Speaker 1: This crowd rises to it's me what Borrow slammed it out?
Speaker 1: Are left winging? Free ball? Perfect?
Speaker 2: Then he blocked the shot at the rim?
Speaker 1: How with the left hand.
Speaker 2: And of foul. Welcome to the Chasetown Podcast, part of
Speaker 2: the Caves Media family. I'm your host, Justin Rohan. The
Speaker 2: Chasetown is presented by Fubo, the official streaming partner of
Speaker 2: the Calves. Watch over three hundred and fifty channels of
Speaker 2: live sports and TV, including FanDuel Sports Network without cable.
Speaker 2: There's no cost and no commitment. Try for free at
Speaker 2: FuboTV dot com Slash Calves. Well, it took until late March,
Speaker 2: but we have our first losing streak of the season.
Speaker 2: My body simply rejected it. I completely shut down. I've
Speaker 2: had the flu. I am reacting poorly to this. Maybe
Speaker 2: I should have taken losses, watched other teams to get
Speaker 2: a little dose of losing. But after a month and
Speaker 2: a half without a single loss, my body shot down
Speaker 2: with these But we still have so much to break down.
Speaker 2: And joining me today is my co host Carter Rodriguez. Carter,
Speaker 2: how you doing, buddy?
Speaker 1: You know I'm doing well. It's uh I literally warned
Speaker 1: everyone to be careful. You're gonna be staying up late
Speaker 1: watching the calves. You might be inventing things to be
Speaker 1: frustrated with, and uh, whoops, there's real stuff to be
Speaker 1: frustrated with. It stinks to it stinks to lose three
Speaker 1: in a row, you know. And it's just a weird
Speaker 1: time of the season, honestly. And I'm certainly sleepy trying
Speaker 1: to fight off any any grump you know. I've had
Speaker 1: my little moments, my little my little grumpy thoughts to
Speaker 1: myself that I know are because I'm not getting enough sleep.
Speaker 1: And West Coast trip isn't over yet, brother man.
Speaker 2: No, no, it certainly isn't dead, you know. I'm We're
Speaker 2: going to get to the concerns. I think there is
Speaker 2: stop to discuss, both from a kind of macro and
Speaker 2: micro sense of what we're concerned about in the short term.
Speaker 2: If there's any of this that we feel, you know,
Speaker 2: is at least feeding into some anks that we have
Speaker 2: long term that may not just be the result of
Speaker 2: this losing streak, but just you know, general concerns we
Speaker 2: have overall. But I think we do have to get
Speaker 2: into these games individually. I do think It's funny. When
Speaker 2: we were doing our kind of preview of this trip,
Speaker 2: when we were in the midst of the winning streak,
Speaker 2: we said, when are the losses going to come? When
Speaker 2: would you like to predict the first loss? Yeah, we
Speaker 2: were both right. You know, you predicted Orlando. I predicted
Speaker 2: Sacramento because I was like, you know, three games, four nights,
Speaker 2: second night of a back to back, traveling out west,
Speaker 2: that's probably where it's going to happen. But I wasn't
Speaker 2: expecting Zach Levine to miss the game, Demonta Sabonis to
Speaker 2: miss that game. Sure, Darius Garland was missing, but the
Speaker 2: Cavs obviously had more than enough. And I thought you
Speaker 2: and Danny did a tremendous job. Really appreciate Danny phil
Speaker 2: it with me being very under the weather, they're covering
Speaker 2: that Orlando game. I thought the Clippers game overall was
Speaker 2: actually a really well played game for a lot of it.
Speaker 2: I thought that was a fun game between two good teams,
Speaker 2: and then they just kind of lost some of their process.
Speaker 2: But that Sacramento loss, that's a bad loss. There's no
Speaker 2: way to get around it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, is it's just that time of year and
Speaker 1: you want to get worked up, you want to overreact.
Speaker 1: But long time Cavaliers Twitter antagonist Matt Moore coming in
Speaker 1: with the context to make me feel a little bit better, honestly,
Speaker 1: He tweeted today, Cavs offenses first this season. They are
Speaker 1: twelfth in March. The Thunder defenses first on the season.
Speaker 1: They are twelfth in March. The Spurs offense is sixteenth
Speaker 1: on the season their first, Memphis defense is tenth. They're twenty.
Speaker 1: Atlanta's offense is sixth, They're eighteenth. It's just such a
Speaker 1: weird part of the season, a weird part of the calendar.
Speaker 2: If you ever, if you want to have a laugh, Carter,
Speaker 2: don't do it now. But after the podcast search Matt
Speaker 2: Moore's tweets. Search at HB basketball March is meaningless and
Speaker 2: see how many results you get. This has been a
Speaker 2: multi year campaign of him basically pointing out how it's
Speaker 2: the least significant, statistically significant month. But you know, I
Speaker 2: still think, you know, when it comes to the calves
Speaker 2: and what we've seen over this stretch, I don't think
Speaker 2: it's dissimilar to other times when they've had skids. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's too dissimilar to some of their bad
Speaker 2: habits during the winning streak, even we said multiple times, hey,
Speaker 2: a few of these games easily could have been a loss.
Speaker 2: And the question that we had is are they going
Speaker 2: to correct some of these bad habits before getting some
Speaker 2: negative reinforcement. And I think the answer to that was
Speaker 2: pretty clearly, like there's been some really good games in there.
Speaker 2: I thought the Memphis game was a terrific performance from them,
Speaker 2: where they came out, they were engaged. But you know,
Speaker 2: some of these habits, the turnovers, I would say, settling
Speaker 2: for jump shots, not continually engaging the bigs, and you know,
Speaker 2: feeding Evan Mobley and Jared Allen and getting some rim
Speaker 2: pressure going. I think some of those habits are just
Speaker 2: due to coasting and assuming that they have enough firepower
Speaker 2: to win in the end. And when you play like that,
Speaker 2: you're going to get bid a couple times, particularly when
Speaker 2: you play three teams in a row that are all
Speaker 2: in the play in picture that really really need to
Speaker 2: get these wins. Orlando eight seat Sacramento trying to get
Speaker 2: into the upper half of the play in bracket. The
Speaker 2: Clippers are in the play in the Cats basically are
Speaker 2: sitting there with an A plus grade already and they
Speaker 2: are coasting on their you know, the extra credit homework
Speaker 2: that they've been assigned. They already know what they're great
Speaker 2: is for the regular season, the teams really need to
Speaker 2: get those wins. And when you're in that situation, you're
Speaker 2: going to get caught and you're going to get losses.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not like it's been forty eight minutes
Speaker 1: of substandard play. It's just been like disastrous six minute
Speaker 1: stretches I feel, where they just aren't able to get
Speaker 1: anything going and they pay the piper. You know, you
Speaker 1: look at that ten oh run against Orlando. You think
Speaker 1: about the fact that you know, they didn't have a
Speaker 1: crazy high turnover game against Sacramento. No, I think they
Speaker 1: finished with twelve or thirteen twelve in the game, you
Speaker 1: have twenty three points. So it was just like every
Speaker 1: time they turned it over it was a straight up
Speaker 1: pick six. And so it's like, not all turnovers are
Speaker 1: made equal, not all box scores are made equal, and like,
Speaker 1: you know, you might look up and down this Caps
Speaker 1: box score and say, oh, they played a pretty good game,
Speaker 1: And you know, I think Donovan is probably a good
Speaker 1: example of that where you look he goes you go
Speaker 1: all right, twenty six points on seventeen shots, five and four.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a pretty solid Donovant game. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you watch that wasn't his best second half until some
Speaker 1: heroics very at the very end to get them back
Speaker 1: in contact. So, like, I just think they're not playing
Speaker 1: consistent forty eight minutes of ball, and that is how
Speaker 1: you lose games in March.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and Donovan's been in a bit of a slump.
