Podcap: Cavs 101, Kings 95 (or, The G.A.M.s Go Long…)
2017-12-07https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/episode-153-gams-go-long
What was supposed to be a short and sweet podcapping of the Cavaliers’ 13th straight victory to tie the franchise record, turned into one of the longest… toothiest… most windingly… down the rabbitholiest stream of consciousness recordings in C:tB history. Sure, there’s plenty of discussion about how the Cavs woke from their slumber in the first half to fight and claw their way back against the Kings to avoid an ignominious loss at the hands of another lottery dweller… but then the topics get crazily random in a hurry (like checking out vintage crime shows from the library crazy).
Nate and EG kicked things off in the booth, but once Tom joined them… they started issuing rants, hot takes and stories like the Grown Ass Men they are. And, speaking of Grown Ass Men, we spend a lot of time talking about LeBron and his legacy. We also touch on the soon to be returning Cavs, deliberate who might still be on the team in April, and have an extended throw down on the value of Isaiah Thomas.
You might have to be a Grown Ass Man (or Woman) to make it all the way to the end of this one… but you can check out the full length of the teeth on the link above, or as always on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts or Google Play.
Followup on Lavar v Trump:
Re: Browns… having all of the picks and cap space is nice, but at some point you GOT to draft some players and put some players on the roster. I’d settle for an average QB right now. It’s been years since we’ve had one! You’re not going to go from 0-16 to a playoff squad. So at some point we got to start trying to win games! Even Kaepernick would have been a huge upgrade at QB this season.
Love the win streak; love LeBron’s newfound jump-shot; absolutely love that Love is finally finding his rhythm as more than just a jump shooter standing around in the corner! But I’m highly concerned about needing to come back from 13 down against the Kings at home. We’ve been blowing out mediocre teams like we should, but to me – winning in the last minute against a terrible team at home is not much better than a loss.
Dan: Take you meds. A win is a lot better than a loss.
What is the problem with getting in some work on crunch time, gotta make it happen, playing?
I sort of get his point. Crunch time minutes mean little against bad teams, because bad teams don’t defend well, don’t execute on offense, and make mistakes. Meanwhile, the better team can more or less mess around and still win even in crunch time, despite doing zilch that will actually translate to much success against decent teams. You learn little about what might actually work against good teams. So just more minutes and bruises for no gain other than eastern conference standings. But yeah, a win is good, though I would rather lose than play Lebron more than 37 minutes… Read more »
I used to obsess about things like this, but it was so easy to see that the Cavs had no energy. It is just hard to get up for 82 games a year, especially when you’re playing every other day for weeks on end.
Got to agree with Doug Lesmerisis about keeping “Panicing Hue” and firing Sashi, who has things in place for a solid team:
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2017/12/firing_sashi_brown_keeping_hue.html
Based on Lebron’s recommendation, I bought NBA 2K18. I have played the series before, but last one I played was at least two versions ago, and I found it very difficult to play due to the familiar issue of depicting a three dimensional court on a two dimensional surface. This one seems more playable to me, for whatever reason – it’s still very complicated to learn and internalize all the moves/ combos. This is a game for an obsessed 13 year old, and I’m sure that demographic could become insanely good at the game. It is fun to mess around… Read more »
Mike, I did the same, and agree on the version from a couple of years ago. I haven’t played the new one yet, but have it downloaded on my console now.
Tom,
Love your office dynamics…. when I was in college and when we played ball, our resident Lakers fan took the most shots and missed a lot. Shot us out of games in the playoffs one year.
His favorite player? Kobe.
The Kobe nickname stuck for 4 years and he was so proud….. We started calling him KB24….. He pumped his chest because he thought we respected his game…. but we called him that because he was a chucker like Kobe and shot less than 25% in every game we kept stats for.
Lots of people in this office play pickup ball. We got a couple pretty good (played in college) level players too.
Tom,
I suppose the moral of the story is that fans will be be fans, boss or no boss. I mean I have an Atlanta dude who fastidiously insisted to his dying breath that Dominque Wilkins is superior to Lebron and proof to that is the fact that Dominque has a giant statue outside their arena while Lebron hasn’t got any outside Quicken’s!
agree with you m j45—( can’t even believe I am writing this )—but if this is LeBron’s final year as a cav– he is giving ” ONE HELLUVA FINAL ACT “—–….what are the odds of cavs keeping streak alive after this weekend——-I am going about 35 % —65% against them doing it—-they always have a tough game at Indiana—followed up by a “motivated ” 76er’s team that wants to prove the last game was a fluke ——-and I am sure embiid won’t sit like he / the 76er’s did against the Celtics –egad !!!
