Podcast Episode 82: January Nitpicking
2016-01-18https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/podcast-episode-81-january
As the Cavs near the halfway point of the season, we review their six game road trip, David Blatt, WWPD, the upcoming matchup against the Dubs, the swirling trade rumors, whether Delly is dirty, and so much more in this EPIC podcast. Join me, EvilGenius, Cory Hughey, and Tom Pestak as we engage in jokes, hyperbole, nitpicking, haymaker hot takes, and pugilistic debates about January games in this “championship or bust” season.
Listen above, on SoundCloud. or on iTunes.
.@SpikeLee in the house tonight for #Cavs #Warriors #MLKDay
Spike Lee dissing his Knicks to come to CLE and watch Cavs.
J.R. Smith needs two 3-pointers to pass Glen Rice (1,559) for 19th all-time in 3s made in NBA history. Smith has made at least two 3-pointers in each of his last seven games, averaging 18.6 points and shooting 43.9 percent from deep during that stretch.
The Cavs are allowing the 2nd lowest opponent scoring average in the league at 95.1 points per game this season. When Cleveland played Golden State on Christmas Day, the Warriors scored their least amount of points (89) and had their fewest made field goals (32) of the season.
Dave McMenamin
Somehow, I tried listening to the podcast and it shut off a quarter/half way thru. Not sure if it’s a problem on my end or was the recording cut off? Anyway, here are some notes I took: 1. The Spurs have more than one isolation guy in my opinion: Aldridge is definitely a guy whom you can throw the ball and let him go to work on the block. 2. LBJ/Kyrie/KLOVE have to play great in order to beat GSW/SAS…. it’s how the Cavs are designed. Normally they do play great… against SAS, Kyrie struggled, KLOVE didn’t produce enough. 3.… Read more »
Loved your take on Delly the Dirtiest Player Alive. I’m glad a comment was made on the question of racism in this politically correct world. We think it but do we dare say it? I think there is some truth to that in the same context there exist a disdain for White foreign players that hustle on the floor BUT DO NOT have a history of flagrant fouls. There is a snobbery to it that shows the attitude ” How can this lowly player be beating me like this when I have a packed resume and pedigree?” The methodology is… Read more »
Ridiculous article. Complete nonsense. I love the comments in the podcast about the league going soft. Seriously, Delly the dirtiest player? I agree that its players being annoyed that he plays hard and is successful without having a lot of NBA style. He annoys people by picking up full court, by playing deny-ball defense, and by bodying up bigger guys when he gets switched on them. He annoys people by making them think they should be able to get an easy steal and instead throwing up for a lob dunk. He fouls defending break-away fast breaks more than anyone I’ve… Read more »
Basically, this. I knew the ‘Delly is dirty!’ bullshot narrative would take hold after the absurd ruminations by Reggie et al last year. I think Miller should have been reprimanded or fired for his comments, frankly. When the Horford cheap shot happened (the cheap shot initiated by Horford, that is), on a non NBA board that has a generally good NBA thread, someone said to me ‘how many more dirty plays do you need to see from him?’. My reply was ‘I’m not even sure I’ve seen one’. But that narrative was already firmly in place. In short, F Reggie… Read more »
That’s exactly what I mean about the Elite , Pedigree & snobbery. I could see that coming too. Another weird thing about that bogus poll, it was done Dec 7th. So asst coaches had enough time to make their analogy at that point in the season? The thing that kills me is NBC sports picked up this story from LA Times; does credibility not mean a damn thing anymore? If an editor looked at it’ he would know how ridiculous it is I really think they originally thought it was stupid because they didn’t release it nationally at all in… Read more »
Sorry for bad punctuation .
.@stephenasmith adds that had Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving both been healthy in The Finals there’s no doubt the #Cavs would have won. #NBA — SCREAMIN A SMITH!!!!!
Hopefully Cavs get the win!! Because any other outcome, he will turn on them so fast it’ll make your head spin.
