00:00I had said something yesterday while all this Giannis nonsense was up in the air
00:04that effectively I had less interest in Giannis because of his injury history
00:10and that goes beyond like games missed.
00:13That goes to the type of injury he's had.
00:15He's had multiple calf injuries.
00:17And that scares me when you're 7'1 and a 260-pound player
00:22because leg injuries take down as many big men as they do like undersized guards
00:28like we have with Donovan.
00:30So I couldn't say the same about Jalen Brown.
00:34And so I thought it was interesting.
00:35Brian Windhorst, Northeast Ohio's very own, was on ESPN and Get Up today
00:40and made it clear that one of the big fallouts of Boston making Jalen Brown available
00:46in Giannis talks might be that Jalen Brown doesn't end up in Boston next year
00:50even though he's not going to Milwaukee.
00:51Boston is in a situation where they have put for the whole world out there
00:55Jalen Brown, their finals MVP.
00:57They, of course, knew it was possible they were going to lose to Miami.
00:59They wanted to win.
01:00They made a very strong offer.
01:02But they were not willing to put their entire team in.
01:04They were not willing to put other pieces in because on the other side of this trade
01:07they had to have a team.
01:09And so now what I expect to happen is a bidding war for Jalen Brown
01:12and other teams in the league.
01:13In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality
01:17that it wouldn't be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes
01:20and that there would be a Jalen Brown market.
01:22And so now we're going to watch that.
01:23I think it'll take some time to play out, but if there's a draft pick involved
01:26it could happen today.
01:27I don't think that's likely, but it could happen today.
01:29All right, Padone.
01:30I am very clearly on the Jalen Brown Express, or at the very least
01:35you know, being open to the idea of Jalen Brown here.
01:38I've been very open about the idea of Trey Murphy as well out of New Orleans
01:41who may or may not be on the market.
01:45If Jalen Brown is truly on the market, should the Cavs be involved?
01:48Absolutely, they should be.
01:49He fits their biggest need, and that's a wing, an athletic scoring wing
01:54that just showed you last year that on his own, when Jason Tatum was hurt,
01:58he was able to have the Celtics afloat in the Eastern Conference
02:02as a top seed in the East.
02:04I think Jalen Brown immediately solves Cleveland's biggest need,
02:08and that's a starting three.
02:11I just don't love the idea of making another blockbuster trade
02:14with the Boston Celtics because the first trade I made with the Boston Celtics,
02:17it wasn't the first, but it was the biggest, and most recent,
02:21was the Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas deal, and in that deal,
02:24I feel like I got robbed with a Nerf gun.
02:26So I think this is – so I want to get to that in a second
02:29because I think that's a fair – Brad Stevens is a really good GM,
02:34and by the way, he wasn't the guy that executed that deal.
02:37That was Danny Ainge that made that deal happen.
02:39But again, Brad Stevens is a really good GM, and he doesn't lose deals often.
02:45I just – when I look at Jalen Brown, it's not just he's a big wing
02:49that can take on the Tatums and the Durants and LeBrons and, you know,
02:55like it's not just that, the thing that you haven't had
02:58in the entirety of the Kobe Altman era.
03:01I also think he's a little insane, and I mean that in a good way.
03:06Like he is wired in a way that he doesn't just want to win.
03:10He wants to be the best player on a winning team,
03:14and that goes beyond ego-related.
03:16Like that's just how the guy is wired.
03:19I think that is something that you're missing.
03:21I think you've got a lot of really good guys on your team.
03:25I think there are a lot of guys who they've got their money,
03:28they've got a great situation, and while they would like to win an NBA championship,
03:33I don't know that these guys need to win a championship,
03:35which is something you and I talked about yesterday,
03:37I think Jalen Brown needs to win a championship,
03:40and I think he needs to be the face of a team to do that.
03:44That's something that you can't replicate in a lab
03:46and something you don't have now.
03:48I said coming into this offseason when they were swept out of the conference finals
03:52by the New York Knicks,
03:53the mistake that the Cavs can't afford to make this offseason
03:58is ignoring players that have a championship identity
04:02and a championship winning mindset,
04:04and when I said that, I really meant Giannis and LeBron
04:08because those were the two players with that championship mindset
04:11that could come available and that would instantly
04:15tighten up Cleveland's locker room a little bit.
