Podcast Episode 125: “MacGyver” Griffin
2017-02-27Nate Smith, Mitch Suchan, and David Wood jumped into the podcast studio instead of attending the Oscars to talk about the Cavs, the Deron Williams addition, Andrew Bogut, the Trade Deadline, and the Eastern Conference Playoff race. What effect will Deron have on the Cavs and their bench units? How does David Griffin so much GM magic every February? How much does Andrew Bogut have left in the tank (if he even signs with the Cavs)? Who do the Cavs cut if they get Bogut? Why can’t Cleveland Cover the three? Who will win out west? What teams got better in February? What teams got worse? And so much more…
As always, you can hear us above on BlogTalkRadio, on iTunes, or Google Play.
Good pod guys… enjoyed the takes
COLS I AM SURPRISED YOU HAVEN’T JUMPED ALL OVER THE DUBS / JAVELLE CRYING ABOUT HOW SHAQU IS ” BULLYING–MAKING FUN ” OF HIM —-” FRAUDULENT CRYBABIES ” RIGHT COLS
BOGUT OFFICIALLY BOUGHT OUT / DECISION TOMOROW / CAVS THE FAVORITE—OTHER TEAMS –CELTS / SPURS /. ROCKETS
BRANDON JENNINGS LOOKS LIKE HE IS HEADED TO CHARLOTTE —–ROSE POSSIBLY BEING WAIVED
I think that was reported initially, but Hornets look like they’re good with Briante Weber and it sounded more like Jennings could wind up in Washington…
ESPN just changed their tune, Lue says both will play.
Which is probably a mistake. Let em rest. Over thirty = err on the side of rest.
Nope.
So as of now, ESPN has Lebron and Korver listed as OUT for tonight’s game. That gives us another chance to either get a win without Lebron (unlikely as bucks seem to play us well), or prove once again that Lebron is MVP? I really hope we don’t ride Kyrie for 50 minutes trying to eek out a win. Just play rotations that makes sense and if we lose at least learn something. Save energy for the Celtics on Wednesday.
Sucks. We suck without Leb.
Lue just announced Lebron is playing. sweet.
Bogut buyout is complete, says Marc Stein.
Is Leb playing tonight?
Wizards would be a nice fit for them.
I don’t typically like Cowherd, but this seems like catnip to Cols…
Seriously? No. Cowherd’s a dope.
Of course he is… his baseless certainty just reminded me of Cols though…
Whoa. Why is my certainty baseless? 6 years of Leb being in the Finals if he had any help at all is the basis of my certainty.
Okay, baseless was maybe the wrong word… generalistic certainty is more like it…
On ESPN radio, Cowherd was obnoxious and in love with his opinions. However, he was a lot better than anyone else there. Most of the other ESPN jocks mostly talk about movies, TV, and themselves. What a joke.
That’s a dumb take. Frauds added Durant, there’s no one the Cavs can add to make them the favorites. LeBron just has to go nutso again to beat them
Pop culture wise I nominate everyone watch the Santa Clarita Diet. It’s pretty funny. And listen to the Drive By Truckers American Band and Run The Jewels Three and read Nicotine by Nell Zink and The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Bone Clocks was good. I will research Nicotine before I commit.
“Loose Bodies” plaguing top teams this year… first Love’s knee, now Lowry’s wrist…
You forgot … Tristan Thompson’s “other half”
Oh man, that sucks.
Bogut hasn’t been waived or bought out yet. Deron didn’t get bought out either. He got waived. You keep using that word ‘buyout,’ I don’t think it means what you think it means. Disagree with strongly with Felder takes. You guys whine about minutes for starters & then say you never want to see the backups play. Can’t have it both ways.
Actually, waiving and buying out a player are terms that are used somewhat interchangeably since every buyout involves waiving a player. (From the CBA FAQ)
62. What is a contract buy-out?
Sometimes players and teams decide to divorce each other. They do this by mutually agreeing that:
The team will waive the player; If the player clears waivers, the compensation protection for lack of skill (see question number 94) will be reduced or eliminated; Optionally the payment schedule for the remaining salary may be shortened or lengthened.
Optionally the team’s set-off rights (see question number 57) may be waived.
Thanks!
You know you have a strong union when there’s compensation protection for lack of skill.
Sports leagues unions ranked
1. MLB
medium gap
2. NBA
Huge gap
3. NFL
More unions please!
NFL gets screwed extra with injuries as well
total free market exploitation
boxing
Does it matter to the Cavs whether he was Waived or bought out? Doesn’t he still have to clear waivers either way?
In addition, we’ve been quite clear on our position on Kay Felder.
