The Cleveland Cavaliers hired Kenny Atkinson & extended Donovan Mitchell… so what’s next?

The Cleveland Cavaliers hired Kenny Atkinson & extended Donovan Mitchell… so what’s next?

what is up ladies and gentlemen it is Tuesday night and Donovan Mitchell has signed his extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers Kenny Atkinson has been introduced as the team’s next head coach and the big question in Cleveland now is we’ve seen the first two dominoes of the offseason fall what will be the next and I have a special guest joining me tonight to help unpack all of that coming up on this edition of the ultimate Cavalier show [Music] what’s up guys Mikey McNuggets as always uh Jason Lloyd is busy tonight and when Jason’s not here we try to bring on another guest and this is a guy I’ve been waiting to talk Cavs basketball with for a while it is real Cavs fans from real Cavs fans where you can find all of your Cavs at the fan forum and I’m going just give you the floor real quick quick but how would you describe what you guys do over at real C fans we live in bleed wine and gold so if you want to talk you want to learn you want to chop it up with all your fellow cavaliere fans from across the world come see us they uh they have some great Forum some great deep Dives they are up on top of the latest free agency news trade rumors they do a great job of transcribing interviews from National media members throughout any TV or radio hit they’re on talking about Cleveland so definitely a uh asset for any Cavs fan to consider becoming a member of and following Along on social media but enough with the intros we had breaking news this morning and right before 10 o’clock W tweeted out that Donovan Mitchell had signed an extension to stay here in Cleveland for uh two years on top of the current year he had left with the player option for 2027 2028 I want to break some news here and tell you he will decline that player option and hit free agency in 2027 2028 as he should because at that point he would be eligible for the 10-year service Max boost and up to $350 million I think we all expected this to happen but now that it’s officially official how crucial and how important was this for the Cavs organization to get a signature from a star-level player of Donovan’s caliber to signify that this city this team and this organization is ready to compete with the and the best for the next few years moving forward I think it speaks in today’s day and age that situation matters more than anything else so Donan saw the situation here and saw it as his best situation to progress not only financially but competitively we’re in offseason where we just saw Paul George leave the Clippers to go to a different situation granted there’s some Financial considerations there but when all Cleveland her was Market Market Market going to La going to Miami Donovan remained here and signed an extension here doesn’t mean he finishes it here but they have they have the opportunity to continue on this path they’ve built thus far I think it’s kind of funny that in hindsight maybe the best thing that ever happened to the Cavs in terms of keeping Donovan Mitchell here long term was Jaylen Brunson emerging into a star against them in the playoffs last season because that was obviously the rumor destination for donavin as his ties to New York but the Brunson Mitchell backcourt and pairing never made sense what ever and when Brunson became the guy in New York that kind of took the Knicks off the table in terms of realistic suitors for Donovan Mitchell and when you looked at the rest of the teams who could potentially uh pursue Donovan for lack of a better word there simply was no better basketball fit than here in Cleveland alongside Darius scarland Evan Mobley Jared Allen the core four and hopefully Kenny ainson can unlock the rest of that but in the moment that Nick’s loss was debilitating and demoralizing for lack of a better word but in hindsight I kind of think that was the moment where Donovan was like this Cleveland situation may actually be my best bet to max out my abilities as a player and to max out my wallet as a investor for lack of a better word and and we’ve seen in today’s day and age too that stars are also cognizant of if they shift situations what does that mean for the team they’re going to so just because he’s traded to Miami or New York whatever it may be there’s Talent going B back when we heard that was Paul you know Zack low um podcast they kind of talked about that as well if he’s going to Golden State who is who is going from Golden State to go to La that could impact their chances so it’s more than just where am I going next is what does that situ situation look like how competitive can I be so there’s a lot to consider and ultimately the cows were won that race for the time being no it’s a win-win for everybody I I tweeted this out earlier but from Donovan stpoint he gets a contract extension that a pays him the max for the next three years or or two years really and gets a chance to cash out big time when he hits his 10th service year by re-entering free agency in what should still be the prime of his career from the Cavs you and I have talked back and forth on their their timeline and the way they’ve approached the last two years since acquiring Donovan Mitchell and this now gives them at least in theory a concrete deadline of we have to put together a contender now it is time to push all our chips and on the table we know how long we have Donovan under contract in Cleveland and he obviously can request a trade or whatnot but I’m not even thinking those terms right now you know your timeline and when you know your timeline you can make moves accordingly and it was always a bit of a give and take from Kobe Alman in the front office on how aggressive should we be knowing on the back end of Donovan leaves we can’t push all our chips in because then we’re stuck with nothing well now you know he’s here and he’s committed to you I think you have to make the equal commitment back to Donovan to put a championship contending roster around him signing extension doesn’t finish a job winning does that is how this is going to be judged so Kobe did his job up to this point now he’s trying to earn that Nest extension and earn his job moving forward because ultimately Donovan’s given them a two-year window yeah they have twoe to compete or else he can go elsewhere we’re going to be in the same discussion we had all this offseason with the player option being where it’s at so it’s not to put a a damper on things but the really the feet are to your feet to the fire now um as far as how you build this out and this offseason was all about realignment can you realign to where you’re going forward which pathway are you taking are you going to rebuild are you going with Donovan so now that your decision is there with Donovan we’ve seen the coach kind of fall in line next with how they want to pursue this next window and it’s interesting because Donovan is a guy and I’m not sure exactly where you rank him but he’s probably between 10 and 15 in the league is that a fair assessment he’s not in that top top top Echelon with yic and Yannis but he’s certainly an all NBA first or second Team Caliber guard that’s a fair assessment right yeah ESP SP and ringer had him about 15 to 20 here perfect so somewhere in that range of an absolute star but not the top top tier Superstar and when you look at the last handful of NBA champions and really throughout the history of the league it it’s been the super duper stars who produc championships and the question of whether Donovan can be the best player on a championship team still has to be answered he has had some playoff success but not the playoff success you would Hope from a player of his caliber and it’s not all