00:00We're going to welcome in a man who knows something about winning a title in this town on the Wiseheart
00:05Right, We Make It Right, Call Kyle Right hotline.
00:08He is an NBA champion. He is a Cavs legend. The road-tripping podcast, Chosen Family Wines, the great Channing
00:15Frye joins us now.
00:16Channing, welcome to the show.
00:18Man, that's a great hype session. I haven't had one of those in a while.
00:22Well, you're an NBA champion. I can't, I gotta give it, the one championship I've experienced in my life.
00:30Hey, same here. We're all going through the same season.
00:34Does it feel like a decade since you guys won that thing?
00:38It actually does. And you know what's funny is that it's still, I've only watched that game three times and
00:48cried three times.
00:50But then, I mean, it's been, you know, I kind of appreciate it. You know what I'm saying?
00:55And I think we're not, we like, it's nice to have that big fish story. You know what I'm saying?
01:01Every time I tell a story about the parade, it's first it was one million, now it's six.
01:06You know, next year it might be 20 million.
01:08They had to shut the whole state of Ohio down and blah, blah, blah.
01:11And, you know, there's just so many great stories that, like, I forget that I'm able to relive from different
01:18perspectives.
01:19And, but I'm really like, where basketball is now from where we're playing is amazing.
01:25Like, these games have been off the charts.
01:28Yeah, it's interesting.
01:29All right, before we get to the Piston series, I do want to ask you about, you had a video
01:32that went very, very viral.
01:33And then Evan Mobley's mom was retweeting it and commenting on it.
01:37Was that, was it?
01:38Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:39Yeah, was that a weird feeling that, like, middle of the game, Mobley's mom is then doing that?
01:44Is that weird?
01:46No, no.
01:47I think, here's the thing.
01:49And I know Donovan Mitchell, right?
01:50And now I don't have any problem with what he's doing.
01:53And my whole point was, each series, if you're the best player, you, that doesn't mean that you're just going
02:01to be the best score.
02:02What I was saying in that series, I felt like Evan Mobley and Jared Allen were the true advantage.
02:08Now, am I asking him to turn into Steve Nash?
02:11Absolutely not.
02:12But I said, for a series, you got to take advantage of your, of the advantage, right?
02:18Every series, you got to say, here's my advantage.
02:20We got to go at that, right?
02:23Do people, you know, when we played the Hawks, the advantage was Kevin and I spacing the floor, and then
02:29they had to switch, and then Kyrie got to go.
02:32And then, obviously, Braun is going to do his thing.
02:34Kyrie is going to do his things.
02:35But, for me, you know, at a certain point for any great player, especially when they're a scorer, when they
02:42demand that much gravity, you have to allow your other guys to be stars at the same time.
02:49And that shows your growth, right?
02:52And for the Cavs to win, they have to engage Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, Max Strews, right?
02:59That's why you bring in a James Harden, a Schroeder.
03:02And then, after that, if you've got to play straight up, then Donovan Mitchell's going to get 50 on you.
03:07And they win.
03:08And so, for me, that was my whole point.
03:10And, obviously, Perk riled me up.
03:12You know, we started yelling or whatnot.
03:14But, no, I don't take any of that personal.
03:16Man, I talk to Paolo's parents.
03:18I talk to a lot of parents just about, you know, perspectives and what I'm saying.
03:23So, don't ever think I'm knocking a guy's game.
03:26I'm just saying, I wouldn't expect, I wouldn't ask anybody who couldn't do it to do it.
03:33So, you know.
03:34No, go ahead.
03:35Yeah, no, I just, I think the takeaway a lot of fans had then is it was almost like it
03:38was Evan Mobley's mom endorsing what you were saying.
03:40And that's a little problematic in the middle of Game 6.
03:44Obviously not, because they won.
03:46Yeah.
03:46Maybe they need some.
03:47Maybe it was the retweet.
03:48The retweet turned it around.
03:50I mean, I don't know.
03:51No, listen, there's always going to be stuff.
03:52I think, listen, you know, Evan Mobley's camp, right, meaning his trainer, meaning this, feel a certain way about their
04:01boy as they should, right?
04:02I have a son in high school, and how I think of him is very different than maybe other people
04:08think of him because I see all the work he's putting in.
04:10And I think, you know, for me, as you get older, you realize that nothing of that is personal.
04:16You just want what's best for your kid, right?
04:19And that's it.
04:20And so I don't really bat an eye at that kind of stuff.
04:24It's more where we just need to make sure that whatever is retweeted or not retweeted, that the communication stays
04:34on par within the team.
04:36All right, Channing, you might have just answered this, but I'll still give it a go.
