Locking horns and talking Cleveland Cavaliers with GSPN’s Ti Windisch

Locking horns and talking Cleveland Cavaliers with GSPN’s Ti Windisch

On today’s show I am joined by the eurosteps and gpn’s head honcho Tai Windish as we talk more about Cavs bucks the sudden coaching change from Milwaukee and we look ahead to game two of this two game series in the Cream City are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

As I had mentioned at the top of the show ladies and gentlemen he’s back our most frequent guest especially when the Bucks are playing the Cavs it is Ty Windish Ty how are you doing this morning let’s go I’m doing great Evan thank you for having me back we there’s

So many Bucks things to talk about but it’s nice to have just a game actual basketball to talk about versus rumors and Reporting and who’s making the calls and who’s coming in and we all know who went out but uh seeing Giannis especially and Chris Middleton uh have a

Great game against Cleveland and you know Damen Lillard maybe not finding the success from the floor but able to get some foul shots and you know pass the ball but it was just great to after all the noise that this week has brought around the Bucks watch them play a very

Good team I don’t know if you saw Joe PR’s press conference after the game he’s stressed like the Cavs are playing so well like this is a game like he kept trying to get back to that I think he really probably just didn’t want to talk about much else beside the game given

Everything going on but you know talked about the run the Cavs are on their point differential over the last eight games and just how proud he was of the Bucks and I think every bucks fan was proud relieved whatever to see them come out and play such a strong game wire to

Wire against a team that is really rolling even with their injuries so so I want to ask you this um I I did get Snippets of fronty presser I didn’t watch or listen to the whole thing but I did see him heaping Praise on the Cavs that I understand you don’t

Want to talk about technically your former boss just on his way out the door and you’re kind of taking holding down the four for him until your maybe new boss comes in depending on what Doc Rivers does but it was a weak removed from when the Cavs last played the Bucks

And we had neach on the show for Thursday just to talk about it we really focused on how like Giannis just being there and being the force and ancient that he is was a huge difference maker but just overall as a guy who lives breathes eats covers the Bucks

Extensively um did you just notice a tonal shift compared to not even just a week ago but just overall in the season just versus like having fronty Manning the fort versus Griffin like we’re not going to obviously speculate but I I remember I messaged you or texted you

Saying when the Bucks were in town I’m like are the Bucks normally this bad defensively without Yannis or they just this bad in general and he said he told me like it’s a little bit of column a column B just like they’re not good defensively this year so did you just

Notice like a total shift from them last night just compared to where they were at for the be you know the beginning of the season to what now yeah it did seem like I mean of course you know we weren’t going to see like a full

Schematic change I I think it seems like they were closer to the rim a lot defensively which is one thing that Eric name of the athletic who does great bucks coverage pointed out like you know the things that they’ve not been good at are B being too aggressive for offensive

Rebounds and not getting back in transition which has really been something that has um you know just undone the Bucks all all all season and they outscored the Cavs 20 to 14 on Fast Break points which is what kind of a show shows you that like okay they

Didn’t they didn’t get gouged in transition at least not more than they got and they only allowed six offensive rebounds and and got 10 of their own in this game as well so those two things I think as well as you know it’s Joe prty or or Doc Rivers or whoever being the

Coach isn’t going to magically you know make Damen Lillard and Malik Beasley and Chris Middleton defensive Stoppers but I think there’s they can go away from kind of the aggressive defense that Adrien Griffin tried to bring and Tamp down but still was somewhat bringing from his Toronto days and maybe just be more

Solid and that that could just be enough given what they have offensively right I mean this was you know Dame is8 for 21 and they score 12 six points like fairly easily and they shoot 37.9% from Deep which is good but it’s like you know slightly above average like there’s

Going to be nights when you shoot 45% from Deep there’s going to be nights when Dame doesn’t miss that many shots at all much less 13 of his 21 so yeah I think I think I’m assuming big variable coming in the door but I’m assuming we’re going to see more

Of the kind of you know less aggressive defense more just make him take a tough shot rebound everything we can and then our offense can carry the day also the rotation changed quite a bit I mean Andre Jackson Jr had started some games this year when other players were

