- 6 days ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00What are your thoughts on LeBron and the thought of LeBron perhaps coming back?
00:05I think LeBron, I'm fascinated by this whole LeBron's happiness thing.
00:11The insiders keep telling us that his next destination will not be governed by money, but happiness.
00:17To get philosophical on you, what does happiness mean to LeBron James?
00:22It could mean playing with Steph Curry again in the Olympics.
00:26That could be a fun way to end your career.
00:29His friend Draymond is over there.
00:32His friend Draymond is an odd phrase for anyone from this city to hear, but it's true.
00:36They're pretty buddy-buddy now.
00:38It could mean that.
00:40Personally, to me, I think I would associate it with fulfillment.
00:45The best way to end your career, if you're LeBron, for me, is to come home to Cleveland
00:53and put a stamp on it where you started.
00:56The team is probably a little bit more ready.
00:59It's the Eastern Conference.
01:00If you associate happiness with winning, I would think, again, that the Cavs are a better
01:06choice than the Warriors.
01:09It's hard to get inside LeBron's head because LeBron could look at it and say,
01:15I've done the battles at the highest level with LeBron James and Draymond Green.
01:19I don't know what it's like to play with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
01:22So we're trying to, we're back in the, still 10, 15 years later, we're back in the business
01:28of trying to analyze LeBron's heartstrings and brain stems.
01:33And as we know, that's a hard prediction to make.
01:37And Jimmy, I wonder if Miami factors into that, you know, playing alongside Bam Adebayo and
01:43Giannis, that'd be pretty sweet.
01:46You certainly can't count out the heat.
01:48You can't count out the heat because of the history that he has there, because of, again,
01:52if we're talking championship equity, like, Spolstra is one of a very small list of coaches
01:58that I think LeBron trusts with the playoff game plan to the level that he would need
02:05to, to have that kind of success.
02:07Giannis and Bam are a formidable duo.
02:09If we're talking like building a playoff defense, that's very enticing.
02:14Miami can't be counted out either.
02:15I think in general, Miami, I've seen since the Giannis trade, people are, you know, kind
02:20of dogging on their roster.
02:22I would just say this, for as long as that team has been hunting superstars, that team
02:27has been taking those superstars to the finals.
02:29So we should, whether they end up with LeBron or not, we should not be scoffing at the Miami
02:34Heat.
02:34Agreed.
02:35Who else do you think is in the mix?
02:40I can't see a wild card team here.
02:43Like, I think there's, there's something, and this is kind of to the Warriors point too,
02:48LeBron already, and on one hand, you could say he doesn't care what people think, but
02:53on the other hand, he's very legacy conscious.
02:55LeBron already has this reputation of being a mercenary throughout his career.
03:00He's played for, he's played for three teams.
03:03If he, if he swapped again, it would be a fourth.
03:05That's already on the high end of like all time, great players playing for teams.
03:10And I just think for him to go now to a team that he has no connection to, it would
03:15be
03:15logistically very difficult for him.
03:18Like part of the reason why both Cleveland and Golden State makes sense is that he wouldn't
03:22have to buy a new house.
03:24If he goes to Golden State, he could just take his little private jet back and forth to LA.
03:29If he goes to Cleveland, he's got the place over in Bath.
03:32And if he goes to, I don't know, Minnesota, let's pick that name out of a hat.
03:38That's a big, that's a big uprooting of your life.
03:41Like does your family come with you?
03:42How often do you get to go back and forth?
03:44I just, I don't see that being on the table and having to like build new relationships,
03:49all that stuff.
03:51I get that, you know, the, the reporting is that they're, they're opening it up and,
03:55you know, Rich Paul's going to talk to all the teams who are interested.
03:58That's fine.
03:59I think that is frankly, as much LeBron kind of likes this attention and LeBron never got
04:05to go on his college recruiting trip.
04:07I think this is another version of that more than it is.
04:09Yeah.
04:10Watch out for the Spurs or the Timberwolves.
04:12I just can't see it.
04:13I'd be, I'd be surprised if it were any team other than the three that we've talked
04:18about, Golden State, Cleveland, Miami, because I agree with you, Jimmy, the others don't
04:23make sense maybe from a basketball standpoint, but if it's true happiness and all that stuff
04:28they're looking for, just take the veteran minimum and come to Cleveland or take the veteran
04:33minimum and go to Miami and help that team.
04:36Cause he's never going to miss the cash.
04:38You know, it's, it's a real simple situation.
04:41I think.
04:43Yeah.
04:44That's the funny part.
04:44It's not about the money, but a lot of these teams are talking about clearing out their,
04:49their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is $15 million.
