What grade does Koby Altman get for the Cleveland Cavaliers offseason thus far?
Jay Crawford Adam the bull Garrett Bush tyus Powell Jason Lloyd plus da da da you’re loving him Mikey McNuggets and so many big names it would take me hours to say all of their names the ultimate Cleveland sports show Starts Now booya welcome everyone to the ultimate Cleveland sports show here on Channel 3 WKYC locally in Cleveland big deal this Sunday the major league baseball draft we normally don’t talk about the baseball draft but the Guardians have the first overall pick who will they take we’ll let you know coming up a little bit later Earl I’m Earl a pearl and I’m going to tell you what’s going on with Amari Cooper’s contract situation trainer Camp kicks off in a couple weeks will he be there G Bush and today is the day the returning Champions the Cleveland Cavaliers start summer league and won IM bats is the Talk of the Town and I will let you know why coming up next McNuggets plus Kobe Alman has been MIA for parts of the off season so how do you quantify and grade everything the Cavs have done up to this point we we’re going to hand out some grades for the Cavs for an office all right that’s all coming up on today’s ultimate Cleveland sports show but we begin with Major League Baseball there Mike right no that’s what we’re ending with oh that’s right good job but we’re going to start with those grades weing outman Bull’s usually not the lead host of the show Jake Crawford is but he’s playing in the panan game so HED the show before hater and that has nothing to do with it I just lost my mind there for a second so we start with the we start with the grades of the obviously guys to this point the Cavaliers have not done much but they’ve hired a new head coach some assistants to go with them and they have hired or they have resigned well I really extended Donovan Mitchell he has a new contract that’s been it so far Earl what’s your grade for the Cavaliers for this off season oh you know just the word report card it just give me chills it take me back to my childhood when they used to have to hurry up and get home and get M out the mailbox they used to start sending them home I’m like y dirty yeah dirty TR us to take trust me to take that home so my mother could never get it but as far as the Cleveland Cavaliers are concerned uh there all season grade for me right now is a B minus I think when you look at all the dominoes that needed to fall the biggest domino clearly was making sure that you resigned Donovan Mitchell to a long-term uh contract extension and I think that was huge for this franchise because this is the first time that we seen a superstar player not named LeBron James really uh commit to the Cleveland Cavaliers the second second Domino that was needed to fall was you needed to find a a upgrade at the head coach the Cavaliers believe they did that with Kenny ainon a guy that is Elite with Player Development a guy that has spent the last four years with Steve Curry and the Golden State Warriors learning how to fine-tune his motion offense and then you look at the staff that Kenny ainson put together with Johnny Bryant deari Carroll uh Jordan at amongst others those moves collectively the Donovan Mitchell move the head coach and the coaching staff I give them a however outside of that when it comes to reconstructing reconstructing the rest of the roster and making upgrades to the bench at least I got to give them a f CU theyve done nothing at all so to me we got to go to B minus there by the way can you put that graphic back up again for one second please because I can’t help but I’m a little distracted by the fact that you just have Earl’s head and his hair and it kind of looks like he could be a cartoon character in his hair or his legs if he were a cartoon character that is crazy d a little tiny that’s a little aquatine hunger forcing that or the Octon dos or something like that that is sorry go ahead G Bush we got a B minus from make sure make sure y’all get my Graphics together don’t be having me looking crazy man uh listen hey I’m with Earl I could boil it down to this I look you signed down of a Mitchell I like that we love that like you got a superstar you got Kenny ainson who I wanted from the good go I I was on record with that that’s great so I’m going to give you a a for those two things but your offseason moves minoski you brought nobody in Off the Bench you got no free agents we still we still waiting on them free agents we still waiting on those boys uh I got to give you a f and a plus a f equals out to a c the only reason I Got A Plus on that is because you crept up and you got two guys that I’m interested in seeing in summer league DJ Burns and emmani Bates Craig Porter Jr that’s the only reason got the plus I was going to give you a c but today is opening day what about their recent pick Tyson I Jaylen Tyson I like him too I want to see what he’s he has to offer I like that move all the young guys I’m watch those but uh he you did nothing on the free agent in trade trade market yet so I got UC plus bro you know what’s funny about these grades is last week the three of us were on together and we argued about should the Cavs be criticized and you guys were very critical of the Cavs and I was like give them some time give them some time and I gave him the lowest grade in the the way it works I mean not that much lower but I gave him a SE right it’s the same area because I’m grading right now I’m like you know I yes I like the coaching higher and I I love resigning Donovan but I don’t think that outweighs that they’ve done nothing now I’m willing to be patient but the Great Is Right now the bait the great has nothing to do with patience and as you guys have said the rest of the grades an f and I’m not giving an a for the Kenny Atkinson cuz I like it but I I know that it’s an A so anyway go ahead Mike what what did you give as a grade so I did this exercise on the ultimate Cav show on Wednesday night and for their overall offseason I I ended up going with Earl’s grade of a B minus and the way I I went G Bush for an analogy for this one it’s like your parents sent you out to the grocery store because they’re making fried chicken for dinner mhm and you come back with chicken and breaks that is Donovan and a coach and the rest you kind of forgot you can still finagle fried chicken out of that but it certainly is going to be the delicious recipe M your grandma whatever KFC if you want but the two biggest things on the checklist for Kobe Alman he accomplished and you get credit for that and when I was weighing what he hasn’t done versus what he was done I just weighed the two biggest things on the checklist a little more heavily than I did the lack of moves on the bottom yeah and the reason I can’t give a high like he did what he had to do but they were going to hire a coach I mean what he gets credit because it wasn’t like I know you like the choice I like the