The awards really don’t matter, in any sport. They are voted on by the writers who want to construct stories that people follow. Poppovich and Belichick should win coach of the year every year, LeBron should win MVP every year. But it’s a boring narrative to keep giving it to the same guy But LeBron really should win MVP this year if he keeps this up. Guy is on another plane, he’s legit entered deity mode. Shutting down guards or centers when it counts, controlling the games, seemingly hitting every big shot in the 4th quarter. It’s kinda surreal watching… Read more »
Kind of feel for Sashi. He executed the plan well. The point of not re-signing guys like Schwartz, Gipson, etc. is that they only ensured that we stayed a 5-11 team with no chance at drafting a franchise QB. We gutted the roster and tanked and ended up with Myles Garrett and now Rosen/Darnold, along with a plethora of other draft picks.
That was the plan. He executed it. Now that he can draft Rosen/Darnold and turn the franchise around, he gets fired. Meh.
Except for not taking Watson or Wentz. Those were two huge huge misses. No guarantee either of Rosen or Darnold turns out like either Watson or Wentz.
They were huge misses in hindsight. At the time, everyone thought we made great trades. Sorry, but the Goff-Wentz draft was largely believed to be mediocre for QBs, at least in terms of QBs going 1-2 overall. Nobody thought Wentz was a #2 overall pick other than the fact that there were no other QBs. The same goes for Goff. In hindsight, Wentz has turned out to be very good (although I still think he’s benefiting hugely from Philly’s system). Put Wentz on the Browns and he simply isn’t doing what he’s doing in Philly. He’s 26th in completion %… Read more »
Also, call me crazy, but the idea is to win a SB. If it took waiting 1-2 years to draft a franchise QB, and a guy like Rosen + the plethora of additional picks we picked up by trading out of the Wentz and Watson picks ends up stocking our roster and allowing us to compete for SBs with Rosen/Darnold, then that’s a huge win in my opinion. Obviously that’s a reach as we have no idea what Rosen/Darnold will be, but the opportunity is there for the Browns to get very good, much sooner than people realize. If we… Read more »
Yeah, but my point with Watson was that we got the sure thing in Garrett so why not take the chance on Watson? It made no sense to me at the time. Especially when they just took Kizer later. I agree on Wentz. Watson has weapons, but he also had amazing pocket presence and has made some tremendous throws. Like throws and decisions indicative of a franchise qb.
I think QB is the last position that we should have just taken a chance on, though. If you take Watson in the first round, he’s your franchise QB – you can’t give up on him after 1 year (but see Kizer – we can draft another QB this year without it being a total failure). I’d rather have used the pick just as we did, or have taken a player at 12, without reaching for a QB. It worked out for Houston for a handful of games, but no way Watson would have done that for us. We are… Read more »
Right. And until the Browns get a bunch of good players, no QB in the world will have success here. For example, I doubt if Tim Couch would have been a top QB anywhere, but he sure had no chance with the Browns. BTW, Tim Couch is what you get when you “Take your top rated QB no matter what”. There was NO decent QB that year. And recall that MIke Ditka’s NO Saints offered their ENTIRE draft class for the top Cleveland pick, because Ditka wanted “Stoner Ricky Williams” so bad. SOme other team traded the #4 for that… Read more »
Agree with Gordon. And if this comes down to the botched trade, the fact is that that trade was TERRIBLE, so it is more Jackson’s fault than Brown’s. If it is true that Jackson went over Brown’s head to make a bad panic trade, why are we keeping Jackson? Jackson is showing plenty of signs that he cannot do the job (panic driven trade request, inexcusable clock mismanagement, … ). Brown’s strategy might have been pretty good, but he did a poor job with the picks he did use. Anyway, I am worried that the best GM candidates will pass… Read more »
I would have fired Jackson before brown. Jackson has been a disaster in terms of in game management and play calling.
another “crash and burn ” experiment by the browns ——-man are they ever going to get it right —–believe this upcoming draft is IMPORTANT —for the future of the franchise staying in Cleveland —existing period
Baker Mayfield will TAKE THEM TO THE PROMISED LAND!! He is ready to TEAR THIS LEAGUE UP!!
Short qbs make me a little wary.
Baker Mayfield is essentially Johnny Manziel 2.0. STAY FAR, FAR AWAY! Same attitude, similar game. Get the smartest QB in the draft. Don’t trade down. Just do what everyone else would do and don’t be fancy about it.
Precisely. Watson at 12 was a steal. I get trading down from Wentz, as there were questions.
