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00:00from the plain dealer cleveland.com his podcast wine and gold talk he's mr jimmy watkins hello
00:05jimmy hey jimmy hey guys my first playoff problem that i need to solve is i believe i have a
00:12cricket
00:12living in my walls so the landlord's going to get a text today you have a cricket in your wall
00:18yeah it sounds like it at least i've spent a lot of yesterday morning making sure it wasn't a mouse
00:24there's a lot of youtube mouse sound videos that i've been going through i've i'm pretty sure i
00:30rolled that one out we're down to cricket you're gonna rip out drywall to find a bug i'm not doing
00:37that i'm just leaving i'm just gonna alert the people in charge of the home to what's happening
00:44and then see what happens that's not that's not a bad way to go i figured out how to catch
00:49it if
00:49it's outside the wall uh you put a little sticky traps but that's not going to help you or a
00:54vacuum
00:54so i'll i'll take that uh i'll take that how how to tutorial offline okay we'll get that off there
01:02trying to find you an answer go to cleveland.com right now you'll see a story that was posted
01:08earlier today from jimmy calves first round playoff opponent will test one of their fatal
01:14playoff flaws jimmy say it isn't so what might that be and what might that mean in the series
01:22yeah it's the it's the reason i mean for among the many reasons the calves lost to the pacers last
01:27year injuries um mental toughness etc the one that that kenny atkinson picked out in the offseason was
01:37conditioning and the way that the calves handled the pacers um propensity to just
01:43grab a rebound and go i mean to be clear the toronto raptors are not those pacers for a couple
01:49of reasons there is no tyrese halliburton walking through that door for toronto he's the best
01:54generator of up-tempo basketball in the league he and the p is also surrounded by a bunch of really
02:02good shooters and toronto is a bottom 10 three-point shooting team that's a key key key difference between
02:09those teams the pacers ran because it was optimal the raptors run because they need to do it to create
02:14a passable playoff offense and as we all know or as we all say the game tends to slow down
02:21in the playoffs right but the pacers sort of led this charge to challenge that where i asked uh
02:28quinn snyder the hawks coach who kind of runs a similar style about this last week and he's like well
02:33i think that people i think two teams need to agree to that premise that the team slows down in
02:37the
02:37playoffs and just because one team wants to slow the game down and the calves do their 23rd and
02:41pace since the james harden trade or after the all-star break which encapsulates most of the
02:46james harden trade um doesn't mean that one team can't try to run and the calves play a style
02:51that sort of lends itself if things go wrong to feeding transition they shoot a ton of threes
02:57their seventh and three-point attempts on the season they shoot about 40 a game which is good
03:01modern analytical offense it's what great offenses aspire to do but it also when the shots don't go
03:09in they create long rebounds that create randomness and can fuel a transition attack they play the two
03:15bigs right which are a key to everything that they do if the calves are going to get to where
03:19they want
03:20to go this spring then jared allen and evan mobley are both going to have to be key parts of
03:24that
03:24but the bigger dudes aren't as fast as some of these other smaller wing guys that are racing them down
03:30on the court and then you know the star players james harden and donovan mitchell like donovan
03:36mitchell's on off numbers and transition defense are pretty bad this year james harden
03:41guy has a hall of fame resume a mile long but nowhere on that resume will you find he's the
03:47first guy
03:48back in transition so this is the defense that sort of stuff that running back on defense which is the
03:55lifeblood of transition defense those things tend to tighten up the low-hanging fruit tends to get
04:01cleaned up in the playoffs but the raptors do push off of live rebounds as much as any team in
04:06the league
04:07so that's something to watch if the calves have a so-so shooting series so let me ask you how
04:13healthy do
04:14you think the team is right now and do you think they navigated the waters in the last couple weeks
04:20of the season to be as healthy as possible well kenny said there's no question about anyone except
04:26for thomas bryant for game one uh he said that yesterday i think that's about as good a news as
04:31you can ask for heading in the playoffs particularly given how the year has gone like everyone except
04:36for donovan it seems like has missed extended time i do think the jared allen knee tendonitis
04:42is going to be an ongoing question even in the games that he came back and played after
04:48missing time with the knee tendonitis it was a little bit touch and go sometimes he'd be
04:53you know making a big leap to try to put someone on up on a poster sometimes you know he
04:58was walking
04:58a little bit tender out there and he was you know wearing a knee brace on both knees whenever he
05:03was
05:03coming out of the game so that's something to watch particularly as we get later the good news on
05:07jared allen is that these first round series there are multiple days between each game so that can be
05:14a big help for a guy like jared allen who's managing sort of a nagging ailment now as we get
05:20deeper in
05:20the playoffs that's going to be harder because he's going to be putting obviously he's going to be
05:25playing you know playoff level intensity basketball on a knee with with tendonitis and the the gaps
05:33between games are going to be shorter so right now i think it's knock on wood everyone looks pretty
05:37good but you have to keep an eye on jared allen uh with the tendonitis jimmy watkins joining us
05:43plain dealer cleveland.com and his wine and gold talk podcast that you need to go take a listen to