04:41How do the Cavs get over the hump and finally get beyond the second round?
04:46Well, let's, I just talked about this, I think like an hour ago, I forgot where, but let's play this
04:53game.
04:53Okay, who's the best player in the series?
04:55You would assume.
04:56It's an easy answer.
04:57Donovan.
04:58Oh, I thought Cade Cunningham.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Cade Cunningham, right?
05:02One, Cade Cunningham is going to win you a game.
05:05It's just guaranteed, unless your game plan is elite, but he is an MVP caliber player, you would say he's
05:13going to win you a game, right?
05:15Yeah.
05:16Do we agree?
05:16Agree.
05:16Okay.
05:17Now, who is the second, third, and fourth best player in this series?
05:23Then it goes Donovan.
05:25Then it goes Mobley.
05:27Yeah.
05:27And then Harden.
05:28You would.
05:29Yeah.
05:30Then Harden, right?
05:31And you could even switch Harden to Mobley if you wanted, but yeah.
05:34For sure.
05:35But again, that's how I look at a series.
05:37Hey, Harden, if you get 15 assists, I don't care about your scoring anymore because, you know, with Struz and
05:44Dean and all those kind of guys, Evan, Jared, if you can get them engaged early, defensively, Cleveland is a
05:51very different team.
05:52When they are physical and stopping at the line and not moving, the line of, I don't want to say
05:59scrimmage, but the line of attack, right?
06:02There's a better word for that.
06:03But they're a very, very good team.
06:05And I think can compete with anyone.
06:07And so the issue is this.
06:11Can you replicate that intensity versus a team that has an identity of living that intensity?
06:19Right?
06:19That is the biggest question is you've discovered this.
06:24Ooh, I like this intensity.
06:25I like being aggressive and physical and, you know, talking a little crap here and there.
06:32And can you do that versus – I mean, Jacob Purtle, no offense to him, Jacob, sorry, Jacob Purtle, is
06:40very different than Jalen Dern and Isaiah Stewart.
06:42So can you keep that same energy as a team, as a team, not just Jared Allen, but as a
06:50team against this team that has solidified who they are as a style and as a culture and break them
06:59to having doubt?
07:02And if they can do that, if they can do that and continually attack downhill and continue fight through, you
07:10know, there's going to be some hard fouls and continue to attack mismatches and take it personal, I think they
07:17can do it.
07:17But it is not going to be easy, and it is going to require them to be locked in as
07:24a group and the game plan, you know, after those three guys, let's say put James Harden, Max Struth, Dean
07:31Wade, all in one little group, right?
07:33So your best two players win your game, your bench and your auxiliary players win you a game.
07:38And then Kenny Atkinson got to get these boys fired up to the point where he's making them psychotic, like
07:44foaming at the mouth ready to go to prove the world wrong, you know?
07:49Yeah, no, definitely.
07:50I guess I'm then – because, I mean, the way he laid it out was great, right?
07:53And you're 100% right, especially down from the players and the rankings and everything there.
07:58I'm just – I guess I'm trying to figure out, if all that's true, why is it that Vegas has
08:01us as the underdog?
08:02And then in every panel that we can find, whether it's ESPN, The Athletic, any of them, they all think
08:07the Pistons – at least more people think the Pistons are going to win than the Cavs.
08:11Where is that discrepancy coming from in this series?
08:14The history of the team.
08:16The history.
08:17And then that's just a fact.
08:19It was like we've seen a glimpse.
08:22So we saw a blip, right?
08:25So it was like, ooh, the stock market was going down, and all of a sudden it spiked up.
08:29And we're saying, wait, is this going to make another jump?
08:32Or is it going to go back to what it was before?
08:36But I believe, after watching what I saw, you guys having Max Struis, you guys are generally healthy, one of
08:43the healthier teams in the NBA, I would assume.
08:46And I'm going to err on the optimistic, where ESPN and Fox and Vegas is saying, we don't believe that
09:00you guys, as a Cavs, as a team, can deal with physicality like that, especially not with a team that
09:08hangs their hat on physicality.
09:10And so that's just basically it.
09:13And that's basically it.
09:15I mean, you know, I think you look at the Pistons, and I always follow everybody and what they're saying.
09:22I think that's a good point.
09:23This is not personal for the Cavs.
09:27They've moved on.
09:28They've had success.
09:29I think this is very personal for JB.
09:32I haven't asked him, so don't quote me.
09:35But if I was JB, I'm coming there spitting magma fireballs.
09:42He knows every little thing about his players.
09:47And obviously they know about JB, but he can, you know, that scouting report is going to be a little
09:52different.
09:54Channing, should the finals be the expectation with Boston out for the Cavaliers?
