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00:00Of 97.1 The Fan in Los Angeles, big congratulations to that, and National NBA Reporter, Writer, and Analyst, Bill
00:09Writer, joining us right now.
00:10Bill, welcome to the show, bud.
00:12What's up, boys? Yeah, I'm back as an employed person. It's so nice. What's going on? Happy Monday.
00:18I gotta give you kudos here. You grew the hair out. You have like a quarter throw going. Are you
00:25keeping that for the first couple weeks?
00:27Yeah.
00:28Was there a methodology behind it? Straight up, yeah.
00:32Yeah, the methodology was, I don't have a job. For the last 12 years, I've had TV, cut my hair,
00:38tell me what to wear, treat me like I'm a child.
00:40It was my wilding phase, but some of the executives and bosses at the company, outside of the company, were
00:48a little skeptical.
00:49So I've slightly trimmed it, but it's still throw adjacent, but it's not quite as wild as what you're looking
00:54at.
00:55Didn't know we had like a Yankees thing on our hand here at Odyssey.
00:58I would be fired by now.
01:00It was out of control. I almost got fired. I've been here for five days, and I had to cut
01:04it, so we're getting it back where it's supposed to be.
01:07All right, Bill, do you view game three for the Cavs, that win, the way it happened, as a breakthrough
01:12for this team?
01:14Look, I view it as a breakthrough for people who want to push back on doubters like me.
01:20And full disclosure to you guys and your audience, I'm just not a James Harden believer, and therefore I don't
01:25really believe in that Cleveland team.
01:26And it's a weird spot to be in because I've been very pro, believing the Cavs could make a push
01:31the last few years.
01:32And at least for the moment, it's one moment, Harden silenced me, he silenced the Pistons, he played really, really
01:38well.
01:39And so I do think it's significant if, as long as, I would argue for the first time, it leads
01:44to that kind of consistent postseason play in game four and game five going forward.
01:49That's the Harden you guys need, and I feel like I don't see enough in the playoffs.
01:53So what do you expect tonight, then? Do you expect the flip has been switched?
01:57Switch has been flipped. There we go. Always happens.
02:02I mean, this is the weird thing on this series for me, is that I am a huge Pistons disbeliever,
02:07and I got people in Detroit all mad at me.
02:09I incorrectly, erroneously, at the start of the playoffs, thought they would lose to Orlando in that series.
02:13I was, you know, walking around like the smartest guy in the room until Detroit came back.
02:17So I do think there's vulnerability in Detroit. I don't think they've been through the battles in the war, and
02:22I know their defense is exceptional.
02:23I think Cleveland's good enough to win this game. It's just, it's the same thing, right?
02:27I don't know where you guys come down on this when you're talking in Cleveland.
02:29If Donovan Mitchell can be the guy that is capable and has in the past dropped a 50-burger or
02:35a 40-burger or just be efficient like he was the other night,
02:38and James Harden can play like he did, I think Cleveland can beat anybody, at least, in the Eastern Conference.
02:44I'm just, again, I'm going to repeat myself.
02:46I am very skeptical of Harden playing at that level in back-to-back games,
02:50especially when this is the difference between the series being over or feeling over at 3-1 or this being
02:56an actual series if Cleveland can get it done.
02:58I think Cleveland can win, but I remain skeptical.
03:00All right, Bill.
03:01So I know you might have just gotten to this, but we're 10 games into the Cavs' postseason journey.
03:05What do you view as the biggest impediment to making the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks this season?
03:12Yeah, I mean, look, it's what I just said.
03:14It is the consistency of James Harden.
03:16And to a degree, Donovan Mitchell, I'd be curious where you guys come down on this,
03:20because I was actually calling some sources today to actually talk Lakers stuff, right, for the new job,
03:25and Cleveland came up and the Detroit series came up, and I sort of ran this theory that I don't
03:30really trust Donovan,
03:31I don't really trust Harden.
03:32And one of the guys I was talking to, longtime former GM, big shot executive now, very smart guy,
03:38knows what he's talking about, sort of pushed back.
03:40He goes, you're right on Harden, but it doesn't mean he can't change.
03:43You're wrong on Donovan.
03:45That guy has won multiple playoff games by himself over the course of his career in Cleveland.
03:51So I think the impediment is James Harden, and it's can he be dynamic enough offensively, consistent enough,
03:57not shrink from the moment.
03:58We know that he can create.