05:48one thing about the matchup with toronto in particular jimmy that i think is something to
05:53really keep an eye on is that they have the types of players that we've always thought the calves have
06:00lacked and that is that wing guy who's really athletic and can you know can do some things with
06:05the basketball and between brandon ingerman rj barrett and especially scotty barnes you got three guys
06:12there how do the calves defend three guys who are that kind of a player out there on that wing
06:19it's a really good question because that is the other pressure point that i think the raptors poke
06:24at in this series the wing defense is the biggest question for the calves existentially they've been
06:30looking for that guy since they put the core four together originally since they traded for donovan
06:35mitchell that's been the missing piece they tried to fill it with deandre hunter it didn't work out
06:40we've been waiting on dean wade to be this three and d uh wing stopper two-way player and at
06:46times
06:46it's looked like he's been able to do that his advance numbers continue to be incredible but every
06:52every piece of data says that the calves are a better rebounding team a better defensive team a better
06:57basketball team when dean wade is on the court than off the problem has been availability and then his
07:02ability to find his rhythm with that availability i feel as good about dean wade heading into this
07:08postseason as i have uh at any point during the time where the calves have been trying to find this
07:15this mystery wing stopper that's not saying much because he's been hurt a lot and a lot of times
07:20we've just have it's either been a question mark or we know that dean wade's not going to play but
07:23he's he's back he's healthy he looked pretty good in his first game back last week so that is that
07:29is
07:29reason for optimism that being said you're right there's three of these guys brandon ingram is a guy who
07:34has you know he's only played 10 career playoff games but he's had a big he's had big time
07:38performances in the playoffs before 2022 against the 64 win suns his pelicans pushed that series
07:45to six i believe it was a 1-8 series pushed that series to six and brandon ingram was you
07:49know 27
07:50points a game on efficient scoring that's someone you have to deal with i would assume that that's
07:53where dean wade will start the other two guys scotty barnes and evan mobley scotty barnes usually
07:58guards evan mobley i would assume evan mobley will also guard scotty barnes um so i think that
08:03you feel pretty safe putting evan mobley on just about anybody rj barrett that leaves rj barrett and
08:08i don't know the answer to the rj barrett rj barrett question because i mean we're looking at guys who
08:14are under a lot of undersized guys on the wing that's one of the calves weaknesses is that they
08:19have uh they have an opponent that that has multiple guys at this position you're going to
08:24have to squint at some of the matchups keon ellis is really active with his hands but you know he's
08:29going to be giving up considerable size and and weight to an rj barrett max streus does he move
08:36his feet well enough is he is he big enough to to guard those kinds of guys we don't know
08:41sam
08:41merrill does a really really admirable job of hanging in there he takes a punishment out there
08:45guarding bigger guys but is that is that enough i don't know the answer rj barrett if if who guards
08:51rj barrett is one of the bigger questions to your defense i think you're in an okay spot honestly
08:56because rj barrett himself is a bit of an up and down playoff performer historically but it's it's a
09:03worthy question both in this series and beyond what do the calves do on the wing when they have
09:08multiple talented players of that size you can do something with the ball in their hands jimmy is
09:13there going to be a point during the playoffs where kenny atkinson can go back and just say
09:18okay i i can just i don't need to worry about the future here you know i if they get
09:23to the
09:24conference finals you would think he'd be safe but i just the pressure on him just seems absolutely
09:29tremendous going into these playoffs they they can't afford he can't afford at least i think
09:34to falter early in this in these playoffs your thoughts on it i would extend that pressure
09:40organ to the across the entire organization okay um if the calves if the calves lose and we can
09:48figure out what we'd mean by early if they lose in the first or second round i would say
09:53i think everything's on the table i think the roster could be in for a shake-up i think
10:00kenny you know would have to look over his shoulder i think you know even to even kobe altman like
10:06if
10:06you know if you reach a point where we're in hypothetical land i think right now the vibes are
10:11really good with everything with the calves let's say that let's get that out of the way but if we
10:15if
10:16things take a turn for the worst here um and let's let's you know trace our steps here things take
10:24a
10:24turn for the worst well we've already tried two different coaches at some point is the problem
10:30bigger than the coaches at the roster and and what what would become of the person who has been
10:34preaching so much patience on this roster you know the the kobe altman said for after three straight
10:40disappointing postseason exits i believe in the core four i think this this group just needs patience
10:45and then midway through this season broke up the core four in a very aggressive win now trade
10:52that pushed a lot of chips in and if that doesn't work well then i think you know dan gilbert
10:58we know
10:58that dan gilbert is not when it comes to trying to win a championship and falling short of expectations
11:03he's not always a patient man i feel like this is the most patience he has ever exhibited with a
11:09core
11:09and an and an organizational uh leadership structure so i think yes sure if it's i think