04:18I didn't love the analytical win comment by the coach,
04:21even though I kind of understand what he meant.
04:23I didn't love James Harden after getting swept saying that we were the better team.
04:28That reads to me as a team that doesn't have what it takes to win a championship.
04:32These guys just don't understand it.
04:34Jalen Brown understands it.
04:35He's won a championship.
04:36He has a Larry O'Brien already in the case,
04:39and I agree with you that the way that he's wired,
04:42the way that he's constructed,
04:44maybe it does hold Donovan's feet to the fire a little bit
04:47as long as Donovan's not in the trade package.
04:49Maybe it holds Evan Mobley's feet to the fire a little bit
04:51as long as Mobley's not in the trade package.
04:53And it helps these guys understand what's required of them to win a championship
04:58because I do think right now that is what's eluding this Cavs team.
05:01They don't have anybody with that mental makeup.
05:04I'm sorry, last year, Larry Nance Jr., Lonzo Ball, and Thomas Bryant
05:08didn't bring any championship identity to Cleveland.
05:10I also think you're a wonkily built roster.
05:14And I just think even though I think people,
05:17oh, well, Darius is gone, bad feeling's gone.
05:20It's like, no, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell
05:21still need the ball in their hands to be the best versions of themselves,
05:25and you still have two bigs that have a lot of overlap
05:29offensively and defensively as well.
05:31That's a lot of complications to have.
05:33So whether it's Donovan or it's Evan,
05:37either guy moving out of here takes one less complication
05:41and helps the fit.
05:42It does open up other problems.
05:45There's no, you don't subtract a Donovan or an Evan or even a Jared Allen.
05:50You don't subtract those guys without opening up another conundrum you have to deal with.
05:55Yeah, but that's the NBA.
05:57It is what problems can you win with and what problems can't you win with?
06:00And I think the Cavs have proven the problems they can't win with.
06:03And they got showed.
06:05They had a front row seat this year as to why they can't win,
06:09and that's because they don't have any wings.
06:10I can't watch another season of Dean Wade play the three.
06:15I just disagree with you on that.
06:16I don't think Dean Wade should be your best wing.
06:18I think Dean's a very useful player,
06:20and I think Tyson has a chance to be as well.
06:22Starting at the three, though?
06:23But this isn't playable wings.
06:26This is an elite wing, and that's the difference for me.
06:28And the Raptors exploited your lack of a wing because of their athleticism.
06:32The Pistons exploited it,
06:33and then obviously the Knicks exploited it with OG Ananobi and Bridges,
06:37who were better than Dean Wade,
06:38who were more athletic than Dean Wade.
06:41I know who's better than all of those guys that we just described.
06:44On the Pistons, the Raptors, on the Knicks, OG Ananobi.
06:47Jalen Brown is better than all of those dudes.
06:49So I think you bring him in here,
06:51and you get with the modern NBA,
06:53which isn't winning with two small guards that need the ball in their hands.
06:56It isn't winning with two big.
06:57It's wing play that wins in this league,
07:00and that's why I'd be all in on you.
07:02Now you ready for the unpopular opinion that I don't think most of the people
07:05listening would agree with on this one?
07:07My first trade offer to Boston would be Donovan Mitchell for Jalen Brown
07:12straight up.
07:14And full stop.
07:16No amplifiers, none of that.
07:18And that's no disrespect to Donovan,
07:20because Donovan is a great player.
07:23But I would rather Jalen Brown and Evan Mobley
07:27as the core of this team for the next five years
07:31than Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell
07:34or Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brown.
07:38Donovan and Jalen play different positions,
07:41but both do require some ball in their hand.
07:44But again, like, you alleviate Boston's log jam on the wing.
07:49I think Donovan can act as somewhat of a point guard for them.
07:53He becomes their second best player to Tatum,
07:55and I think he's at the point where he'd be willing to accept that
07:57to win an NBA title or to pursue an NBA title.
08:00And from your side of things,
08:03Jalen, I think, forecasts better into the future
08:06of being able to be the same player five years from now
08:09as opposed to Donovan.
08:12And I think he fits better with Evan as well
08:14because he's a little bit more pliable
08:16having made more sacrifices in Boston
08:19than Donovan's really had to make here.
08:21I think it's a no-brainer.
08:23I think it's a no-brainer from both sides, by the way.