03:59Can he get some three-point shots against a Pistons team whose defense is exceptional?
04:04Number two defensive rating in the NBA.
04:06That is how they get there.
04:08The Pistons' whole plan is at least to occasionally win games 103-97.
04:12What you guys need, what Cleveland needs, is James Harden to make sure that the Cavs are constantly scoring a
04:18lot of points
04:19in the postseason where, you know, rotation's short enough, the defense gets better,
04:22people get a little bit of tight, especially at home where the rims are more friendly,
04:26and this isn't Harden, but role players tend to shoot better.
04:28You've got to have your stars just making sure that you are winning those games and the offense is flowing.
04:33By the way, you might start World War VII on the show about James Harden,
04:38so you just lit a powder keg because we do not agree on Harden.
04:41Well, I mean, I can give you my Harden stuff if you want it later,
04:44but I want to talk about the Donovan stuff because I would say your executive you talked to was right
04:48for the past,
04:49but not really for this postseason.
04:52Game 2, he scored 31, but it was on 24 shots.
04:54Wildly inefficient, and everyone was just happy that he scored over 30 for the first time,
04:58it felt like, since Game 2 of the first series.
05:01And so, like, it's been very disappointing.
05:03Up until this Game 3, where he went 35-10 and went back to being, like, basically the Donovan we
05:07know,
05:08it's been a very lackluster and disappointing postseason so far for Donovan.
05:12It really has been.
05:13Look, I'm doing this from a distance.
05:15I don't have the sort of day-to-day eyes on this team that you do
05:18or the emotional connection that you and your fans do.
05:20Certainly your fans do.
05:22For me, I love Donovan Mitchell, and I have believed in what Kobe Altman's been building in Cleveland,
05:27and this is the test postseason where I needed to see Donovan Mitchell for me
05:31to believe that it works in Cleveland, that continuity is the way forward.
05:34If the Cavs don't make the NBA Finals, I need to see Donovan Mitchell be extraordinary.
05:39And that means avoiding nights like Cade Cunningham had over the weekend,
05:43where he was, whatever he was, 10-27 or 10-28.
05:46I don't need Donovan Mitchell to get 35 points by taking 29 shots.
05:50I need an efficient Donovan Mitchell throughout the course of the first three quarters,
05:54and then I need him, if it's not Harden, to take over the game and hit big buckets.
05:59And it hasn't been a reality for him.
06:01And I would go further.
06:02I would say that he has done it over the course of his career in Cleveland and in Utah,
06:06two games out of a seven-game series,
06:08and there's two or three where he shoots the team out of those games.
06:10And so I think with him, he's a Rorschach test.
06:12You can look at Donovan Mitchell.
06:13You can see what you want to see.
06:15I want to see a superstar, but the East is wide open.
06:18There is no team in the Eastern Conference that I'm afraid of, Knicks included.
06:21That's when Donovan Mitchell has them look around and go,
06:23this is my moment.
06:24This is Cleveland's moment, and I've got to be a superstar consistently.
06:27So it's weird.
06:29Like, I think the Knicks are a good team, but I don't think they're unbeatable.
06:33I think that I agree with you on the Pistons.
06:35It's funny, my doubts about all of this, and it's not just Harden.
06:39It is Donovan.
06:40It is even the bigs.
06:43Like, it's the whole thing.
06:44I've just seen the same story.
06:46No matter who's the captain of the ship, no matter who's Donovan's first mate,
06:51no matter what goes on here, I've seen it end the same way.
06:54My biggest doubt, the Cavs have all the talent they need to at least make the finals this year.
06:59I don't doubt they have the talent to beat the Knicks.
07:02I just doubt they have whatever it takes to beat the Knicks
07:05or whoever they were going to face in the Eastern Conference Finals.
07:08Oh, look, I'm taking the Knicks as an easy favorite over Cleveland,
07:12but it shouldn't be easy.
07:14And some of that goes back to what we've been talking about.
07:18Cleveland's defense has been, what would my daughter say, mid?
07:21It's been basic this year.
07:22It's the offense, right?
07:23Like, that is the straw that stirs the drink for the Cavs,
07:27and that means that Donovan Mitchell and James Harden have to be extraordinary
07:32every moment of the postseason because when you have the, whatever it is, guys,
07:3514th or 15th defense in the NBA, historically speaking,
07:39that's not good enough to make the finals.