Liggins is old and is probably pretty much done development wise. They wanted to see what they had in Felder. The answer sucks, but Felder can still get better considering this is his first half year in the NBA and the jump he was trying to make was gigantic. I do not understand your obsession with Liggins. Dude is a good on-ball defender who brings energy but sucks completely at offense to the point where the opposite team doesn’t guard him. He will help in spurts come playoff time, but it was OK to give Felder some run even though… Read more »
Let me get this straight. Felder has shown no discernable skill other than being fast but it was ok to play him because he might get better. Meanwhile, Liggins has shown the ability to be an elite defender, and has several solid offensive games, but he’s not allowed to play because he probably won’t get better. Felder’s leap is “gigantic” but Liggins’ isn’t and he has no chance of making that leap (even though Liggins has had good offensive games in the new year)? I’ll retort with this: the odds of Liggins being able to improve at 28 after playing… Read more »
Another fun DWill2 stat: “Deron William is shooting an eFG% of 55% in the pick & roll, but his passes out of it to spot up shooters are yielding an eFG% of 70%.” Yes please.
RTJ 3 is really good. So was RTJ 2.
Great podcast guys.
Because of LeBron and Lue’s leadership
Nice podcast. I agree that the Raps are the Cavs main competition in the playoffs with their recent additions. The Raptors proved in thier last meeting that playing Thomas physically – like the Cavs did with Curry – is the route to pursue to beat the Celtics. I still think if the Eastern Conference Finals are the Cavs/Raps; its the Cavs in 5…… or at worst 6 if DeRozan/Lowry go off like James and Kyrie did in Game 5 and 6 against GS. Good discussion of the Cavs inability to close out on threes. This has to change in the… Read more »
Definitely. Lue is a master at figuring out defensive schemes in the playoffs.
I’m glad you added the “in the playoffs” qualifier there…
Well yeah. It’s not like the Cavs spend tons of time analyzing opponents in the regular season. They change some minor things but I think the Cavs mostly work on their own game rather than try to maximize win totals like those frauds out west.
Haven’t listened to pod yet guys, but look forward to doing so on my drive in…
It’s a good one. I really like the observations about Derrick Williams and how the Cavs can’t just change the way they play with LeBron sits because he’s such a unique and great player.
Bucks tonight? I’ll leave this here for Tom: Bucks -147 in Delly’s 1377mp….Bucks are +152 in Delly’s 1374 minutes off
Bucks are young athletes with zero BBIQ and Kidd plays a bad defensive scheme to encourage steals for the fast break. Delly is shooting badly and needs craftier team mates.
Scola becomes a possible consolation prize to teams that miss out on Bogut… I could see both Spurs and Rockets being interested potentially…
LBJ and KK questionable… DWill2 still set to sign…
https://twitter.com/joevardon/status/836250386931515396
Lue usually doesn’t play guys if they don’t get a shootaround in…
DOES THE DUBS SIGNING JOSE CALDERON HELP THEM THAT MUCH / AT ALL
Nope. It probably hurts them because fraud coach of the year Kerr (should’ve been Walton or Lue) will insist on giving that guy minutes in game 7 the same way he sabotaged them by playing Ezeli and Varajao!!! (still can’t believe he did this) in major minutes in game 7 of the Finals. Remember, fraud MVP Curry only played 39 minutes in the most important game of his career while real MVP LeBron went 46 minutes.
Here is a potential CtB feature. At the top of the page, a Year To Date running count of how many times Cols says “Fraud”! Or, maybe a bar graph of the “Fraud Count” compared to what kind of beer he has been drinking.
Or just a weekly column called “Fraud News” where we let Cols give his perspective on what the Warriors did that week…
Since I rewatched game 7 last night I also went back and read the various write ups and the comments after that game and also Tom’s tremendous work the day before the game about how nobody knows anything. It was fantastic.
Point being, I couldn’t find the origin of fraudulent. But it had to happen somewhere in there.
Only on the condition he eliminates the word from his vocab in the comments section of other articles.
It would be great if Cols just had is own banner link for him to post the same reptitive comments. Then a reader could chose to peruse the same comments again, or skip the link. And the live thread/game recaps would be free of his nonsense like the Warriors are fraudelent.
ANOTHER THING “MACGRIFFIN ” ACCOMPLISHED THIS SEASON / TRADE DEADLINE —-BESIDES AQUIRING KORVER/ DWILL–UNO/-DEUX AND HOPEFULLY BOGUT WAS HE ALSO WAS ABLE TO HOLD ON TO THAT COVETED PROSPECT– CEDI “JEDI ‘ WHICH ALL TEAMS SEEMED TO DROOL OVER —SOME ARE SAYING IF HE WAS DRAFTED THIS YEAR HE WOULD BE A LOTTERY PICK—LET’S HOPE SO !!
