probably wouldn't fill it if I were them, you know,
just based on you know what the benefits of being
a non taxpayer kind of yield. So like, is there

(09:49):
a degree of opportunity cost of like because you did
mention like their backup center is Evan Mobley and their
third string center is Damian Jones, So like they're adding
a fourth or a fifth big here. Yes there's sentimental value,
Yes there's off the court stuff, but like, would you
have rather seen them go in the direction of adding

(10:10):
someone who maybe had a little more upside or you know,
maybe who has had a little bit more you know,
rotational utility.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, Like when we were talking about what we wanted
to see with this last roster spot, because even though
there is one more open, this is functionally the last
roster spot. If you look at the reporting around the team,
what I really wanted was a four, right, like more
of a four or five. Someone that can go out
there and play alongside Mobian, Allen and Tristani is certainly
not that. So there is an opportunity cost in that

(10:41):
sense when you talk about upside signings that I don't
really feel because they have three two way contracts, right,
and I think it's important to remember that those guys
can go out there and play if need be. Right,
Like Diaki Te played quite a few games on a
two way contract last year. And if anybody is going
to get kind of developmental opportunities or hey, you know,

(11:04):
we have a couple injuries and there's a good chance
for you to get some reps here, I would like
that to go to either Isaiah Mobile, Amani Bits, or
Craig Porter Junior. Like to me, those three are far
more interesting than anything that's left on the free agent market.
Like you look at Campaign at this point, looking what
he did with Phoenix last year, third string point guard

(11:25):
is probably where we're at. And if we're talking third
string point guard minutes, I would like, you know, Craig
Porter Junior to get that call up. I'd like to
see what he can do in those opportunities. But you know, ideally,
if there was a power forward that I felt good
about that could play alongside Mobile and Allen, like maybe
a Mark if Morris or a TJ. Warren or something

(11:49):
like that, there definitely would have been an appeal for that.
When you talk about developmental type players, I'd rather stick
with what we have in house because there's only so
many developmental reps to go around. There's so many young
interesting players already on this team.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, it's funny, Like Mike, kind of I went through
this process after the signing. First, I was kind of
I was excited, I was geeked. I thought it was
really you know, I am a sentimental man after all. However,
then then I did think to the opportunity cost and
you know, yeah, maybe a guy like a TJ. Warren, who,
like you, might take a reclamation shot on to see

(12:25):
if he's got anything left at a position of need.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
You know, they don't have.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
A ton of wing of big wing shot creation, so
you kind of think, oh, maybe you try that. But
then I kind of go back to, like, man, this
is their thirteenth or fourteenth man, they're just not going
to have room. So like it's either a guy like
you know, if they signed a TJ. Warren and Warren
wanted minutes, then you're just gonna kind of shooting yourself

(12:52):
in the foot from a locker room perspective.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, it probably.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Comes at the expense of minutes for guys like isacle Coro.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, and then you think about some of the upside guys.
You know, you think of the Uzman Garubas of the world,
who you know, Twitter loves and I'm interested in as
a guy. But like, you know, at that point kind
of goes back to then I feel like you kind
of talked me out of that with like would I
rather see Uzma Garuba get minutes developmentally or.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Would I rather just see Isaam Obill get them, Like
I'd just rather see.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
The guy who's already in the house that I that I,
you know, think there's some potential for so I think it.
I think ultimately going veteran is not a bad choice,
you know, And really like, no matter what they picked,
it was going to be their fourth or fifth wing,
their fourth or fifth point guard, their fourth or fifth center.
It just so they kind of just chose to load

(13:42):
up on bigs. And by the way, that's a good idea.
Biggs get hurt more Like big bigs are carrying around
a lot of masks. They need time off, they need
to play less minutes in a game.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
And you know, like I'll bet we're gonna have a
game or two where Tristan, you know, gets called into duty.
And you know, the one nice thing about Tristan Thompson
was going to freaking notice him, Like you're definitely going
to give album is not just gonna blend in. Uh,
he's gonna you know, he's gonna do what he does.
He's gonna do it loud, and it's either going to
go well or it's not. And like, I think, like

(14:16):
kind of a marginally high variance fourth center.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
It feels pretty good to me, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
And I think like he's a guy who's gonna eat
some fouls for you, give you something different to look at.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
You know.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
JB really likes to have those guys that you can go, Hey,
this one particular part of the game is not working
for us. Let me bring in the specialist. Yeah. So,
so I think I think it's I think it is
a perfectly defensible signing. The fact that he also won
US a title does not hurt in terms of my
appeal there.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
And if you're talking reclamation projects, right, like, how many
of them are more interesting than just giving Dean wad
minute's a if he's healthy, which it does sound like
he's getting more healthy. If you're talking developmental opportunities, how
much how many are more interesting than Isaiah mobiley Like,
that's the thing to always keep in mind. One that
the starting roster at training camp is and what you're

(15:12):
going into the playoffs with. If you need to make
an adjustment mid season, you can, and you can promote
Isaiah Mobley, right, Like, I think he's more of a
four or five than a center, so I'd really be
interested in seeing him get reps. Maybe things change depending
on the situation with Ricky Rubio, right that, Like that
could have an impact on the cast, financials and the

(15:35):
roster spots. So this is all fluid, but I do
like bringing interest in As much as we said the
passing of the torch from a leadership standpoint has to
go to the young core, and I still firmly believe
that's the case. I do think, you know, having a
veteran presence that can give advice, someone that you can
lean on, that helps you develop as a leader as well. Right, Like,

