00:00Like for the second time in a few days, it's like, Trey Mann, get excited, watch all the highlights, have
00:05a take on it.
00:06He's actually not going to be a Cavalier. Cam Whitmore, go look at some highlights, have a take on him.
00:11Oh, could he be? He's not going to be a Cavalier.
00:13You just got to wait, unfortunately, and that's what we've been waiting.
00:17That's what all Cavs fans have been waiting for, the official pivot from LeBron James.
00:21And here we are, the consolation prize for not getting LeBron James.
00:26They've been working, honestly, they've been working a bunch on trying to get this solidified.
00:31They just had to wait for other things to get ironed out.
00:34By the way, how old is too old to be staying home for the first day of your kid's school?
00:38That coming up at 8 o'clock this morning, 216-474-0092, because there's a discrepancy.
00:44Not with our station, no, no, no.
00:45But in the hallways of the fan this morning, there is rumor abound and a lot of grumbling going on.
00:54The locker room in this building, not happy today over first days of school.
00:59That coming up at 8 o'clock.
01:00Mary Kay coming up at 820.
01:01So, this is what I don't want to do.
01:03I don't know much about Peyton Watson, Tone.
01:05Like, I'm going to, I want you to educate me more.
01:08All right?
01:09By the way, most people out here probably haven't been paying much attention to him at all,
01:15except that it became a national story that their owner, Stan Kroenke,
01:21just has not wanted to exceed any of the aprons, has not wanted to, you know,
01:25go into much of a luxury tax, and wasn't willing to pay to keep players around their all-time great
01:32player
01:33and championship player in Jokic.
01:35Hey, you guys don't want to talk about it?
01:37I think it might rear its ugly head.
01:39It's a Jokic thing.
01:40Cavs Conversations brought to you by Surfside Hard Iced Tea.
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01:47626 in 19 seconds for those scoring at home.
01:50I told you that Greek team went after Nikola Jokic.
01:55And I thought of him yesterday when we were having that NFL in Europe thing.
01:59Like, who from, if you're from Bessemer, Alabama, why do you want to live in London, England?
02:04Other than, like, if you're 20 years old.
02:07Because, like, we would look at Nikola Jokic from Serbia and be like,
02:09why would you want to go back there?
02:11You're in America.
02:11This is the greatest country in the history of civilization.
02:14What do you, he likes to go back.
02:16He doesn't really like being over here that much.
02:18He's a homebody.
02:19And you're thinking, well, it's like an hour flight, it seems, from Greece to Serbia, where he's from.
02:24Might be a lot easier.
02:25But, I mean, that's a conversation for a different day.
02:27Stan Kroenke doesn't make it any better.
02:28I just want to plant a seed.
02:30I think every NBA team is now wondering how they can get Jokic.
02:33Well, that's it.
02:34But, I just want to plant a seed is all I want to do about that.
02:37So, I'm going to plant a seed.
02:37I'm going to cover it up.
02:38And that's the way it goes.
02:39Just pay attention to the Nikola Jokic stuff over the next year.
02:43Whether it be here or international.
02:45Doesn't matter.
02:46So, you can bring in Peyton Watson.
02:47What I don't want to do.
02:49Because, remember, we were getting, I was getting his name wrong when it was first brought up two weeks ago.
02:53Alright?
02:55I think we have a bit of a LeBron Chase hangover.
02:59Where you didn't get LeBron.
03:01And, all we've known, like if you're a 20, like if you're John's age, you've only known the Cavs to
03:08be dominant with who?
03:09With LeBron.
03:10That's it.
03:11So, all your hopes and dreams are pinned to him.
03:15You didn't get him.
03:16And, it seems that the fallout from it was he wasn't ever even really interested in coming back.
03:21Which is another kick in the gut for some of the fans out there.
03:24So, now you have this team, they get swept in the Eastern Conference, nobody's really excited about them.
