00:00The Cavs are on the board.
00:03Nick Padone and Michael Markosch with you guys.
00:07In for Jake Volnick this evening on overtime.
00:09And you just heard it from our guy Michael here in the update.
00:14Kobe Altman is on the board with his first big move of the offseason.
00:19Not the first move of the offseason, but the first big move of the offseason.
00:24Max Struess, out.
00:262031 first round pick, out.
00:30Second round pick for a kid that's probably 13 years old right now, out.
00:34And in is 23-year-old small forward Peyton Watson,
00:40who averaged 29 minutes across 54 games last season with the Denver Nuggets.
00:48Michael, we've got our starting small forward in Cleveland.
00:51We sure do, and the Cavs gave up quite a lot to get him.
00:54We were talking about it in the break.
00:56Max Struess is not heading to Denver in this trade because he can't.
00:59Denver is a second apron team, so they have to take nothing back and return salary-wise.
01:03But the Cavs gave up both available picks.
01:05That unprotected first round pick in 2031.
01:08They also gave up that Kings 2032 pick that they gave in the Alex Caravan trade.
01:13So the Cavs have no tradable picks left.
01:15But you know what?
01:16It doesn't matter, Nick.
01:17I am excited about this.
01:20Peyton Watson's coming in, obviously from Denver, but he's a really good player.
01:25He's going to give this team a point-of-attack defender.
01:27He's a great 3-and-D player.
01:29He's got the height that everyone's kind of looking for.
01:32He's going to slot in perfectly.
01:33I think it's starting small forward for them.
01:35Allow Jalen Tyson to continue to come off the bench and develop in kind of that role
01:39where he can kind of lead the second unit.
01:41I think it's a home run of a trade that the Cavs simply had to make.
01:45We're going to see how it works out.
01:46Like $22 million a year is a lot of money for Peyton Watson.
01:50I may have accidentally said in my update it was a $22 million contract.
01:53That's $22 million per year.
01:54So it's four years, $88 million.
01:57Just to get that correct.
01:58But look, they had to do something, Nick.
02:00We've been talking about this for forever.
02:02The Cavs have made their choice.
02:03It's going to be Peyton Watson.
02:04We'll see if maybe they work something around it.
02:06Try to get Jonathan Kaminga here too.
02:08I doubt it.
02:08But you know what?
02:10Good on Kobe Altman.
02:11Good on the Cavs.
02:12I think this is a really good pivot.
02:14I definitely, it's the pivot that they had to make, right?
02:17And it stings that you're giving up Max Struess in this deal.
02:21Obviously in the NBA, you got to give something to get something.
02:24We certainly learned that this offseason.
02:26But you know, you lose Struess in this trade who brought a lot of the intangibles to the
02:31Cavs, grit, toughness, shooting, you know, all things they lacked at the time that they
02:37acquired Struess from the heat.
02:39But after missing out on LeBron this offseason, the Cavs had this wing crisis that was the
02:47most glaring hole on their roster.
02:49It was the most glaring hole on any roster of any of the Eastern Conference contending
02:54teams.
02:55Like it was the worst kept secret in basketball going right now is just how desperate the
03:01Cavs were for an athletic wing.
03:03OG Ananobi in that conference finals against the Knicks absolutely exposed the Cavs.
03:09And OG Ananobi is like an all right player.
03:12He's a Peyton Watson type player.
03:14You know, he's not a superstar.
03:16He's not a game breaker.
03:17And then you had all the rest of the wing movement in the East with Bron going to Philly.
03:22Kawhi is going to end up in Toronto now that that investigation's wrapped up.
03:26Like you have so many elite level wings now in this Eastern Conference, you had to do
03:33something, even if it feels maybe a little uncomfortable.
03:36I don't know if that's the word moving on from Max Drew.
03:39So now you're looking at the swing rotation for the Cavs.
03:41Obviously, Peyton Watson's going to start, especially at that price point.
03:44He's slotting in as you're starting three for this season.
03:46You've got Mario Hazonia now coming off the bench, a bit of a sharpshooter, not great defensively,
03:51but he can have his moments.
03:52We're going to see if he's going to have a resurgence.
03:53Jalen Tyson a little bit on the shorter end, but he's scrappy.
03:56Obviously, everyone knows about Jalen Tyson, but now it's not so bad.