(15:57):
Darius and Donovan are going to be probably two of
the loudest voices in the locker room. They're they're going
to be the guys running the offense. But having a
veteran with championship experience, someone that you can bounce ideas
off of, someone that you can help point things out
in the film room, that is an asset to these guys, right,
and even someone that's just going to call out if

(16:17):
they're being too quiet. If Jared Allen's not talking on defense,
you can guarantee yourself that Tristan Thompson is going to
be talking there.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
But it's going to be a great He's much like
he was for the Lakers last year, going to be
a great bench reaction guy.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Oh, I can't wait for them. We need to get
some gifts out of that. We need to get some
gifts out of that, and I'm going to use them all. Carter,
we got to move on to the next thing. I'm
excited about that. That's Kanda.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Can you know what?

Speaker 3 (16:47):
In a roundabout way, beating Jalen Brunston in the bronze
medal game felt good for me. I was cathartic. Even
though RJ. Barrett played barely any role in that win.
It was a lot of fun seeing Canada win again.
It's the US obviously, we won't dive into that game,
but I just want to get your thoughts on how
much you enjoyed FEBA overall, because I did see you
live tweeting a lot of the games and you seem

(17:09):
to enjoy it. But I I want to get your
thoughts here. It's my dorkiest thing.

Speaker 4 (17:14):
You know.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's like when you tell your buddies that you're excited
for a Cavaliers game, you know, like in Columbus, not
a big, big Calves town. You know, it's obviously buck
eye fever. You know. People are like, oh, they're happy
for you. But when you're like when you're when you're
hitting up your coworkers and be like, I'm gonna be
a little late to the meeting Brazil Canada is coming
down to the stretch, you get some eye rolls. But yeah,

(17:40):
I'd love it. It's I love FOBA basketball. I love
how I love how the style kind of flattens things
out a little bit, you know, and continuity and skill
are rewarded. You know, as I've said a billion times,

(18:02):
I am predisposed to basketball geniuses. And there's just a
lot of really smart basketball players who are not athletic
enough to be in the NBA, and you get to
see a lot of those guys play this kind of
basketball and and their skill sets are so rewarded. I
really loved watching, you know, that Brazil Canada game which

(18:22):
we talked about last week, which was just like you know,
just a lot of guys who have played together for
a while, playing for National Pride, ugly ing up the game,
really confounding. You know, this Canadian team full of NBA players,
and you know, it's funny that Canada US game kind
of just felt like everyone was like, finally, we just
get to play like normal basketball again.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
I know what you do, Dylan Brooks.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, yeah, and so like to that end, like I
just feel like, yeah, stylistically, it's a blast. I love
how freaking competitive it is. You know, among there are
indie American players. I certainly have dogged you know, high JJJ.
You got to get a rebound buddy, and certain guys

(19:07):
just clearly weren't fits for the international game. But like
it's funny, like I don't think that this American team
was particularly untalented. They had plenty of all NBA caliber
players on the roster. They had specialists, they had shooters,
they had defenders, they had.

Speaker 4 (19:25):
You know, positional size.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I just think the world has just gotten so darn
good at basketball that the continuity and style change means
that you can't talent your way to wins, even if
that talent makes some sense. You know, this isn't like
two thousand and four where Stefan Marberry and Alan Iverson
or you're starting backcourt like they're shooting. There was there

(19:48):
was toughness, there was you know, there was good playmakers
on the floor that were good at passing out of
a pick and roll. It's just like you just got
to be really really good. You can't give up. You
got to bring players who can play this kind of game,
you know. And that's where, like I think that's where
they kind of, I don't know about went wrong, because
like the problem is American bigs. There's just a real

(20:11):
dearth of them. Yeah, And you know, like I honestly
probably would have played Walker Kessler a little more than
they did, even though he's very young, just because like, man,
you just look at Jaron Jackson. He can't stay on
the floor, and he can't secure rebounds and in possessions
and it's just really hard to win that way, especially

(20:31):
since no one was really guarding his jump shot.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, and even just alongside Jeron right, like someone that
lets him plays more natural position of power forward, that
roaming defensive role that he's so good at, maybe that
helps kind of mitigate his foul trouble when he's the
last line of defense because he just can't help but foul.
And it also was kind of unfortunate for him too,
because it did seem like throughout the whole tournament is

(20:57):
pretty clear that Halliburton was the better of the two
point guards, but Brunston kind of got the nod because
of veteran leadership, and I feel like Jaren gets his
game off better offensively alongside a guard like Halliburn, you
know that's able to kind of run the pick and
roll a little more, whereas Jalen Brunson, like he's a
floor general, he's kind of more than that Fred van
Vliet style.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
He's bucket getter.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, he's a bucket getter.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
And you know when he's feeding a big man, it's
dumping the ball to Randall and he's going to go
iso and get a bucket, right, And that's not Jared
Jackson Junior's game. So it definitely was interesting personally. I
really like the level of physicality that's allowed in FEEDB
Like it's awesome. You can still have guys that get
to the foul line right that that draw fouls, that

(21:42):
draw genuine contact because they you know, they know how
to manipulate defenders, and someone like Shay is still going
to get to the line. Luca gets to the line,
but it eliminates a lot of the oh you happen
to bump me and I'm a little bit smaller than you,
and therefore him going to the free throw line, which
may have can atributed to why Jaln Brunson struggled there.