Some #Cavs found Stephen Curry’s comment ‘disrespectful’ regarding hoping to smell champagne in locker room at The Q
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/01/stephen_curry_says_he_hopes_lo.html
That was interesting about Lebron Hope he gets to address that.
Good. Hope they shove it ip the Warriors arses. Put up or shut up.
This is what AC had to say about it. LoL
Honestly, with questions of rotations and playing times for AV and Mo, to me it feels like this team is still in a sort of preseason mode. Lebron has famously said in the past how he really doesn’t start playing until after the All-Star break. This team is still figuring it out, still feeling each other out, still trying to find how they can optimize their collective talent and play their best. I don’t think that is an easy task for either the coaching staff or the roster, given how many different options and talent is on this team.
Hopes for tonight’s game. I want Blatt smarter on rotations. I want to see a Green Stopper emerge. SHUT OFF THE PASSING LANES! He is more key than Curry & Clay because I believe in the Cavs can contain them. I want to see Cavs destroy them in the paint! Please can we see the Return of Mozzy dominate?? My prediction is Kyrie will be better at defense He got embarrassed by Tony Parker and he is very salty about that. On Love. Idk Please be great offensively, rebounds and not hurt us in the 4th on defense. If he… Read more »
Thank You for a really great podcast. Many Many valid points. I agree Lebron does handcuff Blatt’s plays. Blatt doesn’t makes sense on his rotations for the most part. Most of you seem optimistic he will change. I am not. He is too predictable and comfortable with shorter line-ups. Love does tire by the 4th quarter in the defensive dept so why not insert an energetic Andy. Try him against Green or whoever. It’s not like all the sudden he turned stupid and doesn’t know how to play. Sorry but the marathon discussion on Rockets was way too long. They… Read more »
Production will be low at work today:) getting so pumped for this game. Enjoy Arch super jealous.
USA Basketball announced 30 finalists for the 2016 Men’s Olympic Team. LeBron, Kyrie and Love are 3 of the 30 players.
Cheer up Nate! Cavs had a good trip and are building a finals-worthy team. It is a long, long way to June from here. Kawai Leonard is a terrific player now in his prime. He is the best defensive player in the league and a great shooter in the Spurs system. LeBron is a better passer and rebounder, and can take over a game when he really wants to. Has there ever been a better 15th pick in the draft than Kawai Leonard? I think we have to assume that Andy didn’t come in the game because of the injury… Read more »
I think part of the reason why Blatt hasn’t gone as deep into the bench as some of us would like to, is that he is trying to work Kyrie and Shump back into the line up. Since those two will be major contributors in the playoffs, he wants to get the core line ups as much time together as possible.
Plus in the playoffs you are only going to be playing your top 8-10 guys, unless catastrophic injuries happen again. Good thing we have LeBron to carry us if that happens. There’s no way Leonard could pull off getting his team to the Finals by himself if his teammates went down.
I mean it’s hard to speculate, because he hasn’t been provided that opportunity to do so.
It sounds like the Cavs practiced yesterday, so hopefully they figured out some new game plans against GS. I’ll be at the game tonight.
Nice. Send pics!
Of cheerleaders.
Bring the #CavsKarma Arch!
Haha. Didn’t realize what a sacred cow LeBron is. I guess all of us sitting around singing Kumbaya and talking about how James poops chocolate ice cream as the sun rises and sets out of his bum would make for more interesting content. How horribly disrespectful I am to say that LeBron is only the third best player in the world…
I really just think you’d be happier rooting for a team full of nobodies and were much happier once LeBron left and the Cavs had nothing. Maybe root for the Celtics? They have pretty much all bench players.
Rooting for a good team full of great players obviously doesn’t sit well with you. It’s OK. Like the Oracle said “Know thyself”
Nah. I just expect 82-0.
LeBron is the best player in the world.