10:00Oh, that's a great question.
10:07And correct me if I'm wrong, don't the Cavs have the highest payroll in the NBA?
10:10They do.
10:11That sounds about right, yeah.
10:12Yeah.
10:16Man.
10:17And you just got past Detroit.
10:19The Knicks look good.
10:21They could be beat, but they look very good.
10:23Philly looks solid when Joel Embiid is engaged.
10:27I mean, I would say either the NBA finals or game seven of the Eastern Conference finals.
10:34I mean, that's really – and it has to just be like this dude got out.
10:37Like, Jalen Brunson or Cat, like, went crazy.
10:42And I would run it back with James Harden next year and one more year.
10:46But if not, we really got to reassess the vision and the – we got to address, is it time
10:58to – are we coloring in oil paints or watercolors?
11:01And maybe we just need to go back and get a new canvas and work with that, you know?
11:08I mean, it happens.
11:09It happens.
11:10If you were to shake it up, are you talking like adding LeBron to the roster or are you talking
11:15like a Giannis from Mobley swap?
11:17What are we talking here?
11:20Oh, boy, that's a good – that's hard to say.
11:22I'd have to see all the options on the table, and I'd have to talk to the upper – I
11:30mean, obviously Dan and all them and whoever's running it about what they want that direction to look like.
11:37I mean, here's how I see it.
11:38You could go, hey, Donovan, hey, Jarrett, thank you for your time.
11:43We're going to really just kind of let you guys go where you want to go, bring in some young
11:47talent and build around Evan and see what happens there and save us some money on a salary cap.
11:53Or we say, hey, you know, we're just going to go for it one more time and Evan for Giannis.
12:00But now you've got Giannis and Donovan and James, hopefully.
12:07What do you do with Jarrett Allen?
12:08You have to rebuild your whole roster.
12:10You can't have Jarrett Allen and Giannis on the same team.
12:13He doesn't do well with another true post, right?
12:16He always has spacing posts.
12:18Or you say, hey, do we triple down on scoring and say, what's up, KD?
12:24If you're disgruntled, come back over here with James Harden.
12:27I mean, you know, James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, KD, whoever, whoever is a very different team in the Eastern Conference.
12:37So, I mean, you have options if we're just playing what if, right?
12:41All right, Channing.
12:43You can't run from this one.
12:45We know you're friends.
12:46We know you're on text basis.
12:48Is LeBron coming back for one more run at a ring here in Cleveland this summer?
12:55Oh, to be honest, I genuinely do not know.
12:59I genuinely do not know.
13:00But if I do not, I do not.
13:04I'm a horrible liar.
13:06So, one, if he, if they, by any God's green chance, get by OKC, I think there's no chance in
13:17hell, right?
13:18I just don't think there's a chance, right?
13:21I think if this gets weird and, you know, this stuff happens during the summer, I think your chances are
13:30better.
13:31I'm not going to put a number on it.
13:33I think your chances are pretty good.
13:34But that's a lot of what ifs to happen.
13:38And also, like, does he solve the problem here, right?
13:43You're, does he, like, do you want to win or do you want to have, like, a going-away party?
13:48Because that's an expensive going-away party.
13:50It's like Gilbert Arenas' million-dollar birthday party he threw for himself.
13:54I'd like to do both.
13:55They got money.
13:56Dan's got money.
13:57We know that.
13:58Listen, he's got money.
14:00And the reason he got money is because he doesn't have a, the highest, you know, a $300 million going
14:06-away party for 42-year-old LeBron in the Eastern Conference.
14:10What if, what if we also let you have a going-away, you and LeBron?
14:14You guys at the same time.
14:15No way.
14:15Listen, have you ever let a balloon go in a tornado?
14:18That's how gone I am.
14:23Well, Channing, it's always great to talk to you, man.
14:25And hopefully, hopefully we get to bug you more as the Cavs go deeper to the playoffs.
14:30For sure.
14:31Yeah, dude, at least, look, give me, give me a legit seven games, right?
14:36Give me a legit seven games.
14:38And I just want to see these guys continue to, to grow, evolve, and mature.
14:43And I think this last series was way better than last year playing Miami.
14:48They're now playoff ready.
14:50And I'm excited to see them take on a challenge versus Pistons.
14:53Well, we're excited to keep hearing you, man.
14:54Congrats on the post-playing career success.
14:57And thank you for that championship.
14:58We will never forget it.
15:00Oh, Bruce.
15:00Neither will I.
15:01I'm looking at the champagne bottle right now.
15:03So you forgot some of it.
15:05Yeah.
15:07All right.
15:07Channing Frye there.
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