08:27Because here's the thing.
08:29Every other trade that you're going to talk about
08:31for Jalen Brown if you're Boston,
08:33you're going to be the Cavs and the Kyrie trade.
08:36You're going to be giving up the best player in the deal
08:38for assets, and those might not work out.
08:41Those might just make you worse.
08:43Whereas Donovan or Evan, and again, I'd lean Donovan,
08:46but Donovan or Evan, it's equitable
08:51with either guy with Jalen Brown,
08:53even if you think Jalen Brown's the touch-better player.
08:56Okay, you want my fear, though, of trading Donovan to Boston?
08:59Mm-hmm.
09:00Is that's what unlocks Donovan's, like, mindset?
09:04I don't think it will.
09:05I don't think Donovan has that mindset.
09:07I hope, and obviously if this is something
09:10that would materialize, I would hope that you would be right,
09:12but it would just feel like, okay, now it's twice.
09:15Where you were counted out when you were in Utah
09:17because you were not able to get out of the second round
09:19in the conference finals, then you get to Cleveland,
09:22you finally get to the Eastern Conference finals,
09:24and they still get rid of you for Jalen Brown
09:27to a conference contender because if you send Donovan
09:30to the Celtics, Donovan and Tatum, I think,
09:33would be good enough to have the Celtics as a top seed
09:36as the Cavs would still be a top seed in the East,
09:38and you'd run into that at some point eventually.
09:41We know Donovan's really good.
09:43Like, I'd hate nothing more than to watch Donovan Mitchell
09:45put 40 or 50 up on the Cavs in a playoff game
09:49in the Eastern Conference.
09:49Like, it'd be brutal.
09:51Yeah, no, it would be, but that's why you trade him
09:53for a player that's equitable.
09:55Like, if a year from now you have to trade Donovan
09:57because you're no closer to winning a championship,
09:59you're going to be repeating the Kyrie trade.
10:02And I guess similarly I could make that same argument
10:04where if the Celtics give up on Brown,
10:07could that make him even more, like, motivated
10:09to then go beat Boston on the Cavs?
10:11Yes, I think so.
10:12And maybe that's the way of looking at this.
10:14Like, when I say Donovan doesn't have that mentality,
10:16it doesn't mean the guy's soft.
10:17It doesn't mean the guy doesn't want to win.
10:19It means he doesn't need to win.
10:22I think Jalen Brown is one of those guys
10:24that needs to win.
10:25LeBron, I think, for a long time was a guy
10:27that needed to win.
10:28That changed somewhere sometime in L.A.
10:31You know, he's just kind of changed, I think,
10:32what maybe drives him because he's on a legacy kick.
10:35But yeah, I think Donovan has about 90%
10:39of what you need to be the best player
10:40on a championship team.
10:41The problem is he can't make up the gap on the 10%.
10:44So I think he would naturally fit better
10:47as the two in Boston.
10:48I think Jalen would fit naturally better as the one.
10:51And listen, in a year's time,
10:53if James Harden retires,
10:54or two years from now,
10:55James Harden retires or there's a regression,
10:57yep, that'll be a whole other issue
10:58you have on your hands.
10:59Like, that's the real downside to me
11:02because all of a sudden you're going to have
11:03a real need for a point guard or distributor.
11:05But today, I think Jalen Brown,
11:08and I would throw Trey Murphy in it,
11:10although I'm not willing to give up
11:11either Mobley or Donovan for him.
11:14Yeah, no way.
11:15But Trey Murphy, I think, would be the other guy
11:16that instantly, if you trade for Jalen Brown
11:18or Trey Murphy,
11:20I'm thinking you're in the NBA Finals next year.
11:23I'm there if it's Jalen Brown.
11:25I'm not as confident in Trey Murphy
11:29just because has he even been to the playoffs
11:31in his career?
11:33Maybe once?
11:33I don't think that's his fault.
11:35I think Brown is somebody that has shown you
11:39on numerous occasions
11:40that he is not just a really good player,
11:43but he's a playoff riser.
11:45And now I've got questions about Donovan
11:47in the playoffs after what I just saw.
11:48There were too many postseason games
11:50where Donovan wavered this year.
11:51The difference would be you get Brown
11:54for either Donovan or Evan,
11:56whereas Murphy, I think, is Allen in some pieces.
12:00So it would just look different.
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