11:16if you go to the conference finals slash finals i'm i'm a i'm a you have to win a championship
11:21to
11:22justify the james harden trade okay but of course of course you know there are levels to success
11:27therein and i think that when it comes to making big sweeping changes um the threshold for can i can
11:35i run
11:36this back and and get to a championship eventually is lower than that i think conference finals finals
11:40um you could feel like you're heading in the right right direction depending on how the exit would look
11:46of course um you could feel like you're heading in the right direction and you could you know bet on
11:51the status quo maybe some minor tweaks along the margins there but first or second round exit
11:55everything's on the table jimmy walkins is joining us from the plane dealer in cleveland.com and his
12:00podcast the wine and gold talk one aspect of this that i think is is a little different than last
12:06year as the top seed last year it looked like a little look like a little easier path this looks
12:13challenging toronto that could be a big series assuming calves win detroit wins that could be a big
12:20series and then you see what you know what could happen in the eastern conference finals if they get
12:24there what do you think is more likely a surprising run that really takes them deep or a surprising exit
12:32that ends real quick i'm a i'm a believer that this is a team that should get to the conference
12:37finals
12:38i don't think any playoff series is necessarily easy but i think the calves have an ideal path
12:43right now i think between the the two playoff opponents that could have drawn yesterday were atlanta
12:50and toronto i think the team you would rather play by a considerable margin is toronto because they
12:55don't have the three-point shooting that atlanta has it's you know toronto's the 21st best three-point
13:00shooting team in the league atlanta's the top 10 three-point shooting team the calves are one of
13:04the worst three-point defenses in the league that's a real flaw that can be exposed if the right team
13:08pokes at it and they both play the same helter-skelter transition style that indiana poked at last year
13:14so i think getting toronto over atlanta is a win for them i think that could i think it could
13:19be a
13:19quick series if the calves are making their threes and then detroit in the second round as opposed to
13:24potentially boston if they would have been the three seed i love the culture that jb bigger staff
13:30has built over there i think kate cunningham has arguably been one of the best players in the east
13:34this year if not the best player in the east before he got hurt um but it's what's around him
13:40i just don't
13:41know i don't know what else detroit can count on in the playoff series that core has won zero playoff
13:47series together their offense is susceptible to this the playoff drop that that jb picker staff's
13:54offenses have had in the past kade is a bigger um better head of the snake uh for a playoff
14:00setting
14:01if we're talking about a guy who has the ball you know 30 usage rate i think he's better prepared
14:05for
14:06that than donovan was when jb was here but the pistons have a great defense and a bunch of one
14:12-way
14:12players after that like k cunningham is everything to them and i think if you throw a bunch if you
14:18throw multiple bodies at him as the calves has um during the season here i think that you can really
14:24manage his production and i think that's a pretty decent matchup for the calves compared to
14:28what it could have been which is again boston we're talking about 13 playoff series one between
14:33jason tatum and jalen brown a former championship core right like that's that's a pretty nice windfall
14:40for a team that had a you know a difficult regular season at times and ended up in the four
14:45seat i
14:45think this is a conference finals appearance should be the bare minimum expectation all right so walk
14:53just walk me through the toronto series how does that go down well i think basically for toronto to
15:00have a chance in this series either they are going to have to shoot um markedly better than they did
15:06during the regular season which admittedly is possible given that the calves have defended the
15:11three-point line poorly all season or the calves are going to have to shoot markedly worse from three
15:16than they did during the regular season which again is possible because this is a small sample size but
15:21like if these two teams play to their form then the calves are going to be scoring a bunch of
15:25points
15:25and making toronto take the ball out out from under the basket and play half court offense where
15:30they're not as well suited uh to score and i think that that's just going to be a tough thing
15:36for them
15:36to overcome if the calves start missing their threes and fueling toronto's transition attack okay we
15:41might have a series here but i just think that the calves offense is so good and toronto's offense
15:47like they are the way that the playoffs go one of the things that happens in the playoffs is that
15:52teams are more aggressive about leaving questionable shooters open and toronto's just got a bunch of
15:58those guys so they're just going to be an easier team to defend than some other matchups i think
16:03i'd go calves in five okay jimmy thank you very much listen to jimmy's podcast the wine and gold talk
16:10read him in the plain deal in cleveland.com he obviously will have all kinds of great information
16:15on the cavaliers in the postseason hey jimmy thank you jimmy just real quick peppermint or citrus smell
16:21they don't like that the crickets just so you know it i'm writing it down i'm writing it down
16:26this is my big research i did for you you may have to take the plate off your electrical cover
16:29so be careful though to get it in that wall smell welcome into my life jimmy this is what i
16:34do baby
16:34this is what i do see you jimmy good luck
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