00:00Things happened on Friday.
00:02You're not going to like what I have to say this morning
00:06because I have had an opportunity to sleep a couple of nights
00:09on this whole thing that went down on Friday.
00:13And by thing, I mean LeBron James going to Philadelphia.
00:21Before you get into that, could I just say,
00:24address the elephant in the room, hand up.
00:26I was wrong.
00:27I thought he was coming back.
00:29I thought it was a done deal.
00:31I spent so much time pounding the drum.
00:34It was a broken drum that I was pounding.
00:36It was a snare drum is what I was pounding.
00:40It was more of a rattle than it was a drum beat.
00:45Dude, I'm still bummed.
00:46Like all kidding aside, I'm like you, you know,
00:48have had a couple of nights to sleep on this thing.
00:52I'm crushed.
00:53I'm devastated.
00:54I told you guys I was going to be, especially as it dragged on.
00:58It was like, well, if it's not Cleveland, I've spent the last, what was it,
01:0324 days getting my hopes up that it was going to be Cleveland.
01:07And their lack of activity elsewhere this offseason is something that alarms me
01:13and something that will be discussed on today's program.
01:15But I did want to just lead it with that, that like I do feel some sort of responsibility
01:21and I do sort of feel bad for trying to make this a reality.
01:27And then it felt like it was on the doorstep of becoming a reality.
01:32And then that door just got slammed right in my face.
01:35So I do like feel bad for that, you know,
01:38because I really feel like I was one of the first people last summer kind of floating this as a
01:44reality.
01:45But as the days go on and as the reports come out,
01:49it does start to seem like maybe it was more of a distant reality than even I would like to
01:56admit.
01:56You know, maybe it was something that was never really on the doorstep of happening.
02:01Maybe it was on the property, but it really wasn't on the doorstep, I don't know.
02:05Yeah, we're going to get into that because I have some theories.
02:10A lot of them revolve around clutch sports, which has become basically the death star of the NBA.
02:17Rich Paul is the de facto commissioner of the NBA.
02:22Players go where Rich Paul says the players go.
02:27And I do find it rich, pardon the pun, that Rich Paul held it against the Cavaliers for trading Darius
02:38Garland
02:39when Rich Paul worked behind the scenes to orchestrate said trade of Darius Garland from the Cavaliers elsewhere.
02:48Here's the thing.
02:49He flat out said on a podcast, he told Darius this was going to be your last year in Cleveland.
02:54He did.
02:54I just don't, like, I put this out on X yesterday at Nick Padone 12 at Right or Wrong Fan.
03:01I just can't even get to the point, and it's because I'm still going through the stages of grief.
03:07I can't get to the point where I'm going over every Brian Windhorst or Joe Varden report
03:14with a fine-tooth comb and pointing to things like that.
03:18You know, because that was something that came up that LeBron decided to go to Philly.
03:22Part of the reason was because James Harden is Cleveland's point guard and not Kyrie Irving, who's a Clutch Sports
03:29client.
03:30And a lot of people like you, Daryl, pointed to, well, Rich, you were the one that orchestrated that.
03:35You know, you orchestrated DG to LA and James Harden to Cleveland because you didn't want the conflict of Mitchell
03:44and DG,
03:45that backcourt that was both going to be owed, a good sum of money.
03:51I'm of the belief this morning that LeBron James isn't on the Cavaliers because they didn't do enough.
03:59You know, you could put down the reports with all of the different, you know, bullets of this could have
04:04happened and that could have happened.
04:06And we did that for 24 days of being Pepe Silva from It's Always Sunny and trying to link different
04:12things in different positions.
04:14Here's the secret, though.
04:16The greatest basketball player of all time told you you're not good enough.
04:22And as we sit here right now, the Cavs aren't good enough.
04:26They're, you know, playoff contenders in this Eastern Conference.
04:29But we'll have a conversation later in the program.
04:32Are they really championship contenders at this point in this new look East with Giannis in Miami and Braun and
04:40Maxie and Embiid and Philly and Boston has Paul George.
04:44They lost Brown, but they did get a vet in Paul George.
04:47And Indy is going to get Halliburton back.
04:50And they've got Siakam and Zubax.
04:53I can't really sit here and be, like, mad at Rich Paul or mad at LeBron when it's like, dude.
05:01Oh, I'm not mad at anybody.
05:02Colby Altman kind of had every single last opportunity to improve this roster and he didn't do it.
05:10And you know what?
05:13I feel bad for Evan.
05:15I feel bad for Evan Mobley.
05:17Because I hope Colby Altman is right about Evan Mobley.
05:21Because if he's not, you're asking Evan Mobley to be something that he's not.
05:27Daryl, it would be like if I was managing a baseball team and you were my starting pitcher.
05:32God help you.
05:33And the hardest you could throw it is what?
05:3545?
05:37Wow.
05:3850?
05:38I could probably get it to the low 60s.
05:41And I go up to the mound and I'm like, Daryl, you're hitting 60 here.
05:45We need to start hitting 80, 90 if we're going to be striking people out.
05:49And you just can't do it.
05:50I can't blame you.
05:52Because I'm physically asking you to do something that you're not capable of doing.
05:56Everyone in that story should blame me.
06:00I'm the manager.
06:00I put you on the mound even though you don't have the facilities to start getting people out.
06:06That's kind of how I feel about this Evan Mobley thing.
06:09Like, if we get to the regular season and Jalen Brown still looks really good.
06:14And Giannis still looks really good.
06:16And we're having debates about, well, can Mobley take that next leap to 1-6-4-7-4-0-0
06:22-92?
06:23I feel bad for Evan in that realm.
06:26I don't.