Speaker 1: All three of the guards, all three of the guards,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of come home to roost for all
Speaker 1: three of them shooting the basketball right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was going to say, I don't even
Speaker 2: know if slump's the right word, right because clearly he
Speaker 2: had a nagging groin issue. He was shut down for
Speaker 2: a couple of games, and then you know, you're returning
Speaker 2: from a soft tissue injury. You're not doing conditioning when
Speaker 2: you're out, You're going to be there's going to be
Speaker 2: an adjustment period as you're coming back. And I'm not
Speaker 2: surprised to see him, you know, take some time to
Speaker 2: get his footing. There's been bursts where he's looked really good,
Speaker 2: but there's other times where you know, the shots just
Speaker 2: aren't falling. And I think from Darius's standpoint, we saw
Speaker 2: that as he came back from the hip and you know,
Speaker 2: the fall where he hit his face, it took him
Speaker 2: a while. It took him a while start hitting shots.
Speaker 2: And I think the last couple of games that he's played,
Speaker 2: he's looked a lot better. He's getting to the rim again,
Speaker 2: the shots are falling. The Clippers game was a very
Speaker 2: efficient one until he jacked up those two late threes,
Speaker 2: you know, in just kind of a scrambled drill situation.
Speaker 2: But he looked terrific, Like I thought, he was the
Speaker 2: best player on the calves against the Clippers. He was
Speaker 2: high pointing rebounds, you know, playing with burst. That step
Speaker 2: back jumper was terrific. So I give Donovan the exact
Speaker 2: same grace that we gave Darius, where it's, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: the shots not falling. But I feel like he's playing
Speaker 2: pretty decent overall. But there's been stretches where I thought,
Speaker 2: to close against Orlando it was just a little too
Speaker 2: Donovan heavy. I thought it got a little Donovan heavy,
Speaker 2: or you know, went away from MOBILEI is probably the
Speaker 2: more accurate way to say it. Against Sacramento, when Evan
Speaker 2: had it really rolling and we just stopped getting him
Speaker 2: the ball in those last couple of minutes, just not
Speaker 2: trusting kind of the the overall offense and playing the
Speaker 2: way that we have in the clutch throughout the season.
Speaker 2: Which is really funny because right after we do you know,
Speaker 2: a breakdown of how they've played in the clutch. I
Speaker 2: felt like they've kind of lost their identity in those moments.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe I don't know. I thought they were,
Speaker 1: you know, against Orlando, I thought they generated really good
Speaker 1: looks down the stretch, and I agree with that their
Speaker 1: results didn't really match the process. You know, I felt
Speaker 1: like they lost to the Kings on the other side
Speaker 1: of the ball, where they just could not get a
Speaker 1: stop for three straight minutes.
Speaker 2: The defense has sucked. It just hasn't been good lately.
Speaker 1: But like I do think it is fair to say,
Speaker 1: you know, these guys are just are slumping from three
Speaker 1: a little bit. Donoman is shooting twenty percent in his
Speaker 1: seven games this month on eight attempts a game. Darius
Speaker 1: is still at thirty two and a half percent. For
Speaker 1: Jerome Ty Jerome is at twenty four percent. Like those
Speaker 1: three guards, So much of what has made them so
Speaker 1: freaking flammable. This year has been the you know, the
Speaker 1: two you know, the three level scoring for all three
Speaker 1: of them, and you know, really it's mostly coming at
Speaker 1: the rim for Tye and Donovan and that's what's kind
Speaker 1: of keeping their field goal percentages even in reasonable places.
Speaker 1: But like, you know, those guys need to make threes consistently.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dandy Cunningham mentioned it that the Kings, Clippers,
Speaker 1: and Magic are all bottom twenty three point teams, and
Speaker 1: all three of them made more threes than the Calves.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not saying that, like I'm not just doing
Speaker 1: the make or miss league thing, because I do think
Speaker 1: like this is a team that's consistently won games even
Speaker 1: when they haven't been at their best as shooters, and
Speaker 1: they haven't been their best elsewhere, so the bottom's kind
Speaker 1: of fallen out on them. Yeah, I think in some
Speaker 1: of these games because they haven't been great everywhere else.
Speaker 1: But like, boy, it's hard to tell the story of
Speaker 1: this three game losing streak without mentioning that Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: made more threes than the Cavs in a basketball game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, the Orlando won I think if
Speaker 2: it wasn't part of this larger kind of stretch where
Speaker 2: they haven't been shooting well. It would be really easy
Speaker 2: to say, well, you know, that's an afternoon game that
Speaker 2: happens like those games are always weird. We don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of losses this season, but I feel like
Speaker 2: a quarter of them have come at very early start times.
Speaker 2: But you're right, it's definitely part of the story here.
Speaker 2: I do think it's also a compounding issue where it
Speaker 2: almost feels like they're playing to conserve energy just a
Speaker 2: little bit at least compared to stretches where they've been
Speaker 2: playing their best, where the energy level has been so high,
Speaker 2: and some of what you do in those spots is
Speaker 2: you settle for more jumpers. I feel like the Cavs
Speaker 2: have settled for more jumpers and they're not attacking the
Speaker 2: basket generating rim pressure at the same rate, and what
Speaker 2: that ends up doing is you create lower quality three
Speaker 2: point shots as a result of that. Their highest quality
Speaker 2: looks usually come when they're pressuring the rim and the
Speaker 2: defense is collapsing and they're in rotation. I feel like
Speaker 2: sometimes we are settling a little bit more. It's not
Speaker 2: to the full extent of Boston where the ball never
Speaker 2: goes inside of the three point arc. But I do
Speaker 2: feel like there's been prolonged stretches, or at least in
Speaker 2: the stretches where we do go really cold offensively, we
Speaker 2: just kind of abandoned that rim pressure during that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think some of that is, you know,
Speaker 1: Evan sat one of these games and he is a
Speaker 1: big generator of that rim pressure for us, where you know,
Speaker 1: he like because Jarrett will do it within the scheme.
Speaker 1: But like we saw teams kind of scheme him out
Speaker 1: of a couple of these second halfs where they were
Speaker 1: really taking away the role and really tagging him hard,
Speaker 1: and you know, so that wasn't necessarily there as well
Speaker 1: as you might like. And then you know, you also
Speaker 1: have Darius and you know, missing missing a game, and
Speaker 1: so like I do think like the avenues to rim
Speaker 1: pressure have him been there. And then you know, rotationally,
Speaker 1: like Dean had a really really good game yesterday, so
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to dig on him too hard, but
Speaker 1: like there have been a few possessions where he's just
Speaker 1: not looking at the rim and you know, and he's
Speaker 1: really not gonna be a guy who looks at the
Speaker 1: rim sam Merril doesn't really look at the rim and
Speaker 1: attack you know, in straight lines too often layup the
Speaker 1: other year. Yeah, though I do feel a little bad
Speaker 1: for him because I feel like everyone went after him
Speaker 1: for that and is like, I don't think he knew
Speaker 1: how open he was. I think he just got a
Speaker 1: offensive rebound and was like, all right, when I get
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds, like kick it out, so you know, whatever there.