(22:03):
It is interesting to see guys get picked on a
little bit defensively. Brunson, Reeves, Halliburn all were targeted a
lot on the defensive end of the court.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
But you're right, like, dude.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
By the way, on that on that end point real quick,
Like watching a guy like Franz Wagner just looks so
comfy in the Phoeba style really shows you, like the
value of being a physical driver. And I thought Brunton
looked pretty good on the offensive end because he that
is the kind.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Of driver he is.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
But yeah, like like being fast is secondary in the
FEBA game to being strong.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, and being skilled.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Like this is a great example when when I watch
these games and these reshad issues. Let's be honest, so
a lot they're always bad. They're always bad. It's always
thin skinned, but even with you know, inferior refs compared
to what we're used to do in the NBA, Like
the level of physical that's allowed, Like, I think this
is something you can allow in the NBA without resorting

(23:05):
to like all out hand checking, right, like all the
kind of nineties basketball stuff that you know, every old
head says, well, we need to get this in the game.
You can allow guys to just you know, put a
body on someone, allow some physicality, make people work for
buckets without going to like outrageous levels of contact being
allowed and really restricting movement. It just, honestly, like, when

(23:28):
you have this level of physicality allowed in the game,
it makes it harder for just one player to be
like the heliocentric like driver of everything a team does, right,
because fatigue starts to kick and you need to have
a balanced offensive approach. You have to rely on skill
team strategy. But those sword things, I just think it's
I think it's a better branded basketball overall.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think it is because the players are not better.
So you know the fact that I'm enjoying all these
games so much, Like and like obviously the stakes help
a lot, Like that must be said like single yeah, yeah,
and I love I love round robin, Like, I really
love that format. I'm glad that the in season tournament's
going to have round robin. I think it's like the

(24:10):
most fair way to get through the early parts of
a tournament and kind of at least seed with some fairness.
So definitely enjoy that. I also, I've a I've long
wondered this. I think the ball just messes with Americans.
It's clearly it's a different kind of basketball. And even
when we since shooting specialists over, they don't seem to

(24:32):
be quite as uh as dominant as shooters as some
of these random European dudes who just never ever miss. Yeah, Like,
like our open, I would love to see our open
three percentage splits compared to compared to some of these
European countries because it is bother Dylan Brooks. Oh, I'll

(24:55):
tell you what. It shows you that Dylan Brooks isn't
so comfortable with the NBA ball. That's what it really means.
You know, he's finally got the excuse he's been looking for.
He just he just needs the FEEBA ball that that's
all all, And a closer three point line absolutely so yeah,
it was. I thought it was a really fun tournament.

(25:16):
You know, it's always cool seeing some of these guys
who just thriving that in that environment. You know, I
mentioned Wagner, Dennis Shrewder, I want Willia and and Gomez.
You know, you get to see these guys that just
really show out and play a different style and really challenge.
It's fun seeing these American teams challenge and I'm really
excited to see Lebron kind of leading the charge on

(25:39):
getting some of these stars back.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Of course, you guys had to go with the monstars.
Like as soon as Canada wins, you get Lebron, you
get Curry, you get Kevin Durant, you get Draymond, all
these guys committing to us A I'm I'm disgusted with
his card.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Oh I think I think it is so good that
the world because here's what I think.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
I think that.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
I think that in two thousand and eight, it was
like we're sick of getting embarrassed, Like so we're gonna
We're gonna build a program, and this program is not
going to be as good as the other programs, but
our talent is so good that you know, if our
guys show up. I think that this is the next
evolution of USA basketball where they've gone like, Okay, so

(26:23):
we did a camp, we built a team that made
sense theoretically. We got a bunch of high character guys
who played pretty unselfishly, and we still can't win. And like,
I like the idea of the world kind of forcing
you know, it kind of feels like the invert of
what happened in nineteen ninety two, where the Dream Team

(26:45):
came and kind of set the tone and made the
rest of the world raise their game to come, come,
come meet the US. Now it's kind of the inverse
where the world is continuing to push the US further
and further and further, and like it just fun Like I,
you know, I've said a couple of World Cups ago,
I was rooting for other teams against the US because

(27:06):
it was just so unfair, like the talent level that
this team was running out there, you know, two thousand
and eight, twenty twelve Olympics was so outlandishly good that
you're like, man, I just kind of feel like I'm
it's kind of boring to root for the US, Like
I watched that game, you know, like on the on
the edge of my seat, like against Germany, trying to

(27:26):
figure out how they would be able to, you know,
come back and win. So I love competition. I feel
like the world has thrown the gauntlet back down and
it's up to the US to kind of to pick
it up and answer in kind.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, and really this is part of the legacy, right,
this is part of You have to credit USA Basketball.
You have to credit David Stern for really putting this
emphasis on expanding the game globally, right, Like we see it.
We've alluded to it before, but like we see it
even with our downloads, right, they're just the wide range
of countries and people that listen to frankly like a

(28:01):
niche podcast, like we are niche as hell. We talk
about the Cavs and we get really nitty gritty about it.
Like people just genuinely love this game, and you know,
to see the rest of the world develop a lot
of talent, for it to mean so much to all
these countries and for you know, the stars to come
out for the US, it's going to make next year's
Olympics very exciting. I can't wait for it, and I'm

(28:23):
interested to see if any Cavs players end up on
that team as well.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, do you think anyone makes it? Because I am skeptical.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, so I saw that tweet which mentioned like the
ideal team USA roster which still had Jet It had
Josh Hart and Chet Holmgren on it, which really made
me laugh. I would say that would not be ideal.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Players for a team USA.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
If you're having Chet or if you're having you know,
another one of those young big men. I think Evan
Mobley should definitely get a nod there. I'm interested because
I've seen people mention guys like Zach Lavine. I can't
see why you wouldn't want to have Donovan Mitchell over
Zach Lavine, especially if you're bringing in point forwards like Lebron.

