Podcast 322: Enter the Umlaut
2026-02-02One of the most frustrating Cavs of my lifetime, is no longer wearing wine and Gold. De’Andre Hunter was traded to the Sacramento Kings, Saturday, and in his place arrived Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder, a man we’ve joyfully referred to as “The Umlaut” for the shock of white in his hair he often wore and the dots over the “o” in his name. (I edited the the title pic to add the second dot). To break down the trade, Nate Smith, Chris Francis, and Eli Kim jumped in the the podcast booth and went through the ins and outs and what-have-yous of the deal. It wasn’t unanimous praise.
As a fair warning, this was recorded right before the Cavs’ entertaining defeat of the Portland Trailblazers, Sunday night, which saw Jarrett Allen post the best game of his career: a 40/17/5, six stock, zero turnover evisceration of Portland’s Donovan Clingan. To say that the Cavs seem to be suffering from the departure of Hunter would be a lie. The ball moved and everyone played more free. We spent a good bit of the pod figuring out how the Hunter addition went so wrong.
To decide whether trade was good for the Cavs, and whether it might lead to something larger, we broke down Ellis’ and Schröder’s game, how they mesh, and the best (and worst) case scenario for their Cavalier tenure. We got into a lot of other topics too, including the All-Star selections, the possibility of LeBron returning to Cleveland next summer, whether the Cavs will be able to swing for the fences in another trade, whether Giannis gets moved at all this season, Koby’s talent development pipeline, stupid news from around the NBA, and so much more.
As always, catch us below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, or Spotify.
Powered by RedCircle
We had 17 steals tonight. That has to be close to a record.
4: Mitchell
3: Schröder
2: Allen, Tomlin, Ellis
1: Wade, Tyson, CPJ, Proctor
10 games over .500.
Into the top 10 in point diff.
Top 8 in PPG.
Loss column:
12: OKC , Detroit
————
16: San Antonio
18: NY, Boston, Houston
19: Denver, Lakers
20: Minnesota, Phoenix
21: Cavs, 76ers
22: Toronto
All 13 Cavs have scored.
Schröder & Tomlin a bit too shor happy, but at least they are not bashful.
Still a good win shorthanded vs a shorthanded & dispirited Clipper team.
Enaruna in with Proctor.
Enaruna hits a triple!
LNJ in & a bucket.
No Proctor/Enaruna yet.
Dubs trade Kuminga & Hiekd to Atl for Porzingas.
No Giannis for them, apparently.
Lead up to 33.
Big 3rd quarter from Mitchell & Merrill. Tyson & JA scoreless. Bryant wuth 3 blocks. Cavs up 26.
like to see Enaruna get some minutes
Yep. Let’s push this up past 30 and then light the cigar (LNJ, Proctor, Enaruna).
he is the “low point man” at 2, so far
Tyson: 15 & 4 reb, 3 of 3 from deep
Mitchell: 14/3/6
Allen: 10/8/2
Schröder: 9/2/2 + 2 steals on 4/10
Bryant: 6 pts
Only 3 TOs that half.
Maybe no need for harden and we waive him?
Flurry at the end pushes in to a 20 pt leasd 62-42.
Tyson 0-3 from the line. Make the easy ones. Lead in double digits.
9 pts in 8 minutes the quarter. Lead down to 7.
Need more agression/feeding of Allen. No shots this quarter.
Oops, I cannot add past my bedtime. 8 & 10.
Ellis scratches, 3 PT.
KA playin our 2 former Kings together with Tyson, Wade,,& Allen.
Lead down to 10.
Tomlin might need to sit. Good TO.
36-18 after one.
Would like to see another big quarter and put this close to bed early do we can have a stress free W and work on getting Schröder & Ellis integrated.
Allen & Tyson with 8 each, Spida 7, Schröder 6.
Ellis is the 10th man. 34-16 Cavs.
Schröder & Tomoin were the first subs in.
CPJ & Bryant next.
Cavs up 25-12.
Schröder bucked, block, board!
Then a TO. Stuffing the stat sheet.
Tuson misses 2 FTs, Schröder in.
Not cleaning the glass well there.
Zubac out tonight for peronal reasons for LAC.
The Pistons are gonna have the best record at the break.
The top of the East is smoking right now.
Pistons: 8-2 in last 10
Knicks: 8-2, 8 in a row
Celtics: 7-3, up big tonight
Cavs: 8-2
76ers: 7-3, 5 in a row
———–
Raptors: 5-5
SGA out of ASG. Harden, Sengun, or Big Finnish?
Nuggets ran out of gas.
Yep.
Joker was like 1-13 from 3. He & Braun just got back.
Wilson pulled a hammy late, Gordon & Cam Johnson aleady out.
NY was only down Hart.
Great game, though.
Bridges breathing sighs of relief.
Minny wins.
Double OT thanks to Bridges.
Minny up 2 under 2.
Minny w the win
OMIER 26/ 22 on 10/13—— LIKE I SAID YOU DONT HAVE TO HAVE 2nd round picks ———- KHAYES 27/ 9/ 19 — NOT A BAD STAT LINE —- WILL GARNER ATTENTION
KJG MAKING A BIG DEAL ABOUT LOSING 2nd ROUND PICKS——- THEY DIDNT READ MY EARLIER POST ABOUT UNDRAFTED CAVS NOW ON THE TEAM – WADE / CPJ / NYQUIL/ ELLIS / SAM ( we groomed him at the Gleague ) —SOON TO BE ( year or 2 ) OMIER ——— IF YOU HAVE AN EYE FOR TALENT AND A GREAT DEVELOPMENTMENTAL PROGRAM/ CHARGE YOU CAN STILL SURFACE DECENT ROLE PLAYERS ——- KJG WOULD STILL LIKE TO TRADE JA 👎🤪👎🤪
All they donis post negative stuff. They are pure trash.
