00:00That's Danny Cunningham, who joins us. He's the host of Locked on Cavs.
00:03He's also the Inside Shot on Substack.
00:06He's also Cleveland Magazine. He's also 92.3 The Fan.
00:10He's also Harper's Weekly. He joins us on the Wiseheart Right.
00:13We Make a Right Call, Kyle Right Hotline. Danny, good morning.
00:16Good morning, guys. How are you?
00:18Good. Usually, you know, hosts on this station start ripping each other, get really disrespectful.
00:23I heard Nick's take yesterday, Nick Wilson.
00:27Sometimes he's a takesman, and he brought up that he would trade Donovan Mitchell for Jalen Brown.
00:32And I go, hey, I'm not going to fault the guy for trying to make the team better, okay?
00:36Now, I think that Donovan Mitchell might be a third rail to some of the fan base, but fine.
00:40I think everything maybe should be up for grabs.
00:43But I think that he's bringing that up, and a lot of people are, because they don't want to give
00:47up Evan Mobley.
00:48And I think if you really want to make the team different, I don't know if you're going to make
00:52them better.
00:53I don't know what the rules are, or what the possible trades could be.
00:56I think you have to move on from Evan, because I think we're getting ready to start having the same
01:00conversations in a way about Donovan Mitchell that we were having about Darius Garland.
01:07Yeah, I wouldn't give up Donovan Mitchell in a trade like this.
01:10And I understand not wanting to give up Evan Mobley either, and I'm not sure that Jalen Brown is the
01:15guy to give up Evan Mobley for.
01:18Because I think that if you get to that point, that if you are trading Evan Mobley, which, you know,
01:22I do think is something that should be at least thought about.
01:26I'm not sure the Cavaliers will think about that.
01:28You have to trade Evan for a guy that is no doubt going to make the Cavs better, and is
01:33no doubt better than Evan Mobley right now, and probably for at least the next two years.
01:38And I'm not sure that Jalen Brown makes the Cavs that much better in that spot, because I think that
01:43they would miss a lot of the things that Evan provides.
01:46That's why, like, I could understand if you wanted to get in the Giannis sweepstakes, and I also understand why
01:51the Cavs didn't want to do that.
01:53I think that's where Evan Mobley could have been a guy that you trade him for, but I don't know
01:57that Jalen Brown is the answer there.
01:59And I do think, too, as far as Donovan goes, like, he wants to be in Cleveland.
02:03He's been a top-ten player in the NBA his entire time in Cleveland.
02:06And, yes, this postseason was not his best performance, but I think it's difficult to find a top-ten player
02:12that wants to be in Cleveland.
02:13And I think that you should hang on to that if you can.
02:17Boy, I agree with the end of that sentiment.
02:19I just start to wonder if this was the first time this postseason where Cavs fans weren't sure they wanted
02:27Donovan Mitchell at $68 million to $75 million over the next four or five years.
02:32I think that's the first time I've heard that sentiment when they finally saw the sticker price.
02:40Yeah, and I get that.
02:41Like, it's a lot of money, man.
02:42And I know that so much of the extension conversation, and this is not just here in Cleveland, this is
02:49in other places, too.
02:50But it's, whoa, look what Jalen Brunson did and how much money he saved the Knicks and allowed the Knicks
02:55to bring in Carl Anthony Towns and build the championship contending team.
02:59So I understand that aspect of it.
03:01And it is a lot of money.
03:03But at the end of the day, if it's not prohibitive in terms of who you're bringing in to build
03:08the team,
03:08because the Cavs have shown that they're willing to spend money, right, to make the team as good as they
03:13possibly can,
03:14I just don't necessarily think that that's worrying about the right thing right now.
03:19Danny Cunningham joining us on the show.
03:21I found it interesting, though, with the Giannis trade.
03:24Should we keep an eye on Miami, considering that, you know, Donovan has been kind of a fan of Bam
03:30at a Bayou?