(29:07):
If you have someone like Draymond having like that Jamal
Murray type combo guard, which is what Donovan Mitchell is,
that makes a lot of sense. I still think Jared Allen,
we know from you know reporting that Jared had turned
down the opportunity to play for USA with this World Cup,
a lot of players did. I think it's worth noting

(29:27):
Grant Hill mentioned that whether or not you play this
summer isn't going to impact what you're whether or not
you're going to get considered next year for the Olympics.
I think that had a big impact on the turnout
and is a deviation from the way Team USA has
operated in the past. So like, I don't think Jared
Jackson Junior should be a lock. I really don't think

(29:48):
he's not on my team if I get to pick, Yeah,
I don't think he should be a lock moving forward
because she is, like you said, he's a dramatically worse
rebounder than both having Mobile and Jared Allen. I think
they're both more versatile defensively, especially when it comes to
not fouling, because Brian Windhors likes to say you're only
allowed four fouls in FOBA.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
Fifth gets you out.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
But I think all of those factors have to be
taken into consideration. But here's my real answer, Carter. Like,
as much as I'd love to make arguments over you know,
Darius Garland, over Jalen Brunson things like that and point to, hey,
he's better in the regular season. I know Knicks won
the playoff series, blah blah blah, but I'm still going
to stick by my guys. The real answer might be.

(30:34):
It depends on how much growth we see from this
team in the regular season, right, Like we talk about
whether or not this team's going to reach its potential as.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
An NBA team.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
If it does and they really show out and they
have a great season, one or more of these Cavaliers
are going to get consideration for Team USA, just like
Jalen Brunson had a great playoff run races profile and
then got on this US T USA team for the
World Cup. So I think it's really going to come
down to how they show out and also just what

(31:06):
veterans are willing to play.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Absolutely, I'll just quickly run through my my twelve that
I would I would call. I think Staph is obviously
starting point guard. I think Devin Booker is kind of
the perfect shooting guard because he can just absolutely light
it up from three and go I se only when
he needs to.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Kadie obviously is going to be a small forward. Lebron's
your power forward if they convince ad to come. I
don't see a better American big now. Yeah, Like, I
think he's the best player. I think he is strong
enough to to kind of bang with these European bigs.
And has enough range to to you know, help on offense.

(31:46):
And he's a great roleman. He's just a great roleman
when he decides to play that way.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
And then Davis is a top five player in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah, or he's up there, you know. I think.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
I think if you're a skeptic, which I'm sometimes a skeptic,
I mean his run through the postseason really showed off
how amazing he is. I love Drew Holliday on this team.
I think you want to have a point of attack,
just bulldog for whatever your euro guard is making your
life miserable. Something I really hated about this Feeble World

(32:19):
Cup team is how many soft switches they gave up.
You don't give those up. With Drew Holliday, I would
put Donnie on the team along with and Edwards at
the shooting guard spot. I would invite Mi cal Bridges back.
I thought he played really really well and is a
good glue guy for this team and shot the ball
pretty well.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
And he plays alongside stars really well, which I think
is important.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Jason Tatum, I think obviously if he'll come off the bench,
which you know, it's getting tough man. Jayson Tatum off
the bench is his rough stuff, then Bam Autebaya would
be mad backup vibe, but it sure seems like it's
going to be Draymond Green. And then like you know,
I think when one thing you got to remember with
international balls, you only get twelve, you know, like the NBA,
it's like you get like sixteen at this point to

(33:05):
build a roster. So it's like I just don't think,
like when you look at Darius and Evan, is kind
of the next two that really make a lot of
sense from a talent perspective, Like Darius doesn't really do
the things I think that this team needs him to needs,
you know, their backup guard to do. There's so much
playmaking on the floor elsewhere. And then Evan, if he
gets stronger, if he if he you know, if the

(33:28):
Cavs become a top ten defensive rebounding team this year
and he answers a lot of the questions, then maybe,
but he's still so young compared to all those dudes,
Like I just don't if he's definitively better than like
Bam and Draymond. Maybe, but like I just don't. Also
don't think they're bringing three bigs, so if.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
He's definitively better than Bam, we might have a chance
to make an NBA finals.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Correct, And I just don't think he's going to be there.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, then, like that that's a big, big ask, And
I completely agree. I get where you're coming from. And
it's funny like that. To me, that just displays just
how good USA basketball is still, like even though the
rest of the world is caught up. We talked about
it before you look at rankings across all of the
people that are doing summer content for rankings, the Cavs

(34:16):
have four top ten players at their position in their
starting lineup, and we think maybe one of them is
going to.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Make and it would be and in theirs stiff competition
at that spot, he very well might not get to
get the nods. So yeah, it's nuts, man, it's nuts.
And and by the way, I didn't even mention Kawhi
Leonard or Paul Jordan, like I know that I know
neither of them are ever going to play in the
Olympics again, or I'd be stunned if they did. But

(34:44):
like even those two would go ahead of any Cavalier
if they wanted to play. So like, it's just it's
just a Banana's talented basketball community right now at every level.
But even if all those guys play, I'm not, like,
just I'm not, in sharpie that the Calves are going
to win a gold Like single elimination basketball are calves. Sorry,