07:40That's certainly not good enough to win the finals, but I'm with you, Nick.
07:44I don't think the Pistons, I don't think the Knicks are extraordinary.
07:46I think they're really good.
07:47I don't think the Pistons are extraordinary.
07:49I think they're really good.
07:50I don't think the Cavs are extraordinary.
07:52I think they can be pretty good.
07:54This is an opportunity, and that opportunity has to come through the offense.
07:58That thing that they're missing is defense.
08:00That thing that they're missing is what they had a few years ago
08:02when they had a defensive player of the year, caliber player,
08:04playing at that level.
08:05He's not doing that now, and the defense kind of followed suit,
08:08which means to get it done, you've got to have games you're scoring 120 points
08:12against, in this case, one of the best defenses in the game.
08:15All right, well, you kind of mentioned them,
08:16and it's the first time in the 10 minutes that we've gotten to Evan Mobley,
08:19and I find it interesting, Bill, because we spent so much time
08:22about Harden and Mitchell and the superstars,
08:25and Atkinson in the postgame was like, we have two superstars in this team,
08:28and he pointed towards Harden and Mitchell,
08:30and it was not towards Evan Mobley.
08:32Have you been disappointed with Evan Mobley in this postseason?
08:37Dude, that's such a great point, and I missed that moment.
08:40Yeah, and by the way, not just in this series,
08:43just maybe in general this year.
08:45He's been fine, but he should be a third superstar, right?
08:51I mean, big three errors don't really exist.
08:52I guess that's not the way that it works anymore, but that's a homegrown talent,
08:55and there was a moment a few years ago where I was making an argument with people,
08:58and I was wrong, that he could be not a top 10 player, a top 15 player in the NBA,
09:03that his defense alone, if he's on the right team,
09:06could make him an extraordinary difference maker,
09:09and he just hasn't been that guy.
09:12I can remember him to a degree over the last few years imposing his will in some games.
09:17You need guys to win series and win championships.
09:20You need guys that can win you a single playoff game, right?
09:23LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell, he figures it out.
09:25Jalen Brunson, Victor Webanyama, if he stops elbowing people in the face,
09:29they can win you two, three, four, Steph Curry,
09:31five games over the course of a series if they have to, right?
09:33They just can't.
09:34If team squanders, one of those would-be wins.
09:36You need guys that can get you one.
09:38Evan Mobley should be that guy,
09:40and I've been really disappointed by what feels like a couple steps backwards,
09:44maybe more than that,
09:45on what I thought was a superstar-level trajectory a couple years ago.
09:48All right, since you mentioned the whole thing about talking to the phone,
09:52you know, calling around about getting the new gig and talking about the Lakers,
09:56obviously the Lakers getting swept out of the second round of the series there,
10:01so LeBron's got a summer to think here.
10:03From the many, many people that you talked to,
10:06do you think LeBron's more likely to go back to L.A.
10:08or maybe come back to Cleveland?
10:11Man, it's such a mixed bag.
10:13So talking to sources, 50-50.
10:15I have a co-host named Doug McCain, DMACC.
10:18He's an absolute rock star in this town.
10:20He loves the Lakers.
10:21He's one of the smartest people I've worked with,
10:23but he loses his mind when he talks about LeBron
10:25because he wants him back, and he thinks he's coming back.
10:28If I'm the Lakers, I don't want LeBron James back,
10:30which I know is not the question that you asked me,
10:31but it's so divisive among what people want,
10:35and the people that I've talked to around the league have different views.
10:38The guy that I talked to today,
10:39like the person I talked to, the former GM who I really respect,
10:42he thinks he's probably going to Cleveland,
10:45but he thinks it really depends on the degree to which the Lakers
10:49do or don't want LeBron to be back.
10:51LeBron's a rollout, the red carpet guy.
10:53LeBron's a, I need to be the center of the universe guy.
10:55LeBron's a, I want to be the man guy.
10:57He's not in L.A., and he's not going to be.
11:00I think Cleveland makes the most sense.
11:02I think it's where he should go for what everybody wants.
11:05I think he'll probably end up there,
11:06but even the betting markets are saying what me and my co-host are saying,
11:10what the GMs I talked to are saying,
11:12that it's 50-50 on what people think will happen
11:14and what will probably happen between staying a Laker and being a Cavalier.
11:17Do you guys want him?
11:18Like, what's the temperature in Cleveland?
11:20Yeah, oh no, we definitely want him.
