00:00I will tell you that I don't know definitively the Cavs got better,
00:05but I don't think the idea of linear getting better all the time
00:09happens all at once, and sometimes you do just have to get different,
00:14and I think different is enough right now from where the Cavs are.
00:17Different's good. I needed different. I needed to shake it up.
00:19I wanted to shake it up more if I could, but I like shaking it up
00:23at least in some sense.
00:24Yeah, what's interesting about this, I don't think Peyton Watson
00:27all of a sudden made you, like Vegas, if you're 48.5 wins prior to this,
00:31you might be 49 on the dot now.
00:33I don't think he adds anything really in the win department necessarily
00:37as of right now, but if he can do what he did last year
00:40and do it at a higher level as far as more games and more production
00:43with more minutes, you've got a really good opportunity
00:46to turn this into a mega steal of a deal.
00:48Yeah, and I think to me it's about adding upside.
00:51You know, part of the reason why I think, you know,
00:54when you go from Darius to James is you got a decade older
00:57and you lose some of your theoretical upside.
01:00When Evan doesn't take his big jump, you're losing some of your upside.
01:05Adding a wing that can do everything you need him to
01:10if he can just continue to do it with a step forward
01:13with kind of more responsibility, adding that at what three years from now
01:18could look insanely cheap, both financially and for what you traded for him,
01:23that's the kind of thing that can take you.
01:25We talked a lot about regular season upside.
01:28It is the kind of thing that can really swing a series or two
01:32once it gets to time that it really matters.
01:34And with Peyton, he was not simply standing in the corner
01:36taking two shots a night either.
01:38His scoring went from 8 to 15 while his efficiency approved.
01:41Three years ago his true shooting percentage was 53.
01:44Two years ago it was 56.
01:46Last year it was 59.
01:47That tells you he was doing more things.
01:49And his usage rate jumped up higher.
01:52And there's all sorts of things I can throw at your face to tell you
01:56that he's trending in the right direction.
01:57And this is an obvious bet on what he could potentially turn into.
02:01Will it happen?
02:02Well, that's the weird part about this.
02:04Jason says, oh, they're betting on the development.
02:07And that's where I always have a hard time when it comes to the Cavs.
02:09They're not great in the development department.
02:12So this is one they're going to have to show me that they can develop
02:14and they can increase off of what we saw last year.
02:17I don't entirely agree with you on the development thing.
02:21Oh, I should make sure you want me to say wings in the development area.
02:23Is that what you want me to say?
02:24Yeah, I mean, well, I would say I like Jalen Tyson a lot.
02:27Now, unfortunately, Kenny Atkinson didn't like him enough in the postseason.
02:31That was a Kenny problem.
02:32That was not a Tyson problem.
02:34There were moments that were too big for him.
02:36How's that kid going to get better?
02:37How's that kid going to learn if he's not in the game at those moments?
02:41But, like, I think one of the things, like, I know Fedor has called out Malik Thomas,
02:47and the Cavs really think they have something there.
02:50Between Malik Thomas, I don't care that Watson's, what is it, four years in the NBA,
02:55still very young.
02:57I guess I'm more going over the Kobe Altman era in general.
02:59That's fair.
03:00And I just, I feel like, again, and this is not a, this is the right bet.
03:04You should make it on guys like this, who have developed the way they have,
03:0829% from three to 35% to three to now 41% from three.
03:12And we'll up those shots and see if it stays anywhere close to 41%.
03:15It's the right bet.
03:17It makes so much sense when you sound it all out.
03:19But then we do have to then have him continue to take some steps.
03:23And one of the big things that I like about this is, like, with DeAndre Hunter,
03:27DeAndre Hunter wasn't as well-rounded of a player.
03:30So, he had to do the things that he did well, really well for that trade to work out.
03:37And he did until he didn't, until last year, really.
03:41But for a half a season, it looked like it was going to work out and then it didn't.
03:44With Watson, like, he teased some playmaking abilities as an offensive creator this year.
03:49And again, that's teasing.
03:50We've got plenty of guys that have teased that in the NBA haven't done it.
03:54But when you say, like, that's added value, the defense stuff I don't think is fungible.
03:59I think that's just a baked-in thing.
04:01He's a very nice defensive player on the wing.
04:03Yeah, that's who he is.
04:04So, you're looking at upside in creation.
04:06You're looking at upside in three-point shooting.
04:09And so, it is a risk.
04:12And there's a reason why you can get this player for a single first-rounder.
