Podcast Episode 160: Today Was A Good Day
2018-02-09https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/episode-160-today-was-a-good-day
We asked for a magic bullet… We got an entire clip. Though Ice Cube might disagree… today was most definitely a very good day… especially for your Cleveland Cavaliers.
Gone are Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye… and even Dwayne Wade. The incoming new faces are George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson and the son of former Cavalier great, Larry Nance, Jr. Suddenly, the clouds that had been hanging over this team for much of the past six weeks have parted. The sun is shining on new possibilities of a future that seems instantly and categorically brighter. While it was bittersweet to part with Channing given his tremendous personality, and DWade with his vintage swagger, and even Shump with his tie to the squad that won it all in 2016… the time seemed long past due to move on from the Crowder, Rose and IT experiments. The only trace left from the Kyrie Irving trade last summer is the one thing both Dan Gilbert and Koby Altman coveted in making the deal in the first place… the Brooklyn Pick. Sure, some may ding the Cavs for including their own 2018 pick in the Laker deal, and worry about how much cap space they just helped Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka free up for this summer… but the bottom line is that in one fell swoop (or three separate trades) Koby became as cold-blooded as Kobe in completely reshaping this team. A team that now (at least on paper and in theory) should be a much better fit for LeBron James.
To elaborate on just how good of a day it was, Nate, Tom, Eli and EG hopped in the drop top and hit the booth to mix it up for an hour or two (or three?). We talk about how the day started kinda odd, and then everything started blowing up Cavs. We rap about all the new faces the team will have to incorporate over the next couple of months, and give send offs to the guys being shipped out. We get into the trades that weren’t made, and who might still be out there for the Cavs to snatch up in the buy out market with one of their two suddenly open roster spots (one of ’em is likely to be Angry Smurf himself, Kendrick Perkins).
It’s long, but hopefully an enjoyable way to spend your morning. As always, you can listen above, on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts or Google Play.
If you still can’t believe what a good day it was… just listen to LeBron and Cube sing about it…
Thank You for wonderful podcast! We always enjoy the many diverse perspectives and insights ! Sure do hope these young guys hit the ground running!
There’s more Trumpkins than you think, ;) Doubt that is the reason teams not playing Spencer Hawes & Bogut.
No, No comparison to IT to Trump. He’s more like an irrational confident player. Ricky Davis , where he thought Lebron’s role was to help him. I had to laugh on that list because we have 3 Cavs players on it. Ricky Davis, Dion Waiters, JR Smith.
Interesting take by the First Take guys this morning about DWade… Said he was maybe the biggest problem because his relationship with LeBron separated LBJ from the rest of the team and created a more subtle divide in the locker room…
Hmmm sounds like JR didn’t like he wasn’t his BFF
But No he wasn’t the biggest problem .
At the trade deadline I just wanted the Cavs to foist IT on someone. They did way more than I expected.
They really helped IT with the trade…he’s a lot closer to China now…
**actual size
This pic has a whole new meaning and perspective now…
Love the new additions. I wonder if they’ll play tonight? If not GO LONDON!!!! I wonder what buy candidates the Cavs have a shot at? I assume Joe Johnson has been blacklisted.
Now we just need to move the Brooklyn pick for McCollum and Tristan for Koufos, and all the best NE Ohio players will be on the same team.
Ah, we can dream. How nice that’d be.
How’s CJ’s defense this year?
DRPM – 1.63 not great. But he plays next to lillard which will bring anyone’s defense down.
CJ has been about average on D for his career. He tries, but never going to be elite. I haven’t seen him much this season, but I assume he’s been the same.
Wait… what about that other kid from Akron?
this offseason?
Ainge and Stevens must be putting something in the water cause reading the Boston forums, most of the comments say the Cavs got worst. How???
Not how, why. Can’t you smell their fear? It’s glorious.
Did they not see the Minnesota game and how a happy LeBron put up a triple double, right after being told of the changes coming? A happy LeBron is a deadly player.
https://goo.gl/images/BB94R6
Celtic fans think their garbage players are HoFers. They probably think the Cavs screwed up by ditching IT and Crowder…can’t wait to watch IT light it up in LaLa Land…
You should listen to Bill Simmons’ podcast on The Ringer . . . gloating about how the Celtics fleeced the Cavs for 1/2 hour as if that has anything directly to do with what went down yesterday. Celtics fans are worried and should be. The Cavs got a lot better and Jayson Tatum has it the rookie wall. They know they don’t have an answer for LeBron in the playoffs, and the Cavs just added plus defenders at the positions where they needed them the most, PF/C and PG. Cavs in five.
I’m going with a clean sweep. Oh, how sweet that will be.
They have to be secretly pissed the Celtics stood pat for no discernable reason.
God, I hope the Cavs pound them on Sunday….