04:01It's not great, right?
04:02But think about it this way, Nick.
04:04You've taken Dean Wade and Max Drews, and you've turned it into Mario Hazonia and Peyton
04:09Watson.
04:10So you've gotten a little bit more in the height department.
04:12I think you've gotten a little bit more in the shooting department, especially from Dean
04:15Wade.
04:16So it's a slight upgrade, I think, out on the wings if you're a Cavs fan kind of looking at
04:22this from a bit of a bird's eye view here.
04:26But as you said, I think this was the move that they had to make.
04:29I preferred Peyton Watson to Jonathan Kaminga.
04:31Me too.
04:31I think Watson fits what the Cavs need more.
04:34Kaminga needs the ball in his hands a little bit more as a creator and a playmaker.
04:38Watson's going to be a guy that, on offense, you're going to be asking him to sit in the
04:41corner a lot and bury some three-pointers.
04:43He's not the best defensively, and I know something that a lot of people said was a knock
04:47on Watson.
04:48He did not get a lot of minutes in the playoffs.
04:50He's going to get a lot of minutes in the playoffs now for this Cavs team.
04:53He's going to be asked to do a lot for those $22 million a year, but I think he's capable
04:58of it.
04:59I know the Nuggets did not want to let him go, but they're a second apron team.
05:02They really didn't have a choice.
05:03It's a gamble, Michael.
05:04It's a projection.
05:05You're giving Peyton Watson $88 million because you're projecting what he can become as a
05:11wing.
05:11You're projecting that this is a good young player at just 23 years old that averaged
05:1714 points per game last year on a good Nuggets team that he can become the answer that you've
05:23been looking for at small forward really since LeBron left in 2018.
05:27You haven't had a really good option at the position.
05:30Now, talking to some people around the league that really understand Peyton Watson and his
05:35game, a lot of people really high on what he did early in the season, and then he kind
05:40of fell off a cliff, which resulted in him losing those playoff minutes.
05:44Not going to be the case here because if you're paying the dude $22 million annually, he's going
05:50to be on the field.
05:50He's going to have a significant role in this thing, and I'd be hard.
05:55Like, he's your starting small forward.
05:57The Cavs are out of tradable first round picks.
05:59They're out of tradable picks.
06:01This is the move for Cavs fans this offseason.
06:06And so, something also that I think is important to note here, just for this is getting kind
06:10of the nitty gritty of things here.
06:11This is a sign in trade, so this will hard cap the Cavs at the first apron, which means
06:16the Cavs are not an apron team this year.
06:18They cannot be an apron team this year.
06:20I think that's music to a lot of people's ears.
06:22The problem is, it does give them, there is a cap now of how high they can go salary-wise,
06:28and so now when you're talking about the deadline, you're talking about moving a piece.
06:34Like, that's going to mean if they want to make a deadline move, they probably are going
06:37to have to part ways with like a Jared Allen piece in order to get someone else in here
06:40if they need help.
06:41But again, Nick, I'm not going to sit here and complain about this trade tonight.
06:44Like, I know there's going to be some people that want to do that, but it's the move that
06:49they had to do something, you couldn't have Mario Hazonia start the season at the three.
06:55And I don't think they would have done that.
06:56Like, they would have started Struis at the three.
06:58Or Tyson.
06:59But we just saw how that went.
07:01Like, we literally just saw last year how that went.
07:04The Cavs were a play-in team until that James Harden trade, until they caught fire in the
07:09second half of the season post-trade deadline, finished as the fourth seed, and then the playoffs,
07:15it never looked right.
07:16You know, you were able to get to the conference finals, but, you know, the Raptors had you
07:20on the ropes in round one.
07:21They pick up Kawhi this offseason.
07:23That's an absolute killer.
07:25It's going to happen.
07:26And then the Pistons, you know, had you on the ropes in the second round, and you were
07:30thankfully able to get past them, thanks to Jared Allen again in another game seven.
07:35So you had to do something.
07:37You could not have this offseason just be Mario Hazonia, Thomas Bryant, and watching Dean
07:43Wade and Keon Ellis depart.
07:46You had to do something.
07:47This is the something.
07:49Peyton Watson is coming to Cleveland.
07:51Want to hear your guys' reaction on this breaking Cavaliers news as well at 216-474-0092.
