Podcast 291: Cavilyear in Review
2023-05-14Our silent mourning for the 2023 Cavalier Season over, Nate Smith, Elijah Kim, and Chris Francis broke our vows and shuffled into the the podcast booth to break down this wild ride that was the Cavs’ season. The guys look over the year everyone had and try to figure out who’s going to stay, who’s going to go, and who the Cavs should bring in. Who would fit well under the Cavs’ idiosyncratic coach? Who improved? Who didn’t? What do the next few years look like? The erstwhile podcasters take stock of it all.
[Editor’s note, this podcast was recorded last Wednesday night, but due to some technical issues wasn’t able to post till today. Content, aside from some commentary on games in progress, is all still very topical.]
As always, listen below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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Missed it, was that a calf muscle popping for Kev?
Okay, left ankle.
Break out the brooms…
NBA cringe…Miami and Denver! I’m game.
count me in!
Nuggets look like way too much for the Heat. This isn’t the weak sauce Boston five out or NYs two good offensive players or Milwaukees one trick pony with hurt Giannis
Yep, but I think Denver might struggle more against Boston.
i wonder if mitchell is watching jamal murray demonstrate how playoff ball should be played.. 37, 31, 33 (w/3:48 left in gm 3 vs LAL)
Mitchell would score like that with Jokic too
who takes the blame ? mobley ? allen ? or both ? we giving spida a free pass ?
No blame…but you can’t deny the ball moves in Denver like it seldom does in Cleveland. Basketball is a game of movement, and the young Cavs didn’t do that much in the playoffs.
hard to blame someone for not not being Jokic
Denver is the ultimate in continuity and internal development. Absolute opposite approach to the dumb Joe Fan trade/fire/blame everybody crowd
Utah seemed to be the same way for a while. Is it the lack of media scrutiny, relatively chill fanbase, geographic mountain majesty, good ownership/management, or some combination of the above that allows that philosophy to thrive?
they seem ok with the good teams being very good regular season teams and getting occasional shots at chips when the breaks are right. they just know math — there are 31 non-champions every year.
LeBron broke our brains in that regard, because the late 80s Cavs were cut from similar cloth and nobody was losing their minds.
You might have forgotten 1993, when the Cavs fired Lenny Wilkins despite his having coached the team just a year earlier to what was then its only ECF in franchise history, and having an NBA title on his resume. Losing a hard fought 6-game ECF to Jordan and the Bulls in ‘92 was one thing, but getting swept and embarrassed in the second rd the next year was too much to take. So Lenny was sent packing and ended up coaching the Hawks for a long stretch after that.
I think the context in the aftermath of “the Shot” in ‘89 was different. That team legitimately looked like the best or second-best team in the league for most of the season, until cheap-shot Hall of Famer Rick Mahorn gave Mark Price a head injury late in the season (they didn’t talk about concussions back then, but it must have been). Even after that, the series against the Bulls was well-played and dead-even. If Jordan doesn’t hit a ridiculously tough shot, the Cavs surely advance at least to the ECF though they probably would have lost to the Pistons. There… Read more »
The current Cavs, in contrast, still tend to look like pretenders when they’re going against top teams that are playing for something, BUT the core is a lot younger than the ‘89 core—Garland and Mobley shouldn’t be anywhere near their peak yet. At the same time; JB is nowhere near Wilkins as a coach.
That’s a good analysis. Definitely worth noting the young Cavs didn’t play for much in college either (unlike Brunson / Hart or Duke players). That’s one thing that only experience can teach you re big moments
Price was never the same after that — still really good, but not Steph like anymore.
recall that Lenny refused to play Ferry, and had a walk-on stiff playing center in a playoff game. Ferry subsequently had a nice career with the Spurs, and got at least one ring.
trading Harper + 3 #1’s for Ferry was dumb, but that was water under the bridge.
Ferry was cheeks for a long time though. It took a lot for him to get job trash.
I’m not sure we need to emulate Miami or Denver exactly. I’m just excited that all the teams getting upset will be looking to make moves and maybe we can get some nice bench players as a result.
Schroeder is a clown. Challenge away on that garbage.
Denver stepping on their throat.
Lakers are cooked!
Want brown bad.
Yeah, he’d be a get…
Schroeder is not only a Smart/ Embiid level flopper, he constantly fouls to boot.
LeBron found some range
This is some kind of screw job from the refs
WTF was that call.
Laker exceptionalism.
Russell channeling his inner Jordan Poole
They’re about the same level of player. They both suck.
Jokic 4th foul, 3 of them have been bullshit. They are reviewing this one.
Shocked that wasn’t reversed
That’s three super cheap fouls…Foster leaving his mark…
That was garbage.
Total bs,he whiffed.
The Adam Sandler aging photos were really compelling.
Whoever gives D’Lo a big contract deserves everything coming to them.