Epic podcast guys. Thanks for a great breakdown and stream of consciousness discussion. Just finished listening to the entire two glorious hours. Several national postmortems are calling the Cavs’ moves the biggest mid season team re-building ever. It certainly and almost unarguably the boldest one given the stakes involved with James. I join the chorus that almost the best thing about these seismic changes is that Lue can’t play IT anymore. How unsurprising that Thomas tweets The Jump apparently that he won’t come off the bench in LA. What a tool. Whether Lue can actually start managing these new rotations… Read more »
My moment of zen: listening to the Cavs: the Blog podcasters joke about whether I existed or not and whether that mattered . . .
It’s fitting that the Lakers finally acquired their lineal successor superstar to Kobe, and he is a pocket version of post-achilles injury Kobe.
Hey. I knew you existed. Tom was just dizzy from sucking trade machine exhaust.
Haha, anyway congrats, I think that’s the happiest I heard you guys sound since the Cavs won the title.
Thanks and great comment Monday.
LOL… I see you RC!
Quote of the podcast by Tom P, “Tyronne Lue can no longer play IT. He is not allowed……That alone may have been worth the Cavs 1st round pick…..” Yep, the biggest move was just getting rid of that guy. Am I staying up all night? Yes.
Check that. Good night.
Nance is better than TT for nearly every matchup except for big, big centers, meaning about 6 guys.
John B the kicker will always be how does Lue handle lineups? cuz we have a sick team on paper. its up to Lue to make it all work. I’m prepared to watch him push the right buttons just like he managed to do when we won the title…but i’m also prepared for us to have an interesting adjustment period
I know. Why do you have to burst my bubble like that? Can I just have a day where everything including my imaginary Lue rotations are harmonious?
haha i wasn’t trying to burst your bubble honestly! Tyron Lue is the only coach in Cleveland sports in the last 50+ years to have claim to a title. What I meant was it’ll be a weird several months, but come playoff time I am trusting the Lue will have it figured out. Who among us thought Moe Williams mattered? Who among us had Dante Jones as a contributor? Who among us knew that if Delly was on the bench for long stretches, we could still defend JUST well enough to make Curry nervous and screw up? What i’m saying… Read more »
Hopefully he has come around on Cedi. Nance is basically our only other true big at this point, buyout market withstanding. So I don’t think he will have much choice in that regard.
lol I thought Lue didn’t have much choice with Shump and thomas but he played them WAY too long. I thought he couldn’t argue with the numbers when Frye was the best plus-minus player the cavs had but he found a way to keep him on the bench. Lue is like Doc Rivers’ second chance…a coach who plays players on rep…i’m just hoping he has enough sense to pay attention to analytics. It’s a balancing act. Guys in their late 20s and early 30s tend to be what they have been over the long haul as players…but you have to… Read more »
Lue has his strengths and weaknesses. Rotations, clearly, are one weakness. I think the pick is less crucial than how they do in the playoffs this year. If the Cavs actually got a top three pick after the lotto, they could actually trade that pick prior to the draft for a crazy haul based off this year’s draft class. Should they? No but they could and get a huge piece just based off this year’s draft class, which would be essentially the summer of love all over again.
Kevin Love is so good its insane. Honestly. He is so freaking good. I think they talk about this on the podcast. But seriously kevin love has been such a ridiculously valuable piece to the last several years in cleveland history he should get his jersey retired before he retires. But anyway…i disagree with you on the pick importance. That pick is what keeps Lebron in cleveland becuase we have so little roster flexibility. There’s no one available worth trading that pick for. For Lebron to win another title he needs youth. Lebron can be elite for as long as… Read more »
So…remember when Shump, JR and Moz made the cavs a ridiculous killing machine for like a month and a half straight? And we had no idea how they would fit when they got here? Maybe we are just better informed fans this time around…but honestly we just added 4 pieces where 2 of the 4 are nearly locks to fit (Hill and Hood), 1 is a team first guy who is coming to familiar territory, and 1 is a young guy who has at least been hungry and not in the way dion waiters was hungry. This is an unprecedented… Read more »
Nance family still lives in Akron, and the youngest son, Pete Nance, from what I have heard/read is a higher touted prospect than Larry Jr was in his senior year at this point. Northwestern bound with offers from OSU, WVA, VA, FL, Mich. Supposedly, Pete Nance is number two prospect in Ohio, and 64th nationwide out of high school. I am biased, admittedly, as both those dudes went to my high school.
There will come a time very soon when Larry Nance Jr endears himself to the Q crowd – maybe a couple of hustle plays in a row, maybe an all-time poster, maybe a key play in a clutch moment. The crowd will start chanting “Laaaarrrr-eee Laaarrrrrr-wee” and Larry Nance Sr. will be looking on amongst the echos. It will be familiar sound and yet a new experience. And here will be tears. I can’t wait.
You just gave me chills Tom…
Charles Barkley saying the Cavs are now the favourites for the title.
In Charles words, ‘he craaaazy.’
Yes, I agree. Just amazing that a shred of the narrative pre & post trade could contain the word “title”.
True enough. Hard to imagine for the last few weeks.