I agree with this still. Ask yourself could any of the other candidates do what Lebron did in the Finals last year. Curry didn’t and…. He has reached a point in his career that it would be non productive to that night after night, instead save it for when it is needed most. GOAT. Stay healthy and keep making good habits. Go cavs.
Thanks for the podcast!
Nate –
There are legitimate arguments to be made about how LBJ could be even better than he is. He is far from perfect. I think most people would listen to those. But your arguments never really resemble those. You tend to rely on anecdotal reasoning and short-term thinking to reach overly broad conclusions. Occassionally you point to statistics, but in a completely ad hoc and inconsistent way.
That image, Nate is kinda gross. LoL
Yeah, don’t dare hint that Lebron isn’t the best player in the world at Cols: the blog.
Couldn’t agree more about Lebron’s crappy ‘hold the ball, jab step, and take a garbage shot after 18 seconds’ crap. It’s the worst shot LBJ can possibly take. Wanna know why? Because he can get that shot ANYTIME. Everyone would mock Melo, or somebody, if they did that all the time, but no criticism of Lebron’s stupid play allowed at Cols the blog.
I’m with Nate. That is all.
So, I have to know. Which Cavs’ message board does Nate troll at? My God. Firstly, James has not taken as many crazy “dribble for 12 seconds and take a long 2” shots this season as others. Secondly, although Leonard is a great player, the Spurs tilt everything towards James even with Leonard on him. So, it is not like it is just Leonard playing James. We didn’t lose because Leonard may or may not have outplayed James (he definitely out produced him, though). Let me guess, are you still mad at James for leaving the Cavs and for that… Read more »
Haha. Nate hates LeBron. Plus LeBron took Leonard all game but the Spurs have great help defense and since Kyrie and Love couldn’t shoot what was he supposed to do? He still had 22 points on 9-17.
LeBron has owned Leonard in his career.
Nate just can’t stand having a great player on his team. He’d rather us win with a starting lineup of Delly, Omri Casspi, CJ Miles, Luke Walton, and Mozgov.
Mildly agree, other than the usual Cols exaggeration factor of about X 150.
Luke Walton might actually be a better coach.
I didn’t like Walton the player all that much. Now Thad Young as the power forward for that lineup? That would be a Nate lineup. Casspi is one of the league’s most underrated players this year… And I’d rather see Andy there than. Moz. Walton could coach.
I think it’s okay to criticize James and the rest of the team. We have high expectations for them, and we will always compare them to the cream of the crop i.e. Golden State and San Antonio. We all realize this team would not be where it is without LeBron, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune from critical discussion, since he is the head of the snake, so to speak.
I loved the podcast, and enjoyed all input from the crew.
Criticize is one thing, it’s a completely different thing the way Nate does it.
I don’t think anything Nate says it’s that controversial. I mean we all know that you have issue with it, but you also don’t think anyone should ever criticize LeB. Saying Leonard is better than LeBron really isn’t that big of a stretch, seeing that Leonard is in the conversation for MVP. There are a lot of people that think Curry is better than LeBron. Just because you don’t agree, doesn’t mean that it cannot be argue/discussed.
Yes, saying Leonard is better than Lebron is ludicrous and nuts. LeBron shoulders a much larger load.
Again that’s your opinion Cols, but many may disagree with you. I’m not sure I’d say Leonard is better than LeBron, but I do think it’s closer than you think.
I agree that it is insane to say Kahwi is better to LBJ. People have lost their damn minds. Kawhi is a great player. LBJ is one of the 5 best players of all time who is still in his prime. This is just silliness. Kawhi thrives in a system that is designed to limit his contributions to only the things he is best at — defense, spot up shooting, and targeted post ups when he has a clear advantage. He has been incredibly efficient at those things this year. But he has SO MUCH LESS responsibility than LBJ and… Read more »
Sigh, should I listen to this or is it everybody complaining again?