KJG occasionally has something good, but most of the time it is crap. I think it is partly (at least) AI generated. for one thing, they keep using the same template for the headlines. these headlines are so lame you cannot help but notice them
OT in NY. Wolves within 2 mid 4th..
Rockets getting crushed.
OT! Carrying us through to the Cavs game, much appreciated.
Exactly!
Celtics up 7 at half without Brown.
And up 17 midway through the third. Go Wolves (trailing raps by 4 mid-4th
Nugs/Knicks is a good one.
Denver up 2, 5 min left.
Yes
I don’t understand the Ball trade. We get nothing back?
lmaoooooooo
We got cap/luxury tax relief and an open roster spot which we can use to sign Tomlin.
Which is what we wanted.
Relief
No understand the rationale (and support it!) — just don’t understand the mechanics of a trade where we get nothing?
and, we had to send along two draft picks for someone to pick up his salary. so it is worse than getting nothing back.
If you must get under the second apron, dumping Schroder is probably the play. Seems wack but there are super important roles for Max and Allen and Wade that can’t be replaced in the open market really.
Whereas replacement level point guard play is easy to get and you have coverage in Mitchell at the 1.
I know it is rumor season, but I don’t think any of those thing are remotely likely. KJG stuff.
Mobely could be out for weeks, trading Allen makes zero sense to me. Unless it is for another C type, and none make sense with AD off the board.
Trading Wade would be nuts, IMHO. He’s our only serviceable big eing.
I don’t think we’d have had Schröder report if we intended to deal him. Maybe in the summer.
Strus is possible if we think his injury will linger.
But I have certainly been wrong before.
Harden/DG trade is official now.
I must say, I look forward to Mobes shutting Robinson’s dunks down in future Knicks games and forcing him to shoot.
Harden supposed to debut vs Sac if all goes well.
KHAYES UPDATE —— 20/ 8/ 9 ——-AT HALFTIME——-I SEE TEAMS COMING TO CALL———- DO WE TRY TO KEEP——- IS THERE ANY VIABLE ROOM/ MONEY??
I think Tomlin is a lock to get a roster spot. If we don’t, he can only play in like 3 more games.
I don’t think there is a spot for Hayes right now. There would have to be a 2 for 1 trade. We are out of tradeable 2nds, so no salary dumps where we pay someone to take someone.
Our hope is he feels some loyalty tonys for giving him the chance.
We should give him a 2 way next year (which is as soon as we can, I think), at min.
IDK why we cannot do it this year.
AGREED JASON ( HAYES ) SIZE IS ALWAYS A PLUS- – THINK HAYES MIGHT BE A “ LATE BLOOMER “ FINALLY FIGURING THE NBA GAME OUT “ PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTH/—WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES “ 👍
KAT busted wide open in a clash of heads, cut under the eyebrow.
Both fighters go to their corners.
Joker stayed in. On a minutes restriction.
Murray with 14 early. Nugs up 2.
Played beyond restriction in close game against Detroit last night. Likely paying for it tonight.
Joker hobbling. That isn’t good.
How long has he been back? This is bad.
4 games. They called TO but he came back in.
Tough opponents tonight for Knicks (Denver), Raptors (Minny), and Celtics (Houston). Let’s get three eastern conference losses here.
OKC w/out SGA & Williams for a while. There could be a rash of L’s incoming there.
(My optimism is ON so I am caring about teams our West now).
JASON ——HAYES CAN SIGN WITH ANY TEAM SHOWING INTEREST—- WITH THE SURPLUS OF GAURDS —- HE MAY VIEW “ THE CROWDED CUPBOARD “ AND DECIDE HIS OPPORTUNITY IS WITH ANOTHER TEAM—-ESPECIALLY IF THEY COME CALLING
Gotcha.
IIRC, we cannot sign him to a two way, sonit is either roster him or he is a FA.
Well, we have a lot of PGs/Combo guards atcthe moment. But Harden is 36, Schröder never stays in one place too long, and I seem to be higher on CPJ than the Cavs are, and he is not guaranteed next year.
Things could change rapidly. Hayes has some size and that makes sense with Mitchell at the 2.
For those who do not follow world basketball, Germany (with Dennis Schröder) are the reigning FIBA World Champions (2023, beat US in SF) and reigning EuroBasket champs (2025).
Schröder was MVP of both tournaments.
They finished 4th at the last summer Olympics in 2024.
Playing for country brings out the best in some players (see Rubio).
So where is team with respect to aprons now?
Just over the 2nd, with a roster spot open.
$3.8 mil over.
👍👍👍👍JASON ON DG
NOMAD, what brought on that Hayes comment?
I think he is an excellent prospect for next year if we decide to move Schröder. Though CPJ would have to level up.
Maybe a consolidation trade that gets you under apron (CPJ/Nance/Bryant/Strus) for Nurk, fit Thomas into the TPE and bring Tomlin up? but not sure if that works exactly
Nurk makes $19 million. Itcwould have to be Strus + 1/2 more. For Nurk? Why? Bryant has been decent.
I like CPJ & Strus way more than Thomas.
I like Strus a lot I’m just trying to think through a path for a third big that takes us under the apron.
I think I’d stand pat. Moving 3 rotation guys is enough
DG with a classy farewell letter.
Hope he gets healthy and balls out in LA.
https://x.com/dariusgarland22/status/2019155451758428431
love ya DG, hope you are back in the ASG soon!
I thought I read we were down to one tradeable 2nd, that must have been wrong.
With Ball gone, I think we are probably done trading. Though maybe Strus/Schröder is not out of the question.
I’d expect we sign Tomlin to a standard deal to fill that roster spot.