03:30If they start signing long-term contracts, maybe there's no room left, or, you know, if they kind of just
03:36stand pat,
03:37is that a possible threat to holding on to Donovan at some point?
03:42I'm not positive of that because they don't necessarily have a ton of assets moving forward to get Donovan.
03:48And now in today's NBA, like, this is such a different place than what it was in 2010 when LeBron
03:54went down to Miami, right?
03:56Like, LeBron reached free agency.
03:57Guys don't often reach free agency, and I don't know that Donovan's going to sign an extension this summer,
04:04but I also don't necessarily have any reason to believe that he's going to be going anywhere.
04:08I mean, I ultimately think, like, if Donovan was going to try and force his way somewhere, it would have
04:14happened before now.
04:15And I think that if he really wanted to be Miami, he would have tried to force his way to
04:19Miami previously.
04:20So I don't necessarily know that that's a place.
04:23I will say, like, they need somebody like Donovan Mitchell because for as good as Giannis is, is as good
04:28as Bam is,
04:29that's a roster that is not a championship caliber roster right now.
04:33I don't think that the Miami Heat are any better than fifth or sixth in the East at the moment.
04:37So I don't necessarily want to say, yeah, you can definitely rule that out forever.
04:42But I wouldn't view them as a, like, clear and present threat right now.
04:47You know, obviously, Danny Cunningham joined us right now in the hotline.
04:50It's been mostly quiet on the Cavs front once the Giannis thing happened.
04:55And we were wondering if, man, if Giannis would have gone to Boston,
04:58if that would have changed the level of activity for the Cavs, had persuaded them one way or another,
05:05but, you know, instead goes to Miami.
05:07You know, but I started going through the teams and we don't know what Boston is going to do yet,
05:11but obviously there's the Pacers are going to be a real thing again next year.
05:16You have the defending champs in New York who humiliated us in the postseason.
05:21So as you look around, Detroit is going to try to add Orlando, who knows what they're going to do.
05:28What do you make of where the Cavs are right now and how eager Kobe Altman would be
05:34once maybe another domino like Jalen Brown could be added to the fire?
05:39I do think the Cavs need to be aggressive in making this team better this summer.
05:44And listen, they're not going to trade Donovan Mitchell.
05:47They're going to re-sign James Harden to a new contract,
05:50and it certainly seems like they're not going to trade Evan Mobley.
05:53So that tells me that everybody else needs to be on the table,
05:56and I think that needs to include Jared Allen, who's making $28 million this upcoming year,
06:00which I think is a benefit to trading him because he's definitely a player that's worth that.
06:05But now it also expands the pool of players that you can use
06:08or that you could get back for Jared Allen as opposed to when he was making $20 million,
06:12and that kind of was a small pool of guys.
06:14So I do think that the Cavs are still going to be a top-four team in the East.
06:18They're going to win 50-plus games,
06:20and that gets you a home-court advantage seed in the Eastern Conference
06:23basically every single year of my life.
06:27But I do think that for them to be championship contenders,
06:30they need to add a little bit.
06:32They need to get better on the wing.
06:33And if that comes at the cost of maybe Jared Allen,
06:36then I think you have to do that.
06:38I don't think they should be necessarily dying to get off of Jared Allen's contract,
06:42but if you're not going to trade Evan Mobley,
06:44you kind of have to look at trading something else to try and get this team better.
06:48And Jared Allen just continues to be the guy that I come back to and say,
06:52well, they do have a bit of a surplus at that spot because of Evan,
06:55and it maybe makes sense for them to look at Jared as somebody that,
06:59what can you get for him at the very least?
07:02Because to get better, you've got to give something up.
07:04And if the Cavs aren't going to give up one of their three best players,
07:07then I think you have to start looking at player number four and down the line.
07:10Do you think, Danny, that the Cavs could make the argument,
07:13or Kobe Allen could make the argument that, hey, they got further than they've been.