Donovan by any means but that’s just the reality of the teams he’s been on so how do you make a team and put a team around Donovan to not only accentuate his best skills but also put him in a position where it’s not all on his shoulders to have to carry through the playoffs and this is where Kobe’s gonna earn his money and I think what you said a second ago as far as the extension was the first part of Kobe alman’s job being complete the next part is assembling a roster team coaching staff organizational Foundation to accentuate and build that up to the next level and now is what Kobe Alman that is exactly what he’s tked at doing over the next few months and we’ll talk about some what’s the next Domino moves in a bit here but they don’t have a ton of pieces that make a ton of sense elsewhere at least not that are more valuable to team X as opposed to they are to Cleveland does Kyle kman and Brandon Ingram make more sense than Darius Carlin and Jared Allen I mean you have to look at where they go next and what’s available you can say make a move but a move has to be available to you that makes sense not only now but moving forward um those are important players I mean I know you talked about Donovan Mitchell the prior to this year ESPN had all four Cavalier core 4 in the top 50 the ringer which was updated Jan June 20th had them all four the top 55 so you’re not getting better if you’re dealing those offer pieces and parts um how you build out keny ainson was the first piece um second piece is what other additions can you add to better balance out the roster that you have because there is some imbalance there you know we’ve talked about a lot Kobe being in in Talent acquisition mode now it’s about fit we’ve seen New York really go for a fit we’ve seen OKC really focus on fit here recently so how do you best fit around your pillar being Mitchell and then your secondary pillar being Moy those are the key questions and we’ll see how they feel about Allen and Garland moving forward when you look at the rest of the East to all the best teams at least on paper you have Boston with TV and brown on the leek you have the Knicks now with anobi Mel Bridges you have Philadelphia acquiring Paul George you have Indiana technically had seak and you look at Miami with Jimmy Butler like there’s a lot of bigger Wings in the Eastern Conference that you’re gonna have to get through if you want to make a Deep Run in the playoffs the magic have like 43 different players who are six seven n who can’t necessarily shoot but are athletic mismatches just in terms of their physical stature and that’s still the one kind of missing hole on the Cavs roster they don’t have that prototypical big Wing to match up with some of those guys but I do think with Atkinson and we’re gonna talk about some Impressions from his opening presser in a sec I I do think their advantages the Cavs have with some of the guys they currently have on the roster in Garland and Evan and Jared and obviously Donovan that can counteract size and it’ll be interesting to see how ainson plans to and approaches uh a philosophy and scheme to maybe speed quickness and movement to counteract the lack of length on the perimeter and we know the bigs are big but we’re talking about real wings here who can play on the perimeter and create from the wing as good as streu is as good as Levert can be in stretches like those guys aren’t of the level of the tatums the Browns the ingrams the the seaks the best of the best in the East and that’s still the one piece of the puzzle I feel like Kobe Alman and this team has to kind of figure out before the start of next season and we’re not getting that right now with what’s out there via trade and Via free agency that’s not fair to expect that but there has to be some improvement to your point with some of those players that they’re going to be up against and the problem has been the last two playoffs is they can’t even find guys who can consistently be on the floor either strong enough defensively or strong enough offensively you know doing thing both ways we think back to last year with New York you know chedy was able to hit some shots but he couldn’t defend anyone cor was out there able to defend folks but he couldn’t really hit enough shots to be be a consistent threat have defenses guard him so it’s even just the aspect of can you have someone defend well enough and shoot well enough at the same time so we’re not needing a top tier toal obviously that’d be great but you just need someone capable and competent to consistently play on both ends and Shu did that in stretches but you need more than just max stru you know Dean Wayne’s injury really hurt a lot honestly he’d be the perfect wing for this starting lineup but with his health last two years it’s really hard to count on him so where they go next is finding someone upsize and is able to consistently play on both ends and it doesn’t have to be a world beater just has someone who gets the job done that’s the hardest position of basketball to find and when we’ve looked through 3,821 trades this offseason just to fill content on ucss which by the way I love making up silly trades some I think are a lot more realistic at least on paper than others some we throw out there just because it’s fun to talk about trades and why a team would say no and not you know teams aren’t just giving up these players and and These Wings particularly especially the ones who can create and as much as is you know we want to put together the salary packages that match and I like George yangang as a person great dude there’s a reason he sprinkled into every trade and 98 and a half percent of them the other team saying no like we all saw with our own eyes what happened to George Nang in the postseason this this year and he had moments throughout the regular season but why would another team want to take on that with his contract when they’re giving up a playmaking win it’s just it’s hard and it’s extremely difficult to find one that’s why I like the draft game on a guy like Jaylen Tyson who has at least some playmaking upside from that two3 position he may not be 68 69 like some of the guys we mentioned earlier but at least he brings that level of theoretical production on the outside and I still think this gu’s roster has holes to fill they should and should a key word have the mid-level exception almost the full mid-level exception to use on a free agent and and they have a couple different options out there that I think make sense that we’ll get to in a sec but overall in terms of Donovan reigning today it is a win for the Cavs it is not over but it is a win they have not won the war it’s just a battle but it is a major Battle Victory and I think a signed moving forward that a you can acquire a star a mid Major Market and prove and put the right situation around him to where he will resign and it’s not just a two-year rental and then B this team should compete it’s not going to be easy because the East is a gauntlet this year some other teams have gotten significantly better earlier this off season but this is a team that is at least putting themselves in the conversation to compete with Boston and New York and Philadelphia and Milwaukee and Indiana in the Eastern Conference for the next two years because if not then we’ll come back and look at this exact conversation at 7:44 on July 2nd and say wow how the tables turned and that turned into an absolute catastrophe and I would just add too I think it’s an increasingly important in this new CBA age where it’s increasing parody and decreasing super teams that sometimes you just need to be good enough and that can be good enough and maybe get some luck so you know with Dallas last year nobody saw them going to the finals they happen to get on the hot right hot treak make the Right