Speaker 1: But like I do think just collectively they there hasn't
Speaker 1: been a tremendous amount of consistent downhill pressure. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: some some notable exceptions. I think Max has played really
Speaker 1: really well getting downhill. I think, uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think Tie, despite the three point shot being in shambles
Speaker 1: right now, has really still gotten downhill and you know,
Speaker 1: muscled up some relatively effective games uh through that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I do think much like you know, those
Speaker 1: old Warriors teams, like it's a team that has a
Speaker 1: proclivity to be side to siedy yep and you and
Speaker 1: sometimes you just need to get out of your own
Speaker 1: head and just like we have to attack downhill consistently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I felt like that was a big part
Speaker 2: of darius Is slump was you know, the three point
Speaker 2: shot isn't falling, but we're getting entire halfs where he's
Speaker 2: only taking shots behind the three point arc and he's
Speaker 2: not driving. And I thought there's been a real change
Speaker 2: of that the last couple of games he's played. I
Speaker 2: really feel like he's kind of turned the corner and
Speaker 2: I'm feeling better.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's back to our guy. Last two games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like he's been playing really well lately.
Speaker 2: It was nice to see. You know, Evan had a
Speaker 2: really tough game against the Clippers. I thought it was
Speaker 2: probably his worst defensive game of the year. A lot
Speaker 2: was kind of made of Jared Allen defending Zubac, but
Speaker 2: some of that was not getting the help defense in time.
Speaker 2: I thought Mobley's was a step slow, and you know,
Speaker 2: coming off missing a game with foot soreness, maybe that
Speaker 2: was a factor. But it was night and day better
Speaker 2: against Sacramento in comparison, and you know, sometimes you're going
Speaker 2: to have those off games. But I thought Mobley's defense
Speaker 2: and his struggles on that end was a big part
Speaker 2: of the story against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: I do too, and as part of it was they
Speaker 1: haven't gotten consistently good play up and down the roster.
Speaker 1: You know, DeAndre hunter had has had a couple of
Speaker 1: rough games. You know, Sam is having some a tough stretch,
Speaker 1: one of his tougher stretches I think of the year
Speaker 1: where you know, the shot is okay, but he's not
Speaker 1: getting up a tremendous amount of attempts, which maybe is
Speaker 1: reflective of it. It's one of those things where maybe
Speaker 1: it's a like these last two games, he's got three
Speaker 1: total three point episode twenty six minutes, and that's like
Speaker 1: not Sam. I wonder if that's one of those like
Speaker 1: bell Weather things of like things aren't working that well.
Speaker 1: So Sam isn't getting his steady diet of even semi
Speaker 1: open threes. Yeah, So I don't know. I just think
Speaker 1: they're not playing their best and like even like even
Speaker 1: like the obvious stuff that like does not beget any
Speaker 1: analysis but still matters. Last three games, they've missed twenty
Speaker 1: free throws.
Speaker 2: Like that seems to be a that seems to be
Speaker 2: a consistent trend. Anytime that they do have one of
Speaker 2: these slumps is oh god, Like you know, they had
Speaker 2: a really bad free throw week week for one reason
Speaker 2: or another, and I you know, I can't provide an
Speaker 2: explanation for that. It's the least interesting thing to talk about.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things where you just go, yeah,
Speaker 2: they should make those they're they're better than that.
Speaker 1: If but it's like it's got to be worth saying,
Speaker 1: like they make they get an extra seven points per game,
Speaker 1: like across these three games. That's you know, you might
Speaker 1: have turned to all three of those into into wins
Speaker 1: or much more competitive games. Yeah, and that's been true
Speaker 1: kind of it is everything factor, you know, And it's
Speaker 1: been true of a lot of losses this season where
Speaker 1: it's come down to the wire, it's been oh, you know,
Speaker 1: we missed a bunch of free throws, you had an
Speaker 1: abnormally bad shooting game from three. If any of those
Speaker 1: factors change, you still win. Like the fact that they've
Speaker 1: still been close in a lot of these losses, not
Speaker 1: these recent ones, because you know, the Sacramento one shouldn't
Speaker 1: have come down to that like that, that doesn't matter, that's.
Speaker 2: Not what I'm referring to. But even thinking back to,
Speaker 2: you know, the Houston loss, that's a perfect example of Yeah,
Speaker 2: with even how bad they played, if they just shot
Speaker 2: better from the free throw line, they win the game,
Speaker 2: and it speaks to the overall floor they have. But
Speaker 2: you are in one of these spots where during the
Speaker 2: winning streak there were issues. We didn't feel that they
Speaker 2: were playing well. We felt that they were slumping. The
Speaker 2: starters in particular, were having a tough time and the
Speaker 2: bench was carrying them. Now the starters are, I think,
Speaker 2: in general, are starting to come back to earth. Darius
Speaker 2: is playing a little bit better. Mobilely had a terrific game.
Speaker 2: Feels crappy to have wasted that against Sacramento. I feel
Speaker 2: like Jared's been playing well, but the bench lineup hasn't
Speaker 2: been as effective. They're in a bit of a rut.
Speaker 2: Those minutes aren't working out as well, so you no
Speaker 2: longer have that boost coming in consistently from the second unit,
Speaker 2: and I think that that is leaving them vulnerable to
Speaker 2: potentially dropping some of these games. Yeah, I mean, the
Speaker 2: whole premise is the forty eight minutes of hell, we
Speaker 2: don't have lineups. They get run off the floor. And
Speaker 2: you know, they've been having some lineups that are giving
Speaker 2: up nine ten points in two minutes. Yeah, Like, and
Speaker 2: those births are like really damaging, really really hard to account.
Speaker 1: For and just kind of change the rhythm because I
Speaker 1: would say in all three games there was an eight
Speaker 1: minute stretch for the Cabs looked as good as they've
Speaker 1: looked all year. I would have gainst the Orlando against
Speaker 1: the Kings and against the Clippers, but like, there was
Speaker 1: a big stretch of that Clippers game where I was
Speaker 1: just sitting back being like, this is some basketball man,
Speaker 1: Like the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Let's be honest. They are where they are in the
Speaker 2: standings because they've had guys miss so much time and
Speaker 2: because Tylou is a genius and has kept them, you know,
Speaker 2: as high as they are. But that's a better team
Speaker 2: than the record when they're fully healthy, When Kawhi Leonard's
Speaker 2: playing like that and James Harden's locked in like that,
Speaker 2: and you know they.
Speaker 1: Aren't help put Mobley on skates in a way I
Speaker 1: didn't know he could still do.
Speaker 2: That's a good team. That's a team that's capable of
Speaker 2: playing some damn good basketball, and you know they were
Speaker 2: putting on a show that that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: It almost reminded me of that first game against Okay
Speaker 2: See in Cleveland, where it's like, this is just high
Speaker 2: level basketball, even when the defense is good, it's not enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the shot making was nuts. J Quest in the
Speaker 1: YouTube chat just asked about putting someone like Javante in
Speaker 1: just to see if there's a spark there is that
Speaker 1: something you'd be interested in doing as they try to
Speaker 1: get to like the Malaise of March, because I think
Speaker 1: it's kind of an interesting idea.
Speaker 2: I think it's something I might go to, but I
Speaker 2: wouldn't go to it right away because I think there's
Speaker 2: options within the existing rotation, and I think you saw
Speaker 2: one of them honestly against Sacramento. Because one of my
Speaker 2: gripes with the Clippers game was and even some recent performances,
Speaker 2: it seemed like within the rotation, Sam has been the
Speaker 2: unquestioned kind of seventh man in terms of the minutes
Speaker 2: played in the rotation, and I felt like there's a
Speaker 2: lever to pull there of cutting it back and giving
Speaker 2: Ocoro more. And that's exactly what Kenny did against Sacramento.
Speaker 2: It was Okay, we need to start getting some stops,
Speaker 2: we need activity. When the Ice gave really good minutes,
Speaker 2: he gave them great minutes, and honestly, Dean Wade gave
Speaker 2: them great minutes. Like I thought the two of them
Speaker 2: really played well in the time that they were out there.
