00:00Cavaliers sitting at 29th in the first round.
00:03And remember...
00:04Who are they taking, Jeff?
00:05Who are they going to take?
00:06Thanks, Andy.
00:09Right now, the way things stand,
00:11find somebody who can play in the league, please.
00:16You could get lucky.
00:17I love it.
00:18You could get lucky.
00:19Yeah, and tell me who that person is.
00:24And then...
00:26The problem is, you might like guys,
00:28but are they going to be on the board?
00:29Well, that's the whole thing.
00:30There are 28 teams picking ahead of you.
00:32Who knows, man?
00:33Who knows?
00:33That's like trying to say,
00:34who are the Browns going to take in the sixth round next year?
00:37Exactly right.
00:38So we'll see what they do.
00:39And I can tell you exactly who they're taking.
00:41Nobody.
00:41They don't have a pick in the sixth.
00:42Chris Fidor reporting they might be trying to move on from it.
00:45They will have to pick somebody tonight.
00:48And the thing that cracks me up about the NBA draft is
00:53the hats drive you nuts.
00:55All of the activity leading up to it,
00:57just because it's just chaos.
01:00Yeah.
01:01I mean, it's wild, wild west chaos.
01:03We go to the Wiseheart Wright.
01:04We make it right.
01:05Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
01:06He is the head of HoopsWire.com.
01:10I mean, it doesn't get printed on HoopsWire.com
01:12unless Sam Amico says so.
01:14Ooh.
01:14And he joins us right now.
01:15Hello, Sam.
01:16Hey, Sammy.
01:17Hello, gentlemen.
01:17I don't know if that's good news or bad news about the whole HoopsWire
01:21editorial process, but we've been doing it now for a few years.
01:26So what the heck.
01:26Should have been our little secret.
01:27I'm sorry about that.
01:29Draft tonight, 29 Cavs.
01:32Anything out of the ordinary tonight other than, okay,
01:36they're going to take somebody at 29 or maybe trade out of the first round
01:40or something like that.
01:41Do you expect anything drastic to happen?
01:45No.
01:46I think that the most likely scenario is they end up taking someone,
01:52which, you know, I don't know that that's a bad thing,
01:57but it certainly sounds like they're trying to move out of that pick.
02:04They would have to draft somebody, move out,
02:08if not out of the draft altogether.
02:11And maybe get some future first rounder or get a future first rounder
02:16from someone or move into the second round,
02:20give somebody else that first rounder who wants it,
02:24maybe a Washington or Utah or somebody else who might want that pick at 29.
02:31And then the Cavs could move down in the second round.
02:35So I think they're exploring all those things,
02:39but I think the most likely scenario is they end up keeping it.
02:44What happens to the Cavs?
02:46Does anything happen to the Cavs tonight,
02:48or are we going to see the Cavs do anything here in the very, very near future?
02:53Well, I think fans are probably going to be disappointed if they have their hopes up for something tonight,
03:00other than I'm taking a guy at 29.
03:04So, you know, and it's funny because one outside source, not team source, told me,
03:12you know, last thing this team needs is more guaranteed salary,
03:16and that's what you're going to get at number 29, and that's about it.
03:19So that's why they're trying to move out of there.
03:23But I don't foresee anything.
03:26You know, that's not to say that something couldn't emerge.
03:30You know, these hours leading up to the draft are basically when general managers
03:37and team presidents and those people are talking.
03:40So sometimes in those conversations, two people, three people find something they like,
03:47and, you know, there's a possibility that something happens.
03:51So I think that there's always a chance, but you don't know going into the day what might happen.
03:59I would say that the odds tonight are against it.
04:02But, listen, free agency is a week away, and I think if the Cavs,
04:11and they will look to do some things, that would be a more likely time for those kind of moves
04:17to be made.
04:18Sam Amico, hoopswire.com, joining us.
04:21What does this team look like if James Harden is here for the whole year?
04:25How does it differ from what we saw this season in limited time?
04:29I would think that, yeah, maybe a little more time with the rest of the group would benefit him a
04:40little bit.
04:42I think that, you know, they've still, and they know this, they need to shore up around the edges
04:49with James Harden back, Donovan Mitchell back, presumably Evan Mobley and Jared Allen.
04:56I think that they think, you know what, if we can kind of take some of the burden off James
05:02Harden
05:03when it comes to handling the ball during the regular season, so that means reliable backup point guard.
05:10Is that Craig Porter Jr.? Is it, you know, Dennis Schrader again?
05:14And then how do they go about kind of getting him those, you don't want to play him 40 minutes
05:23a game,
05:24basically is what I'm saying in the regular season.
05:26But, you know, they have an opportunity to look different, but it's probably going to come around the edges of
05:33the roster.
05:35Hmm. I just, I asked, we talked to Chris Federer about this, but I just don't, can they come back
05:42with the same roster next year
05:43and feel good about it?
05:47Well, they can. I don't know that they would really have a reason to.
05:51I think there's a pretty large gap between, you know, what we saw from them in the Eastern Conference Finals
05:58and the other three teams in the Conference Finals, you know, the Knicks and the Thunder and the Spurs.
06:03To me, the Cavs were clearly number four in that conversation.
06:09So, I don't think you can.
06:11You know, Miami obviously just traded for Giannis.
06:15They may or may not be improved.
06:18I suspect that they will be.
06:21But, you know, are the Cavs built right now like a team that can get to the Finals?
06:26It didn't look like it.
06:29You know, yes, they got to the East Finals, but the road along the way was so rocky.