Moves obviously having Kyrie and Luca helps but it’s about being available at the time when opportunities present themselves so the I know everyone kind of compares the Cavs are you going to be good better than the Raptors of the Hawks of years past those were damn good teams they just happen to face one of the best players in the history of the league like that at least gives you an opportunity to break through and sometimes all you need is that opportunity so all the Cavs continue to do is be as good as they can and sometimes things will break right and we’ll see where they go and last thing we’ll take a break and we’ll come back and talk a little Kenny ainson uh role players are great especially in the playoffs you need guys to step up and make shots but Stars win you series as we saw in the Dallas series throughout the Western Conference it was Luca and Kyrie putting the team on the back and then they got to the finals and the role players who made timely shots against OKC and Minnesota and the Clippers went completely Mia and their offense cratered so having Donovan locked in is one of at least two I think you need two you don’t necessarily need three anymore at least one of the two pillars that is now locked in for the Cavs as they move forward into this next era of Cavaliers basketball good take a real quick break and remind the good people out there that FanDuel is the official sports book of the ultimate Sports show and Major League Baseball and when Sports aren’t sportsing like you want them to you can go to FanDuel and place a bet anytime FanDuel you can bet on everything from single game uh single game bets to player props to parlays If You Can Dream It FanDuel can make it happen and this summer they’re giving out boosts and bonuses daily so make sure you guys head over to fanduel.com youss sign up and make FanDuel your official sports book of use moving on and moving back to some Cavs here Kenny ainson was officially introduced as the Cavs head coach yesterday and I’m gonna hold my thoughts for a second because I had a chance to talk to Kenny one-on-one I was in person at the press conference so I know how I felt being there and being able to read the room I’m curious from your standpoint what’ you think of Kenny Atkinson’s introductory press conference how he plans to utilize this team what he said and whether or not he quote unquote and I hate asking this question I’m going to do it bad job out of me did he win the press conference in your mind can somebody lose the press conference yes absolutely can lose Adam gase with the Jets when he had his laser tox so I think you can lose this but fair no I and you did a great job of interview by the way it was it was a great watch and kind of pulled some good tidbits out of him but I think the the thing that I took away from it more than anything was development and we know Kenny has gotten the label as development coach which typically has been mean to can’t take him to the next level but his job is to come in and develop Evan Mobley to a better offensive player his job is to develop Mitchell and Garland further his job is to develop Garland individually if he can develop those individual parts and formulate them into a better team this team will have more success the reason why Mitchell and Garland didn’t work last year wasn’t because they didn’t fit it’s because Garland individually regressed it wasn’t a knock between the two was because Garland didn’t achieve the level he had the previous two years so his job moving forward is how do I create a team that’s going to be cohesive enough offensively to get me the production that I want looking back at the playoffs you know looking at some stats the the mo and the mo and Allen pairing were 92nd and 91st percentile the last two playoffs Garland and Mitchell are 78th and 55th percentile defensively so not as a elite but good enough do you want to know what those pairings were offensively 15th and 15th and 22nd for Garland and Mitchell 20th and eighth for Mo and Allen so the defense has been good enough it’s the offense and hearing him talk about you know some of the things he learned from Golden State but also taken from the pace and space of dantony and uh Bud previously with Atlanta it’s certainly encouraging as well as the adaptability and flexibility of of his scheme where he’s not a systems player he’s a players player and adapting to what they do best to get the best out of them I truly believe he’s going to take little pieces of what each player does and kind of create a Playbook here for lack of a better word maybe it’s call philosophy but take little bits and pieces of what Donovan’s excelled at throughout the first seven years of his career and what he used with Draymond to Evan I asked him that question directly and and he kind of alluded to yeah there there’s a lot of similarities in how I want to Envision using Evan Moy to how Draymond was used in Golden State and I think Darius Garling can run a lot of the off Ball action that Steph Curry did now I’m not saying he’s Steph Curry by means but I do do think some of the action that golden state ran to get Steph some open looks is something that could be utilized to get Darius Garland open looks if he starts making shots like he did two and three seasons ago not last year where his catch and shoot numbers cratered and when they traded and they the Cavs traded for Donovan Mitchell one of the things you heard from everybody was we believe and our analytics show us that Darius Scarlet can play off the ball he does not need to have the ball in his hands to be a effective and efficient offensive playmaker last year if he shoots like that their numbers are wrong but if you get back to the 2021 22 and 2022 2023 version of Darius I do think he showed at least in flashes the ability to playoff ball and draw defense uh away from the basket and create a gravitational pole that then unlocks things for everyone else when I sat down with Kenny one-on-one he mentioned using backside pin Downs for Max Shu the only time I could remember the Cav running a backside pin down for anyone last year was an out of time play against Boston in game three or game two I forget what it was and that was one time and I was looking and begging for that so I I think hearing Atkinson talk about development knowing what he’s done in his past uh his past stops in terms of a developer and as a coach and hearing him talk about what he learned from Golden State with Steve cerr and the Clippers with Ty Lou and understanding what he did in Brooklyn four years ago will not fly in Cleveland now I I just feel like he’s approaching this with the right mindset and maybe that’s naive and maybe I got fooled sitting down and speaking him one-on-one because I I liked him he came off as a great guy like I think it came off in the interview as well but I do believe he’s entering this situation with the right mindset of knowing I need to do X Y and Z to get the most out of this group and if I don’t none of us are going to be here in a few years so I better get this right on the first try am I looking too far into that or did you kind of get the same impression no I mean what he spoke at the press conference has been a lot of what he’s been about throughout his careers he talked about you know Gathering all the information he possibly could have he talked about being an analytically based which I know sometimes can be a bad buzzword but what that means in today’s day and age is crafting a defense and offense that’s going to provide you more success based off B based off of current opportunities and based off of um frequencies of of what’s going on so it means you know threes and rim shots offensively means defensively preventing those same shots and we saw that in Brooklyn he had I think top five each year of allowing