Good
Good.
THANKS COLS —-ANOTHER THING WITH HIS “SO CALLED ” LACK OF PRODUCTION WITH THE MAVS ( THAT I AND PROBABLY OTHERS FORGET ) IS HE WAS INJURED ALOT EARLIER —-WE WILL GET A “RESTED -HEALTHY -MOTIVATED ” BOGUT —CAN’T WAIT !!——JENNINGS MIGHT HAVE THE “ATHELETICISM ” ON DWILL—-DWILL HAS THE COURT SAAVY / SMARTS / EXPERIENCE —WE GOT THE RIGHT ONE
Bogut allows the Cavs to match up with the likes of Dwight Howard and Robin Lopez, big guys who give Thompson problems. Having him also allows Channing Frye , who seem to be wearing out from playing starter, to play fewer minutes. It is possible that Bogut is unplayable against the Warriors but having him saves TT, Love, Frye and even LeBron from wear and tear in the final stage of the regular season and the early part of the play-offs.
The best part is that he would be an ideal matchup against Toronto, a team with real potential to give the Cavs a workout.
Bogut is a good passer and Australian too
Here you go NOMAD, in case you were worried: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/245123/Andrew-Bogut-Plans-To-Sign-With-Cavs-If-Bought-Out
Serious question, not snark, is Brandon Jennings a better backup PG than Deron?
Stats wise, Deron is a tad better when you look at Per 36.
Dwill is a better facilitator however. “Who is better” probably depends more on who else is on the floor.
I also take Deron in his ability to manage a game. Something we should put a lot of value in.
Also… this (from Micah Adams on ESPN this morning)…
“Perhaps more importantly than serving as another shot creator, Williams remains an elite playmaker in pick-and-roll situations and is among the best at finding spot-up shooters. In fact, among the nearly 100 players with at least 50 plays as a passer to spot-up shooters in pick-and-roll situations, Williams ranks first in the NBA with an incredible 1.39 points per play as a passer, per Synergy.”
For the record… number two on that list is LeBron…
Oh wow. What a great fit. It’s too bad Griff will probably continue to get snubbed for GM of the year.
Per 36:
Deron: 16 pts, 8.4, ast, 3.1 rbs, 3.0 tov, 43%/35%/82%
Brandon: 12.5 pts, 7.2, ast, 3.8 rbs, 2.7 tov, 38%/34%/75%
BRANDON JENNINGS BEING WAIVED SOMEWHAT OF A SURPRISE—-ANY CONTENDERS PICKING HIM UP ?
Finally JR can have someone to smoke with… Well Kyrie smokes something based on his views, not sure if it is pot.
I agree with Nate that Bogut’s passing and screen setting are probably the best skills he brings. I’m kind of excited about it, even though he’ll only play 10 minutes or so a game.
I would be happy with him playing 0 a game until the playoffs tbh.
Signing Bogut is a no brainer.
Being able to get the Bigs some rest is a huge plus. Also, suppose something like a month long injury hits a Cavs big. Then Bogut might easily mean the difference between winning it all and not.
Also, I love how Nate watched one Sac game and declares WCS the next good center and after three games together the Davis-Cousins pairing is a failure. Way to live in the moment I guess.
I didn’t watch it.
I don’t think he implied WCS was the “next big thing” just that WCS is more of a modern P&R/dunk and D type center that you can use a a part of future plans .
Patrick Beverly, maybe, but Lou Williams isn’t really a PG. So top 2 at worst backup PG.
Deron Williams is the number three primary ball handler off the bench then. Better? Split hairs much?
I mean we got Dallas’s starting PG. Be happy!
NBARUMORS—NOW HAS THE SPURS AS THE LEADING CANDIDATE TO AQUIRE BOGUT ?
Who’s saying this? I’m still seeing Cavs as the favorite but definitely considering Spurs and Celtics.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/245122/Knick-Waive-Brandon-Jennings-To-Sign-Chasson-Randle
Yeah saw this. Do we release Felder and make room for Jennings?
Do we seriously carry three starting level PGs on our roster? My oh my.
No. We don’t have enough minutes for Jennings and Deron.
Nah. They won’t do that unless they find Felder irredeemable. Jennings is going to walk at season’s end. I imagine he wants some playing time somewhere. Atlanta could use him…
So when are we actually going to sign DWill? I believe he cleared waivers Saturday, didn’t he?
Today. Told you he would clear waivers
Good conversation about the deadline.
wouldn’t ‘MacGyver’ be a better title for Griff? ;)
He is so good he adds letters.