(35:07):
let's let USA go.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
Without any calves and let's just roll the calves out
there in the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I'm here for does that just throw them in there?
But yeah, I'm not. I'm not, you know, putting a
Team USA gold medal in sharpie, just because I think
the talent level is now at a point especially if
like all you know, like if women Yama is playing,
if if Yokich is playing, all these guys, if if
everyone's bringing their their best, the talent level is not

(35:33):
that at that point, at a level where anyone can
win any individual game, and like you're going to have
to just play, you know, four great games in a row,
and like you might not.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, single elimination is tough, but there's no denying how
outstanding Team USA is, just like Zoom is the most
outstanding of the video conferencing softwares support for this podcast
and the following message comes from Zoom half a million
businesses connect using Zoom, a single platform for phone, chat, workspace, events, apps,
and video. Zoom enables real time collaboration for teams around

(36:08):
the globe. Zoom How the World Connects, Carter. We talked
about Tristan Thompson earlier in the podcast about how we
don't really see him being part of the rotation, and
I want to talk a little bit about the rotation
and just what we want to see from this team
this season. It's funny, man like, we're middle of September.

(36:28):
Training camp is going to be here in two weeks.
I saw the Cavs posted today forty five days until
the first home game, like this is getting right around
the corner and were going to start, you know, firing
up the engines and getting into preview mode. And one
of the things that we talked about a little bit
in the mail bag but didn't go into depth with
was the changes we want to see the offense. Things

(36:49):
indicators that you know, the regular season's success is going
to be more likely to translate to the playoffs. And
that's a tough thing, man like, because the Cavs were
a phenomenal team last year in the regular season and
it's going to be more subtle changes. But I want
you to kind of go over some of your thoughts

(37:10):
of what you would like to see from the team
next year that that would give you a higher level
of confidence that it's going to translate to the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
You know, that's tough for me because I really did
like a lot of what they did schematically. I really
liked the way they weaponized their their their back court.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
You know, I think that.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
I liked all the split cut action kind of using
mobilely as as as a hub. And yeah, I what
I'm interested to see is how much running back what
they did schematically meaningfully changes, you know, like the different

(37:53):
looks they get with different personnel. Because you know, something
that I've kind of been that's been rare around my
brain is, you know, a lot of times justin you've
talked about how you know the cab. You know, you'll
look at Max Struce's you know, openness percentile and he's
the fourth percentile and openness and you look at the

(38:14):
calves and the threes they took and they were like
the ninety seven percent openness, And I'm wondering how much
of that is a byproduct of the calves were running
good offense versus the Calves had players who did not
weren't guarding, you know, because that Like what I'm very
interested to get a sense of is like the Cavs
shot quality metrics are quite good, you know, like when

(38:36):
they take threes, they're typically really good looks.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
And like, what I'm.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Curious about is if the Calves shot quality metrics stay
as good if they continue to generate shots at uh,
you know, with the expected outcome that they did last season,
but with guys who can shoot, like their offense is bananas.
You know, they were a top ten offense last year,

(39:01):
like their offense would be bananas. And what I'm really
interested to see is like just by adding guys who
shoot when they're not wide open, or guys who shoot
like Strews who are flying off off picks, Like, how
much is that going to meaningfully change the way we
feel about how their offense looks? Like will they take

(39:23):
tougher shots, but that opens up different easier ones for
different players, Like I'm not sure how it's going to
impact because I don't know how much schematically you have
to do different I guess is what I'm saying. If
guys are just taking different opportunities within those schematics.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, that's a really good point, and especially when you
talk about three point quality. I definitely think, you know,
the way that defenses treated guys like Jeti osmon Isaacle
coor like they left them very wide open.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
And even though.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Jeddie can get hot and honestly, I think, like in retrospect,
I think Cam's fan have been too harsh on Jetty,
Like I think you have to have an understanding of
what you know, a bench role player is at least
an average one is in the NBA, and I think
Jetty is someone that can contribute to a good team.
But they weren't being guarded that closely in comparison. But

(40:18):
if you want to talk about was it scheme or
was it basically disrespect from the defense, I think when
you look at it by zone, I think that there's
a lot of indications that this was a healthy offense.
And this was an offense that benefited also from very
high playmaking and high shock creation quality, right, And that

(40:39):
was one of the things that we kind of got
laughed at a little bit in the off season when
we were talking about like the backup point guard position.
We were saying you know, there's a lot of good
playmakers here that can make up basically the presence of
a backup point guard. You have Caros Laverteti is such
a good playmaker. You have Evan Mobley, who's a good
passer for a big Ye have Jared Allen. Would you
guess how many points per game Jared Allen creates off

(41:01):
of assists five five, it's four and a half, which
you know a lot of that is three point shot creation.
He only averages one point seven assists per game. But
you know, he at least really grew. Like one of
the areas that I thought he grew last season was
his passing in the short role, and that's something that
I'd like to see them continue to develop, especially when

(41:22):
they stagger. But you look at it by zone and
the cash shot creation quality was just nuts. Like three
point shot quality. The only teams that were better were
Chicago Oka see the Lakers, and Sacramento rim shot quality.
The only teams that were better were Denver in Atlanta
catch and shoot three point shot quality. Only team better
was Chicago overall shot quality. The only teams better were