11:21We'll never say no to LeBron.
11:22Yeah, why don't you want him?
11:26I think that LeBron and Luka don't get along very well,
11:29and I think that, in fact, I know that they don't get along very well.
11:32And, look, I like LeBron, I have to qualify this,
11:35because sometimes he loves me,
11:37or sometimes he tolerates me, and sometimes he hates me.
11:39I think we're in a hate phase right now on that side of the equation.
11:42But I respect the hell out of him.
11:44He doesn't do well when he's in a locker room that is toxic,
11:47and it doesn't go well when he is a part of that toxicity.
11:50And, you know, I've covered LeBron a lot more than Luka.
11:53I can't speak to the degree to which it's Luka Doncic's problem,
11:56or he's the cause of this.
11:57But LeBron wants to be the guy, and Luka wants to be the guy.
12:00And I think LeBron's put on a good face over the last few months.
12:02He can obviously still play at a really high level.
12:04I just don't think they fit together, and I don't think they get along.
12:07And when LeBron is unhappy with people in his locker room,
12:09it is awkward, it is weird, it does not go well.
12:12He sucks all, he's the son, right?
12:15I mean, the physics of any locker room and team he's a part of
12:17bend to LeBron's will.
12:19And he bends in a good way when he's happy
12:20and a bad way when he's not happy.
12:22I don't think it's a good locker room in L.A.,
12:24and I would imagine, based on his love for Akron and that part of Ohio,
12:28that being in Cleveland with James Harden, who he's close to,
12:31with Donovan Mitchell, you guys know, was at the Boys and Girls Club
12:33during the decision, he loves LeBron.
12:35I just think it would be a happier place for LeBron as a basketball player.
12:38And when LeBron is happy, things go well.
12:41And when LeBron is not happy, things go very badly.
12:45Giannis reports today suggest the Bucs are open to a trade.
12:49Do you feel like the Cavs are in play for that as well?
12:51Or do you feel like, ultimately, this years-long public breakup
12:55just won't actually end up being another breakup like it should?
13:00I think, look, I think they should have traded him before.
13:03It's hard to do at the trade deadline.
13:05It's easier to get more suitors and drive the price up.
13:07I think he's gone.
13:08I mean, I don't really know, but this is a year and a half ago now.
13:11I reported that on a one- to two-year timeline,
13:14Giannis was going to leave it.
13:16Yeah, I think everybody could be in it.
13:18I mean, it depends what you're willing to unload.
13:20So the guy that I talked to today basically said,
13:22despite the fact that Giannis is, what, he's 31, I think 32 in December,
13:26despite the fact we're starting to see some injuries,
13:29you're talking four first-round picks that have value,
13:32and maybe a player, maybe a good player, is what the price is going to be.
13:36And so if the Cavs, I don't think the Lakers can do it,
13:39or the Lakers or any team out there are willing to package
13:42their entire future of assets and or, and it's probably and,
13:47and some really nice players, I think that,
13:50I think that John Horst and, and, and the Bucs are going to,
13:53are going to weigh that.
13:53I'm also really curious to what degree they're willing to facilitate
13:56what Giannis wants to happen because they have not had a good relationship.
13:59It has been ugly over the last few months and the Bucs learned firsthand.
14:02They got this lesson from the Trailblazers a few years ago that it is
14:06better to, to just ignore your superstar and get what you need and to make
14:09him happy.
14:10If you want to rebuild the right way.
14:11All right, Bill, uh, very excited to have you on in the Odyssey family.
14:1697 won the fan in Los Angeles.
14:18Can, uh, can't wait to hear you guys, uh, live here.
14:21Uh, what is it next Monday when you guys launch?
14:25A week, a week from today.
14:27It's like, we're building an airplane while we're flying to the sky.
14:29We're doing practice shows.
14:30We're getting it ready.
14:31Uh, I got to keep up with Doug cause he's an absolute superstar.
14:34So yeah, we're, we are, we are seven days away from launch.
14:37Well, congrats on that.
14:38Tell everybody we said, uh, welcome to the Odyssey family and great
14:41stuff today, buddy.
14:42Always great, but definitely great today.
14:46Hey man, always love being on in Ohio where my wife's family can listen to me
14:49in the Cleveland area.
14:50Appreciate you guys.
14:51And, uh, anytime you need me, I'm here.
14:52All right.
14:53Good man there.
14:53Bill writer.
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