Injured he was a pretty steady constant presence in the rotation and pry leaned on the Vets I mean Jay Crowder and Bobby poris with the first two Off the Bench Pat Conan then played and knocked down a couple threes which Bucks fans were surely relieved and then Cameron Payne

Was the the ninth man the last one in the true rotation you know all vets that the Bucs could rely on so interesting to see you know maybe relying Less on the young raw athleticism with a defense that maybe is needing less of that although the Bucks in general could just

Use more athletes for sure I think I mean most teams could usually use more younger athletic players but it is interesting because you mentioned Andre Jackson junor um and then just some of the other younger players like the at least Cavs fans saw when Milwaukee was in Cleveland last we’re getting some

Serious Andes sure no Jana has definitely played a part in that but I do Wonder just because PR’s been around the team for since 2023 and he was the assistant now he’s the interim for the time being do you just think maybe him having maybe a better

Understanding of like the key core guys on this roster mostly Jay Chris uh Giannis Brooke Etc and like Pat as well like just like he’s like okay I know these are vets I can trust I can lean on in this situation just because it is like a chaotic tumultuous

Situation to be in just because a Griffin’s let go he’s named the interim head coach and then within I think hours of him kind of being named the head coach interim head coach rather by just people in the media it’s like oh Doc Rivers is just swooping in so like you

Know just to kind of write the ship do you just think it’s just at least in my eyes it seemed like the right move just to lean on vets and guys that he at least knows can go out there and get him a bucket or get him a stop and he needs

Them to yeah I think I think that’s right you know I think Joe pry this is his third time serving as an assistant head coach overall he actually when the Bucks fired Jason kid six years in a day before they fired Adrien Griffin he was the assistant coach who took over then

Too and I believe he also served in Atlanta before Quin Snyder came in and so this is a guy this is he knows this job right like he knows what this requires and I think when you’re serving as the interim head coach and you you we

Maybe we won’t say no but have a very very strong suspicion there is a another head coach coming in soon you really just don’t want to rock the boat tooo much you know you don’t want the team create you want to keep things moving forward um which I think pry you know

From his comments and the way he coached did a great job but you know you’re not making big changes you know so it’s like let’s play the Vets these guys know how to play Let’s simplify things a bit defensively on offense let’s just have a bunch of Chris Damon Yannis which I

Think one of the things Bucks fans were most excited about this game is you look at the shot distribution which I think would get messy a lot of the times this season Giannis 24 Dame 21 plus 11 free throws Chris 15 and then next up is

Brook Lopez with seven I think the the key players were involved a much better to a much better degree on offense we would see games where you know Brooke is in double digit shots and most of them are threes and it’s like teams are okay with that you know you want Giannis

Chris and Dame to be the ones who are out there winning or losing that game and they certainly were tonight or last night excuse me against against the Cavs but yeah I think when you’re the interim coach like put make things easy use guys you can trust to just give yourself a

Really high floor and and just you know keep things moving for dock or whoever else and I think pry did a great job of that and who knows maybe he’ll have to on Friday although I know you I saw your tweet that I loved of the Cavs could

Maybe set some history here if they’re the first team to play against three different head coaches in 10 days the same team I mean that would be a pretty wild piece of NBA we need ESPN stats and info to dive into that that is a when

You put it that way it’s a pretty just bizarre uh thing to have happened in an NBA season no it really is weird to think about and I think that’s you know um to steal from Mark Stein and Chris Haynes it’s hashtag this league for sure maybe not uncut but it’s definitely this

League but I appreciate you setting the table because this will be a beautiful way to lead in the next segment we can talk more about the Cavs and the Bucks of course but just like you know adjustments both teams could make especially cuz we saw a different looking Milwaukee Squad like you said

More veteran L and I think Chris Middleton having a big game and Giannis being backward certainly factors NCH and I dumped dived into that quite a bit on Thursday’s show but before we do that we got to get a quick word in from today’s sponsors today’s episode of Locked on

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That was a talked quite a bit about the Bucs but there’s a lot to unpack with that team because I thought we saw a lot of changes from the first time these two teams flash to when we saw them in Milwaukee Wednesday night but looking at