Scott Foster revenge game
LeBron has been ice cold from 3
He should stop shooting him, but he’s old…
He should stick to post ups
Too much work…
Murray absolutely on fire in the first half, 26 points…one wonders what will happen when he cools down….if he cools down.
Jamal Curray is lighting em up!
Games broadcast in LA are so insufferable. It’s been the same for 40+ years.
Trying to imagine how good Heat fans feel right now. That last 5 minutes was just dominant. The Grant Williams trash talk followed immediately by his failure to walk the walk was the cherry on top.
I think we could have given the Heat a pretty good showing. Not saying we win (but maybe?) but 36 minutes of Evan on Jimmy and Allen on Bam (who is tough but smaller than MitchRob and carries multiple offensive responsibilities that JA can guard) would have made for an interesting series.
Jimmy would smoke mobley and Bam would smoke Allen. Don’t think Mobley really deserved Def 1st team.
# maybe.
#2 doubt it.
#3 why not?
Because felt like he slipped a lot of the year and there were a bunch of more impactful forwards out there. The opposite case being best defensive player from best regular season defensive team even if he wasn’t the most individually impactful.
His lineup adjusted advanced metrics weren’t that great though and I thought that was true via the eye test a lot of this year,
Couldn’t agree less on the eye test. He was good for two amazing defensive plays a night with his quick hands and was extremely tough at the rim. Not as reckless with blocks as JJJ either
He was pretty reckless for a lot of the year. Toned it down eventually but he was really pushing for contests at the rim the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the season.
I agree although he still didn’t foul a lot. The man is a damn computer on the floor, he realized he was overplaying and adjusted
Yeah Bam is tough and fast and pretty strong for a 6’9 guy but Mitch is bigger and has basically one job on offense, whereas Bam has to be Draymond lite and Allen is good on those types of bigs
Mobley turned Jimmys water off really well in the regular season.
Not saying it definitely translates but Mobley’s ungodly length, speed, and ability to contest stronger smaller players without fouling would make the midrange and FT grifting that Jimmy lives on very hard.
I honestly can’t think of a player (maybe PG or Brown, although Brown is getting killed so who knows?) better built to guard Jimmy than Evan.
Butler scored 28 on 8/14 shooting and 68% TS, 33 on 12/16 83% TS, and 23 on 6/16 fg and 10/15 free throws. He torched us two games and had a bad ft shooting game the other game.
Evan only matched up on him for fifteen minutes or so total, during which Jimmy was in hell. (33% – that’s that bad shooting game you mention)
https://kingjamesgospel.com/2023/03/31/cavs-evan-mobleys-chances-all-defensive-team/
absolutely — poetic justice at its finest!
K Love killing it! 15 minutes, 0 points, +1, 5 boards.
ECF MVP
Hater alert! Hater alert! Get out the Korby Kool Aid to hose him down!
korby kool aid.. nice.. uncle buck should have thought of that one..
haha! — says the chief spokesman of the hater Koolaid Klub
Anthony… try playing with Dwight in Taiwan!
haha!
don’t forget to take your nap
Ha. I do think the intensity of the K. Love love is more sentimentality than anything. Caveat being he would have helped against NY, but probably not enough to actually win the series without further coaching adjustments.
of course he would have helped…
…keep the other bench dudes who score zero points company
And likely had 8+ rebounds….
I can see you’re fitting in nicely here at CTB, haha.
JB will never be Spo. Coach Bud is available.
People underestimate how dumb this Celtic team is. Their coach is also meh at best, but they are just dumb.
If you let Heat stay in it late and give Butler a chance to beat you, you deserve to lose. And Celtics richly deserved this one.
That’ll do it!
Woohoo!!!
Buh-bye Boston. I’m just glad those elite fans got their money’s worth. They must be pumped.
Greatest fan base in the world deserve the best!
Not sure Tatum is a #1 guy on a championship team
He’s not, really…1A, or 2…
He doesn’t make his teammates better, unlike Butler.
I mean, he’s the best wing in the league! I’m not sure KD is either without a bunch of Allstars but that’s a little too far for me re: Tatum, who I hate
Hope Butler takes them home…
Mami’s GM turns chicken shit into chicken salad
Well, he and Spoelstra…
Fair
what does koby do in the kitchen ?
God, Jimmy so good…
Miami gonna get another coach fired?
Boston is toast!
Redemption 14 seconds later!
Dumb foul…let him shoot that garbage…
Bam!!!
Reggie is such a GD cornball
I hate that call either way, but what a homer freaking call
Didn’t you see Smart go down like he was hit by a sniper on the beach at Betio? Most ethical player in the NBA.
Foul on Smart. Typical Smart flop.
They better reverse that offensive foul call, that’s ridiculous! Smart fouled Butler on the shot “and” put himself in Butler’s landing space. How could that be on Butler?