the most mid-range shots as a defense so they often funnel their defense based off of what the most inefficient shot on the court was so we saw it kind of take what he’s been saying in practice and apply it to how he’s coached which is what you want to see and to your point talking about Golden State we talked a lot about Mike Brown learning from the Golden State kind of tutelage and taking that Sacramento he was never offensive coach and all of a sudden you know Sacramento is one of the best offenses now maybe part to Jordy Fernandez who’s a great candidate and some of the the coaches he had there we’ll see how he does this year but you know that does matter and Kenny kind of spoke about it with you in the uh in the interview where he’s been adaptable and be willing to change how he thinks for the betterment of his team and players which is really important as a coach you know as the game evolves he’s said in previous interviews he’s trying to stay ahead of the curve so that’s really important when we talk about what we take out of that and I’ll say one more thing mobile development is the most important thing here yeah Cavs will get to where they want to get to if Moy develops if Garland gets back to where he was they’ll go far they’ll go farther if Moy gets even better and what we kind of have been calling for for a long time is what you talk about with Draymond is use him as a playmaker when people talk about what’s Mo’s best skill it’s probably his passing for a big his assist percentage or think about 15.5 15.9 which is the same range as Anthony Davis last year that is his best skill set using him more on the ball we heard JB talk in training camp last year about using my bigs more at the elbow using more as a playmaking hub we really didn’t see that too much not only does that get a shooter on the ball or a non-shooter on the ball gets your Shooters off the ball and creates better gravity you know so when you talk about a more free flowing offense being able to utilize your talent better that is what you’re hoping to see and what he kind of talked about was certainly encouraging that aspect I have one thing I need to say on Evan Moy real quick so I posted a little clip from the interview where I asked him hey do you see the requisite attributes in Evan and Jarrett that you saw in Al Horford and Brook Lopez that made you think they could become three-point Shooters and I got probably a dozen respones saying what are you talking about Mo shot 37% from three last year he’s already a shooter if you attempt 1.2 threes per game you are not a three-point shooter okay let’s just let’s just call a spade a spade Evan can develop into a three-point shooter he has once again I I I think he has the touch and the ability and the range to take three four five a game but if you’re shooting one three-pointer a game I don’t care if it’s 37% or 50% you are not a three-point shooter when teams are willing to leave you wide ass open in the playoffs you are not a three-point shooter so I just want to get that out I feel a lot better getting it off my I was gonna respond to every troll on Twitter trying to tell me that Evan Moy is already a shooter because if that’s the mindset you’re under then we have nothing to speak about like that’s the conversation we can’t even have but back to your initial point two things on Atkinson that I think will be crucial a who he feels out the rest of his staff with I think in today’s day and age of basketball the head coach is a figurehead but the rest of your staff is really who kind of runs the show because the relationship between coaches and players now is more important than it has ever been in the past he talked about it Kenny talked about it the way he was in Brooklyn with certain players they they kind of clashed and buted heads and he’s learned since then that you can’t go in and treat your star players in certain ways because they’ll just check out and we saw it here in Cleveland last year some of the friction between JB and Donovan came from JB wanting to practice hard day in and day out and the veterans being like yeah I’m not sure we really want to do that so as a head coach relationship and managing players and what their needs and wants are is I would say almost as important in today’s day and age of basketball as the X’s and O’s of a scheme which is where the rest of your staff comes into play you have to hire and assemble a staff that a can teach your message it still should be Kenny Atkinson’s offense in a collaborative form with the rest of the guys on the staff but the assistants have to be ble to preach the way you want things to be run with the same language and the same details if Kenny ainson was walking each and every player through each and every position on each and every set you need them to take care of that you also need a guy who can run the defense or the offense so when the head coach is trying to focus in on one thing to make some necessary in-game adjustments the other end of the Court isn’t going completely unobserved you have to have a defensive coordinator or an offensive coordinator it depends on whatever situation we’re we’re talking about specifically who can take the Reigns for a few minutes on the bench and call plays or call out defensive sets to counter what the offense is running and I’m very curious to see who Kenny surrounds himself on the bench with because he’s worked with a ton of great coaches in the past his connection throughout the NBA and coaching circles runs deep and I don’t think he’s gonna have a hard time uh attracting assistant coach candidates to Cleveland because of the situation the Cavs are in roster wise and their ability to win so I don’t know if you have any leads yet on some of Kenny’s potential assistance but I fascinated and I mean fascinated to see who he brings on this staff to help round out from top to bottom the Cavs coaching staff for 2024 2025 so you kind of talked about it in today’s day and age where players have more leverage than other than ever if you can’t connect with your star player you can’t coach period That’s why JB’s not here anymore yeah so it’s important and I I hope that was something the Cav thoroughly evaluated when they hired Kenny and doing their research because Brooklyn didn’t end well um you know there’s a lot of different factors we’ve lived and breathed kyrese so we know what that looks like um but it’s still important you know it’s good that him and Donovan met they have a good relationship from what it seems Donovan signed off on him so that’s all important from day one um what I’ll also say is that it’s also important for coaches to find the right team at the right time just like for any relationship sometimes it’s the right time more than the right person y this team may not have been ready for Kenny’s style previously before bicker staff before going all through the coaching struggles before craving the scheme related things that they wanted and we started to hear in the Orlando Series in the Clippers game at the end the game shananigans that happened there this team may not be ready for this when bicker stat first took over but now I think they want and are ready to be coached they want to go to that next level and understand what it takes and we kind of heard Zack low touch on his latest podcast with Jonathan gavone ainson kind of learned in in uh Golden State you can play music at practice you you don’t have to be go go go be out there on the court you hear some of the previous players talk about Kenny Ain ainson being a nut out there practicing Barefoot shooting with the players you know go on defense and drills with the guys you can take it easy and to your point with JB picker staff you don’t have to be a grinder day in day out you have to know your team Know Your Role um and that’s one of the