Speaker 2: But I think that's the first lever I pull, is
Speaker 2: redistributing the minutes within the guys that are already kind
Speaker 2: of within the top nine. And if you feel that
Speaker 2: they're coming out flat and the bench guys aren't giving
Speaker 2: you a lift, that's when I go and I pulled
Speaker 2: the Javonte lever and give him an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of pulling the Javonte lever if
Speaker 1: they look listless in the third quarter, you know, just
Speaker 1: the hey man like because like the thing with Ice
Speaker 1: that we've always said, you know, is like sometimes if
Speaker 1: if the game's not right, he's not necessarily making the
Speaker 1: splash he plays, he's making the really fundamentally solid plays,
Speaker 1: you know. And Javante, I think, is a little bit
Speaker 1: more chaotic of a player, at least from what we've
Speaker 1: seen so far. And sometimes, you know, it's like the
Speaker 1: Lamar Stevens effect on steroids, you know, or sometimes Lamar
Speaker 1: could come in and like, you know, mess up the
Speaker 1: energy of a game just by trying real hard and
Speaker 1: playing playing his own way, you know. And like I
Speaker 1: think neither of us ever really loved when he got
Speaker 1: consistent minutes. But I didn't mind him when it was
Speaker 1: like a things aren't going well, let's try it, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and every now and again he could change the game.
Speaker 1: And I think Javante is like a much better player
Speaker 1: than than Labar to be to be, to be honest,
Speaker 1: and like, I do think there's some value in that.
Speaker 1: And also just like as a little bit of like
Speaker 1: a hey, it's march. I know, I know it's hard
Speaker 1: to like get up for every game. I got other guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, like there is a little bit of
Speaker 1: a message you can kind of send there, not like
Speaker 1: a malicious one, but like, hey, if if I'm not
Speaker 1: going to get exactly what I'm looking for, I'll try
Speaker 1: other folks. Is a deep roster. I'll give Jalen Tyson
Speaker 1: some run, I'll give Green some run. And he did
Speaker 1: that earlier in the year, you know, and did give
Speaker 1: guys cracks when the team maybe wasn't as sharp as
Speaker 1: they needed to be. So I thought it was I
Speaker 1: thought it was a good call for j Quest and
Speaker 1: I would be okay with that.
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Speaker 1: Real quick, real quick. All right, I gotta, I gotta.
Speaker 1: I have a little thing I wanted to I wanted
Speaker 1: to shout out, Uh. I just want to shout out uh,
Speaker 1: our dear friend Ben Cox Cavs Twitter. Uh, lifer going
Speaker 1: through some hell stuff you mentioned on this Twitter. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to say, Ben, we love you. Hope you
Speaker 1: get well soon.
Speaker 2: Brother. Ye funny enough, that was actually what I was
Speaker 2: going to bring.
Speaker 1: Really, Ben, we love you so much. Both of us
Speaker 1: came to this conclusion independently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ben, Ben, I'm happy to hear you. Know. I
Speaker 2: appreciate you sharing your story there. We're definitely thinking about you. Uh.
Speaker 1: You.
Speaker 2: We go all the way back to the days that
Speaker 2: I fear of the sword and really hoping that your
Speaker 2: your recovery is going well. If you need anything, reach out,
Speaker 2: we love you and you're here for you, and you know,
Speaker 2: while we're in you know this kind of reminiscent mode.
Speaker 2: I should also mention Carter, we're dropping this at least
Speaker 2: the audio version of this podcast tomorrow March twenty first,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be the eight year anniversary of the Chase
Speaker 2: Down podcast. How about that?
Speaker 1: Eight years, man, And it does not feel like it's
Speaker 1: been eight years.
Speaker 2: It feels like eighteen.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just it's just been it's been
Speaker 1: an easy job being your podcast buddy for the last
Speaker 1: eight years. And gosh, that's probably what, like, you know,
Speaker 1: three hundred episodes, three point fifty or something like that.
Speaker 1: It's probably it's a.
Speaker 2: Lot more than that. I'll get to those numbers after
Speaker 2: the fact, but yeah, it's it's a lot more than
Speaker 2: that at this point.
Speaker 1: Crazy to think about.
Speaker 2: I love you, buddy, I love you to you, buddy.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, it's you know, these stretches are tough. It's
Speaker 2: it's frustrating, particularly when you stay up late.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I've been so sleepy, so sleepy.
Speaker 2: I've had the benefit of at least one of these games.
Speaker 2: I was in bed all day, so I was at
Speaker 2: least a little mentally au Yeu Captain flu Bug. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm really living the dream here. But you know it's
Speaker 2: going to lead to stretches where you start having concerns,
Speaker 2: you start you know, it's confirming some of your prior
Speaker 2: concerns and things like that. I saw a lot of that,
Speaker 2: you know, I think playing Zubach and Jonas valentunas two
Speaker 2: very physical bigs that are going to try to go
Speaker 2: through you to the basket. That's going to lead to
Speaker 2: people talking. You know, a lot of blame going towards
Speaker 2: Jared Allen. And it's kind of funny because even though
Speaker 2: we lost to the Clippers by thirteen, they lost to
Speaker 2: the Zubac Minutes by four. So as frustrating as it
Speaker 2: was to see that, that wasn't necessarily why they lost
Speaker 2: the game. Same thing goes for the Jonus Valentunis minutes.
Speaker 2: He card, what would you guess is plus minus was
Speaker 2: for the game?
Speaker 1: I think I know it was like minus six or
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 2: It was minus seventeen. Wow, it was seventeen and he
Speaker 2: was five of eleven from the fight.
Speaker 1: You know why. It was the mobley the Mobley run
Speaker 1: at the end of the third.
Speaker 2: But I'm just saying, like as the Calves obviously are
Speaker 2: going to struggle with those types of bigs because almost
Speaker 2: every team does like they play such a physical style.
Speaker 2: They don't always win those minutes, but they're going to
Speaker 2: try to go through you. They're going to elbow their
Speaker 2: win the fight. Yeah, they won't mend the minutes, but
Speaker 2: they'll win the fight. I gotta say it is especially
Speaker 2: cruel for the NBA during this this you know, sleep
Speaker 2: walky ass month of marsh to send the Calves on
Speaker 2: a West coast trip to this just parade of large
Speaker 2: Eastern European man to beat us up that are all
Speaker 2: fighting for their playing lives. It's just great. But you
Speaker 2: know what I will take at least I'll say this,
Speaker 2: at least it was Jonas instead of Sibonis, because I
Speaker 2: feel like Sibonis is the toughest cover for Jared Allen
Speaker 2: in the league. Like Jared will do a great job.
Speaker 2: I've seen him do a great job on unbeat. I've
Speaker 2: seen it on Jokic, I've seen it on you know,
Speaker 2: big physical bigs. Sabonis. That that's another that's another animal
Speaker 2: like that is that's shan Gun with more strength and
Speaker 2: more skill and you know, a much better skill set
Speaker 2: when it would comes to footwork and things like that
Speaker 2: to just put bodies under the basket. He is relentless.
Speaker 2: It's it's I've seen Jared do it to Yannis. You'll
Speaker 2: stand up well to him. But Sabonis that is a tough,
Speaker 2: tough cover.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some dudes are just hard for guys and you
Speaker 1: and yeah, I mean Sis is league leader in rebounding
Speaker 1: and all that fun stuff, and yeah, talk about a
Speaker 1: weird King's team where like they're not that good, but
Speaker 1: like if Sabonis is healthy and it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: we got Sabonis off the floor of him comes Jonas
Speaker 1: fell on Tunis, that's just like it's just like a
Speaker 1: NonStop elbow parade. Yeah, uh you know, but uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's definitely a weird time. And like the confirming priors
Speaker 1: thing is interesting thing because I will say, as I
Speaker 1: was watching, like, I mean, I think it's been no
Speaker 1: secret on this podcast that like I really do think
Speaker 1: Isaac should be getting a little bit more run. I do,
Speaker 1: and I know you I'm pretty sure you do too
Speaker 1: as well. And you know, the natural uh, you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: the opposite of a beneficiary of that is Sam, And
Speaker 1: like I was sitting here, you know, last night, and
Speaker 1: be like, I just don't know if I just don't
Speaker 1: know if Sam should be getting this kind of run
Speaker 1: in the last couple of games. And then I look
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, I only played twelve minutes, as
Speaker 1: like I, you know, even we have to be careful
Speaker 1: about confirming our priors, you know, and and just being
Speaker 1: like and just being like, well, we think Isaac needs
Speaker 1: more minutes. So when Isaac's not getting the minutes and
Speaker 1: things go wrong, then I'll see, Look how smart we are.