(41:45):
Golden State in Boston. Half court shot quality, Golden State Boston, Utah,
Dallas were the only teams better and they were the
number one team in past creation quality. These stats are
via b ball innecks like those are all Synergy stats
that say the Calves are getting good looks in a
lot of areas. And it's encouraging on the one hand,

(42:06):
and it's almost it makes me a little nervous on
the other because I do think, you know, you add
very good shooters that are going to fit what the
Calves already do well in Max Strus and George Naying,
and I think it would be very easy to just
run back exactly what you did last year, and it's
going to look so much better because everybody, you know,
all the young guys you assume they're going to improve,

(42:28):
things are going to be easier for them because of
the spacing. And you know, maybe that is enough to
move the needle in a series against the Knicks. But
when you talk about like the optimized version of this
team three years from now, let's say, like the very
best version of it, I think if you don't start
really working on some developmental reps and differentiating what you're

(42:51):
doing offensively with some of these guys, you're not going
to get there in three years, Like you need to
start seeing those steps in the right direction year one.
And I guess the interesting question becomes, what specifically are
those steps? How as a podcast, how are we best
able to analyze that? Yeah, well, I did want to
kind of talk real quick about you know, you kind

(43:13):
of reference like kind of some of those shot quality
metrics and uh, kind of those those positions.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
On the court.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
And one thing that I really wanted to add to
that was it does match, in my opinion, a team
that kind of let perfect on offense be the enemy
of good. You know, like they're like, if we're not
wide open, if we didn't generate an awesome look, we
ain't shooting, you know. And like I think in the
regular season, you can work for that, and you can

(43:43):
work for that, and you can work for that, and
you know, you look at their their you know, moribund
pace in the half court uh and uh, and you
can say, okay, that that that tracks, and then you
kind of realize that you know, perfect as the enemy
of good in the post and is what killed you
and why you had this horrific offense. So like I

(44:04):
do think that for me, I'm actually kind of geeked
if their metrics start looking a little worse on shot quality,
because that means they were a team that said that
relied more on their talent level that I believe they
have two uh to kind of like great teams have

(44:25):
to take bad shots, you know, like or or taking
make shots that are a little higher degree of difficulty.
So yeah, if Darius takes three more pull up twenty
seven footer is a game next year, guess what metric
is gonna look a little worse. Uh If if Max
Struce is is taking some crazy you know, full sprint
baseline to baseline, corner threes coming off coming off of

(44:49):
coming off of flare screens, yeah, it's gonna it's gonna
look worse. But I think the Cavs offense will probably
be healthier for it. But again, those are at schematic chain.
Those are just players playing differently, and like that's you know,
that's uh, you know, much like our guest Seth Partner said,
it's not always about the ex's and nos, It's about

(45:10):
the Jimmy's and Joe's and uh, and like that's kind
of where where I'm at with this offense. Like, again,
I just don't think they ran bad stuff or stuff
that like I don't, I don't. I didn't see a
part of their offense that where I was like, okay, schematically,
I would like more Evan mobile, high high post hubs

(45:32):
stuff like yeah, I was there, like I thought he
did fine in those touches. I don't need to completely
break from like letting Darius and Donnie run the offense.
They're like wildly feature more Evan mobilely at the high post.
I just want to see them do what they did
but better. And then then when you run it with
personnel that actually makes sense, then you can add some

(45:52):
tweaks and some counters from from there. Yeah, and you
know what, with the personnel changing, it is going to
open up options, right, Like I think that might be
one of the things we look at more because you know,
when it's Lamar Stevens coming in off the bench, it's
not like this is opening up like a new route
tree of options offensive all. I like that that's a

(46:13):
good way to frame.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
It, Like there's just it's a different team makeup, and
I'm going to be really interested, Like especially we talk
about Isaac o'correl coming in off the bench when he's
with the starting lineup. As much as I don't love
Isaac like being stuck in the corner, there's not a
lot of options when it's Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, Garland
and Mitchell there, right, Like, someone needs to be that

(46:36):
corner shooter. Whereas now if he's coming in off the bench, Okay,
maybe you're running a strong side action with Darius, Struce
and Mobley. You have George Nian in the corner as
a shooter, and then o'korl is doing a forty five
cut off ball right to draw the defender that's in
the paint, get his attention, maybe force a switch or miscommunication.

(46:59):
That's going to make those split cuts that were already
so effective, that's going to make it even better. Right,
Like you're giving another option there, Like, I'm interested to
see that kind of stuff. And I really would like
to see, you know, continuing to develop mobiley as a playmaker.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
I'd like to see Alan.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
You know, continue to be used in those ways like
when you have Like I think one of the things
we learned last year is that when you're staggering, the
guards and bigs Darland and Mobley, Donnie and Alan are
the best versions of that. They that they just have
the best chemistry with one another. Obviously, Alan's not going
to be doing the same kind of high coat, high

(47:38):
posts like playmaking that Evan Mobley's going to be doing,
but you could run some stuff through him. You can
have him make some reads there, and I think.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
I think his reeds get easier when Niang is out.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
There right and out there right, He's going to have
easier reads. There's going to be talent that makes more
sense around him. And I think those reps are really
important because as much as we focus on on Evan
Mobley's development in those spots, if Mobley picks up two
fouls early in a playoff game, you're getting a rough
whistle all of a sudden, Who's that outlet? Who's that

(48:09):
guy that's going to break the pressure for the guards?

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Right?