Terrible.
I see now that Butler tangled the legs, but only after he’d already hit the floor, probably pissed that he had to contort himself just to avoid landing on Smart’s foot and reinjuring the ankle.
Grant Williams is such a tool…
Keep it going, Heat, give these remarkable fans the sporting drama they crave.
Jimmy Buckets
It’s gonna be a Miami/Denver finals.
Feels right.
looks like it.
the only reason it would be cool if the Laker make it is having two “play in” teams in the finals. plus, the old guy.
Miami absorbing the blows. Impressive.
Tatum second travel by my count. Home court refs?
Kyle Lowry, Professional Flopper!
RIP JIM BROWN——RAOUL / BUCKAROO WE WERE ALL PART OF THAT GENERATION WHO ” PAINTED THE # 32 ON OUR GRAY HOODIES AND PRETENDED WE WERE JIMMY BROWN IN OUR BACKYARD “——SORRY LEBRON JIMMY BROWN WIL FOREVER BE THE GREATEST ATHLETE ” IN THE LAND “
NOMAD bro.. yes, saw the news.. still have my ’65 jim brown card.. loved his role in “the dirtry dozen”.. he played and exemplified the “no excuses” era..
Quit pretty early for a dude with no excuses
dunno.
that is a LONG career for a RB. he might have known it was downhill from here.
plus, he was actually looking like a maybe movie star at the time — much longer career ops.
yeah, i get that and think his reputation is deserved. I just think the young guys are really really tough, so I always pushback on the “old guys ate nails and spat out tacks and never complained, back when men were men” narrative. I’m not quite on the “Bob Cousy was a plumber” tip, but there’s no question the new guys have more problems and tougher opponents (and more money)
Jim Brown: 1936:02:17 – 2023:05:19
I’m still simply disgusted watching fan favorite, NBA champion K Love starting in the ECF while the Cavs were gentlemen swept in the first round. Kobys decision making and talent evaluation is highly questionable at this point.
get into therapy, and go on with your life
Welcome to the club. What’s you jacket size?
Welcome to the growing club. Ignore the KLove haters in this thread! They’ll be sending out apology letters in the coming weeks.
Please try not to trigger another Arch manic episode.
He had just recovered, and CtB had hit the 24 hours mark of rational basketball discussion and there was some hope for the future.
bro the “he’s a great passer” in a game where he had 0 assists and 3 TOs had me done. there’s no getting anything rational through
One thing is certain, the spirit of KLove lives on here on CtB, what with all the pissing and moaning. Enough hissy fits it seems like he never left.
haha! nailed it!
Raoul has the Anthony Bennett comp for this group.
That’s an impressive close by Denver.
Steph Murray!
Enjoyable. Lebron looks like he’s on his last legs. Murray with the huge 4th after sucking hard the first three.
last legs for sure, but don’t be surprised if he plays a couple where he doesn’t look a minute over 31.
usually getting old in basketball goes like this: your best days are not as good as they used to be, and a lot further apart, but you still have some.
He’s playing injured and might do better next year when he’s not hurt. Normally someone at his age would have his minutes cut down significantly. Maybe they’ll start doing that more next year now that he’s got the scoring record.
Too many corner threes by Davis and missed layups from James. Lakers have a path to come back though when it goes to LA
LeBron with some blown plays at the rim tonight
The bank is open!
Jokic looks like he’s running with a backpack on
That’s a perfect description 😂
He kind of waddles around
Porter is such a dumb player…
That was pretty dumb
Jamal Curry!
Nuggalanche…
Lakers might be toast!
Maybe the Oscars should have a “best dramatic flop performance in an nba game.”
Good old fashioned flop-off Brewing.
Jokic with a counter flop
Nice flop by Bron!
Not sure that’s a goaltend or not, but I wouldn’t challenge it… too close to call.
Kind of looks like a goaltend tho
Yeah. I think it’s a good call. Looked on the downward arc. But you’re right. Too close to challenge.
Schroeder and D’Lo are such irredeemable clowns…
Jokic is so damned skilled for his size.
Cavs could’ve traded Llama and 3 second rounders for Rui!
well, just have to get the next Rui.
*facepalm*
That’s what the Lakers gave them!
I know. Oof.
Rui looked no better than Cam Reddish at the deadline and worse than Malik Beasley and both those dudes suck.
We will get so many bites at the apple, no need to cry over every decent eighth or ninth man we didn’t get.
One of those games where Murray absolutely sucks ass.
Man, this ref crew has sucked. For both teams.
ESPN Halftime crew is god awful.
Mute material.
What could go wrong with Steven A and Jalen Rose?!?
Stephen A has the highest ratio of talk volume to knowledge about anything in recorded history
I literally turn off the tv. Greenberg is godawful, even in the company of his terrible co-hosts.