Aside from Donovan Mitchell, do the Cavs have any All-Stars? | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

Aside from Donovan Mitchell, do the Cavs have any All-Stars? | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

On today’s show is Donovan Mitchell Al Lock to be an Allstar should Jared Allen be an All-Star let’s talk about it are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get

$150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bet that is 150 bucks if your team wins visit fanduel.com backlock on today to get started I’m Chris Manning that is Evan damal thanks again to Jake Stevens as always today’s about the allst star today is about the Cleveland

Cavaliers and what kind of players on this team who could make Allstar games has been disappointing that Evan Moy and others have not been allars tomorrow we’ll be looking at Cavs Nets we’ll be looking ahead at the upcoming schedule and Friday just so you guys

Know we will as soon as we can Thursday depending on the game uh when that goes we will get you a Cavs Nets recap up that’s a 2m tip Eastern Standard Time uh we will get that recap up depending on when I can get to the game but we will

Get you a recap up so you get immediate reaction to Cleveland in Paris as best we can um but Evan let’s dive in to Allstar start with Donovan Mitchell and I’m not even trying to ask this trolling Le is to you is he a lock to be an

All-Star you know I’d be surprised if he wasn’t at this point um I I know he had finished fourth in fan voting but either regardless of whether he’s a starter or not he is Cleveland’s best scoring player he is their most marketable name I think he is

Their most impact player just because he has been playing so well especially as of late like yeah he he’s I would say the lock to be an All-Star for the Cav for sure East guards is really competitive um the East guard situation Robbie K wrote about this over at

Diamond rocks a place I used to do some work at and Robbie’s great Robbie’s really smart so and this was helpful for me as I started thinking about Allstar here are just some of the East guards that are going to be in in the running

Um this this is who he had in there starters maxian Lillard then you got Jaylen Brunson who I think has to be an All-Star Hal Burton has to be an All-Star then it comes down to Trey young Donovan Mitchell and Derek white I to I would go Mitchell over Young the

Cavs are not obviously blowing teams out of the water but I think Mitchell being on a winning team does matter Trey young just has these like really absurd counting stats you know he’s averaging 27 he’s averaging like 28 a game right now he’s got big numbers on his side Mitchell has

I I think not been quite as overwhelmingly good on the whole as he was last year he’s averaging you know like about a point less per game it’s not much I’m not it’s not minding super super different but Trey has like a slight Edge on some of the counting

Stats I would go Mitchell over him just based on wins and based on some of the overall body of work but I think it’s competitive and I it doesn’t feel like quite to me as locked in as a year ago but I think Mitchell gets there then the

Question I think becomes bigs and Evan I understand how good Jared Allen has been of late I don’t think he’s an Allstar I think this has gotten like a little I I understand and the the push and I think you know Market it if you’re the team

Talk about it it’s fun for us to discuss I don’t think he’s actually an Allstar there’s a other names that I think have just been better and again this isn’t just centers this is front Court players so there’s a lot of different kinds of players he’s up against and to I just

Don’t think on the whole he’s been as good as he would need to be to actually be I think a legit full-on All-Star case yeah and I think to your point like the the front Court race makes it a a lot murkier like he’s competing with like Giannis uh

Embiid um just like those two is like the the liners there for sure um but like other than that like you’re dealing just with the entire field at that point um whether it is just um like bam out a bio or anybody else you can make a case

For a lot of players but like the the fact that it’s just front Court strictly um and like that’s small forward um power forward and the center like there’s like the small forward thing I didn’t even think of see like Jimmy Butler Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum um male

Bridges is having a pretty good season for Brooklyn um poo vano and Orlando’s been playing really well too like V Orlando like it’s just the the field gets very muddy unless like the NBA just comes out tomorrow and says like okay Center is separate from guards in front

Court and it used to a case maybe a couple years ago I think maybe over five years ago at this point but it’s just the reality situation I think like he is putting together a pretty solid year maybe he has like an inside shot if like

A bunch of NBA coaches seem to agree with like whatever JB bigger staff or Donovan Mitchell or even Isaac aoro are saying like publicly to the media and like maybe they just recognize the fact that he has been playing very well especially without Mo and Carin but uh

Yeah like just from the outside looking in there’s limited spots a available for the all-star teams to begin with there’s five starters I believe eight reserves and there’s only so many bodies that can go around just because the front court is three separate positions that are all jocking for a spot on the

All-Star here are the names uh that Robbie wrote out here that I I think are are just kind of worth diving into embiid Giannis Tatum Jaylen Brown who I feel a little sure about than he does in this case pal banero bam out bio Scotty Barnes who’s been awesome this year and

Is again a front Court player then you get into Jimmy Butler J where where’s where’s the just has he been hurt Miss some time Julius randle’s in there yeah vogner’s in there and porzingis is in there you have guys that are having I think have had overall