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Like you want to have Jared Allen having those reps
in the regular season so that he's ready to step
up in those moments in the playoffs. That's the kind
of stuff that at least I'm going to be looking for.
I'm going to be looking forward to. Can Max Struce
provide a little bit of playmaking there? Can George Niang
provide playmaking like basically more guys that are able to

(48:32):
either on a possession or two, be primary initiators or
provide secondary playmaking that makes it easier for Garland and
Mitchell to maybe spot up for a possession or two.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Man, it's it's going to be like, it's just going
to be so interesting figuring out you know, causation risk correlation.
That's going to be kind of my theme for the
season is like how much of this stuff is just
you know, the spot where you know, you mentioned that

(49:05):
Isaac forty five cut, like where he runs smack dab
into a defender's chest versus where you know last year
where it's like that guy is three steps further away. Yeah,
and again I continue to think that guys like Tristan,
like I'm sorry, Tristan, he's in my head. Guys like Isaac,

(49:30):
guys like Keris like, are just going to benefit so
much from the different personnel and it's going to really
change the way they play. And like we're not going
to know if that's a schematic change or not. We're
just not you know, like we don't have that level
of insight into like what the coaching staff is talking about.
Something I was meaning to ask you, is who benefits

(49:50):
the most from the additions of Niang and in struce
on the on the existing roster, who is a player,
not from a ruling out the minutes thing, because obviously,
like you know, you could say Evan Mobley is going
to benefit them or Darius going to benefit the most,
but like just just in terms of when they're on

(50:12):
the floor and one or both those guys are out there,
whose game looks the easiest with those two on.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
The floor, well, looks the easiest is probably different than
benefits the most.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
Because okay, then let's say benefits the most, let's make
it clean.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
I think it's Evan Mobiley, Like, I think it's going
to open things up for him and he's going to
be able to better showcase where he's at offensively right,
Like he's the biggest thing I want to see from
him is getting better on the keep right, like he's
scoring from.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
The top of the key in.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
But I just think the additional spacing there is going
to make the reads easier and it's going to be
easier for us to assess whether or not he's making
the right decision. Becau is when it's congested, it just
looks like chaos out there sometimes, right, and it's harder
to properly assess what he's doing. And I think just
having more clean film, having guys that are in position

(51:11):
all the time is going to make a big difference, because,
like I talked about, you know, Lamar coming in not
really changing what they're able to do offensively, Jeddy as
much as I did, Yeah, Like well, Jety as much
as you know, I say, he gets unfairly flacked. He
wasn't always where he needed to be, whether that was

(51:32):
the offensive or defensive end. He was not great at,
you know, the off ball positioning. I'm going to get
into this passing lane so that this read is very
clear for who the playmaker is going to be. Maxters
and George Niang are very used to playing in very
structured offenses being where they need to be, and I
think knowing that that second nature of I know where

(51:56):
everybody's going to be on the court is so important
for playmakers like Darius, like Evan, like Donovan. I just
think that that leads to an offense that is going
to perform better when it's stress test, when when you
know when you're tired, when defense is throwing at you,
and you just need to know where.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
That outlet is.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
The fact that Max Strus and George Niyang are going
to be in the correct spots every single time, I
think really makes a big difference.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I will say I kind
of have two answers to that question. I think it
is I think.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
You minded, but I think one of us being long winded.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
I know my and I kind of broke into starvers
star in role player core versus role player, and I
think the core member I'm actually going with Donovan Mitchell
because you looked at the fact that when Darius was
off the floor and and Donovan was on the offense

(53:00):
really suffered. That that's one of the bigger, you know,
on off differentials that you could look at offensively where
they were really great together. It was pretty good with
Darius no Donnie. The offense is not that good with
Donnie no Darius. And it's because of the fact that
I think Darius could paper over the lack of shooting
by being such an elite playmaker, uh and passer, whereas

(53:24):
Donovan is still more He's not a point guard, He's
just not He is a make the one or two
reads that are you know, in front of me kind
of guy. And I don't think the Cavs made his
life very easy when Darius was off the floor last season,
and I think those guys.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Made shots in those spots.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Like I like, one of my most used lineups is
going to be Donovan Mitchell, maybe Isaac Okorro, Max Struce,
George s Niang, Jared Allen. I'm playing a lot of Struce, Nang, Allen,
Donovan Mitchell, and you know, depending on the context, I'll
swap that fifth in with either Kris or or Isaac

(54:07):
h I.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Do really like Isaac at like shooting guard when Yanks
at the four, because I think if you're giving up
some interior defense, you want to have that improved point
of attack defense from Isaac.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Sure, So like that's that that's I think that he's
just giving him simple reads like he was a one
man offense in Utah, Like he could be the one
creator on the floor and you could have an elite
offense with him on the floor, but it's because you
had a ton of spacers and an elite role thread.
The calves can replicate that without it being the entire thing.