Speaker 1: It's really hard to analyze. Like sometimes like having all
Speaker 1: this putting all this thought in and de helping all
Speaker 1: these opinions about the team, I think it sometimes makes
Speaker 1: it harder to evaluate what we're watching, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right. And I think a big
Speaker 2: part of why we approach these discussions the way that
Speaker 2: we do, where you know, we talk about what we think,
Speaker 2: we discussed both sides of it, basically to outline our
Speaker 2: logic so that when we're wrong, you guys at least
Speaker 2: have an understanding of what went into that where we
Speaker 2: went wrong, and then you know, we can break that
Speaker 2: down further in the future, and I definitely felt that
Speaker 2: Sam was getting too much time against the Clippers. I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, he's he's held up incredibly well defensively. I
Speaker 2: thought he's competed well. The overall numbers have been very
Speaker 2: good for him on the defensive end, but this recent
Speaker 2: stretch it hasn't been going as well. There's guys that
Speaker 2: have been able to kind of take advantage of that opportunity.
Speaker 2: And I do think that it's interesting because there's a
Speaker 2: bit of a trickle down effect here with trading Carrislavert
Speaker 2: and George Niang for DeAndre Hunter. And a big part
Speaker 2: of that is now that that third ball handler is
Speaker 2: consistently Ti Jerome, if you're also still playing one of
Speaker 2: Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. That means that Sam is
Speaker 2: functionally the small forward in a lot of lineups if
Speaker 2: he's coming in off the bench, Whereas with Karris Lavert,
Speaker 2: if he's coming in as the third ball handler and
Speaker 2: you have one of Donovan or Darius out there, you
Speaker 2: at least have that longer body to throw at wings.
Speaker 2: And there's just been a few too many times recently
Speaker 2: where it's like, oh, Sam's on John Morant, or he's
Speaker 2: on James Harden or oh he's on Kawhi Leonard. That's
Speaker 2: just it's unrealistic to expect him to hold up in
Speaker 2: those spots. And I think that that's going to be
Speaker 2: a bit of attention going into the playoffs of Hey,
Speaker 2: we really like what Sam's bringing us, but if we
Speaker 2: are going to have one of Darius or Donovan on
Speaker 2: the court at all times and we're going to play
Speaker 2: Ty Jerome, you kind of have to almost make a
Speaker 2: decision between Ty and Sam when it comes to a
Speaker 2: lot of these minutes.
Speaker 1: That's exactly where I was about to get to, which
Speaker 1: is I was sitting watching the game onto the field
Speaker 1: the sword playback channel and just was hanging with Jackson
Speaker 1: Fleck and Jerry and watching the game, trying to stay awake,
Speaker 1: and we were talking through that, and there is a
Speaker 1: certain factor where having Sam in the rotation and Tie
Speaker 1: in the rotation, both of them in really meaningful ways,
Speaker 1: does kind of run counter to the upsizing that the
Speaker 1: that the addition of DeAndre Hunter was supposed to do
Speaker 1: for us. You know, like the whole fun of adding
Speaker 1: DeAndre is that you can play Okoro. DeAndre struce uh
Speaker 1: wide all at the kind of in that two through
Speaker 1: four range and obviously Mobili in the four, and you're
Speaker 1: just running really big lineups from the two two guard
Speaker 1: up and went Ties in as the one from the
Speaker 1: one guard up. But like it does kind of break
Speaker 1: that if you want to guarantee Sam and Tie these
Speaker 1: minutes in the rotation, because you also are still staggering
Speaker 1: Darius and Donovan and so one of so you're always
Speaker 1: going to have one of Darius or Donovan on the floor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which means that if you want to have Tie and
Speaker 1: Sam on the floor, you're right, one of them has
Speaker 1: to play small forward and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're small. And part of me thinks that if I
Speaker 1: were Kenny in the postseason, as always, thank god I'm not,
Speaker 1: but if I were, I would kind of just choose
Speaker 1: between the two, you know, And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Tie is a six Man of the Year candidates, so
Speaker 1: I would certainly pick him to start, But I do
Speaker 1: think there will be matchups that are not great for Tie.
Speaker 1: Like I was talking to the Dunker Spot boys about about,
Speaker 1: you know, how we how I feel like he'll hold
Speaker 1: up in the postseasons, Like I could see a series
Speaker 1: where like Trey Young or Kobe White or some of
Speaker 1: these quick guards are torching him and getting around him,
Speaker 1: and the foot speed is a problem, and it's just
Speaker 1: better just to play Donovan as the backup one for
Speaker 1: a couple of games. And if you do that, it'd
Speaker 1: be great to have a different kind of guy to
Speaker 1: bring out under the floor in Sam Merril. So, like,
Speaker 1: it's not that I'm I'm just like banish Sam. No,
Speaker 1: it's just I just think you might have to choose
Speaker 1: if you want to stick to this new identity that
Speaker 1: you have, and like I think that that it's not
Speaker 1: even new identity, but I think it's like a super
Speaker 1: charged identity. Yeah, it's almost like if I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the current rotation, usually guys nine to ten in the
Speaker 1: rotation are coming in to start the second quarter. I
Speaker 1: think you can start to you know, give Sam MINUTESI
Speaker 1: in that spot. If you're going to have Tie come
Speaker 1: in right away in the first like in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: I just think when you're running out there with Darius
Speaker 1: or Donovan, Tie and Sam, that's just that's asking a lot,
Speaker 1: particularly because that's coming in minute where you only have
Speaker 1: one of the bigs on the court from a defensive standpoint,
Speaker 1: and like Darius and Donovan are going to get attacked
Speaker 1: on defense because of their height, right, guys are going
Speaker 1: to try to take advantage of that. Even though they
Speaker 1: both play good defense individually, they play sound team defense,
Speaker 1: you are giving up something from a hyphe perspective. That's
Speaker 1: one of the conceits of this team. Sam has played
Speaker 1: very good defense. He plays very good positional defense off ball,
Speaker 1: he's in position, he navigates screens while he's going to
Speaker 1: do his part. But when you have all three of
Speaker 1: those guys out there that are you know, six form below,
Speaker 1: you're just you don't have the foot speed. But Tye
Speaker 1: has active hands. But from you know, a defensive standpoint,
Speaker 1: he's probably the weakest defender on the team. So when
Speaker 1: you have him out there with two smaller guards, you
Speaker 1: just start losing defensive integrity. And I just think you
Speaker 1: put yourself in a tougher position by having all three
Speaker 1: of them out there at the same time. I think
Speaker 1: that's been reflected. You know, in the net rating data,
Speaker 1: you look at the clean the glass splits. Sam's a
Speaker 1: lot less effective as a small forward thing as a
Speaker 1: shooting guard, but you're also you know, the tough thing
Speaker 1: from Kenny's perspective is he is dealing with nine to
Speaker 1: ten guys that deserve minutes, that have earned minutes throughout
Speaker 1: the season and have been reliable throughout the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, and I'm trying not to like
Speaker 1: overreact again to the confirming priors thing, like, yeah, Sam
Speaker 1: has been helpful even when he's slumped most of this year.