Better years guys that are on slightly better teams it’s just going to be really hard it would have been hard for Evan Mobley who we’ll talk about in the next segment if he was healthy to it is just very very possible to me Evan that the Cavs end up with one Allstar and

It’s Donovan Mitchell like that like it’s a it’s a cry from a couple years ago when they had three obviously they only had the one last year’s well and that was Mitchell but it felt a little bit different because the team was doing well and all that stuff this year just

It’s going to it’s going to be Mitchell there on his own Garland won’t be there moy won’t be there I don’t think Allen’s going to get there unless he just continues this run for like another month and it’s just so overwhelming that gets him in there I just don’t think I’m

There yet with him more on that on on yesterday show if you want some more Jared Allen and and what he is right now talk but I think this feels like a one All-Star team and that feels like that feels right to me all things consider I agree and do you think that

Is because it’s because of injuries on court play or a combination of both things and I think it’s for me at least a combination of both things I think I think it it’s always a combination of of these things right like it is it is both the fact

That they are in a situation where they’ve had a bunch of guys miss time they have had guys that I don’t think played up to what I thought they could do I think Moy and and Garland in particular both kind of had not the the years that I think I was hoping before

They got hurt or years that I would have hoped I mean Garland you assist a little bit um you know shooting well from the field overall but not shooting as well as he ever has from three turnovers a little bit up like there there’s just some stuff there where like it’s not

Quite the ascending Seasons you might have expect and that I think has par relateded into the fact that the team hasn’t succeeded in thisway that team isn’t as good as I think people expected and then you look at like if we’re in a world war re World winning

For this in some way like the Celtics are the first team since the Hawks of a couple you know I think 145 they got four Allstar where like maybe their success just gets them four Allstars and like okay I would get that does their success get their entire starting five

Eastern Conference player of the month honors talk to me when they d w it’s actually just it’s just Derrick White five times I say this as as a member of the Dereck white is awesome club and Derrick White is the king of the NBA to the game

I I have been here since he was in Colorado okay well he’s he’s my Bal King he’s great we’re bald yeah he’s got shave your head fellas it’s good for you all right coming up next is it disappointing that Evan Mobly I know he’s hurt but is it

Disappointing that didn’t feel like he was taking that step up what caused it where what’s what’s going on there let’s talk about that up next today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel the NFL regular season is over but the playoffs are here and there’s time to get in on

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Can all say was not having the exact kind of year people wanted them or wanted him to have I should say is it to you disappointing that before the injury we did not see Nevan Moy that that was growing in a massive way that felt like

A star leap is happening in front of us so I’ll give this with a caveat I thought we saw more of it when it’s weird because we’re seeing a lot of Jared Allen thriving um at least on offense and I think defense they’ve certainly taken a step back without Moy

But when those two aren’t playing together and they are like theary Hub as like that what the Cavs want to use their bigs to do I saw those like flashes from Moy there was moments where maybe he box score-wise wasn’t make huge huge impact but yeah I would say just in

Terms of maybe the weight of expectations they certain certainly broke um things down for me a little bit just because I was expecting quite a bit more I’d say like whether it’s the three-point shot which is something I watched him practice incessantly it shoot around in practices

And everything and something the C have talked about for almost two years now or like the playmaking stuff is still there and I think it’s still a work in progress It’s not perfect like his handle still pretty loose like I don’t know if I would be 100% comfortable with

Him like regularly bringing the ball up and transition um and then like the defense it’s always there and it’s gotten much much better I think the fact that he’s gotten so much better defending at a multifaceted level without fouling is incredibly underrated what Evan M brings to the table but I

Would say and the question I poised last segment was kind of with him in mind I think maybe Garland too but more so Moy like this knee injury was just such suboptimal timing because there was a lot of questions about what he was in his third year what

He could be and like there was moments it was kind of felt like okay we’re starting to get a better idea of it he’s starting to find maybe his comfort in this new systems JB bigger staff is trying to utilize but looking ahead like it it’s murky for

Me because I I don’t know how he’s going to look post knee surgery and I I know modern medicine makes it better but like big men with the injuries give me pause so or the injury history rather gives me pause but you have to just kind of take

It game by game and kind of have a clear understanding of what he is like again Superstar defensively still unrefined offensively and I’m kind of waiting for the offense to still catch up to at least catch up like maybe be in the rearview mirror of what his defensive game

Is yeah I I think for me there’s definitely disappointment because I I think you’ve seen someone like Scotty Barnes in Toronto has taken this really big leap that’s really have to hold a candle to and go man yeah and I still would rather I

Think have Moy I love What mo is I love the upside for him but it hasn’t fully happened for him in the way you might have liked I think you go beyond that and I and there there’s a there’s a thought in my brain Evan a little bit