04:52There's still this thing of, of like salary is a status thing in the league.
04:58And LeBron feels for his entire career that he's been underpaid and on the open market.
05:04Yeah.
05:04Maybe LeBron's making a billion dollars a year at the peak of his career.
05:07I can't argue with him on that.
05:08The max, the max salary slots hinder the top of the league players, um, cap their, it
05:15caps their market.
05:16And yeah, I think that he could probably make more on the open market and, but, but by the
05:21way, $15 million a year, which is the non-taxpayer mid-level, that's still a fricking bargain for
05:28LeBron James at this, even at this stage of his career.
05:30I mean, even last year, age 41 season, he was 21, seven and six in the regular season played
05:3560 games.
05:36He was 24, seven and seven during their playoff run.
05:39He basically won a playoff series by himself against the Houston Rockets who had their
05:45own injuries, but are a pretty good defense.
05:47Um, he was the only of the Lakers star trio Reeves and Luca to make it through the entire
05:54playoff run, like $15 million for LeBron James is, it might be like the best free agent value
06:01on the board period right now.
06:04Not just like guys who are realistic for the Cavs that could end up being an absolute steal
06:09of a contract.
06:10So that is already enough of a pay cut for LeBron to take where it's, it's, it's a really,
06:15really interesting, um, thing to consider.
06:18That's, that to me is why the league changed so seismically yesterday.
06:22And like once LeBron announced that he was leaving the Lakers and said, and said he was
06:27going to prioritize his happiness that, you know, a lot of, a lot of other smoke started
06:32swirling.
06:33It's not just that LeBron was leaving the Lakers.
06:35I think everybody knew that was a possibility.
06:36I think this idea that you could get LeBron for $15 million a year is like, Whoa, now,
06:42now everyone's antennas are up.
06:43And now everyone is kind of rethinking how they're orienting their off season, including
06:47the Cavs.
06:48Like Wendy was on TV yesterday.
06:50He must've plugged the Jalen Brown trade three to four different times.
06:54Like that's, that's something that that move, if it includes LeBron James, like if it's
06:59Evan Mobley for Jalen Brown trade in a vacuum, I understand why the Cavs would be a little
07:05bit concerned about, um, covering their, the insurance on the backend.
07:09Cause Evan is like this bridge to another era where you could still, even if the current
07:14iteration doesn't work out, you could still rebuild around him and not have to take such
07:18a seismic step back in theory.
07:20But if it brings LeBron here as well, and like, now we're talking, you have a legitimate
07:24puncher's chance to win a championship.
07:26I think you have to reconsider that, that whole calculus.
07:29What did you think of the Jalen Brown story with, to, for Mobley?
07:32What are your thoughts?
07:33Should the Cavs be serious about that?
07:37Well, to me, the Cavs chose, I'm, I think the Cavs need to kind of pick a lane here.
07:41Yeah.
07:41I think when you're trying to win on two times, two timelines, you end up winning on neither
07:46of them.
07:47And I thought the Cavs did that in February.
07:50I thought by trading a 26 year old two-time all-star for 36 year old James Harden, they
07:55signaled to us that the time is now we're in on Donovan Mitchell's timeline.
07:59We think he can be the best player on a championship team and let's go, let's go get it.
08:05And if that's your thinking, well then yeah, Jalen Brown is, that makes a lot of sense to
08:10me.
08:10And, you know, Evan Mobley would be a hard, a hard guy to say goodbye to, but Jalen Brown,
08:15like the Evan Mobley stuff is still a lot of theory.
08:17A lot of, remember, look back to the scouting report that the best version of Evan Mobley
08:22is still exists on his scouting report.
08:24Jalen Brown.
08:25I just saw it.
08:26I just saw him win a championship two years ago.
08:29I just saw him win conference finals, MVP and finals MVP.
08:32I just saw him on a team that a lot of people predicted to be a play in team last
08:37season,
08:38lead the Celtics to high fifties wins and average 29 points a game, career high in points, career
08:43high in rebounds, career high in assists.
08:44Like this is a guy, I don't know that he's quite in that like S tier superstar level,
08:52but he's right there in like the, you know, the, the outside looking in right there with
08:57Donovan.
08:57And I think one of the things that we learned from that last playoff run is I think if
09:04Donovan, Donovan doesn't necessarily need to be your second best player, but you need
09:08someone who can make him your second best player on a given night to help take the scoring
09:13load off of him.
09:14And Jalen Brown is the exact kind of guy who can do that.
09:18And he's the exact positional archetype that the Cavs have been looking for, frankly, since
09:22LeBron left in 2018, they've been cycling through all these different wings.