06:26Because right now he's not Jalen Brown.
06:28He's not Giannis.
06:29But Kobe Altman's sure treating him like it.
06:31And it really might have cost him the greatest basketball player of all time.
06:36And in a year's time, it could potentially cost him his job.
06:40I got some harsh news for you.
06:43I don't think LeBron was ever coming home.
06:46I really don't.
06:49There's nothing left for him to accomplish in Cleveland.
06:53He was clearly looking for something to accomplish in the final, whether it's one, two, or three years of his
07:02career.
07:04He originally was going to go to the Knicks.
07:07Had they not won the NBA championship, he wanted to go to New York and be the missing piece.
07:12Well, they climbed that mountain this year.
07:15The drought is over.
07:16And so he was in search of something to accomplish.
07:22And him coming back to the Cavaliers, and they don't win a championship with him coming back for a third
07:29tour?
07:30What did he accomplish?
07:31Nothing.
07:32He's not.
07:33Here's the thing about LeBron.
07:35He's interested in the retirement tour, and he wants the love and the accolades and all that.
07:41But he wants to win as well.
07:44And when you talk about the happiness thing, that was the biggest bunch of bunk you'll ever hear.
07:53Yeah.
07:53It really was.
07:54Philadelphia is a miserable town.
07:59Miserable.
07:59When I think happiness, I don't think Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
08:04I don't think Philadelphia sports fan.
08:06They are some of the most vile, miserable, sexy human beings you'll ever meet on the planet.
08:13Okay?
08:14Nobody likes going to play in Philadelphia.
08:16They enjoy going to play in Philadelphia as much as they love going to play in Boston.
08:22Okay?
08:23Yep.
08:23They're horrible.
08:26They won the Super Bowl.
08:27Two days later, you got people calling the sports radio stations out there complaining about the offense.
08:35Literally.
08:36After just winning the Super Bowl.
08:38Literally.
08:39Okay?
08:41They're never satisfied there.
08:43Now, it's a great sports town in that they have a very passionate fan base, just like we have here
08:49in Cleveland.
08:50Okay?
08:51But they are a miserable fan base.
08:54They're an angry fan base.
08:59And LeBron's going to Philadelphia because that's going to make him happy?
09:04Or that's going to be happiness for him?
09:07Well, because we know what makes him happy.
09:10It's contending for championships.
09:11And he believes that Jalen Brown is the ilk of a play.
09:15Like, Jalen Brown really should have had more of an MVP candidacy last year.
09:20For what he did with the Boston Celtics, keeping them afloat atop this Eastern Conference.
09:26Jalen Brown's one of the best players in the league.
09:28Joel Embiid, when healthy, and I know that's a big if, but when healthy, is one of the best big
09:33men in the game.
09:34Tyrese Maxey, who's a clutch client, is a young ascending guard, similar to when LeBron came back to Cleveland in
09:422014.
09:43Reminds you maybe a little of Kyrie.
09:45Here's the thing.
09:46You mentioned how Kobe better be right about this whole thing with Evan.
09:51And I understand where you're coming from.
09:52Here's the thing.
09:53I think Kobe was dead on realizing LeBron wasn't coming back.
09:59No, see, that's where we disagree.
10:01I think he was dead on.
10:03He was like, you know what?
10:04I am not going to sacrifice Evan Mobley and get one year of Giannis to lure LeBron.
10:10Or I'm not going to sacrifice Evan Mobley to bring in Jalen Brown to appease LeBron.
10:15It wouldn't even be about appeasing LeBron at that point.
10:17It would be about improving the roster.
10:19Hey, Jalen Brown is a better player than Evan Mobley.
10:23Giannis Antetokounmpo is a better player than Evan Mobley.
10:26If LeBron comes back, great.
10:28But we're going to go out and get better players.
10:30The other part of this, too, is LeBron's also 41, going to be 42.
10:34He's not the same player he used to be.
10:36He's still great.
10:37Okay?
10:38Cannot discount his greatness.
10:41But Father Ty remains undefeated.
10:45So, the more I thought about this, and I read Joe Varden's excellent piece on The Athletic that he wrote
10:52with David Aldrich.
10:53I encourage you to go read it.
10:54You'll be smarter for doing so.
10:57He does allude to, in that article, that the Cavaliers were never really sold or convinced that LeBron was coming.
11:04Hey, if I asked Sidney Sweeney on a date when I was single, and she said, no, I would have
11:10told you, oh, I was never really interested in Sidney Sweeney anyway.
11:14Of course.
11:14No, no, no, no.
11:15Those reports and those leaks are going to be.
11:17Not interested.
11:18This isn't about interest.
11:19The Cavaliers absolutely were interested.
11:21No, I never really thought that he was going to come back.
11:24Of course, that's what they're going to say now.
11:26Why did their business intelligence people stop selling season tickets?
11:29Because they thought LeBron was going to come back.
11:32Well, they were hoping he was going to come back.
11:33Why did they not make a singular move other than losing Dean Wade, Keon Ellis, and bringing back Thomas Bryan
11:39in free agency?
11:40They thought LeBron was coming back.
11:42They got duped.
11:43They got duped.
11:45They thought he was coming back.
11:46Brandon Weems was at Buckets eating chicken fingers.
11:49They got duped.
11:50They thought he was coming home.
11:52I thought he was coming home.
11:53We got duped.
11:54It is what it is.
11:55I don't think they thought he was coming home.
11:56They just left the door open for the possibility that he was.
12:02But I'm telling you, you're right.
12:04We all got duped.
12:06We all got sucked into the fairy tale ending to the story.
12:11And we all got caught up in that instead of paying attention to what LeBron really is about.
12:20And we got out.
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