one of the assistant coaches NBA we talked to kind of mentioned Kenny’s a grinder that’s just who he is that’s why he was successful as an NBA player it’s why he’s successful as a coach to where he’s at now but I think we’ll see from his Golden State time that hopefully he’s been able to adapt and learn how to change his style and we talk about coaches I think ja vaugh would be an important assistant here we’ve seen what you talked about that kind of communicator on staff with JB with beline and Lou with blat that Communicator your next head up head head coach is important I shouldn’t say next head coach no uh no uh leading into what could become but that next coach is really important with that some of the guys keeping an eye on Jordan a from the Lakers Brett be Meer who’s with the Orlando Magic actually got a start here in Cleveland won Championship with them will Weaver another former assistant coach um those are all guys kind of look at based off his P that could make sense one last thing on the ainson offense then we’re going to talk about the next Domino to fall for the Cavs he talked about pace and every year he was in Brooklyn they ran they actually weren’t that efficient in transition which is kind of counterintuitive you run a lot you think you just would be up in up uh up high in the r rankings in terms of transition efficiency and scoring but I think that was more of a result of the lack of finishers and quality players he had to work with in Brooklyn than any stylistic thing he talked about playing the two bigs together and for the sake of this point let’s assume Jared Allen and Evan moble are both back the core for stays intact he said part of the way you can play with two bigs and create space with two bigs is by running and not letting the defense get back and get back and get set to run against or to run your offense against because they’re dealing with guys down low let’s let’s push the pace get out in transition and then it doesn’t matter if we have four non-shooters because we’re playing transition basketball so I do think in an ideal world I wouldn’t run it back with Jared Allen and Evan Moy just because I believe Paces uh spacing is too important in today’s NBA but I was at least encouraged it was something I hadn’t really thought about enough and it was a bad Omission on my part for not thinking about this earlier another way to create space with two bigs is get a rebound and run and don’t let the defense get set so that way there’s more space to operate with anyway so the fact he brought that up shows why he’s an NBA coach and we are sitting here on a podcast uh talking about his style and philosophy as opposed to being on the bench with him uh we appreciate everyone tuning in tonight we have one more topic here make sure you guys check out real Cavs fan forum and real Cavs fan real Cavs fan on Twitter they post a bunch of great stats and I’m telling you the transcriptions of interviews they get from Wendy and and podcasts all around around the country talking Cavs is uh can’t miss stuff and zy to keep informed and into up to date with the Cavs when you don’t have to go listen to 300 podcast we have guys like like my man here who does it for you we saw the Donovan extension we’ve seen the Atkinson higher if those are the only two dominoes this off season for the Cavs I feel like it would be very underwhelming I don’t think there’s a giant Domino to fall but something has to happen next and if it was up to you and your crystal ball of predictions what is the next Domino you think that will fall for the Cavs here so isaah C Coral that whole situation is the one to pay attention to um with his restrictive free agency his current cap C is putting them right up against the first apron which is important we kind of talked about it financially it’s not that Dan won’t pay it’s how restrictive that makes your team and how hard it is to improve so that apron that repeater tax now that they’re going to be a tax team probably this year that’s important to note so with the coral depending what they do that could shift in a few different levels so that’s likely why you’re seeing them play the market understand what’s out there and his restrictive free agency likely determine kind of what flexibility they have Detroit’s really the only team that has cap space to acquire him which coincidentally they have someone that Isaac may know very well up there so we’ll see if they ultimately put together an offer that makes it hard for the Cavs to match if they do that gives them a little bit more flexibility but even within that not a lot of guys out in free agency currently that you probably want to spend on um so if you’re looking at Talent acquisition you’re probably looking at trade more than you are free agency I would love love love the Pistons to make some sort of Godfather offer to Isaac aoro and because Isaac could absolutely be a player on this team I don’t think it’s like a debilitating loss if you lose Isaac but mostly because if he goes to Detroit they would literally be zagging against everything that’s worked the last 10 years in the NBA they could put out a lineup of Kate Cunningham Isaac aoro Ron Holland who they just drafted who can’t shoot jayen Ivy who’s a good young player but can’t shoot whatever Thompson brother they drafted last year who can’t shoot and all their bigs can’t shoot it’ be the ultimate anti- shooting team and I just want to laugh at that because I think it would be funny uh if they bring him back it’s great you’d rather have Isaac aoro than not have him but if he’s the reason you start have to paying the uh luxury tax and then get the restrictions that come with the first apron he’s not someone I would die on that Hill for I guess is the best way I can put it I’m that will be the next Domino you’re right what I hope the next Domino is is finding a way if possible to improve the Caris LeVert minutes I don’t know how you feel but as good as Caris can be at times he is equally confusing and frustrating at others and I just think with a bench that is as volatile as the Cavs is I want one guy I can trust like one guy I know when he enters the game I know exactly what I’m getting for better or worse it’s not the roller coaster of Levert it’s not the roller coaster of meang it’s not the injury roller coaster of Dean Wade it’s not the roller coaster of Sam Merill Craig Porter Jr might be the most consistent bench player they currently have on the roster and that’s just not good enough in my opinion so some sort of sign and trade to improve the Levert position and one guy I have in mind and this is uh something I didn’t think I would say a few days ago but with seeing how the FR agency market played out I’m kind of interested if there’s a way to flip Levert in a sign and trade for Demar de R rozan I know he’s a free agent and it’d have to do some sort of work with Chicago or if you trade Levert and just bring d r roen in as the guy to run your bench unit I know he can’t shoot I know he’s not a great fit because the spacing is a legitimate issue but if he’s willing to take a role like that and he there’s a good chance he won’t be he’s a guy that I would be very interested in the Cavs at least taking a deep hard look at because I do think he could be the scoring focal point of your second unit he’s a guy who in the clutch we know has come through and time again even if he’s not the primary clutch option for the Cavs with Donovan and Darius and those guys but he’s a guy at least I like on paper that if you could replace Levert with the Rosen I think it’s a legitimate upgrade that would make the Cavs a more dangerous threat next season I think he probably said it for a lot of a lot of guys um but uh but you kind of talk through it they have quantity what they need is quality it was often hard in this