07:59Let's go out to Larry in Elyria, who wants to react to the trade with us.
08:03What's going on, Larry?
08:05How's it going, Nick?
08:06Yeah, I tell you what, I like it big time.
08:10Right now, you look at it against him.
08:12You're talking with Malik Thomas.
08:14You're talking with Tyrese Proctor.
08:16Jalen Tyson also got younger.
08:18And like you said, you got to move now.
08:19Real quick, Nick, regarding the James Harden deal.
08:22What's going to go on with that, you think?
08:23I think it's imminent, Larry.
08:26I think it's going to happen very soon.
08:27I think this trade's got to be music to James Harden's ears because he gave the Cavs weeks,
08:34months worth of flexibility with this player option to go address this wing position.
08:39He was begging.
08:40They were into the LeBron thing seriously.
08:43And then when that didn't happen and Harden still didn't sign to give them flexibility
08:47to chase either Kaminga or Watson, Altman had to land the plane and he did.
08:52I believe James Harden will probably be re-signed with this thing by the end of the month.
08:56Well, what's insane though, Nick, think about this.
08:59You had Evans, what, for a few, he's only, what, be 25?
09:02Still a very young player.
09:04Right.
09:04You got a young team.
09:05I like him very much, man.
09:06I mean, the future, like you mentioned, so what, first round pick?
09:09But if we had to make a move during the, you know, we always wanted to eat that second apron,
09:15it'd be a great move.
09:16But I like what he did big time.
09:18Larry, appreciate the call.
09:20I like it as well.
09:22I give this a very high passing grade.
09:24So there's two things that I think Larry touched on.
09:27Well, one thing, and then there's one other thing.
09:29But the James Harden thing, look, I know that a lot of this fan base is split on James Harden.
09:36I tend to sit on the more negative side when it comes to James Harden, like on the court
09:39and what he provides the Cavs.
09:41I think what he did this summer, I think we, I don't think we talk about it enough.
09:46Like there is a lot of players, especially those of the status of James Harden, right?
09:50That would not take a step back and tell the team, hey, I trust you.
09:55We have an agreement.
09:56I'm okay not signing right now.
09:58And I'm going to let you take care of the business that you need to take care of.
10:01Like, yes, he may have been getting a little bit frustrated that it moved a bit slower
10:04than we all would have liked.
10:05Sure.
10:05But not every player does that.
10:08And the fact that James Harden was willing to wait, and now he's probably going to get
10:11rewarded with the deal that he's always wanted.
10:14And I've been saying this for a while, Nick, like the terms of the deal, in terms of the
10:19money James Harden's going to get total in this contract, that's been set.
10:22That's not going to change.
10:23What's going to happen now is probably, especially with this deal, Harden's deal is going to
10:27extend now, I think, from a two-year deal to a three-year deal.
10:30So he's going to go from about a $33 million a year cap hit to probably more like a $22
10:35million a year cap hit.
10:37And it's just going to add an extra year.
10:39So James Harden's going to be under contract now until he's 40 years old.
10:42That's kind of the price you pay, but it's going to be for a lesser cap hit and still
10:46give the Cavs potentially some flexibility.
10:48So again, I don't think we talked about enough, like the fact that James Harden was willing
10:53to wait and not sign the deal right away.
10:55Well, and here's the reality of that, right?
10:59You need a point guard.
11:00What?
11:01Like, like I agree with the first part of what you said, Cleveland fans are split on James
11:04Harden.
11:05Well, well, if you don't bring back James Harden, who's the point guard of this operation?
11:09Donovan Mitchell would be, yeah.
11:10Like at this juncture and you just traded Strews.
11:13So who's playing the two?
11:14You know what I mean?
11:15It's like at this current time, you need James Harden, whether you like James Harden, whether
11:20you hate James Harden.
11:21I think we do have fans on all ends of the James Harden spectrum, similar to the Sean
11:29Watson thing.
11:30It is inevitable that James Harden is going to be your point guard this season and probably
11:35the season after that, just because it's a position in need.
11:39It's a team that wants to contend in this Eastern conference.
11:42It's a player that's done it in the postseason before.
11:45And because they made that trade and had this agreement worked out with him and his reps that
11:49he was going to get this money, they are going to pay him that money.
11:53That's how this is all going to go.
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