06:35Then they got there and got blown out, you know, against the Knicks.
06:39So, I think that they, listen, they're going to put on a happy face and say, you know,
06:45we're happy with how things have gone.
06:47And, you know, I remember last year before training camp, Kobe Altman,
06:52Darius Garland is not getting traded and would get angry at anybody who might have even suggested it on online.
07:00So, you know, they're going to put on that happy face, but they saw what we saw.
07:04And they know that they've got to make some adjustments, if not some major ones.
07:11How do you do that?
07:14That's the thing that I keep going back to.
07:16If you trade what you think are your best trade assets, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen,
07:22well, then you've got to replace them as well.
07:26And I don't know if either guy or a package is enough to bring you back what you want to
07:32improve.
07:33And to me, they're in a tough spot, Sam, because I have a hard time thinking,
07:38even if you picked up Jalen Brown, okay, so you're going to go three guys in the backcourt
07:43with Mitchell, Harden, and Jalen Brown?
07:46Would that work?
07:48Yeah.
07:49You know, listen, I think it's worth a shot if you could possibly do that.
07:54I don't know that they could possibly do that.
07:56But, you know, would you want to give up Allen and Mobley?
08:02I mean, that's a whole hypothetical that's hard to envision them doing,
08:06especially with Giannis and Adebayo now in Miami.
08:10I think Allen and Mobley become that much more valuable to you because, you know,
08:17now, hey, here's this other team that's kind of a contender,
08:20presumably going to be a contender with these two big guys.
08:24So I do think you can presumably, you can't run it back exactly like they were.
08:33I don't think that they have any intention of doing that.
08:36But I do think they have every intention of keeping Harden and Mitchell and Mobley
08:44and Allen going into next season.
08:46And so, you know, how do you improve around them?
08:50You've got to strike gold.
08:52Listen, Kobe Altman has tried, right?
08:54A couple years ago, he sent George Yang and Karis LeVert to Atlanta for DeAndre Hunter,
09:00and everybody thought, they're this 3-and-D guy they need.
09:03Well, it didn't work out that way.
09:04You know, and that's no fault of the Cavs.
09:07And then you made the trade of Hunter to Sacramento for two guys that you thought
09:13were really going to help you come playoff time.
09:16And, you know, quite frankly, they didn't do it as much as you had hoped.
09:21So I think that that is going to be kind of what Kobe Altman's looking to do.
09:28Let's trade some of these people and try to fit in around our core four
09:33and try to be the New York Knicks, who everybody up until this season kind of left for dead.
09:40Well, they can't get past, you know, they can't get past the conference finals.
09:44They can't get past this certain pedestal.
09:48They can't get into the finals.
09:51Thunder a couple years ago, Nuggets a few years back.
09:55Sometimes keeping your core together when everybody's saying you can't do it
09:59is actually the best solution and fill in around them.
10:02And I think that's probably what they're going to try to do.
10:08Did Milwaukee get more than a bunch of interesting guys
10:13who might not be able to be team builders for Giannis?
10:18The picks to me are so far down the road,
10:20and I can't even imagine it's tough to put them on the radar.
10:23They're, what, six and eight years away?
10:26Yeah, there's so many of them.
10:28It'd be hard to believe that anybody involved in those trades would still be with the team.
10:32Yeah, I know.
10:33Five and seven years away.
10:35Right.
10:35So, um, and one tonight.
10:39Right.
10:39And you got, you, you, you presumably have a guy in hero, although they could flip him,
10:45a Milwaukee guy.
10:47He's, he's from Wisconsin.
10:49Who's supposedly thrilled to be going back there.
10:53Um, who's a dynamic scorer when he's available.
10:56You know, when he's on the floor, he's, he's one of the top 10 scorers in the NBA.
11:02I mean, the guy, he doesn't do anything else, but he'll put the ball in the basket.
11:06So, I mean, you have that kind of guy.
11:08And then, of course, these young players that they got in terms of where, and, uh,
11:15Yaka has, and there was somebody else in there.
11:19Oh, that.
11:19Yaka Jonas.
11:20Yeah, that kid.
11:22I'm glad you pronounced it.
11:23But those guys, they're nice young players, you know, and I think that that's kind of what
11:30you can, you can build around.
11:32I, I, I like that hall for Milwaukee in terms of the players, because I think where is going
11:37to be a guy who helps you right away?
11:39Hero certainly will be.
11:41So, yeah.
11:42I mean, he, he's always a Cavs killer.
11:47So, you have a bunch of guys who aren't all-stars other than maybe Hero once in a while.
11:55Um, but you, you, you've got a nice young base there.
11:59You just have to, you know, this is a superstar driven league.
12:02You've got to go out and find one now.
12:06Do you have a cold?
12:09Actually, I've, uh, been working on my radio voice.
12:12Yeah.
12:12I was going to say, it sounds good.
12:14Sexy.
12:14I thought maybe you guys would think, you know, hey, he doesn't sound like Kermit the
12:18Frog anymore.
12:19I thought that'd be a benefit.
12:20I like it a lot.
12:21I appreciate that.
12:22Thanks, buddy.
12:23It's not easy being green.
12:25Sam's coverage tonight of the NBA draft and the Cavs.
12:28He's ready to go.
12:29He's everything on the draft.
12:32Follow Sam.
12:33He's going to do a great job.
12:34Thanks, buddy.
12:34Thanks, Sammy.
12:36Thanks, Sammy.
12:37He hung up.
12:39He doesn't like us anymore.
12:40Bye, guys.
12:41Wow.
12:42Doesn't like us anymore.
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