playoff and last playoff to really find that fifth guy to share the floor and and and have consistent minutes with so whether it be health or inconsistency or not being able to play play both ends finding consistent bench play in a consistent fifth or assist guy is more important than adding another guy to that um trying to unjam the two three Log Jam that they have is critical stru aoro Levert Tyson Merill Mitchell Garland all those guys can get minutes at the two the problem is none of those guys can scale up enough to play the four or even the three consistently to where you can unclog that naturally so utilizing some of those players to find someone else who can play your big Wing or is a third big that’s what we’re really looking for you know some of the wings that are probably gonna be out there DeAndre Hunter Dorian fny Smith um cam Johnson those are the type of guys that you’re likely looking at that hopefully you can swap out uh one or two of those Wing players for to provide you some better balance between the guards and The Bigs but also positionally when you look at how they want to play the second unit those guys are blocked by someone else because of their lack of additional versatility so it even helps addition by subtraction from that regard let’s run through that list again we’ll start with Cam Johnson of the Nets Nets are obviously in fire sale mode I’m not sure what they take the Nets want picks they’re they’re not going to take back bad contracts and I feel like if the Cavs put together their best package for cam Johnson a team like Oklahoma City or someone else could just completely blow them out the water in terms of what assets they have to offer so I don’t think he’s a realistic option am I am I wrong and thinking that there’s if they want to trade cam Johnson the Cavs can’t put together the best package for him right no okay who was next on the list it was DeAndre Hunter Cam Johnson who was the third name Dorian finny Smith they probably have enough for Dorian finny Smith if they really want I’m not sure he moves in DeAndre Hunter is the one I want to get to who in a vacuum would be a great fit alongside the Cav’s current core four of hunt of uh Allan Mobley Mitchell and Garland a defensive three and D Wing who can who can shoot the three he lives up to the three and D Mantra the Hawks do have a bunch of three and D wings now they drafted Zachary Reay with the first overall pick hunter has been injury-prone his contract I know he signed that four-year extension worth I think 95 million if the numbers right which is certainly palatable in today’s day and age with Levert entering the final year of his deal is there a world in your opinion where the Cavs can can flip Levert and something into Deandre Hunter am I living in la la land no I I think those are the type of situations that are probably going to be most advantageous for the Cavs so teams that are looking to offload talent for financial concerns because their pathway is changing so OKC is a perfect example of that swapping Caruso for giddy that’s the type of move that the cows are likely looking to make nothing against o Coral but does he align with your timeline with where you’re currently at and we saw OKC say no with giddy we want someone who’s better able to fit our roster and our timeline now because we want to win now so it’s something against so Coral but is there a better fit out there for what you need um and we kind of saw with the starters here last two years or cor was able to actually be more efficient with the starters um so last year with the with the core four plus oor they were 96 percentile overall netwise per 100 possessions this year with Shu they are in the 50s um you know injuries and other things contributed to that but I think when you look at trying to fill up that fifth starter spot you want someone more like a coral who’s low usage more better efficiency um is better pointed attack than oruse but hopefully can have some of the three-point volume that struse has that we kind of talked about earlier with the volume concerns of whole host of other issues that we have so that’s type player you look at and that’s why you know hunter or FY Smith or one of those guys may be a better fit because they have lower usage better efficiency but have some better size in the wing than what the current Cavs currently have I’m looking up DeAndre Hunter on pro basketball reference real quick just to make sure I say this correctly but He’s listed at 68 225 he certainly fits the mold of a big three and D Wing he’s been a solid NBA player for Five Seasons he’s averaged for his career 14 and a half points a game he shoots 46 uh 45% from the floor 36 from three he shot 39% this year on five attempts per game he only takes 11 shots his usage rate is exactly where you want it to be for a third or fourth offensive option I mean he’s on paper the dream like the dream fit now would Atlanta who just had the number one overall pick they just traded the jonay Murray you know you have to surround Trey young with three and D Wings because he’s a defensive liability in his own right and he’s such a high usage point guard that having low usage guys around him is the only way to kind of counterbalance that would they trade a hunter for Levert could you trade could you do a sign and trade with aoro and Levert to get hunter that that’s Poss one of the new rules right because Atlanta’s not up under the tax apron or not even close to I don’t believe yeah you’re probably looking at LT and the filler like a Tai Jerome or or Nang or Wade or depending what okoro signs for you could get them up high enough now I don’t think Atlanta is going to go for the hometown boy at that price but you’re probably looking at combining um you know something to get to that 22 23 million that Hunter is making all right well that that that’s my dream then I’m going to go to bed tonight and go into PTO the next few days hoping that there’s a aoro plus sign and trade for DeAndre Hunter uh we’re going to wrap it up here in a sec but we always end with fan questions and the people in the chat shout out to the hundreds of people watching right now we love you guys we appreciate you guys uh I answer a lot of the questions and a lot of the questions are the same ones I get pretty frequently so I’m going to give you a chance to answer some viewer questions here if you have a question drop it in the chat we’ll get to as many of them as we can the first one’s not a question but smooth Rob says you’re not bragging enough about our little real c fan Community Home of the best cover Cav cans can find once again highly highly highly recommend checking them out online if you guys haven’t seen it yet okay first question from Chris Gillespie I wonder if the lack of Cav Cavs moves are they just okay with being average and if they are does that mean Dan Gilbert’s heart isn’t in it anymore what do you what says you what say you real CS fan I don’t think they’re okay being average and I don’t think Donovan would have resigned if he was okay being average um as they move forward we kind of talked about it earlier there has to be available move to make this team better with the core 4 we’ll see what happens I’m cautiously optimistic you know some of Kobe’s best moves have been later in the summer we talked about lri sign in trade talked about Donovan later in the summer so those are the type of situations where once options dwindle down um because of where the C are at financially and and trade piecewise they’re in a position to be more opportunistic than like we talked about cam Johnson where when you’re going up against a bunch of biders Cavs probably don’t have the type of assets to win a bidding right a bidding war outright so probably waiting to see where the markets sets hopefully some of the suitors