Speaker 1: But I do think there.
Speaker 2: And this is a very small stretch of him struggling
Speaker 2: on defense, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, But like I do think that, you know,
Speaker 1: with that trade, the two guys whose jobs changed the most,
Speaker 1: or they're like context within the team changed the most
Speaker 1: are Sam and Dean, and like, because Hunter can do
Speaker 1: a lot of the Dean fact simile things, you know,
Speaker 1: Like I you know, part of the fun of the
Speaker 1: Hunter trade was like, hey, you know, we are saying
Speaker 1: that we we are depending on Dean a little more
Speaker 1: than we we would like. Well, now we have a
Speaker 1: you know, a different dude in a similar you know size,
Speaker 1: that can that can do Dean stuff plus some you know,
Speaker 1: so like I do think Dean has been figuring out
Speaker 1: where to find his attacks and all that stuff and
Speaker 1: a very promising outing to be sure against Sacramento.
Speaker 2: Do you think that's what Kenny was thinking starting him, Ok, Hey,
Speaker 2: let's get Dean going.
Speaker 1: Maybe I wondered because it was a I thought a
Speaker 1: pretty surprising start, uh to you know, basically play Max
Speaker 1: of the two. By the way, they played a lineup
Speaker 1: to close the second of Donovan, Hunter, Dean, Mobley, and Charot,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my.
Speaker 2: God, large.
Speaker 1: That is a large lineup, so like he is still playing,
Speaker 1: you know, even though they're losing games right now, Like
Speaker 1: there is some experimentation going on. It's not just pure
Speaker 1: try to survive the stretch. But yeah, I do think
Speaker 1: Dean had a lot to figure out. And then you know,
Speaker 1: because of the stuff with Tye being you know, taking
Speaker 1: caress spot in the rotation, basically like those two things
Speaker 1: kind of combined to make this a little bit of
Speaker 1: an interesting thing for Sam. And then like, because so
Speaker 1: much of what they can do now is kind of
Speaker 1: just use Max in the in the Sam role and
Speaker 1: use Hunter in the wage role, and and then it
Speaker 1: just so I just feel like those are the guys
Speaker 1: whose jobs changed the most. Like I thought Isaac's job
Speaker 1: might change a lot. I haven't really felt that. I
Speaker 1: feel like, I mean, he's getting more minutes at the two,
Speaker 1: but I think, like are like, structurally his job on
Speaker 1: the team on the floor is not that different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was going to say tie, but you know,
Speaker 2: I think your argument was sound there. And really, when
Speaker 2: you look at it posts all Star Break, he's playing two,
Speaker 2: it's per game more than he was before. Like it's
Speaker 2: you know, it's a more consistent role, but he's still
Speaker 2: playing the same brand of basketball that he was before.
Speaker 2: The contact hasn't changed a whole lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I don't know. I uh, I'm interested to
Speaker 1: see where Kenny takes it because like, this is really
Speaker 1: the first time I've started to have real opinions about
Speaker 1: the rotation, and I would like to think that it's
Speaker 1: just because the losses, but I do Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, I think both me and
Speaker 1: you have been like, hmmm, I'm not sure I would
Speaker 1: do it like that. I'm not sure I would roll
Speaker 1: these guys out in this way. Now, do you think
Speaker 1: that's where we should have the Okoro discussion? Because I've
Speaker 1: really liked the Okoro minutes and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at the last three games, he's played eight,
Speaker 1: twelve and sixteen minutes, so that was and he played
Speaker 1: twenty one against Memphis. Was great against Memphis. He started
Speaker 1: game and then he kind of went back down to
Speaker 1: the kind of the bottom end of the rotation. And
Speaker 1: I find that it feels like Kenny tends to go
Speaker 1: hit the offense button when the team is trailing, not
Speaker 1: the defense button. And sometimes I'd like him to press
Speaker 1: the defense button a little more. In terms of the
Speaker 1: rotations of the subs, he tends to like to downsize,
Speaker 1: and he tends to like to put in more shooting, whereas,
Speaker 1: like I felt like in that Sacramento game and that
Speaker 1: that Clippers game, I'm like, I want to get stops.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to fuel the offense by
Speaker 1: making the other team's life hard. And I would like
Speaker 1: to see more Isaac, I guess is really what I
Speaker 1: was working my way towards.
Speaker 2: I'd like to see more Okoro as well. You know,
Speaker 2: I agree with you. I liked how he's been playing.
Speaker 2: The interesting thing is when when you look at kind
Speaker 2: of the impact that he's had on the Cavs iscally,
Speaker 2: he is a defense first player. There's no denying that
Speaker 2: he's going to be a low volume shooter. We've talked
Speaker 2: about him rounding out his game and getting into the
Speaker 2: hustle stats and things like that, but he always has
Speaker 2: had a positive impact, at least when you're talking about
Speaker 2: the regular season on the offensive end, because he plays
Speaker 2: with a lot of pace and he plays with the
Speaker 2: law tempo. Sometimes when he disrupts things on the defensive end,
Speaker 2: that leads to transition opportunities. He's probably one of the
Speaker 2: best transition players on the team, and you know, seeks
Speaker 2: out those opportunities better than almost anybody. And when you
Speaker 2: look at the on off stats in terms of who
Speaker 2: has the biggest kind of swing offensively, Okorro's right up there,
Speaker 2: Like he's the offense is three point five points better
Speaker 2: with him on the court as just behind Darius, Jared,
Speaker 2: DeAndre and Evan Like, he's someone that has had a
Speaker 2: positive impact on that end. And I think framing it
Speaker 2: as offense and defense is something that you can do,
Speaker 2: But for me, it's energy. I feel like he brings
Speaker 2: consistent life and energy. That's something you really need in
Speaker 2: the regular season, particularly when you're in the stretch where
Speaker 2: you have pretty much locked up you know, the number
Speaker 2: one seed in the Eastern Conference. I know some people
Speaker 2: are starting to worry about that. That is not a
Speaker 2: realistic concern. You guys can calm down about that. But
Speaker 2: when you have that already locked up, having a guy
Speaker 2: that's going to kind of lift you up collectively, I
Speaker 2: think that's valuable. I think you need to have that
Speaker 2: prioritize just a little higher in the rotation. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying he needs to be the seventh man here coming
Speaker 2: in off the bench, but I think eighth rather than
Speaker 2: ninth or tenth is probably where I would have him
Speaker 2: if you are going with a ten man rotation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is so funny because I was sitting here thinking,
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're probably quibbling over four to five total minutes.
Speaker 2: And again, that's exactly what we're doing, because you know
Speaker 2: that's sixteen minutes. That's perfect, like that, that's it. But
Speaker 2: that is one. On the eighth anniversary of this podcast,
Speaker 2: that rate there is exactly the Chase Down podcast we
Speaker 2: are we are putting over five. We are getting nitty gritty.
Speaker 2: We are talking about how someone needs to be bumped
Speaker 2: up to the eighth in the rotation rather than that
Speaker 2: is exactly what this podcast is about.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know, man, I just think, like,
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think he does add a
Speaker 1: certain energy. He's a better athlete than a lot of
Speaker 1: their wing options in terms of just literal foot speed, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, which like adds a certain energy, a certain verb.