03:31They've turned on Kenny Atkinson and in so many ways, rightfully so, when he sticks his foot in his mouth
03:36the way he does.
03:37James Harden is not the type of superstar that people want to hug and bring in and make them their
03:43own.
03:44And then you've got this Peyton Watson fella.
03:46And, I don't want him to pay the Fiddler because of a LeBron hangover.
03:50You get what I'm pointing out here?
03:51Like, he could be a fine, fine ball player.
03:53And, could be a great help because he is a wing.
03:56He is good.
03:57He averaged 14, 14, 9, almost 15 a game last year with Jokic.
04:02So, you have a guy that can help you out tremendously.
04:05He could be a tremendous player for you.
04:08And, kind of, if he continues on this trajectory.
04:11And, I'm just, I'm speculating now, Anthony.
04:14Because, I don't know as much.
04:15I'm going to lay out for you to teach me on this.
04:17Like, I could be looking at him, hopefully, as maybe the next Jared Allen in the case of,
04:21you're way overplaying your contract.
04:23Your value is too high with the output that you're able to put out.
04:27Oh, they are banking on that.
04:28There you go.
04:28Thank you very much.
04:29They are.
04:29Because he's so young.
04:30So, I'm going to lay out now.
04:32Tell me why I don't have to worry about the LeBron hangover.
04:35And, maybe why I'm going to get defensive of him as this season starts with some of the general folks.
04:40The whole thing the Cavs have been missing for so long.
04:44And, ever since LeBron James left, the last time was athleticism and wing play.
04:49And, so, all along, it was going to be Kobe Altman's difficult task to thread the needle of limited resources.
04:56And, also, try to figure out how around the two guards in Harden and Donovan Mitchell,
05:02could you make up for their defensive issues by having, you know, athletes around them.
05:08And, as much as, you know, I saw a lot of fans writing their eulogies for Max Struis,
05:15that wasn't an athlete that was going to make up for your defensive issues.
05:19This is.
05:20This guy is unbelievable defensively at the rim.
05:23And, he's only really had one outstanding month.
05:28He was kind of a project, late first round pick coming out of UCLA.
05:32He was a freak athlete coming out of high school and was, I believe he was a McDonald's All-American.
05:38But, he was a big time recruit.
05:39And, then, you know, it just didn't really pan out at UCLA.
05:43And, then, he came out.
05:45He was drafted 30th overall by OKC.
05:47Always pay attention when, you know, teams like OKC, when you're on their radar.
05:51But, he really shined when Jokic was injured last year.
05:55His January and then first game in February, ironically against OKC, he was annihilating.
06:02He was incredible.
06:03He was hitting threes.
06:04He had always kind of had a jump shot where people were trying to project what that jumper would be.
06:09His free throw shooting got better every year.
06:11And, people seem to think in the NBA that that's a really good indicator of shooting.
06:17It's the flip side with Evan Mobley.
06:19Like, his free throw shooting did not get all that much better.
06:21And, so, people are wondering, oh, no.
06:23Is he never going to be a really good shooter in the league?
06:25Peyton Watson projects as somebody who we could be talking about three years from now as a total steal at
06:32that 22, you know, per year, $22 million level.
06:37The flip side of this is he has no real playoff bona fides.
06:42I mean, he's played in a bunch of playoff games, but he's never scored double digits.
06:46He's been, you know, a fringe, fringe player in the playoffs.
06:49So, that was in the debate about him versus Kaminga.
06:52That's where Kaminga bested him.
06:54They're both 23 years old.
06:55Kaminga actually, you know, scores as a better athlete.
06:59But, he does not protect the rim like Peyton Watson does.
07:02And, you know, point of attack defense too, Watson has been really good.
07:06It's just been in limited minutes.
07:08Now, he's going to get to show that off a little bit more as it looks like he's certainly going
07:12to be in the starting lineup for the Cavs.
07:14So, I'm not a big fan of Jonathan Kaminga.