07:17They got to the Eastern Conference Finals.
07:19They did so with only having James Harden for 26 regular season games in which he was terrific.
07:25And obviously playoffs, a mixed bag,
07:27but he was definitely an upgrade over what they had had previously with Darius Garland in the postseason.
07:33And they had so many injuries towards the last third of the year
07:37that if you give them a whole season to build an actual defense and identity,
07:43that they could be better for it next playoffs.
07:46Could they do that reasonably?
07:48I do think that if they do that, they will be better for it next playoffs.
07:53Like, I think that trying to shuffle the deck with a move as big as Darius Garland
07:59for James Harden in the middle of the season is a really, really challenging thing to do.
08:04And I do think the Cavs deserve credit for getting to the Eastern Conference Finals despite doing that.
08:09Like, I think it's a realistic thing to say, hey, if we just ran this back, we should expect to
08:14be better next year.
08:16But I don't know that better is good enough to win a title, which is what the goal needs to
08:20be.
08:20Like, if they run this back, I expect them to be better.
08:23I expect them to be a top four seed again.
08:24I expect them to be a better team in the playoffs.
08:26But I also expect New York to maybe be a little better.
08:29I expect Boston to maybe be a little bit better next year.
08:33I expect Detroit.
08:34I expect Indiana.
08:35Like, I expect the Eastern Conference as a whole to be better.
08:38So while the Cavs might be better if they just run it back, I don't know that better is good
08:42enough.
08:42And I think that's kind of the danger in just saying, you know what, we only had, like you said,
08:4726 games with James Harden.
08:49We only had four games with our starting lineups together.
08:52We had zero games where the team was fully healthy.
08:54All those things can be true.
08:56But I also think you need to look at it and say, but we still need to improve.
09:00Like, just getting better through continuity is helpful, but it's also not everything either.
09:05But this sucks, Danny.
09:07Danny Cunningham joining us on the show.
09:08And let me tell you why.
09:09I mean, you mentioned Jared Allen, and immediately I go, man, he's making like $30 million.
09:13Like, he is such a bargain.
09:14Like, it's a daily driver that we have to understand.
09:19Like, if he were a free agent now, the amount of money I think he could end up making.
09:23And we get him at such a bargain, and so it makes me start to think crazy things.
09:27And I'm going over here, I got a fan base over here that insists they cannot run it back.
09:33I would say 80% of Cavs fans say they insist they cannot run it back.
09:38But I find it either hard to trade a guy, or I don't want to trade that guy.
09:43So I might be stuck.
09:46Is it acceptable to go into next season with the same team understanding that there might be moves at the
09:51trade deadline?
09:51Or is that just going to be completely off the table for Cavs fans?
09:56I think if you do that, you run into the danger of what we just talked about, right?
10:01Where it's, okay, well, you make a big move at the trade deadline.
10:04How easy is it for that team, when the trade deadline happening on February 4th or whatever day it'll be,
10:09how easy is it for that team to figure things out from February 4th to the middle of April, April
10:1514th,
10:16or whatever the regular season is going to end on, and figure it out and become a championship team that
10:20quickly?
10:21We don't see teams that make moves to their starting lineup, which is exactly what the Cavs did.
10:27We don't see, and I think in this scenario, you're talking about something the Cavs would do there.
10:31We don't see those teams go on and win titles, like, ever.
10:35The last time I think it happened was when the Pistons traded for Rasheed Walls.
10:40Like, it is just such a rarity to make a trade for a starting-level player, and then you win
10:46the title that year.
10:47And it doesn't even matter how big it is.
10:49Like, go back and think about the 2015 Cavs that traded for J.R. Smith and Amon Shumpert.
10:55Like, that was a big trade, and it took them some time to figure things out.
10:58Maybe they win the title that year if they don't have injuries, but they needed it until next year to
11:03really become the best version of themselves and win the title.
