00:00I don't know what to make of the Cavs, and that's honestly part of the wardrobe fashion choice that I
00:05made today.
00:07They needed to do, and I could see Michael Marcosch fuming behind the glass,
00:11because him and I got into it multiple times throughout the summer about this very topic.
00:15They needed to do whatever they had to do to get LeBron this summer.
00:19That's what needed to happen.
00:20The cat is now out of the bag, as LeBron looks like still one of the best players in the
00:25league going this year,
00:26even at age 42, and the Cavs look like a team that could be firing their head coach at the
00:31end of the weekend.
00:32End of the weekend?
00:34I mean, dude, you're going to have Dan Gilbert courtside tonight, I'd imagine, right?
00:38Yeah.
00:39Against the guy that kind of stood you up at the altar this summer, and then your next opponent after
00:44this.
00:44This is a cup game also.
00:46It is.
00:47Means more.
00:47My ticketing app made sure to remind me that it's a cup game.
00:50Means more, by the way.
00:51And then the game after this is against the Knicks, the team that you were analytically three games to one
00:57ahead of in the Eastern Conference Finals.
01:00And they, come on, let's be honest, about what the Knicks did to you in that series.
01:04Like, I wonder if the Cavs look really bad tonight and then look really bad in New York.
01:09Like, they've looked really bad in the last two games against Oklahoma City.
01:12How do you let Kenny Atkinson continue to coach this thing?
01:15And I'm not one of these people, by the way, that, like, wants to see Kenny fired and all of
01:19this stuff.
01:19Because, to me, it kind of feels like a scapegoat.
01:22It feels like you guys should have made some bigger changes to this roster this offseason.
01:27Namely, doing whatever was required to get LeBron back here.
01:30You didn't do that.
01:32And here we sit.
01:33A 500-ball club.
01:34And I can't defend Kenny, though, is the problem.
01:36Like, if I wanted to.
01:37And I never really cared to.
01:38But if I wanted to, I can't defend him.
01:40But it is interesting.
01:41A lot of people believe what you believe.
01:42And that these next two games are vital for keeping Kenny Atkinson if that is the thing you want to
01:47do.
01:47And it starts tonight.
01:48Now, I'm interested to find out what the reception is going to be tonight.
01:50And I don't know.
01:52Is there going to be enough people just wearing their LeBron jerseys and being happy to see LeBron, like myself?
01:56Not wearing the LeBron jersey, but I'll just be happy to see LeBron, appreciate LeBron.
02:00And then when the game gets going, I'll be cursing at LeBron because he's the enemy then.
02:03Yeah.
02:04Come on.
02:07Are people really trying to, like, boo LeBron tonight?
02:09Is that a thing that's going to happen?
02:10I don't know.
02:11I genuinely don't know.
02:12I don't know.
02:12I don't think so either.
02:13I don't think there will be, but it's going to be a pretty stark reminder about this team struggling right
02:18now and what this team could be if you had LeBron and if LeBron had just chosen.
02:21Why is it, though, that LeBron is – does that agree?
02:24I don't think he's going to get booed.
02:25I think it'll just be cheers and appreciation.
02:27Why is it that it feels like Cavs fans aren't as frustrated with LeBron right now as maybe they should
02:33be?
02:33Because LeBron maybe gave us the blueprint a couple months ago when he told us this team is not that
02:38good.
02:38Yeah, you guys were on the doorstep of the Eastern Conference, you know, finals.
02:42You're four games away from the NBA championship and all that stuff.
02:45Good.
02:45Congrats.
02:46That's great for you.
02:47You've got a 40-year-old point guard who looks like he's 50.
02:50So that's the biggest shame in all this, though, is it does have that vibe of, hey, LeBron, you dodged
02:54a bullet, and we understand that you dodged a bullet, and we can appreciate that you didn't want to do
02:58this to the end part of your career.
02:59Thanks for the heads up, King.
03:01Thanks for the notice that we were getting into a season where, let's be real about this, when the Cavs
03:07tipped on opening night, I didn't feel like I was watching the first of 82 of what was going to
03:12be a championship season.