09:26I mean, you think about like Dean Wade is legitimately a huge loss and Dean Wade is a great defensive
09:32player and he rebounds well and he was a great story for the Cavs, but like Dean Wade is a
09:38guy who, you know, kind of lost out there sometimes when his jump shot isn't hitting, he's basically
09:43a zero on offense.
09:45And for that guy to be so important to your team, I think further highlights how, how important
09:49it would be to add a guy like Jalen Brown.
09:51It was DeAndre Hunter.
09:52It was Keon Ellis.
09:53It was Dean Wade.
09:54They've been cycling through these guys.
09:56Isaac Horo for so long now.
09:57And Jalen Brown is a ready-made all-star, all-NBA two-way answer at that position.
10:02I think you've got to do it.
10:04But LeBron James also can play that position, can also play power forward.
10:08Two things here.
10:09First thing first, if you trade Evan Mobley, who's going to bother to defend anybody?
10:14Because you're going to have James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, and a 42-year-old LeBron James
10:20and Jalen Brown.
10:22So where's your defense?
10:24I, I, that, that to me is part of this, Jimmy, might not be a huge part, but that, that's
10:30why I wouldn't trade Evan Mobley for Jalen Brown.
10:34I think that's a fair concern.
10:35I would say two things.
10:38Number one, Jared Allen is also consistent, consistently one of the best rim protectors
10:44statistically in the NBA.
10:45Now the Cavs, the Cavs on off defensive data, like is the numbers are always way better with
10:52Evan Mobley as the lone big than they are with Jared Allen as the lone big.
10:56And yeah, Evan Mobley is a defensive player of the year type defensive player.
11:01It's levels to this.
11:02So I understand the concerns there.
11:03But number two, like I get that kind of talent on my team.
11:06I'm figuring the rest later.
11:08I think if I could put Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, LeBron James and Jalen Brown on the
11:12same team, like we, you know, you can shop around and find defensive specialists.
11:17You obviously would want some shooting there too, but I think that first of all, Jalen Brown's
11:21a legitimate two-way player.
11:23LeBron is obviously not the defensive force he once was, but he's still very smart.
11:26And he would recognize because he's so smart, what this team needs.
11:31Maybe he invests a little bit more energy on that end because he knows that Donovan and
11:34James can handle some of the offensive load that he would ordinarily want to carry.
11:40I'm not going to say it's an easy thing to figure out.
11:42I just think that when I have the opportunity to put that level of talent on one team, I'll
11:48figure the defense part out later.
11:50The other thing, and he was terrific last year.
11:54You pointed out how well he played in the playoffs.
11:56Absolutely on the money.
11:59Does father time catch up with LeBron at some point?
12:02And, you know, that's why I'm hesitant to do anything other than say, we'd love to have
12:09you.
12:09Here you go.
12:09Here's all the money we can give you.
12:11Come on in and play.
12:12For a guy who is 42 in December.
12:16I think that's a fair question, too.
12:18Chris Fedor was talking about this on our podcast last night because the sell for LeBron
12:23to the Cavs is like, dude, fairytale ending, storybook, full circle.
12:28You come back to Cleveland where it all started and they give you the roaring ovation.
12:33You're holding the championship trophy.
12:35As you say goodbye, it's the perfect ending.
12:37It's the one thing that very few students, like I wrote a story earlier this year when
12:42LeBron came back to Cleveland and the Cavs smoked the Lakers and LeBron had like 10 points
12:47and sat for most of the fourth quarter.
12:49And it's just a reminder of like, well, if that was it, a lot of these careers are really
12:54hard to end on a good note.
12:56Like MJ had the perfect ending, hit the game winning shot in Utah, but he couldn't stay
13:00away.
13:01He came back with Washington for a couple of years and had a couple of nondescript seasons
13:05that we would prefer not to remember.
13:06Right.
13:07Right.
13:07Kobe dropped 60 in his last game, dropped the mic, Mamba out.
13:11The Lakers won 17 games that year.
13:14And if you told Kobe in his prime that that's how he would go out, he would be disgusted by
13:17that.
13:18Patrick Ewing had a couple of weird seasons at the end.
13:20Hakeem Olajuwon had a couple of weird seasons at the end.
13:23Basically, the only guy who's ever ended it perfectly was Bill Russell, who grabbed 20
13:28rebounds in the game in game seven of an NBA finals win over the Lakers in a game that
13:31Bill Russell also coached, which is like, wow, Bill Russell is such a legend.
13:36But yes, that's part of this, too, is like we think of the LeBron ending in Cleveland as
13:42the best possible outcome.
13:43But what if it's not?
13:44What if the Cavs underperform in the playoffs again and, you know, the crowd gets a little
13:49angsty at home and starts booing again?