Yeah, I was just joking. If they were going to take a QB, should have grabbed Watson last year. Mayfield is an undersized knucklehead. (Having said that, watch him become a HoFer) I’m not a Browns fan, or an NFL fan at all, for that matter. It’s just amusing to see such an inept sports franchise wallow for decades. Reminds me of the mid ’90s/ mid ’00s Bengals, although in that case Mike Brown wasn’t even trying. His only interest was consolidating ownership and screwing Hamilton county out of 500 million dollars.
Ah, ya. I have definitely lost my taste for the sport. Go Cavs and Tribe!
I feel the same way Mike. Although if the Browns ever became good/great, I may watch them.
What? Be smart and don’t trade down? How is trading down working out for the Pat? Have you notices they go to the SB a lot?
Just figure out who the Steelers are going to draft and get that guy. Easy.
Should have fired Jackson. No way around that Brown would have had to draft a qb this year.
Nate did you ever watch Permanent Midnight? I believe its about the writer/creator of Alf.
Browns fire their GM. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21699936/cleveland-browns-fire-personnel-czar-sashi-brown
in order to avoid ‘long in tooth’ podcasts, someone needs to set an agenda!!! hahaha my favorite quote was ‘Jimmer is the Tebow of basketball’ haha Tom’s work story reminds me of when I worked at PNC bank where there were a lot of Steeler fans and that was annoying really fast. I usually just stated my riddle on Steeler fans of ‘why weren’t there any Steeler fans prior to 1975? Because they hadn’t won a Super Bowl yet’. I think Cavs should cut Shump and just have Cedi take his place and at very least have him be smartly… Read more »
Per EG’s update – here’s an article on the Seattle arena: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/12/4/16736232/nba-expansion-seattle-supersonics-seattle-city-council
Agree with Nate on George Hill.
all I can say is — THANK YOU LEBRON —FOR GIVING US CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY / GAME ——-WITNESSING THE GREATEST PLAY
Agree 100% with new-nomad, and I am tempted to write AGREE.
If I am bringing IT back, here are two good targets:
1) Philly on Sat is the start of a 4 game homestand. Days inbetween each game. Chances to practice & integrate new stuff.
2) After that, we have 5 of 6 on the road to end the month. And the schedule gets much more difficult come Jan/Feb. The lone homie is Dec 21 vs Chicago with 3 days off before the Dubs game.
If he is healthy enough, the homestand would be my choice.
like the other nickname for kyle —” FOURTH KORVER “——–still like ours (ctb ) better !!!
didn’t watch game last night / watched the replay this morning ——14 down in the 3rd/ playing a gritty team– to come back and get a “w”—nice win—although I would like to see them start better —I always remind myself what I coach /say to my distance runners —” it is not how you start—it is how you finish “——–what did we pay korver this year ( another good signing by KOLBY ) –believe we are paying kyle much less than shump —-o.k. you guys do the math —man if we can get 2 wins this weekend ( going to… Read more »
Here’s the post I mentioned in the pod – https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/12/6/16740434/lebron-james-chase-down-blocks-monster-dunks
LBJ’s dunks are always impressive, but other than maybe once or twice he has never really had to dunk on/over people face to face a la Blake Griffin, or D Wade on Andy Varejao, Carter on Mutumbo, Mourning, or B Davis on Ak47. That is a product of most guys just getting out of the way and giving up or trying to take a charge because he was basically unblockable for a large portion of his career on dunks since he was 6’8″ 250 and had near a 40 inch vert. Also probably has to do with him being a… Read more »
Actually forgot about that one on the San Antonio guy, that is up there with the Howard blocks.
I’m glad Tom overlooks IT’s height and uses puns to defend him
Also, Serena Williams and Roger Federer are perfect comparisons to Lebron, IF and only IF Lebron goes on to win a few more titles. If he doesn’t…Pele is the perfect comparison. Absolutely dominant over a very long period. However…the most under valued portion of Michael Jordan’s resume is that he played for Phil freaking Jackson. Phil Jackson is probably the greatest coach in NBA history, honestly. He took Kobe teams to heights that did not make sense…and took jordan’s teams to heights that moved the NBA forward exponentially. He made the 90s 2 decades’ worth of improvement in style and… Read more »
This is a sick podcast.
IT is Kyrie minus the need for improv. nate…embrace Isaiah’s ability to run a play rather than run an iso possession. We don’t need Kyrie in the playoffs. We need execution.
If the bench actually continues to be this good…we can afford 25 mins of lightning quick pg play. We don’t have to hold teams to under 100 points him we can score 120 at will.
“IT is Kyrie minus the need for improv” – I could have summed up my rant with this simple statement. Well done, Scotch.