04:16Some of that's Denver situation.
04:18Some of that is, it is a risk here.
04:20You are projecting, but I think this idea that the only way the Cavs were going to win a championship
04:26is if there were a million risk-free propositions falling from the sky.
04:30That's, hell, trading Darius for Harden is a risk.
04:34You have to take risks if you want to get tangibly better because not all of them are going to
04:39work,
04:40but certainly not all of them are going to fall on their face either.
04:42And this is a risk worthwhile.
04:43Do you want to hear Mike Komp, who I think he can potentially be?
04:46Say mine Komp?
04:47No, Mike Komp.
04:48Okay.
04:48Mike Komp.
04:49Okay, yes, I do want to hear your Komp.
04:52Yeah, thank you.
04:54Now it's not going to hit with any sort of bang.
04:56Now it's, Jax, do you want to hear my NBA Komp?
04:58You're a big NBA guy.
04:59Can you do this one in a German accent?
05:01Jaden McDaniels with better shot blocking.
05:03How do you feel about that?
05:05I mean, I love Jaden McDaniels, so I hope you're right.
05:07You know?
05:08Yeah.
05:08Now do we do the second part?
05:09Is that how we do this?
05:11I mean, you can.
05:12I don't know that we're going to appreciate it.
05:15Well, I know.
05:16Yeah.
05:17You know who I'm married to.
05:18It'd be weird if you were to be the one to do that on the station.
05:21Yeah, you know I'm married, too.
05:22What are we doing here?
05:22Yeah, there's a couple people around the station that I wouldn't put it past them, right?
05:26But you, it'd be a real letdown.
05:28I do like the McDaniels thing, though.
05:31I really, if he can be that, that is.
05:34Because I keep, people keep going to OG Ananobi.
05:37I think, like, the highest thing you could ever dream of would be, like, a light version of OG Ananobi.
05:42I think that's living in a different stratosphere that you just cannot possibly project on anybody, at least with the
05:48skill set that he's currently shown.
05:50If you can beat McDaniels, that's an awesome development, especially with the idea that you'd guard the very best defender
05:55or the very best offensive player on the other team every single night.
05:59I still am a little concerned that the Cavs just walked the two guys who had that dog in them
06:04off this roster.
06:06Struz and Schroeder, for as imperfect of players as they are, they were guys who never felt intimidated by the
06:12moment.
06:13Sometime to Schroeder's, like, damage, like, sometimes he went full Leroy Jenkins on us.
06:21Yeah, yeah.
06:21But, like, I'll take that as opposed to...
06:24That's how you end up on 13 different teams in your NBA career.
06:26I'll take that as opposed to turtling.
06:28So I think that's still maybe the biggest TBD, but when it comes to, like, glue guys that tie everybody
06:35together, Peyton Watson is one of those.
06:37And I'm still very hopeful that Jalen Tyson can be one of those guys, too.
06:41I think Jalen Tyson can be a starter in the league, and he's also a guy that does a little
06:46bit of everything really, really well.
06:48Tyson and Watson have a chance to really be the kind of connective wing players that make Donovan Mitchell better
06:54in the playoffs
06:55that I think can make Harden better, even if we're still going to have his, why the hell did you
06:59do that, Harden moments?
07:00Because that's baked in with James Harden.
07:02I can't remember who I was listening to earlier today, and they were making the suggestion that the Cavs with
07:07this move
07:09took themselves to another tier.
07:11If they were middle of the pack at one point, now they brought themselves in that tier that still exists
07:16below the Knicks.
07:17It still exists below the 76ers, but now they're in that second tier, that firm second tier.
07:22Do you buy that take?
07:25Not with this trade alone, but I do think that's where we thought they should be anyways.
07:31Like, yes, there's a lot of intrigue in the East.
07:34People are crowning a lot of kind of hypothetical teams to this point, including the Heat, including Toronto,
07:40including, oh, hell, there was another team I was thinking about that I lost immediately as I went to say,
07:44including.
07:45Indiana?
07:46Yes.
07:47That was not what he was thinking.
07:48That was not what I was thinking, but it's better than what I was going to pull out of thin
07:51air.
07:52That was nice by you.
07:53So, I don't think the Cavs are as hypothetical as a lot of the teams that people are already crowning
07:59in the Eastern Conference.
08:00Okay.
08:01When Jason said Eastern Conference Finals, anything short of that is a failure.
08:03I thought that was heavy-handed.
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