To Friday tie I think for Cleveland side of things obviously if Giannis plays they don’t have like a Bonafide help Defender to help Cher Allen he’s kind of on an island a little bit and I talked with numac about this a bit but it was impressive that Allen didn’t rack up a

Single foul in this game despite the constant Rim pressure Giannis was throwing at them but I I do wonder if this is one of those scenarios where you are under B if you’re Cleveland and you kind of focus on the role players on Milwaukee’s team like you talked about

The shot distribution I think Isaac auro did a pretty I mean at least have forced a lot of Daman Lillard attempts he got Dame on quite a few or he made he bit on a few attempts on Dame and got Dame to the line a few times but you know 8 of

20 I think you’re going to take like making Dame work for those points is something you’ll take if you’re Isaac aoro or the Cavs I think yanis like that’s just hard stop no matter what because he is one of the best players in the world um but if like look at a guy

Like Chris midd who did not have a good game the first time these two teams met I wonder if there’s a pressure point the Cavs could hit whether it’s with Dean Wade who is a one of the better perimeter Defenders on Cleveland’s team I think Max juice has stepped up quite a

Bit I wonder if Donovan Mitchell can use his wingspan and tap in on it and the Cavs can kind of grind this out a little bit because if you can make Chris Middleton uncomfortable maybe he doesn’t feel as inbalance or in Rhythm to hit one of those back baking breaking

Three-pointers when you claw the game back into the game about down six or eight points and like I don’t know just like for me like I’m looking at x-factors on Milwaukee’s roster and clearly yeah it’s the two superstars at the very top but if you would hurt the

Star All-Star caliber players in Chris or former All-Star caliber players in Chris or guys that are like super high-end role players and like Brooke or Chris or even Pat conon or uh Malik Beasley like if you find ways to hit pressure points on them to make them

Uncomfortable I feel like the Cavs could have a bit more of a shot because like you said like I I was pleasantly surprised how hard the Cavs played down the stretch despite kind of feeling everything was going against them to start this game yeah I think uh you know the Cavs

Only turned the Bucks over 11 times versus 12 for Cleveland I think that’s been an area that Milwaukee has struggled with at points throughout the season and given that they are an older slower team running in transition is something that they they struggle to do and again I think probably post Adrien

Griffin now they’ll they’ll be getting back a little bit better but still I think you know a live ball turnover there’s only going to be so much they can do especially CU Yiannis is usually over by the rim and you know if it’s not the playoffs or the finals we don’t

Always see the the chase down blocks which is fine by me you know it’s Tannis don’t don’t uh empty the tank in in late January but yeah I think you’re but to your point on Chris and Dame I think the difficult thing with that is I think you

Definitely have to jump on the Chris I call it Chris and Friends minutes uh if you’re an opposing team so because Dame plays whole first quarters which is his comfort zone and helps you know get him in a rhythm for the game it’s pretty much impossible I think to stagger

Yannis and Dame entirely so they usually have Chris out there with maybe a couple other starters and some bench players at times in the second quarter and then sometimes in the early fourth quarter I think those winning those lineups is just really important because I think

Then if the bucks even if Chris just Treads water with those groups then you got Yannis and Dame coming back and that’s you know treading water is just fine so I think those are crucial CR lineups the hard part about focusing more on Chris or Dame is the Bucks you

Know for all of their schematic uh and coaching warts they probably because they’ve been doing this for a long time with Chris they’re really good at setting Giannis up one pass away from those guys so you know finding the right balance of like okay we want Chris

Covered up but you know if Dean Wade isn’t going to go help on yanis and they they’re going to set up the floor so okay then it’s a one-on-one again with Jared Allen who I think is just plays tremendous ball against the Bucks I think that maintained I mean I think

Obviously the honest assignment was was not going well for him but you know news doesn’t really go well for anyone I mean that’s that’s where Giannis is at I mean there’s very very very few players in the league who can guard him credibly one-on-one at all um but offensively you

Look at Allen had another great game where he was able to score on Brook Lopez with pretty much ease which I think is beyond impressive not picking up fouls is just crucial for I mean you know this of course a team that loses chist Thompson plus they already without

Evan Mobley and and Darius Garland like they need him to play a lot you know no disrespect to Damen Jones but I think he played pretty well all things considered but came from just not playing at all to now being the the backup big so um I