07:17But, you just said that he would help for the right now instead of for the future.
07:20Yeah, I think Kaminga today has been a better player so far in his career than Peyton Watson.
07:26The tantalizing thing about Watson is he showed off in that month of January against some really good teams too.
07:33He showed up in a way that I don't even think Denver Nuggets fans thought he was capable of.
07:38I mean, he had big three-point shooting outputs, big corner three maker.
07:42And, he even showed that he could playmake, you know, from the perimeter.
07:47And, he had not really demonstrated a lot of that early in his career.
07:50So, let me ask you a series of questions here.
07:52How do they then thread the needle for the future?
07:54Because, this is a very young player that can be threading the needle for, okay, do I make him a
08:00part of my future with Evan Mobley?
08:02Or, how much can he help with a right now with Donovan Mitchell?
08:06And, right now, maybe even next year, the year after this year, I'm saying, with Donovan Mitchell, how do I
08:10do something like that?
08:11Or, is that even possible?
08:12Well, he's going to get opportunities this year just, frankly, because, I mean, you look at their roster, they're going
08:19to be nights, hopefully, that they are kind of load managing Donovan so that we don't run into the same
08:24problem we run into every year where Donovan is basically limping to the finish and, you know, out of gas.
08:30And, also, Harden.
08:31Harden played the most minutes of anybody on the Cavs last year in the postseason.
08:36That's insane.
08:37He's going to be 37 this year.
08:39James Harden should not be, you know, taking on that load all regular season either, even though that's been his
08:45calling card.
08:46He's been able to be such a durable regular season player.
08:49Like, it's okay if you actually load manage James Harden a little bit.
08:53And then, Peyton Watson will get the opportunity.
08:55We had nobody in transition.
08:57This guy is a dynamo in transition.
08:59We had nobody that could get back on defense or sprint the length of the court last year.
09:04This is very different.
09:06Peyton Watson could do all of those things, and that was something they were desperately missing.
09:10Do they really think they can compete this year then?
09:14Or is this a signal to the fans that we're getting ready for the future, even with the players we
09:18have now?
09:18I think they think this is a little bit of both.
09:19I think based on that month that he put together last year, and then, unfortunately, he was not able to
09:25play in the playoffs,
09:25and some people in Denver were calling him a quitter because it was, I think, a calf injury,
09:30and they were worried that the calf could turn into something worse.
09:32You know how that is every year.
09:34For the NBA players.
09:35Cavs are the worst.
09:36But he did not play in the playoffs last year, and people were saying he was putting his contract
09:42in his free agency, a potential free agency, he was a restricted free agency, ahead of the team.
09:47Well, isn't that something a lot of guys would do?
09:50That's the delicate balance of that.
09:52Obviously, that did not scare the Cavs off by any means.
09:55I do think that he can help them in the interim, and he's projecting long-term as a big-time
10:03wing force that can also play the four.
10:06Is this, can I comp him at all to Lowry Markkinen?
10:13Markkinen is tremendously more skilled offensively.
10:16Watson has not shown that ability yet at all.
10:20That's why I'm asking.
10:20But, man, when you see him in the open floor, I mean, he gets up and down the floor.
10:24They just didn't have that.
10:26Think of how many times, even last year, we would just be in molasses in the playoffs.
10:31And I know so much of that is James Harden dribbling the ball.
10:34A lot of times, nobody was getting down the floor.
10:37Nobody was able to race down the floor.
10:39And nobody could get back.
10:40How many times do we see, like, Harden shoot a three, and everybody, Ole, would go the other way, and
10:46it would be, especially against the Knicks, games two, three, and four in that Easter Conference Finals.
10:51So, they look at him as, could he be an OG Ananobi, you know, down the road?
10:58That'd be something.
10:58He's nowhere near that right now.
11:00But, you know, there are a lot of, the dorks around the NBA, they are really high on Peyton Watson
11:06and have been for a while.
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