die down for some of the pieces that they’re looking at and take advantage of that but Don didn’t resign to be average and I don’t think this teams to be team plans to be but I think it also is their hope for internal development keeping Pace whether or not that’s accurate we’ll see but there certainly has to be some external help to bolster where this team is at given the weaknesses we’ve seen the last two years next one comes from DJ brobot who says Evan Moy should not be shooting threes Cavs have 90 guards who can shoot threes do you believe Evan Moy needs to become a at least semi- reliable three-point threat for the Cavs to take that next step forward I’m I’m glad he asked this because I had some stats I want to want to fire off before I got off here um so yes and no yes I I think ultimately Evan has to be your fifth best shooter on the floor or Allen be your fifth whoever that is they have to be your fifth best shooter if Moy is your fourth best shooter or Allen’s your fourth best shooter I’m not sure how much that’s going to benefit you spacing wise because I think we have to be somewhat realistic about Kenny’s ability to develop a three-point shoter especially as big man he kind of talked about in your interview two things they look at one is free throw percentage typically an analytically looking at the draft that’s something that they can kind of look at project of of how realistically much better can they get um Moby and Allen Allen’s about I think 71% career-wise m about 68% you look back at Brook Lopez and and Al Horford Horford’s about 76% Lopez 79% so already that touch may not be there to develop high-end skill but additionally he mentioned in an interview with you Lopez and Horford already had those mid-range games developed which is very important of taking the next step so it’s not just going from rim to three it’s going from mid-range to three and stepping back a little bit even like Channing pry talked about it in his career uh Brook Lopez was looked up the stats was about 20% in Long mid-range shots so between 14 feet in three-point range he was about 20% before he made that leap to three-point range Al Horford was closer to 40% 40% of his shots were in the mid-range area mly and Allen Moy has been about 5% of his shot attempts coming in that mid-range area Allen 4% so not only were they not nearly the mid-range shooters that those two were or even free throw wise you know it’s hard to see them developing as quickly as those two had because they didn’t have the prior requisites that those two had a blue four of how to extend your range so I don’t want to put a damper on that um ultimately that’s going to determine how far this pairing goes but I think we should be realistic to expect what’s going to happen next year out of these two yeah he likes stats just as much as I do that’s why this is always fun talking Cavs uh and and real Cavs fan is a great for him I would just say one thing on that the three-point shooting EV doesn’t have to be Steph Curry he doesn’t have to be a 45% three-point shooter they’re not going to run sets for Evan Moy coming off pin downs and backside doubles and floppies and whatever you want to call Kenny ain’s offensive system he he’s do have to do that he just can’t be a guy you ignore completely on the three-point line to put an extra defender in the paint to clog up driving lanes for Darius and Donovan and whoever else is on the court he has to be a reliable guy you can count on when Donovan gets in the paint and sees the help Defender come crashing down he just has to be good enough for Donovan to feeli come through saying let me pass it to Evan and if he’s wide ass open he can make it three we’re not asking for him to become the second com of Dirk nitzki we are not begging and the Cavs do not need it’d be great if it happened but they do not need Evan Moy to shoot at the same clip that Carl Anthony Town shot they just need him to be someone that defenses have to consider for a split second do I help or do I Shay stay and if they can get that it will open up so much more for the drivers on this team that’s it if they get better beautiful but they can’t be zeros and right now despite the fact that Evan Mobley shot 37% from three last year which does not matter he shot 50s something threes or he shot in 50 games he shot uh 1.3 threes per game so he probably shot 79 threes on the season that does not qualify you as a shooter volume is important we saw this on the team was trus nooro a Coro had a higher three-point percentage during the season I think 39% versus stru 35% but streu was the more impactful shooter because he could make more and take more shots teams are guarding strews differently in the playoffs than okoro because he could make two three four shots or Coral if he makes one or two per game they’re willing to live with that in the scheme of how you defend someone so volume is just as important if not more than three-point percentage so if Moy can hit you know uh five six three-point attempts per 36 minutes and it’s shooting 33 34% that’s going to be a lot better than him only shooting one or two at 39% so volume is just as critical in this equation as percentag is bingo Lou D says can we do something with darius’s contract to get Lori marinin back uh the trade value and the trade market for darus scarland right now is as low as it’s been you just saw what dejonte Murray got traded for that is Pennies on the dollar for what the Hawks paid to get him from San Antonio and I’m not sure the Cavs have anything that would interest Utah right now as much fun and as great as it would be to get Lori Markin in back Utah’s in a rebuild what are the Cavs giving up to Utah to pry away their top player and their best asset they have no draft picks because Utah already has all their picks and I don’t think George andan Caris deler in a Dean Wade package is gonna give me enough for Utah to say byebye to Lori what do you what say you no easy money next up from slick sophistication do we have a chance with Miles Bridges I think that’s certainly something to watch and we’ve they’ve been linked to Bridges before and that’s one of those restricted free agency kind of bargain bins that Kobe has tended to dive in previously so we’ll see how mid Bridge’s Market develops and if it doesn’t that could be one of those opportunities where as suitors dwindle as cap space continues to be taken up is that someone you can potentially get at a lower cost value than you would on the open market so Michigan State guy too we know Dan loves his MSU guys um but that is one that I would watch as far as how that how his for agency goes and kind of what becomes with the Caps cap space situation with a coral he obviously has a checkered pass but from a basketball standpoint would be a very nice fit with what the Cavs want to do offensively or what we expect them to want to do offensively next year under Kenny ainson and I agree with you that he might not be a guy that flies off the uh the market we’ve already seen a bunch of small forwards and wings get picked up and as more and more of these teams kind of fill up he could be a guy who has the potential and talent to get a big big payday down the road but needs a little bit of a Reclamation and I think you could get him on a one-year cheap deal in in two three weeks that may turn out to be one of the quote unquote steals of the off season if he can keep his off the court Behavior Uh under control I guess may be the the right way to say it uh Adam Holland says is Jared Allen for herb Jones realistic I don’t think they would do that from a New Orleans standpoint um they want to trade Ingram not herb Jones or Trey Murphy but I’m curious to what you say is Herb Jones for Jared Allen a realistic one for one potential trade assuming the money matches I don’t know