Think the Cavs really need to take advantage of the non Yannis and D minutes and then it’s just going to be tough with kind of a smaller roster without Moy out there I think it’s going to be hard to keep Giannis out as long as Chris and Dame having any success

Scoring the ball which we saw Chris certainly was Dame got it done but that’s the thing about the Bucks I mean if both of those guys are rolling it really makes life easy for Yiannis no absolutely and like you said um I was impressed with the fact that Jarrett had

To kind of do double duty like sure Brooke isn’t the maybe the big big off offensive threat that he once was maybe he’s not Splash Mountain but he’s still maybe like a a little bit erosion hit and made the mountain a little smaller at this point in terms of just offensive

Impact but like I SP to there we go splash toe Splash toe I like that even though that could be a medic sounds like gross medical condition at the same time but um um I was talking with Allen about this uh leading into last Wednesday’s game when they were in Cleveland and I

Said like cuz it was assumed at that point Giannis was going to play because he wasn’t even on the injury report then he was suddenly ruled out with that right shoulder contusion um I just said like oh there’s a challenge defending stretch here Bigs like Brooke goes like

That opens up the lane for Giannis obviously if he’s if Brooke’s able to pull you out of the paint I said like what kind of challenge is that he’s like oh yeah it’s really hard he’s like you have to like either be comfortable defending in space in isolation against

A guy who can pull you out like that and he’s like I enjoy those challenges but he’s just like then having to recover and then like try and help against Giannis is even harder because he’s like he’s so physical and so strong and so unrelenting and just how he attacks you

That there’s just possessions are moments where you just want to say you know what screw it I’m I’m tired of dealing with this guy like I want to rake down on him and just you know either force him to go to the line and maybe try to make two or you know it’s

An and one opportunity but I am curious to see what adjustments they make CU like you said like Dean Wade does he kind of get more minutes of this one he need less minutes than San Marill and Caris lever two guys that came off the bench um but like you know like two

Minutes ahead of George Nang who’s not a defensive stopper compared to like Dean way neither is Dean way but I think Dean Wade’s just a more competent Defender so I he was a defensive stopper the last time these two teams played that’s for sure that is fair I mean he had Chris

Middleton locked up the last time these two teams met so maybe that’s the solution is throwing Dean Wade at Chris Middleton right away and just saying all right Jarrett you’re on your own with two guys uh you stretching up in the paint I mean streu on Brooklyn I mean

The Bucks here’s the thing I think the Cavs can get interesting with this because the Bucks don’t they’re not good or they’re not quick about oh there’s a six six seven guy on Brook like let’s get him right to the paint like they don’t get to that and punish it right

Away I think streu maybe is like on the border of like okay we just have to do this now but I think the problem for Cleveland is okay you put weight on Chris if you want to put Allen on Giannis who’s your Brook guy you know I

I I don’t know if you make a starting lineup change like but you don’t want to B stru who’s a good player you’re obviously not going to Ben Donovan Mitchell but I think you need a Coro for Dame so it is just an I wonder maybe you

Know do you like the teams have tried to put guys like Marcus Smart on Yannis do you throw a Coro on Giannis I I don’t know or maybe on Brooke and see if you can stand him up I mean we might have to just get get a little funky and just

Start throwing stuff at the wall and see if you can confuse a maybe a brand new coach or or an interim coach for the bucks yeah so I don’t know that’s also a JB Baker staff special because I still remember when we had Larry n Jr on the

Show Once and they the Cavs rolled out the lineup of Larry n at the three Kevin Love at the four and Andre Drummond at the five I believe or some variation of that like many many moons ago was against the Heat and Larry said like

Yeah The Heat had no idea what we were doing I mean we had no idea what we were doing either out there but somehow we caught them off guard enough cuz like you said so maybe it is a funky wrinkle like that but like like you said I

There’s not going to be a wholesale lineup change you’re not going to bench Donovan Mitchell because logically the guy you probably start is Caris lever J Baker sta has been pretty consistent in the fact that he is Cleveland six-man like coming into the season Levert’s