Speaker 1: I think he's been really good cutting. I think he's
Speaker 1: been really good in the baseline. I think he's been
Speaker 1: really good in transition. I think he's been not gun
Speaker 1: shy from three, which is good enough for me, even
Speaker 1: though the percentage is still in rebound mode after that
Speaker 1: shoulder injury. And then I just think I don't think
Speaker 1: the CAB has been very good on defense the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and he's the best point of attack
Speaker 1: defender on the team. And I think we saw a
Speaker 1: little bit of like I don't know, maybe this is
Speaker 1: not fair, but like during the end of that game
Speaker 1: when Hunter was on de Rosen, I was like, that's
Speaker 1: not the same as Isaac on Derosen. No, you know,
Speaker 1: like at least that's how it felt to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: DeRozan got both of them a couple of times. He
Speaker 1: had a great game, don't get me wrong, and He'll
Speaker 1: get guys no matter who they are, So this is
Speaker 1: not like slander, but I still do feel like for
Speaker 1: guard defense and wing defense is still the best option
Speaker 1: on the team when you need stops. He's going to
Speaker 1: be the one that's going to deter people from getting
Speaker 1: shots up. Like there was a couple of defensive possessions
Speaker 1: against the Clippers where he just completely ruined what they
Speaker 1: were doing in the half court right Like, you're not
Speaker 1: going to get a shot up because he's getting into you.
Speaker 1: He's disrupting your dribble, he's not letting you get to
Speaker 1: your spots. Whereas DeAndre Hunter, I think he's played really
Speaker 1: good within the context of the system. But where he's
Speaker 1: really beneficial is you know those longer shooters where yeah,
Speaker 1: you're playing very good sound defense, but I'm just going
Speaker 1: to rise up even if i can't get to my spots.
Speaker 1: You know, you're Jason Tatum types. DeAndre does a terrific
Speaker 1: job of providing length in those instances. But I do
Speaker 1: think you're correct in pointing out, hey, there's you know,
Speaker 1: there's a difference here in terms of the way that they.
Speaker 2: Impact things defensively, and I think getting athleticism on the
Speaker 2: court needs to be a priority. That's something that this
Speaker 2: team is lacked at times. And I just think with
Speaker 2: a variety of options putting yourself in a box where
Speaker 2: you are taking some length and athleticism off of the
Speaker 2: court and playing three guards, there's going to be Knights
Speaker 2: and there's going to be teams where you can do that.
Speaker 2: I just don't think if you're going to have a
Speaker 2: set in stone rotation where at least for a first half,
Speaker 2: this is what we're going to do and then we're
Speaker 2: going to adjust in the second half. I don't think
Speaker 2: that that needs to be a mandatory look that you
Speaker 2: go to in the first half of every game. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like it's like the difference between like a perk
Speaker 2: and like what you're building the house out of. Like
Speaker 2: I feel like knowing that they can go to that
Speaker 2: three yard lineup and if they really need a little
Speaker 2: extra ball handling juice and they need some three point
Speaker 2: movement off ball movement from Sam to try to ungunk
Speaker 2: things like all right, cool, let's see what that does.
Speaker 2: We're in a funk. Let's try that lineup. I just
Speaker 2: don't like it as the starting choice. Yeah, Like in general,
Speaker 2: that's the way I felt about Sam is like I
Speaker 2: just don't I love and like talk about like a
Speaker 2: you know, they have so many options, they have such
Speaker 2: an abundance of choice because this team is good that
Speaker 2: like Sam two years ago would be a guy where
Speaker 2: we're just like play him, play him, like he's got
Speaker 2: to be in Whereas now they have this abundance of
Speaker 2: riches where I kind of am sitting and being like, hmm,
Speaker 2: maybe that guy who I would have begged for against
Speaker 2: the next two years ago, maybe he should be our
Speaker 2: break glass in case of emergency option. Like two years ago,
Speaker 2: our break glass in case of emergency option was Danny
Speaker 2: Green on one leg. So like it is reflective of
Speaker 2: how good things are that we're even having this conversation.
Speaker 2: And I think it's reflective of the fact that we've
Speaker 2: actually had all of the options available for a stretch, right,
Speaker 2: Like you said, this is the first time we're you know,
Speaker 2: we're really kind of giving some real thoughts to the
Speaker 2: rotation of hey do we want to be doing that?
Speaker 2: I think some of that is a product of now
Speaker 2: everybody is available, right, Like we've had the odd rest
Speaker 2: game here or there, the entire supporting cast has been
Speaker 2: available so we're finding out what decisions this coaching staff
Speaker 2: wants to go with in terms of the rotation. I
Speaker 2: think the coaching staff is still making those decisions and
Speaker 2: making those determinations. I think it's important to point out,
Speaker 2: as we said earlier the Clippers, Sam was kind of
Speaker 2: that unquestioned seventh guy the rotation against the Kings that shifted. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're moved up within the rotation, Sam moved down. So
Speaker 2: I think this is something that Kenny's already doing it
Speaker 2: and playing around with. But to me, what we're just
Speaker 2: discussing is kind of our feelings towards it, why we
Speaker 2: feel the way that we do it, and kind of
Speaker 2: the chain reaction of you know, other decisions that come
Speaker 2: from any of these moves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be uh well, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think Danny Cunningham reported no injuries, I mean reported
Speaker 1: that the injury report said no injuries for tomorrow on
Speaker 1: the report, So so the team should be whole in
Speaker 1: that game. Uh did we get off the schnide against
Speaker 1: a all time bad Vibes Sun's team.
Speaker 2: I mean, I hope so you know this not to
Speaker 2: rehash what we said the last time that the Cavs
Speaker 2: lost multiple games in a row. But it's all right,
Speaker 2: Like it's going to come down to when do they
Speaker 2: want this to stop? Because I think anytime this Cavs
Speaker 2: team has had a slump, it's largely been self inflicted.
Speaker 2: What they need to do to turn it around is
Speaker 2: all things that they've done this season. They have turned
Speaker 2: it around after slumping for a bit. We know exactly
Speaker 2: what they're capable of doing. This isn't something that is
Speaker 2: producing those types of concerns for me of oh have
Speaker 2: we been figured out? Is our insanity run over? No,
Speaker 2: That's not the type of stuff that I'm worried about here.
Speaker 2: So my guess is just based on the history of
Speaker 2: this team. Yeah, they're going to turn it around. They're
Speaker 2: going to come out with a good effort. You know,
Speaker 2: having Darius back is going to make a difference. He
Speaker 2: still is that guy that elevates the offense more than
Speaker 2: anybody else on the team. So I feel good about that.
Speaker 2: But we'll need to see, We'll need to see what
Speaker 2: effort they come out with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm hopeful they've really responded. You know, they won
Speaker 1: nineteen out of twenty games after their last three game
Speaker 1: a losing streak. They have been an unbelievably resilient team
Speaker 1: even when they've had these little goalies of play, so
Speaker 1: excited to see how they respond.
Speaker 2: Do you have from this stretch, either a short term
Speaker 2: or long term concern that that's kind of been brought
Speaker 2: to the forefront of your mind.
Speaker 1: No, I think the fact that in a way, I'm
Speaker 1: just kind of happy that if the if the Guards
Speaker 1: are gonna slump, they're slumping in March and not you know,
Speaker 1: and ideally not into I mean, there's no reason for
Speaker 1: me to think that they're going to just slump for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. Uh you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess it's ultimately possible, So I'd rather know slump
Speaker 1: at all. But like, if you're gonna have a dip,
Speaker 1: giving yourself some runway to get yourself back into into
Speaker 1: good form, Like you know, I guess that that's my
Speaker 1: only real angst at this point. And it's like, I
Speaker 1: just want the Guards to be back to like their
Speaker 1: killerselves and justin I'm just gonna keep looking at that
Speaker 1: hand for jareded it bothers me, it answered me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel I respect, I respect the crap out of him.
Speaker 1: For going out there and buying every night in a
Speaker 1: league where a lot of guys don't do that when
Speaker 1: they're not at one hundred percent. But I just am like,
Speaker 1: is that gonna get better? It's like he took that
Speaker 1: he tried to do a power dribble with it against
Speaker 1: Sacramento and lost the ball right away. Like I just
Speaker 1: worry about that hand.