(54:40):
The ship is made out of which I think bodes
really well. And then my role player answer is Carris
Lavert for all of the exact same reasons I think.
I think Caris caris like was playing, especially when both
the guards were sitting, was playing in a phone booth
as the lead creator. And I think he's another guy

(55:00):
who's playmaking metrics serve him very very well. And I
think one of the reasons we saw his mid range
game suffer so much is he just constantly had two
or three bodies in his face every time he would pull.
So I think Harris and Donovan, both of our you know,
our B playmakers, will look more like B plus A

(55:23):
minus playmakers with the context that those two guys provide them.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
I think that's a really smart observation. Like I completely
agree with that. I'm really interested to see what those
Donovan and Alan minutes look like. There's just more guys
to make those lineups make sense what we talked about,
what we're looking forward to. But what's the question that
you have when it comes to what this team's going

(55:49):
to look like or either from an identity standpoint, from
a schematic standpoint.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
We're near the end of the podcast, so I want
to keep talking basketball.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I know, I know, but I'm gonna sneak a little
bit of pessimism in Okay, And I think this is
the right time to do it because we're near the end.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
So okay, I thought you were telling me you didn't
want to discuss this at all.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
So all of our listeners, like the lowest percentage of
our listeners, is going to hear this little thing. Not
real quiet, Let's go. I don't know if you've noticed,
I've just been gently dropping. And what if Donnie has
about a regression year. I think we're all kind of
assuming that he's just going to do what he did
with better spacing and and be as good, if not better,

(56:34):
And he had such a banana season last year that
like if he's like I think in some ways, I've
been thinking about the fact that I think they actually
might need the spacing juice that Struce and Theang provide,
if not just offset some regression to the mean for

(56:56):
our boy, Donovan Mitchell.

Speaker 4 (56:58):
Your thoughts, I.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Don't think it's impossible. Like it was the most efficient
season of his career. So you always have to buy
a lot, Yeah, you always have to be mindful of
that as much as I like to attract that.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
You know, it was a lower volume.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Wasn't lower volume, by the way, it was like high volume,
high efficiency with worse spacing.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
Like Yeah, I think if you have like, let's say,
a little bit worse shot luck, right, like which happens
with shooters and whatnot, that could certainly happen. I think
you'd be hoping that it gets offset with you know,
Darius continuing to improve with mobile and continuing to improve
better role players and all that kind of stuff. Like,
I don't think it would actually have a massive impact

(57:40):
on the overall offense, but I don't think it would
necessarily be the end of the world. I think it's
a it's a realistic possibility. And you know, if he
does have some struggles, sometimes you figure stuff out in
that process, right, Like maybe he's contributing in other ways.
The defensive effort comes up because he's not being passed
with as much offensively. Maybe that you know, empowers Darius

(58:05):
or immobilely to do more on the offensive end. And
you know, just because he had a great regular season
doesn't mean you're going to have a great playoffs. I mean,
we certainly saw that with Donovan last year. As well.
So I think if there's a little bit of a
regression in terms of how many shots he makes, not
necessarily the end of the world, but I would like

(58:25):
to at least see, like if the process is the same,
Like if he's still going out there and he's still
playing hardy, he's still committed, you know, to every single
game like he was last year. I'm gonna be very
fine with that because I think I think we can
make up for it in the aggregate. But I think
that that is a very very fair possibility to bring up.
Like I love attributing him having his most efficiencieson the

(58:50):
plane with the two bags to playing with Darius, who
makes everyone's life easier. I love the fact that every
time we bring in a player, I can always just go, well,
you know, they've never really played with a playmaker like
Darius before, so I think we can just assume that
they're going to play better. Like that's a luxury I
love having as an arrogant podcast host. But I do

(59:11):
think that that's certainly possible. And you know, maybe there's
some regression with Kris when it comes to his threepoint shooting, right,
Like that was the best year of his career, maybe
he makes up for that with you know, more career
norm finishing at the rim and mid range. That like,
there's different ways that you can make that up, but
I think it's a fair thing to point out. Yeah,
And I just think, like, I think my hope for

(59:33):
Donovan is, like, you know, we saw that, you know,
we talked about the way that a guy like Max
Streets might lower the Cavs expected shot quality you know, metrics.
I kind of hope that Donovan can absorb that regression
by just getting better shots and cleaner shots with more

(59:54):
with more room to operate in cleaner reads, you know,
because like again, and you just look at every stat
almost across the board except assists, they all went up.
You know, the percentages were high, the volume was high,
and like, I just think we need to count on
maybe some of those going down or like you know,
maybe he's contested three point percentage gets a little you know, regresses.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
A little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
But I think there's plenty I think that you know,
you mentioned like, I don't think a regression would have
a huge impact on the Cavs overall offense this year.
I think it would have last year. I think there
were a lot of games where the Calves were like, please,
Donovan just be good at basketball and held them out
a lot. I agree, and he was able to do that.

(01:00:40):
You know, I think their worst stretch of the year
was January where guess what, Donovan shot his worst percentage
from the field and from three all season. I think
that was no accident. They were banged up that month
if I recall correctly. Yep, So no accident that the
team performed worse worst on offense when Donovan was having

(01:01:04):
kind of his worst worst stretch of the year. So
I think that, Uh, I think it's just a thing
to keep an eye on. I think that's why I'm
so glad that they made these moves, because I think
they can just accommodate.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
A lot more.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Yeah, completely agree. Really fair thing to bring up, and uh,
I'm just I just keep getting more and more excited.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
I cannot be so exciting.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
I can't wait to actually break down games. Like the
fact that I was missing cast basketball enough to watch
that next series again, like that's I should never be
in this position.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Let's let's let's just speed through.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
These next few weeks and get to it. But big
thanks to everyone that tune in live on YouTube. We
really do appreciate you guys hanging out with us. We
will continue to podcast once a week and then soon
it'll be twice a week again, Carter, I'm looking forward
to podcasts a week. What's we actually have to talk about?
Then I'm down for two podcasts a week.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Absolutely, brother, I can't wait.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
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(01:02:22):
out there, and until next time, Welcome back, Tristan Thompson
and Go Cabs