Like I have a defined role and I think that’s really helpful just because like I was starting I was not starting I was out of the rotation for a bit I was hurt like I knowing that like I’m the first guy off the bench and they’re looking

For me to kind of get the offense rolling whether it’s my playmaking or just my own scoring like I think lever is really flourished in that role like sure he only had n94 and four against Milwaukee in this game I think the wrist injury is still still bothering him a

Little bit despite no longer having a rap on it but I yeah like I just don’t see like a wholesale change chapping like you’re not going to bench Isaac cuz you need him to really just be the Dame stopper to start the game and like he

Did a phenomenal job in the first one did made Dame work for it at least in the second game we’ll see how game three goes between these teams but I don’t know it’s just really interesting because like the the Cavs are hurting quite a bit not having Evan Moy out

There like I think that’s like my broad takeaway from last night’s game is like having Moy would have made quite a bit of difference just because like he really thrives as like that free safety Defender but you could really have him stuck to Giannis too and like Giannis

Has beaten Moy quite a bit in a lot of these contests up to this point but like I think just like at least it would have been enough to kind of rattle the Bucks cage a little bit and also just kind of make more of a cleaner like one toone

Match up with some of these just different players you’re plugging and playing in here but I don’t know I’m I’m excited to see what happens maybe Craig Porto J gets more minutes in this game just because he is more of a defensive guard with such a massive Wings span but

Or maybe the Cavs turn this into a bit of a boat race like they hate two more three-pointers in the bucks after taking nine more of them and I think the free throw disparity people Point their finger at and scream but I I don’t really care about that but like the Cavs

Surprisingly do have the shooters still to kind of like match a team shot for shot and like I can ask you that like would you feel comfortable if clevand tried to turn into a like a three-point shooting contest and like do you think Milwaukee has the Personnel to match it

Outside of obviously like you know Dame Lillard like just like between like Chris Malik maybe even Jay uh Pat like those guys they’ve been a little streaky lately but I certainly think muky is a personel to match a shootout with with basically anyone I mean you got you know

Dame and Chris are the two standouts from the three-point line but Malik Beasley has been one of the most effective catch and shoot players in the league and really has dominated the corners uh Pat Conan has not been as effective this season but I mean you

Know I said that I think coming into the game it was like 37% he was two for three so that that’s raised a little bit and there was a time when Cameron Payne was leading the league in three-point percentage he has certainly fallen off from that lofty goal but he was one for

Three as well and Jay Crowder um the first again Jay Jay Crowder and campaign were like red red hot to start the year and then campaign just kind of cooled off naturally Crowder got hurt and came back and you know threw up just a bunch of crap against the Pistons uh the Bucks

The last game before the the Cavs game but it was one for two and a very solid kind of contained effort uh some turnovers that that hurt him but in this game so I think they do I think it for the bucks it’s all about you know

Funneling the shots to the right players you know Yannis and Brook combine to take two threes which is fine when those guys combin to take like eight threes and it’s like okay that the offense is not working correctly like this is not the desired outcome but Beasley takes

Five Chris takes four Dame takes nine and then Conan and and pay both off the bench take three uh that to me is like okay when you’re getting those numbers up and maybe you could improve those even a little more just raise them more you know that’s that’s the shot

Distribution you want and you feel comfortable that you can hang around in a race with anyone I mean the Bucks I think are still the second offensive second offense in the league right now which you know means they’re the first offense in every other season before

This in terms of offensive rating as I think like seven or eight teams are this year which is honestly insane um but yeah I think I think I think Milwaukee Ken I mean I know that they are focused on uh NBA champion Sam Merrill uh fronty called that out in his presser

Specifically like you know I watched him against Orlando and like just like is he gonna miss no he’s not gonna miss and you know he was four for nine but I felt good about how we contained him despite being four for nine so I think the Bucks

I think it’s kind of a kyp situation know your personel and that they’re you know okay we we’ll let some guys shoot but we’re not going to let Merill get 13 open looks like we just can’t we know what he can do um so yeah I think you

Know I think the Bucks really want to get back to playing defense like I don’t think they want to get in a shootout but I think that they can they can win those games and they kind of had to for a lot of their wins so far this season gotcha