About okay how did we get here with Moy and that to me is the more interesting question to some degree just because I I am someone who really likes getting into the process of things I like getting into okay how did this happen not always just what it is because I

Think you can learn something from how it happened with mopley I’ve thought a little bit about the differences in how Chad was brought along and how Victor wanyama in some ways is being brought along the Cavs have not thrown Mo and look they’re not one-onone prospects all that

Stuff but the Cavs have not thrown Moy to the deep end in the way that the Thunder have with chat and just not really having a center to support him and the and the the Spurs are starting through by realizing Victor gyama is just a five there the numbers on lineup data

With Mo the five St last couple years have had some ups and downs they they’ve struggled on defense in some way but I think there’s a world where you can learn something more about Mo and he would have been pushed in a way that might have been good for him

That we haven’t gotten to see there is a world where Moy is just thrown into that deep end and maybe the team is a little bit worse at the start as a result but he might have been better off for it in some ways and again you get Jared Allen

I get it you got him for cheap cheap price all that stuff but there is to me something that could that is just lost in the fact that he wasn’t exactly thrown down all the way into the deep end in a way that might have brought something different different out of him

That we’ve seen to date yeah and I think like you said that not throwing in the deep end thing is an interesting thing I think especially with Scotty um like as my just person I think about or player rather um the way Toronto uses him like they are first off

Like full seam ahead committed to the idea and principle that like our offense defense the our entire game plan runs through Scotty Barnes whereas for Evan Moy like he gives you a lot of good things whether it’s offense defense but he doesn’t maybe have the opportunities

Barn does or like just you know the the first option this of what Barnes has just because like he is sharing the floor with Mitchell and Garland and that’s not a slight against how the Cavs have built this team like I think they have done a very good job Drafting and

Developing talent and also just being in the right place in the right time to go get a superstar shooting guard but I I am curious to look at how this team builds and fleshes out like I think to me it’s starting to become clear that like

Moy is just not going to become like a three-point shooter and going forward like do you want to throw him to the fire all at jet or like wemi and just play like Center exclusively and you find a stretcher forward to put next to him or the problem is like how do you

Kind of find that to kind of keep you in that win now position that you are already are in now so it’s a weird tight rope walk the gavs are walking right now um I I again we talked about this in like the stock upstock holding episode but I

Want to see what this team looks like with this kind of like really locked in Jared Allen and a posts surgery of Moy to kind of have an understanding of this partnership and just where Mo stands but for now like I kind of throw up my hands

And go I have to wait and see and I think just trying to be patient for it does eat at you a little bit because you you kind of want to see it now because at least for me I had a really high expectations from mbly coming into this

Season can the way we talked about this a little bit the other day but just to ask very bluntly the question because we don’t think we really did on that show sure can can the Cavs have Jared Al the way he’s playing right now play with

Evan Moby can those two guys coexist in a real way I mean you could say yes until the cows come home or have moments where it works but like that is an internal thing like is Mo willing to swallow his a little bit and be the the the number two to Jared Allen

After kind of being you know I don’t want to say propped up or you know at least put on a pedestal as like the franchise’s Savior and like Jared Allen certainly was not put in that spot um and I kind of have to wait and see like

I want to say yes but I I’m waiting to see again like I know it’s a cop out in a sense but like I want to see like five to 10 games of it especially with maybe not on a minutes restriction just to have an idea of like okay the

Cavs are fully leaning into the allen tank versus no they’re going to really try and Empower Evan Moy and they’re going to limit what the good A lot of the good Jared Allen did for them what what about you I don’t know if you can have Jared Allen do the stuff he’s doing

Right now when it’s him and mo it’s so tricky to like think about it cuz they just op they need to operate in the same spaces like it comes down to the fact that often times they need to operate in the same spaces and I unless

One of them suddenly can shoot threes or you figure like I I’m just highly skeptical that you can have them play the way Jed alls playing together and that to me is there there’s something there where you’re it’s the easiest evolution of this team in some ways Remains the Jared Allen

Trade that’s tricky it’s complicated I’m not trying to trade him tomorrow if I’m Cleveland because you’d be getting tough value back from him there’s just no way around it but there is something to be figured out there that I’m waiting to figure it feels like the way Jared’s playing Evan comes

Back resolution to some some finite answer it’s just I think we’re going to know a little more um and and especially if the team has higher aspirations to some degree to evolve list and keep building on a big thing all right after this let’s look ahead to

2025 what Cavs on the roster right now whether they’re on the team or not looking at you Donovan Mitchell are going to be Allstar caliber players in 2025 not just at Allstar weekends what players on the team right now have the upside to be an Allstar a year from