13:51I would I think adding LeBron would make it less likely for that to happen.
13:55And I think there might be a different tenor to the season if they if and this is another
14:00big if we knew it was LeBron's last season.
14:02I think there would just be more appreciation from the fans, like appreciate what you're
14:06seeing no matter how it looks.
14:07But it's a fair question.
14:09Like, does LeBron want to have all those expectations again?
14:13And it's not like you're trying to break a curse anymore, but there's still like this
14:17expectation.
14:18You can see it in the veracity of the fan base.
14:20Once the news got out yesterday, it's a possibility like come save us.
14:24Oh, my God.
14:24LeBron can come back.
14:25Come save us.
14:25Come win a championship again.
14:26Like, is that it's a legitimate question?
14:28Is that all that energy?
14:31All that pressure.
14:32Is that how you want to end your career?
14:34That might be another point in the Golden State basket where it's just like, hey, I'm
14:37just going to play basketball with my friends.
14:39No one expects much of us.
14:41We're old.
14:41We still think we can punch at the highest level.
14:44But there's there's no you know, there's there's no it's not it's not it's not as heavy.
14:48It's not as heavy of a burden to carry around for an entire season.
14:51Jimmy, we saw it the first time he left and then not I don't know it does the shout from
14:57the mountaintop doesn't seem to be as big this time as it was the first time.
15:01But there is a sense of pride for that front office to say, look, we made it to the Eastern
15:06Conference Finals without LeBron.
15:10We rebuilt.
15:11We rebuilt this without LeBron and we are heading in the right direction.
15:15And we feel like this is this has a chance to win without LeBron.
15:20And I just I just I wonder how that plays.
15:24Like, does it feel like, OK, well, we did as much as we could, but now we got to go
15:28back
15:28to that.
15:29We have to go back and hit the panic button and try to bring LeBron back to try to finish
15:33this off that that sense of self-worth from the front office to try to be able to do this
15:39without LeBron seem to be a storyline for a while.
15:42I think in the last 48 hours, it's gone away.
15:45But you tell me what you think.
15:48I think it's fair because even down to the players, the players, the players,
15:50have said out loud, like Jared Allen and Donovan Mitchell have been have been saying into
15:54microphones that, like, hey, we're trying to we're trying to create an identity independent
15:58of LeBron for this franchise.
16:01And that would be that will be if he does come back, that will be a worthy question to
16:05ask those guys as well.
16:06But I think I mean, watching the Knicks series and then seeing Dan Gilbert tweet after that
16:11Knicks series that the Cavs are nowhere close.
16:14Yeah, like that's that's that's step one of getting where you need to get to to eating some
16:20humble pie and getting LeBron back.
16:21And I think the other thing is because LeBron's willing to take a discount this time, there's
16:26I think there would be less of a sense of bending the knee.
16:29Right.
16:29Because they're only paying him in theory, you know, that that 15 million dollar non taxpayer
16:35mid level.
16:36And they don't have to move heaven and earth.
16:39They don't have to plan three off seasons ahead for him to come back.
16:43Right.
16:43It would you know, maybe it's just like a Dennis Schroeder salary dump, which they're trying
16:47to do anyway, or a Max Drew salary dump, which they're trying to do anyway.
16:50It's not as heavy of a living, even like the Jared Allen stuff.
16:54If it was if it had to be a Jared Allen sign and trade, well, that's a that's a, you
16:58know,
16:58a much more serious conversation that you need to have.
17:00That's a guy who's the part of the core for who's, you know, faces on the buildings
17:04and is a guy that you've, you know, helped.
17:07He's like the foundational piece.
17:09He's now the longest tendered Cavalier.
17:11He's now one of the foundational pieces, the faces of this.
17:14Hey, we got it out of the rubble.
17:16LeBron left us high and dry again.
17:19And we had to do the slow, dark rebuild the old fashioned way.
17:23And we did it.
17:24There's definitely some pride in that.
17:25But I think there's there's a happy medium here.
17:28We're like, OK, we've gotten the team back to a place on our own where LeBron is looking
17:34at us like a serious contender again.
17:38And he might be the missing piece that we need to put us over the top.
17:42So maybe it's just like, you know, everyone, everything works out for everybody.
17:48Jimmy, as always, read you every day.
17:50Cleveland dot com.
17:51And we appreciate you.
17:52Thanks, man.
17:53Thank you, Jimmy.
17:54Thank you, guys.
17:55All right.
17:55We'll talk to you soon.
17:56Jimmy Watkins, Cleveland dot com.
17:57Make sure you read them in Plain Dealer.
17:58And of course, Cleveland dot com every day.
Comments