Gotcha well speaking of possible changes or adjustments um there might be a new man calling shots and it might be a lot of Dame Lillard uh Yan anden kmo pick and roll going forward instead which is apparently what the fans want but we’ll talk about that in a second but we got

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Podcast all right we are back Ty you had mentioned it I uh was jokingly saying like the Cavs could be facing the same team three times in less than 10 days with three different head coaches um I I I know a lot of folks said that this Griffin firing wasn’t super

Surprising because people were judging him from day one whether it was the fans and also just the front office monitoring them things internally according to reports but I’ll just ask you how do you feel about the Doc Rivers hiring compared to just you know in the wake of the injur Adrian Griffin

Firing yeah now that everything that has come out is is out there about you know the Griffin tenure and you know I think the the most damning or worst one for me was there was a report I think from Jim oari of the Milwaukee General Sentinel who’s on the Bucks beat basically that

Some of the big moments of the Year big defensive stands or or you know great wins that felt great and as a fan you’re like okay this is you know the kind of win that you know you can believe in this team and they’re turning things around some of their best defensive

Moments of the Season were players kind of just like freelancing or deciding to run what they wanted versus what what was actually called and when you read something like that it’s like okay you know what that’s a Yik this had to happen like something like you you’ve

Lost the team and you in any sport you know if you’re a coach and you lose the team and they’re just not even listening to you and they’re tuning you out in year one it’s just hard to go forward from there so you know is is any fan of the

Bucks or you know most NBA fans excited to hear that to Rivers is going to be your your head coach probably not given the track record since 2008 with the Celtics of you know having pretty loaded teams and you know either blowing a 3 31

30 lead or not blowing a three lead but blowing a 3-1 lead or 2-1 2 whatever it may be um you know everyone knows the track record everyone’s seen the graphics I mean certainly this is a a codu as not Escape criticism and Beyond just like you know I don’t like doing

That kind of narrative stuff just because you know the players are the ones out there playing like I I’m more interested in hearing like what did Doc do in all of these series to ruin and there are I’m not saying there’s no answer in that he’s blameless in all of

This you know there’s been some rotational stuff not playing young players all bench units those kind of things and we’ll just have to see how much of that makes the trip to Milwaukee and how much doesn’t assuming he is officially hired we got the reports they

Degree to terms it is not yet official as we are recording right now but um I think they did just need someone like Doc though and I don’t think there was probably a better option midseason then doc given that he is available was working for for ESPN they they need a

Voice that the team is going to trust and and be receptive to and I think doc certainly for all the jokes that you know someone sitting at the computer watching NBA has around the league is a respected figure you know has won a championship has led so many great teams

And I think it seems like from talking to our mutual friend Jordan Christmas and some others who are really watched a ton of Doc Rivers like his plan A’s are pretty good you know he built U my co-host Rohan cotti pointed this out you know the Celtics the the Celtics that

Won the title to the Lob City Clippers to the young that one year of young Clippers with Shay to the Kawaii and Paul George Clippers to the Sixers with Harden and embiid those are all very different teams in terms of the makeup of the kind of players and they all

Played very well like I think doc finds a good like this is our Baseline which is a little Mike buen hosery to be honest I think Bucs fans are going to be used to this I think then it’s like the adjustments and the little things from

There but the hope for Milwaukee is all right we got Damon Yannis and Chris Middleton and Brook Lopez Etc like we need some more perimeter defense we’ll see what happens at the trade deadline but if we can just have a good base that might just be enough and we might not

Need to do four schematic adjustments per series it might just be you know what can’t stop D Andis enough time so that that’s the series I think that’s the hope and just you know getting more level getting to a respectable Place coaching wise could be enough and you

Know if like a team like the Sixers or Celtics lost a series to Doc Rivers would be even funnier so those are the upsides for the bucks it’s funny just because like the tonal shift between you and new mon where he’s like let out a heavy side he’s just like I’m I’m cautiously

Optimistic and he went on to therapeutically speak talk I talked him through it basically he’s just like I’m you know the Encore stuff is fine I think like you said he has a proven track record he has the respect of his teammates you would notice that it’s