Speaker 2: I did feel good about him breaking his fall on
Speaker 2: that one time and like not getting up and grimacing,
Speaker 2: like he just kind of got up after landing on
Speaker 2: both hands. Made me think back to to Maxa. I
Speaker 2: think it was against Orlando where he landed on his
Speaker 2: taped up hand and was in a lot of pain.
Speaker 2: So I was like, Okay, well, at least, you know,
Speaker 2: he could survive that that fall to the ground without
Speaker 2: reaggravating it in a dramatic way, So that was at
Speaker 2: least a good sign. My my short term concerns are
Speaker 2: all injury related, Like just you know, Donovan's going get
Speaker 2: that back to one hundred percent, Jared, get that hand
Speaker 2: healed up. Make sure that there's nothing nagging my macro
Speaker 2: concern from this though I've already you know, I've already
Speaker 2: talked enough about DeAndre Hunter not playing enough with the
Speaker 2: core That continues to be a bit of a concern
Speaker 2: for me. But a bit of my concern, you know,
Speaker 2: with guys dealing with some nagging stuff, is if we
Speaker 2: are managing you know, soft tissue issues and stuff like
Speaker 2: that down the stretch, it does prevent a little bit
Speaker 2: of a ramp up before the postseason. And that was
Speaker 2: something that Kenny said that he wanted to do, is
Speaker 2: all right, let's increase the minutes. Let's you know, let's
Speaker 2: test these guys in some of these games. If you're
Speaker 2: doing that makes it harder to accomplish those goals. And
Speaker 2: I do think that Kenny has already started that. I
Speaker 2: think when you look at March, the minutes per game
Speaker 2: for the core guys has ticked up. It was all,
Speaker 2: you know, thirty and below. In March, Donovan's playing thirty
Speaker 2: three minutes again, Darius is playing thirty three, Mobley's playing
Speaker 2: thirty two. So I think Kenny's doing that in you know,
Speaker 2: a responsible manner of ramping those minutes up. But if
Speaker 2: you're dealing with kind of these nagging issues, makes me wonder, okay,
Speaker 2: can you do a full ramp up or is this
Speaker 2: going to be something where, hey, you know, we weren't
Speaker 2: able to do it exactly how we were hoping to
Speaker 2: end the season, and we basically have to take advantage
Speaker 2: of this week off that we get during the play
Speaker 2: and to use this as a training camp and hit
Speaker 2: the ground running, maybe even using the first round as
Speaker 2: an opportunity to do so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you look at the other contenders around
Speaker 1: the league and you go, what, everyone else has these
Speaker 1: problems too. You know, Jalen Williams, Jalen Williams is hurt
Speaker 1: for Okay, see Bronson's hurt for the Knicks. Boston has
Speaker 1: a perpetual carousel of their guys missing time right now. So, like,
Speaker 1: you know, as just is, it would be not to
Speaker 1: just be in perfect form with this perfect upward curve
Speaker 1: on the way into the playoffs like this is not
Speaker 1: like anyone else is going to get that either. So like.
Speaker 2: It. Whether it's fair or not, I'm fully self absorbed.
Speaker 2: I want the Calves to have as many competitive advantages
Speaker 2: as possible. I you know, when it comes to them
Speaker 2: versus Boston, Boston's going to be the favorite. Boston should
Speaker 2: be the favorite. We need to have our best game,
Speaker 2: We need to have our a game. We need to
Speaker 2: minimize the number of stretches that we were allowing Boston
Speaker 2: to go on runs because they're going to go on
Speaker 2: runs in those games. They're likely going to steal a
Speaker 2: game in Cleveland, so you have to be you know,
Speaker 2: mentally ready for that and ready to take one back
Speaker 2: in Boston. All of that, the smallest little things, every
Speaker 2: little thing that contributes to the margin for error. I'm
Speaker 2: going to hope that that is maximized on the Calves side, any.
Speaker 1: Hope as well. I just think it's good to like
Speaker 1: balance out the the angst with nothing that other teams
Speaker 1: are working through this now Okay, see it's just on
Speaker 1: a ridiculous tear right now anyway, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's why they have taken the number one overall
Speaker 1: seed away from us. But uh but uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be uh, it's gonna a lot to learn. Damn,
Speaker 1: the Rockets have won eight in a row. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize they reclaimed the two seeds anyway. Sorry, now I'm
Speaker 1: just standings reading. No, it's very podcasting, there is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think you know that's my biggest macro concern.
Speaker 2: I I don't worry about you know, can the defense work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the defense, we we know exactly what this team is
Speaker 2: capable of doing. On that end. I think the offense
Speaker 2: has shown enough regular season track record here to not
Speaker 2: worry about that beyond, you know, the the normal concerns
Speaker 2: that we had of Hey, we need to see this
Speaker 2: translate to the postseason for the first time. I don't
Speaker 2: think whether they finish hot or cold from that perspective,
Speaker 2: that's not going to you know, that being a question mark,
Speaker 2: that being a concern heading into the postseason. We need
Speaker 2: to see Darius elevate his game in the playoffs. I
Speaker 2: still feel like, you know, the Knick series was fine,
Speaker 2: but I want to see him take that step forward
Speaker 2: and you have a great series. I want to see
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley have a great offensive series. I want to
Speaker 2: see everything click the way that we've seen a click
Speaker 2: in the regular season in the postseason. None of that's
Speaker 2: going to be answered here in the regular season. As
Speaker 2: I said before, we already know what the grade is
Speaker 2: for this year when it comes to the regular season.
Speaker 2: They've done the work, They've got their A plus. This
Speaker 2: is all just extra credit for the rest of the year.
Speaker 2: But you know, it isn't going to impact the concerns
Speaker 2: or confidence heading into the playoffs for me, because I
Speaker 2: know that this team is capable of flipping the switch
Speaker 2: and being great in that spot. I also know that
Speaker 2: they are capable of letting their bad habits get the
Speaker 2: worst of them and making things tougher on themselves than
Speaker 2: they need to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, I guess. You know, we can kind
Speaker 1: of close with me just saying like that is kind
Speaker 1: of nice though that their bad habits are not like
Speaker 1: what I would consider like fatal flaw bad habits. They're
Speaker 1: just like, oh, we weren't paying attention and turn it
Speaker 1: over like four times in six possessions. It's like that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff you presume won't be as much of
Speaker 1: a problem in the playoffs when you're sharper and every
Speaker 1: game is life and death. But I guess we'll see.
Speaker 1: But like I don't see like you know too, Like
Speaker 1: like two years ago, it was like, hey, since the
Speaker 1: All Star break, we're thirtieth in defensive rebounding. That seems scary,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not seeing a lot of those bell weathers.
Speaker 1: You know, it's there's something there. We had a stretch
Speaker 1: where we've been on We've been traveling for a while,
Speaker 1: and the focus isn't there. As you said, turnovers. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know we lost in Newton game. We lost against
Speaker 1: a team that's missing it stars. Those afternoon matinees. These
Speaker 1: these these children are staying up too late.
Speaker 2: How many times has it been the other team's missing
Speaker 2: a star. We take the team a little too lightly
Speaker 2: and they end up winning that game like that. That
Speaker 2: kind of stuff is exactly the type of losses that
Speaker 2: we see with this team. That's not something that I'm
Speaker 2: worried about translating to the playoffs. The concerns are the
Speaker 2: concerns that are always going to be there, which are
Speaker 2: fair and valid, and that's just what teams get until
Speaker 2: they get you to the top of the mountaintop and
Speaker 2: and win a championship. So we'll see how that pans out.
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