03:13I just don't have that expectation for these Cavs.
03:16I hope they could go back to the conference finals.
03:18I think if they were somehow able to get into the NBA final, I don't know what would happen.
03:23Did you see what Victor Wembediam did the other night?
03:26Have you seen what some of these teams out west are doing?
03:28I just am really disappointed at how this Cavs season has started.
03:33I was really disappointed at how the entire summer went.
03:36I feel nothing but disappointment as it relates to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
03:41So the prospect of booing LeBron tonight is just silly to me.
03:45Why would I boo the guy that's given me the one championship that I have?
03:50No, and you wouldn't boo him.
03:51But the only way that LeBron ends up looking stupid in all this is if the Cavs end up winning
03:57a title this year.
03:58It's really the only way that he can end up where it's like, whoa, geez, LeBron, not only did you
04:02say no to the Cavs and the city that you're from and everything that comes with that, you said no
04:08to a championship team.
04:09And so right now, I agree with what you're saying 100%.
04:11Right now, sitting at 4-4 and sitting out of this season has gone, more Cavs fans are looking at
04:15LeBron as if like, hey, we get it.
04:18Yeah.
04:19We get what you looked at it.
04:20You saw what's going on here.
04:22Evan Mobley's not taking the steps forward.
04:24Donovan Mitchell's not a championship player.
04:26James Harden is 37 years old.
04:27That's the worst part of it to me.
04:28We kind of understand why you went for the 76ers.
04:30Jonathan, that's the worst part of it to me.
04:34It felt like LeBron gave you a lifeboat.
04:37Did it not?
04:38It felt like he threw you a life raft.
04:40It felt like he was going to, yes.
04:41You could get off this Evan Mobley ride.
04:43Go get me Jalen Brown.
04:45I'll come.
04:45You could get off this James Harden ride.
04:47Get me Anthony Davis.
04:49Get me Kyrie.
04:50I'll come.
04:50He was trying to manufacture what we should be doing.
04:52He was throwing you a lifeboat.
04:54He was like, hey, you guys are drowning out there in the middle of the ocean.
04:58I'm going to save you and come back.
05:00You got to fix this roster though.
05:02And then they just didn't want to be saved.
05:03They didn't want to grab the lifeboat or the life raft.
05:06And now they are sinking.
05:08And the Sixers are a really good team.
05:10Like they've figured it out in the first 10 games of the season.
05:13They look fantastic.
05:14And so in the results of LeBron looking like the smartest guy in the room,
05:18the survey says yes right now.
05:20Survey says like, and it's going to be interesting to see.
05:22And most people that go to a LeBron game in general, LeBron in town,
05:27is they're going to be LeBron supporters, right?
05:29Most would.
05:29At this point, you're not having a lot of people showing up strictly just to boo LeBron
05:33and paying the amount of money it takes to get in to see LeBron.
05:37That's not really happening.
05:38You do have a lot of season ticket holders though.
05:40That is an element of the crowd that has always worked in there.
05:42The diehards that spend all their money on this team as is.
05:46But the reality is, is I just don't think, and I'm not getting the vibe.
05:49You're not getting the vibe that people are upset with LeBron in any sort of way.
05:51And we just, we kind of just understand what he was doing.
05:54Does he get a tribute video?
05:56I think that might be a bridge too far.
05:59I don't know that he deserves a tribute video.
06:01You can make an argument that he won a title.
06:03So for the, every time he ever steps foot, even in the city, there should be banners that are dropped.
06:07The mayor should come out and hold a parade every time he comes in.
06:11And we should just celebrate him for the legend that he is.
06:13With Dan Gilbert courtside and how this whole thing went down
06:17and the animosity that seemed to exist between him not coming here.
06:21I don't know that the tribute video is on the cards for tonight.
06:24And I don't know when I'll personally stand and applaud at being in attendance tonight.
06:28It's going to happen at some point.
06:30Maybe it'll be at the chalk toss.
06:31I'm not sure.
06:32But I don't know that I'm waiting for a tribute video.