This like guys like your dad are like at least our parents age like they remember do R’s Marquette day so this is that exciting factor for some of the old heads that are fans of the Bucks and just you know can get them involved with it too and I think there’s a fun

Opportunity to Market that too but um there’s going to be those moments too where it’s I don’t want to say he’s going to overstay his welcome but like there’s going to be a moment where if things don’t go right Doc’s not afraid of voices frustrations or maybe like he

Can it’s a coaching method to like throw not throw your player under the bus but like take a jab at them them to like draw inspiration like tyo didn’t do it in front of the in front of everyone but he would do it behind the scenes like

That everyone knows in game seven of the 2016 vinals at halftime Tyler told LeBron he wasn’t good enough out there and he wasn’t playing Like A Champion it’s one of my favorite stories and LeBron had to be held back cuz he wanted to fight Tai so badly and then LeBron

Went out there out of spite to prove Ty wrong and won the championship for Cleveland like it’s they’re motivational tactics even though like sometimes the Optics aren’t good if you lose after the fact but yeah I am curious to see what happens I think it’s helpful though at

Least in Doc’s case and in Milwaukee’s case too is reportedly he was in house as like a consultant for Griffin so like he probably has some familiarity in relationship with some of the players and just you know front office and members of the coaching staff at least

Just kind of like have a temperature check on what was or wasn’t working for them and also maybe has a better understanding of like what was frustrating the players like you said when the play just to go back to the Griffin situation when the players for freelancing and wins like that’s stuff

The Cavs did when David blat was coaching like LeBron would tune him out entirely I’m sure people remember when he hit the game winner against Chicago uh in the first year he was back in the playoffs like blad Drew up a play LeBron ignored it entirely and called a

Completely different play which resulted in the game winner which you know that’s also the same game where tyou had to rip bat’s arms down because blat was about to call a timeout the Cavs didn’t have so oh boy it’s it’s tough I think maybe Griff Adrien Griffin is an example of a

Dude who maybe needs more seasoning to the g- league level or he’s like a lead assistant elsewhere or maybe he’s just a better assistant than he is a head coach just because like he can’t connect to players like that but I I am interested to see how this doc situation goes I

Know it’s funny you mentioned um Jordan Christmas he’s Victory lapping really hard just because uh Doc Rivers broke him quite a bit towards the end of his time in Philly um and now that he’s like singing the phrases of Nick nurse it just like really says a lot even though

NBA’s playing like 45 minutes a night but neither here nor there but um yeah it’s I’m interested to see how the H higher goes I think it makes things a lot more competitive in the central because you have Doc Rivers in the division I think you Rick Carlile has

Been doing an awesome job with the Pacers I still think it’s really understated how well he’s adjusted from how he operated in Dallas versus to how he’s working in Indiana now and I think maybe not having Luca to butt heads with helps quite a bit but like JB’s Co is a

Really good coach like Monty Williams you know somewhere deep down U has the pedigree of a good coach despite maybe the Pistons record and like the the Bulls are just a dis just tragic because they’re always hurt but like Billy Donovan’s a good coach too like this is a well

Coached division through and through and like it does make it more fun at least just because when you look at the top between Indiana Milwaukee and Cleveland like I think Milwaukee’s going to win the division clearly but like it does make it a lot more competitive and I

Think you also know credit with credits to hor and the Bucks did know like hey this isn’t working they’re tuning out the coach we cannot afford to let this figure itself out because this is a win now team like we can’t afford to lose this season entirely because the players

Are going to be checked even more checked out than they are next week compared to where they are now and it’s a tough call like the Optics behind it is always a tough sell cuz they’re 30 and 13 and record-wise everything seems fine on the outside but

This I’m not saying Doc’s going to be the guy who helps the Bucks win a championship but it could be a catalyst type moment where it shocks Milwaukee like the players back into reality and then doc like you said does enough schematically to have a plan a maybe a

Plan B but the plan a should be center around Damon Giannis and to your point like he’s stylistically coached a bunch of different stars all throughout his career so like he knows how to manage OS and kind of maximize those things it’s just you know how the rest of the role

Players fit in but I think in Milwaukee’s case like they have core four already with two of like their highest end role players and Chris and Brooke like rounding out that core four yeah and it’s nice too that you know he has coached teams with multiple