what herb Jones makes yeah so they the Pelicans would have to throw in some money I think hers are about 12 13 million and Allen’s about 20 million so there would had to be some pieces that’s one of the hard things about the Pelicans right now is that after Dyson Daniels and some Larry n Went Away really all their salaries are larger salaries that are pretty impactful players so trying to combine those it gets a little bit tricky with with how that works um we’ve kind of heard New Orleans as a target for Jared Allen for a while that’s the one team that makes the most sensitive Allen is going anywhere not only does he fit with them but also they have the type of wing talent that Cavs want um we had heard prior in the season last year that there were some discussions for J for herb Jones didn’t really go anywhere at the time um whether that that picks back up now we’ve also heard some Pelican folks that herb is off the table um that he’s someone that they really want to keep and they’re focusing like you said on Ingram so we’ll see how that goes and we know Kobe likes his three-way deals as well so perhaps even if they’re not getting herb Jones is a ja going to the Pelicans and a third team getting the Cavs additional assets so uh certainly someone that would fit in well I think more so with the guards than it would the big um but certainly someone who fits kind of a lot we talked about with the low low usage high efficiency can hit some threes and ultimately is a good point of attack Defender I saw reports that Sacramento was interested in Brandon Ingram um which never made sense to me from the start so I threw together a three- team trade on today’s show just for fun and it uh ended up getting Ingram to the Kings Allen and Nang to the Pelicans and then the Cavs got Keegan Murray of first and Kevin herder back and and I’m all for you keep your really good players unless the trade makes perfect sense and I’m not going to trade Jared Allen or darus Garland or Mobley or Mitchell for for quarters on the dollar but if you get Keegan Murray and Kevin herder back for Jared Allen that that is a wing upgrade Galore for Cleveland so if that was the scenario I would and you mentioned the three team trade so I want to throw that out there but I don’t know why Sacramento’s interested in Brandon Ingram to be totally honest so that was just little speculation I I I think no they definitely are from from talking to some Pelican folks the the Kings and and uh Pelicans keep in contact almost as much as the Cavs and Pelicans do so I certainly think that fits and we’ve heard kind of the Kings dabble in some of the large larger name players I think they are trying to take advantage of the window they have especially with dearon Fox’s extension not sure where that goes they want to improve and didn’t they’re trying to keep Pace in the west so their internal Improvement that they bet on this year didn’t pay off like they wanted to so now they’re trying to go out exra and try to find some that’s why you’ve seen link to LaVine prior they’re going to get more aggressive with Ingram depending on where things go but certainly interesting to watch would so who says no in that three team trade then pelicans get Allan Nang Kings get Ingram Cavs get Keegan Murray Kevin herder and a proteced first probably the Kings but if they’re willing I got United miles that I will pay for Allen’s flight uh to Sacramento if that’s what it takes I mean if that’s what you’re getting back that that’s absolute no- brainer someone like Keegan Murray who who will fit seamlessly as a high-end Wing player has the age has the size has the skill set if that’s on the table automatic yeah all we’re on the same page uh last one then we will wrap here this from Ian who says Lor’s on the Jazz Danny AES runs the team he’s fleeced the Cavs twice if the Cass front office ever sees his name show up on the phone again they just shouldn’t answer it there’s no question but I felt like it was an appropriate comment after the Lowry marketing discussion earlier so uh once again appreciate real C fans for join us you want to plug how people out there can find what you guys do and and tell the people where to find you on socials and all that before we wrap up here yeah no I appreciate it definitely find us on Twitter try to interact with you guys as much as we can find us on realc fans.com we’ll have content up there as well as the forums you can chat with other Cass fans who uh want to chop it up just as much as you can so feel free to to reach out um happy to have you and make sure you also follow the ultimate Cleveland sports show too I appreciate it’s been weird I know you’re real but you wanted to go by real Cav fans and i’ had to stop myself like 38 times from calling you what your real name is and I I respect we got W the brand got to R the brand the brand uh loyalty but uh appreciate you joining on the show today on the ultimate Cav show we usually go 35 minutes we went 55 which means we had a lot to cover and a lot of great conversations we appreciate the people who tuned in tonight this was a crossover a long time in the making make sure you check out all the good folks over at realc fans.com follow them on Twitter I retweet their stuff all the time so if you can’t remember real CS fans just go to my timeline and you will see some stuff there I appreciate you joining me today my friend and this is not the last time we will see you on the ultimate cavaliere show have a happy fourth you guys too we’ll see you guys tomorrow on the ultimate Cleveland sports show I’m actually off all week so I’ll see you on Monday but Earl G bull thus and ant are there tomorrow peace

It’s been a busy 48 hours for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After introducing Kenny Atkinson as the team’s new head coach on Monday, the Cavs made a splash Tuesday morning by announcing Donovan Mitchell’s 3-year max contract extension worth up to $150.3M.

So now that the two biggest dominoes of the offseason have been knocked down, what’s next for Koby Altman & the Cleveland Cavaliers?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have found their next coach and have hired Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, the Cavs announced today.

Atkinson was an assistant with the Warriors for the past three seasons after he spent the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach with the LA Clippers. Before that, he was coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20, when he and the team parted ways on March 7, 2020 after a 28-34 campaign with the Nets.

“Kenny brings a wealth of experience, a proven track record of player development, and a relentless work ethic that aligns with the vision we have for this franchise,” Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said in a statement.

“His innovative approach will instill a style of play and brand of basketball that will give us a chance for sustainable success and ultimately compete for championships.”

About Atkinson: A longtime assistant under Mike D’Antoni in New York, the 56-year-old Atkinson got his first head coaching gig with Brooklyn in 2016. He went 118-190 with the Nets over four seasons before stepping down.

Atkinson is a Long Island native who had been an assistant coach with Atlanta and New York when Nets general manager Sean Marks hired him as Nets coach in April 2016.

That came with the Nets were mired near the bottom of the NBA as they tried to dig their way out of damage following a 2013 trade with Boston, in which they acquired Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce but gave up years of assets and salary-cap flexibility.

Brooklyn went 20-62 in Atkinson’s first season, 28-54 the next and nothing much was expected last season.

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