11:06And I'm not saying that the Cavs are going to win the title because they traded for James Harden this
11:11year or last year instead of this year,
11:12but I do think that you need time to figure things out.
11:15And if you go into this regular season thinking, we will see what we have in February,
11:20you can maybe make yourselves better in February,
11:22but I think you're going to make it much more difficult to figure out the team in that short of
11:28a runway to make yourselves true championship contenders.
11:33LeBron James.
11:35Yes.
11:37All right, thanks, Danny.
11:38Appreciate you coming on.
11:39Come on, Danny.
11:40You know the drill.
11:41LeBron James.
11:42I mean, I would love,
11:44I think LeBron coming back to Cleveland would be the best possible thing for this team.
11:48I just have my doubts about whether or not it's going to happen.
11:50Like, what does LeBron want?
11:53And that's the thing that I don't think we have a definitive answer on.
11:56If LeBron wants to win,
11:58if LeBron wants to be in a place where he is beloved,
12:01Cleveland is the only answer.
12:03They're not going to win in Los Angeles this year.
12:05They're not going to win in Golden State.
12:06I don't see any other options.
12:08If he wants to win,
12:10Cleveland is the place.
12:11If he wants to just continue to enjoy being in the NBA and enjoy living in California,
12:17the Lakers are a better option.
12:18If he wants to make more money,
12:19the Lakers and the Warriors are a better option.
12:22But if LeBron wants to win,
12:23and listen,
12:23I think it would be,
12:24it would take some creativity from the Cavs in order to get LeBron on a respectable salary
12:30because he's not playing for the league minimum.
12:32If he were,
12:33that would be the absolute dream for the Cavs.
12:36And that is the one thing that I look at and say,
12:38even at his age,
12:39if you bring LeBron in and make him your starting small forward next to the four other guys you got,
12:43I don't know if there's a better starting five outside of Oklahoma City in the NBA.
12:48But I think that the Cavs probably would need to get creative in order to get LeBron on the roster.
12:53But if they do,
12:54I think they'd be better for it.
12:55If you go to a basketball camp,
12:56are you going to talk to a third grader this year that says,
12:59and tell them that if they keep working hard,
13:01they could be the Cavs 2032 pick that they just traded?
13:07I will not say that.
13:09No,
13:09because it is incredibly difficult to make the NBA.
13:13Well,
13:14wait a minute.
13:15I was told I could do anything I put my mind to when I was a child,
13:18Danny.
13:19How dare you?
13:20How dare you?
13:21You can't get to the NBA.
13:22I'm sorry to tell you that the NBA was never on the table for you.
13:26Oh,
13:27you don't know that.
13:28I do know that.
13:30All right.
13:30Do you think the best player went number one overall yesterday?
13:34I do,
13:35but I think that,
13:36I think that any of the three guys that went in the top three,
13:41that they could look themselves in the mirror and say,
13:43they're good enough to be the number one overall pick.
13:45I understand the allure with Boozer.
13:47And I think that there are some people like,
13:49I think in some of the scouting community,
13:51and I know that he's a bit of an analytical darling.
13:54They had him as the number one overall player,
13:56but I think AJ DeBance is going to be a star.
13:59I think Darren Peterson can be a star too.
14:01I think Boozer can be a star.
14:02I really like,
14:03I look at that draft and it's funny.
14:07Like we all want to find ways to rip teams.
14:09I liked what a lot of teams did last night.
14:12Like it felt like it was a super chalk draft.
14:14I really like a cup going to the Kings.
14:16I think he's going to be a good player.
14:18I love what the bulls did.
14:19Like I thought that a lot of teams made out really well with the draft
14:22last night.
14:23And I think the Cavs did the right thing too at number 29 overall for now.
14:27All right, Danny, thank you very much for the time.
14:30We'll talk at you.
14:32Anytime, guys.
14:33Danny Cunningham, Locked on Cavs, inside shot.
14:36Cleveland Magazine, 92.3 The Fan.
14:38It's outstanding.
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