Star players and I think uh overall has done a good job of including them all while making sure you know I think one of the things Jordan said was like you know he gets guys in the right role and I think that’s just important and I

Think you think you know someone like a Brook Lopez we’ll see what that exactly means for him but I do think Milwaukee shot distribution staying like it was this most recent Cavs game is really important going forward um but yeah I mean obviously you know uh kg Paul

Pierce and and Ray Allen like plus Rondo I mean that’s a that’s a loaded team that was on the same page and went to two finals and W one and you know we can go through all the other players as well so yeah I think you know again it’s not

Like if they had hired Doc in the off season I don’t think people would have been as probably Bucks fans would be as maybe excited or relieved about it as they are now but I mean the truth is like they they blew the higher they they were wrong and Adrian Griffin just

Clearly wasn’t wasn’t up to it or wasn’t the right fit one or the other um but it just didn’t work and I think when you the thing about horist is he takes big swings and when he misses he recognizes it and he doesn’t take too long to

Adjust I think we saw that here in the past with moves like DJ Augustine on the mle was only around for a few months before he turned into PJ Tucker in the Bucks won a championship uh so I I think it’s probably the best recovery you can

Do it’s still a mess of a situation it was a cluster I mean incredibly poor way for the year to go but all that said and I think Dame said something that’s AFF after the game you know we feel like we have a long way to go but we’re still 31

And 13 so we have the standing we’ve still won a lot of games and we can get a lot better and we can hit our stride at the right time going into the playoffs I do think that’s the upside for Milwaukee is you still have the great players you still have a great

Record and now you have the rest of the year to kind of iron things out get on the same page with the new coach probably doc uh and get ready for the playoffs so let me ask you this as we wrap up do you think Doc Rivers will be

Manning the sidelines uh this episode comes out Friday this evening against Cleveland yeah yeah I I would think so I mean we’ll see if he’s not announced sometime Thursday maybe not but I mean if the reports are true that they’ve agreed to terms I really don’t see what

The point in Waiting any longer is I mean you know no disrespect to Joe pry and although it would be hilarious if they waited a couple weeks and Joe pry coached the All-Star team and Doc Rivers might coach the All-Star team because Missoula did it last year and that would

Be the second place team the Sixers are close behind maybe they’ll catch up and you know it’ll be Nick nurse but uh I think it’ be very funny if either of those guys did um but yeah I would I would imagine if if terms are agreed to

Like just get it done and get him out there and why waste time at this point okay well this will be a weird moment if he does not end up coaching but I agre someone else yeah it’s s just no but I mean if he’s not Manning the sidelines

Friday just like I think at this point it’s a foron conclusion I’m looking at head Milwaukee schedule they’re against New Orleans Saturday night then they have Sunday off to rest and Recovery maybe that’s the opportunity they introduce Doc and then he starts officially coaching the team on Monday

Against denur but we’ll see Ty thank you again for your time uh folks if you want to hear more from t or just keep up more with the Milwaukee Bucks I definitely recommend checking out the eurostep or bucks and six as well like the two Flagship Milwaukee Buck show is part of

The eurostep podcast Network and you guys are rocking and rolling and killing it uh you don’t have a talk of the you don’t have a eurostep flag behind you like neach does for T of the tundra but no time I got to get my flag game up I I

Really do thank you for having me Evan it was a pleasure as always and hopefully we get another pretty good game between these two teams another better one than a 40 Point disparity uh tonight as everyone listens to this yeah that’s the thing is as long as it’s

Competitive I will have fun I think for Cav fans sake they’re hoping for a dub but we’ll see what happens but hey guys on our way out I just wanted to remind everyone that locked on has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube lot on sports today

Is here for your 247 sports news covering the top sports stories of the day with local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every league go to locked on sports on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming Channel

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Friday, Jan. 26, 2024) Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) is joined by GSPN head honcho and Gyro Step host Ti Windisch (@TiWindisch) to discuss round two of two-part miniseries between the Cleveland Cavaliers versus the Milwaukee Bucks the morning after Game 1, any adjustments they expect for Game 2 and the sudden coaching shift to Doc Rivers and what to expect with Rivers.

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