06:35You think he's getting one?
06:36I don't know that he's getting one just because I understand who owns the team.
06:40That's soft though.
06:41Give him a tribute video.
06:42He is the best sports figure since Jim Brown.
06:45I mean, you definitely have to do the camera thing where it isolates onto LeBron
06:49and then he gets to be like, oh, I don't even know the camera's on me.
06:51But then everyone is cheering like crazy.
06:54Put up the block.
06:55Cleveland, this is for you.
06:57The video of him with his arms out at the parade with all the people around him by the mural.
07:0330-second clip.
07:04Put the camera on him.
07:06Let him give the quick wave to the fans.
07:07It would be incredibly petty of the Cavs if they didn't do that.
07:10It would.
07:11But they're in the petty business sometimes.
07:12Don't give LeBron the video tonight, man.
07:14I want the video.
07:15You guys are a 500 basketball team.
07:18I'll be there and I'm excited for it and I can't wait for the video.
07:21I'll stand.
07:22I'll applaud.
07:23I'll cheer.
07:24I'll throw flowers in his direction.
07:25If I were the person to buy flowers ahead of time and do it, I would be doing that type
07:29of thing.
07:29I just, the Cavs sometimes, they're Tom Petty about it.
07:32They are Petty LeBelle.
07:33They're Team Petty.
07:35And sometimes they get that way.
07:36And so I don't know.
07:38I don't know what to expect.
07:38I hope you're right.
07:40I hope they give it to him.
07:41Wouldn't surprise me after this summer if they didn't.
07:42No, it wouldn't surprise me either.
07:44And that in my mind is just a mistake.
07:46Again, just because he tried to help you guys through this.
07:50And I know right now they're probably looking at this maybe like a bitter ex.
07:54Like, how did he not come back to us?
07:56All of this stuff.
07:58Hey guys, like all it really was going to require is to go get Anthony.
08:01And we know he loves Anthony Davis.
08:04Go get Anthony Davis.
08:05And he was going to come back.
08:06Loves him a little too much.
08:07Here was Fedor on Baskin and Phelps today and not expecting a love fest for LeBron tonight.
08:12It's a big deal.
08:13And I'm interested to see what it's going to be tonight.
08:15Because guys, I just don't think it's going to be the all-out love fest that it has been
08:20recently.
08:20Because of everything that happened throughout the course of this summer.
08:23When he has come back as a member of the Lakers, he obviously won the championship in 2016.
08:29And the way that he left the second time was very, very different than the way that he
08:34left the first time.
08:35So when he has come back as a member of the Lakers, it's been an all-out love fest.
08:39But I got the sense throughout the course of the offseason, because of LeBron and the way
08:44that he went about things in terms of making his free agency decision, that this fan base
08:49was hurt.
08:49And he chose a different team.
08:51And he had his reasons for it.
08:53And I think he's going to end up being proven right on that.
08:57But I think there is a level of pain that still lingers from this offseason.
09:02And I don't think it's going to be overpowering boos or things along those lines.
09:08I don't think it's going to be a hostile environment for LeBron.
09:11But I just don't think it's going to be the all-out love fest that it has been recently.
09:15I agree with him there in that clip, John.
09:17I am still hurt that he's not in Cleveland.
09:20I'm upset that he's not a calf right now.
09:23And maybe tonight shouldn't be an all-out love fest.
09:26I don't know what that really means.
09:28It's straight up petty.
09:30It's wrong.
09:31If they don't play a tribute video tonight, it's wrong.
09:34Because he gave you a lifeboat.
09:36I'm expecting one.
09:37It just wouldn't surprise me if it didn't happen.
09:38If we just kind of got through the game and then you look up and you're like,
09:42oh, we never really got that big tribute video.
09:44They never played the block on the screen.
09:46They never went and showed it.
09:48It just wouldn't surprise me.
09:50It's soft.
09:50You look up and you're just like, oh, yeah.
09:52Because there's a lot of people in this organization that really thought they were getting LeBron
09:55and turned out to be very upset and took it very personally that LeBron didn't come here.