Now we’ll do that conversation after this today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at betterhelp around New Year’s we get obsessed with how to change ourselves instead of just expanding on what we’re already doing right maybe you fully finally organized part of your space and want to tackle

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All right Evan 2025 allstar game what Cavs to you will be All-Star caliber players next year what players do you think have a chance to be in the running to make an All-Star team this time next year Well we don’t quite know what the obvious answers future is of this team

So I would I want to say Darius Garland with a heavy asterisk on whether or not he’s healthy that that’s kind of my answer me right now because we don’t know what the future hold quite future holds excuse me quite yet between Mitchell and the Cavs well I’m just saying let’s count

Him I’m saying I said this we’re going to count him in then Mitchell then Garland asteris so let’s just say yeah let’s just assume Mitchell is on the team and I’m not saying like I’m not just asking this in the sense of like okay what has to go

Right that’s a conversation for future Chris and future Evan and and all that I’m asking who has a chance I think there are three players that have a would have a chance to be an allar next year I don’t think I think it’s too early just to say like Evan Moy can’t

Fig like take a leap forward and be an All-Star in year four that to me is selling Evan Mo short I think he’s on that list I think Donovan Mitchell absolutely is on on that list he is still going to be in the prime of his career next season this is someone who

Is in the prime of his career right now he’s to be 28 very well should think he’s going to sustain something like the level play we seen in the last couple years from him in his next season and I and Darius Garland can do too this guy

Made an All-Star game two years ago he is still he’s still in his mid he’s 24 right now I’d say he’s top five in his position in the conference right yeah he so he will be 24 in at the end of this month he will be 25 when you get to the

Fullon voting next year he’s really good at his position it is certainly a stacked position at guard in the back court there’s Trey there’s Tyrese halberton there’s there’s Donovan Mitchell there’s Jaylen Brun like it is loaded we talked about this when he made his first ler game sometimes it can just

Be hard for a guys to slip in but took Mike Conley forever and was past his Prime and Mike Conley is still kicking for him to get into an allstar game it is not always a perfect encapsulation of how good a guy is but I think there’s a

World where there’s three guys that are on this roster next year that are good enough to make an All-Star game I I’m not ruling on Darius Garland I’m certainly not ruling on Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell is going to be in his prime all the the pessimism you can have

About the Cavs I think a lot of it is very fair it’s still possible they have three players at that level going into next year and that is something that is something they can at least work with and if you want to have optimism it’s the fact that they have three guys that

Are really good and if Mitchell does go you still have two guys that that have have All-Star potential and All-Star caliber play in them I think you could make an argument for Jared Allen as well just you know we we had the conversation I think the

Field makes it harder and I think that’s the nice thing with how Cleveland has built this team whether it’s through drafting or trading for Mitchell or I should have mentioned Allen earlier too it’s always weird to think that the feels so long ago in the Cavs traded for

Him but either way like on paper Cleveland has three to four All-Star caliber players on the rock R ER at the beginning of every season as long as you know Mitchell is here of course and then like you said if Mitchell’s gone it’s two to three Allstar Cav players on the

Roster to start a season um other than that it’s just it really depends on individual success I think team success does play a factor especially when it comes to like the reserve voting um Donovan talks about this a lot I think the fact that the

Cavs are outside of him like such a soft smoke spoken team and they don’t aren’t really like on the cameras a lot are kind of like just you know making proclamations or having like the flashiest plays most nights like Mitchell is a dude who is in commercials

He is he has his own shoe line with Adidas like he is a very popular player from his time in Utah and has only gotten even more popular in his time with Cleveland I’d say um like I think he’ll always have just like the the name

Brand appeal to open it and then it just kind of depends on like how this team pans out like if they’re healthy yeah I think Garland is number two in this race and then Moy three Allen four um but health is like the biggest factor and

Then also just how’s the rest of the how are things going rather for the rest of the Eastern Conference especially now that Adam Silver’s broken up the draft format when it comes to um how teams are picked the all stre we’re going to end there I’m Chris

Manning that is Evan daral thanks again to Jake Stevens as always we’ll be back at you ahead of tomorrow’s Cavs game in Paris Cavs Nets will preview that game look ahead at the Cavs upcoming schedule and more then we’ll have a recap of that game up obviously late on Thursday night

To get you ready into the weekend I’m Chris Manning that’s EV damal have a great rest of your day everybody

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024) hosts Chris Manning (@cwmwrites, The Just Basketball Show, SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, Forbes Sports) and Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) discuss whether the Cavs have any other All-Stars this season beside Donovan Mitchell, whether or not it’s disappointing that Evan Mobley and/or Darius Garland didn’t have All-Star caliber seasons and which Cavs have the best chances of All-Star appearances in their future.

This episode was produced by Jake Stephens. The intro music is from our friends at Astral Radio.

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