choice it’s fine but it’s not like he’s a no-brainer choice right it was like so I don’t know why why am I going to give him credit for hiring a coach you have to hire somebody it could have been a nobody out of the blue but that doesn’t mean it would have been a bad choice no but if I was gradi I just feel more confident or or if he didn’t sign Donovan Mitchell that’s then I agree with that like we might as well CH it up I think it’s deeper than just the head coach though I think when you assemble a c a coaching staff that can create open dialogue between staff and players when you got guys that’s like Donny Bryant spent a lot of time with Donovan Mitchell uh in Utah you know a guy like deari Carrol who’s a former player just actually retired a couple seasons ago and then you get a tactician like Jordan at who was in LA with the Lakers with LeBron James who has some star control I think when you build your staff out correctly it helps leverage that grade more to a a because it’s deeper than just keny ainson I guess I I guess I just don’t know if we have proof of that yet but on paper it looks good I can’t it does pretty all right go ahead Mike well Jason Lloyd let’s go to the sum BR the only one smarter than me when it comes to the Cavs Jason Lloyd what’s up Jason who joins us from Las Vegas Jason are you are you sober right now of course of course he is it is 9:30 in the morning it’s been I’ve been up since six here I’ve been up for three hours already it’s been a very low-key trip are you excited are you who are you most excited to watch play for the Cavs in the summer league today tell the truth really you going to make me pick somebody y Yep mm that’s what we doing I if I’m being honest the answer is nobody but if you’re going to make me pick uh you know actually I’m gonna throw you a curve who I’m most interested to see today is actually DJ birs because he’s lost a ton of weight we wanted him to be fat I want a fat I like a fat guy that that guy ain’t gonna last in the NBA DJ’s lost a lot of weight since we last saw him so I’m just curious to see what he looks like and how he moves on the floor sorry G I know you want me to say Amani I am not Hey listen here’s the thing I you you didn’t you didn’t see the first half I I’ve adopted DJ Burns I’m like yo I he’s the body that I want to get to like I’m GNA I’m GNA get tips he got my I got his old body I want his new body so DJ Burns I’m interested I I like him he’s a good passer he got a he got a unique skill set um I’m I want to see DJ Burns too um now how many of these guys got an opportunity to really make a roster cuz the Cavs let’s let’s be clear the Cavs got ball players right you know yeah yeah I this is a stacked roster and that’s you know DJ Burns probably has an uphill battle to to make this team he’s just got a summer league invite at this point you know Craig Porter Jr obviously emerged last year he’s back on this roster he’ll he’ll be on this team next year they brought Luke Travers over a draft pick from a few years ago they’re going to take a look at him this Summer obviously ammani still floating out there u i if you’re looking for someone on this roster to make a significant impact on this team this year I just don’t see it it’s I go back to what you know we had these during the Amman Wars last summer is like guys he’s not going to play like if he plays something has gone wrong and that’s how I sort of feel about this again if if any of these guys are playing Big Time minutes for a stretch and we saw Craig Porter play really well in small burst but if you’re relying on these guys to carry you for three weeks or a month that’s because something has gone tragically wrong so the the vast majority of the guys that you see in these games aren’t going to be on NBA rosters this is really sort of a fun event certainly it’s a good opportunity for some of these guys to try and latch on with teams it’s a quick early look at some of the high draft picks obviously bronny James is going to be a lot of eyeballs on him even though he was a second rounder and that’s really the extent of it if we’re really being honest of what’s really at stake that’s really it all right Jackson couple things first things first man don’t ever go back to Vegas and leave your boy behind we like two pe’s in a pod now you should have took me with you that’s fair that’s fair but when it comes to like Jaylen Tyson right we know a lot of the things that he does well he can he can create his own shot he he’s he’s a great slasher and things like that but his Achilles heel is his jump shot is a little bit slow Jordan Otis known as a tactician who’s coaching the uh c summer league team this year what do you what fine tomb improvements and I know it’s been a a short window from the time he’s been drafted until now but what are you looking forward to seeing from him in particular I am curious to see what a shot looks like I don’t know that it’s going to look drastically different than it did a month ago obviously uh you’re right they haven’t had a lot of time with them uh I probably should have picked Jaylen as the guy most interested to see over DJ I was just it’s because I think people are gonna be shocked to see what he looks like now because when you look at what he look like at NC State but obviously for what the Cavs need and and they’re you know what they’re trying to get out of this Jaylen is a guy that could get rotation minutes I don’t know it’s going to happen right at the start of the season but certainly you know they have a a real need still on the wing and he’s got the size and the physical ability to fill that uh I do want to see what his offensive game looks like it’s so hard to really know what transfers and what doesn’t from this setting this is not a great setting this is not a replica of NBA games it’s really just a first look at guys and I mean I remember Anthony Bennett had great summer league games and you see where that led to and what that me so it a bad performance doesn’t mean disaster and a great performance certainly doesn’t mean Superstar them lies ahead it’s really just an opportunity to get an early look at these guys Jason real quick to wrap it up we’ve seen in the WNBA Caitlyn Clark taking a lot of cheap shots this year part of it’s because the players are annoyed that she’s getting so much hype you mentioned bronnie he’s getting way more hype than a typical second round pick you usually second round picks don’t get mentioned at all even though it’s LeBron’s son you think uh there’s some cheap shots coming his way uh no these are guy no and this is why not in summer league because these are guys who are fighting for their careers but during the season during the season you think it’ll happen well during the season that’s different but for what you’re talking about in summer league these are guys just trying to fight for a job and fight for they’re not worried about that but I do think I mentioned this on the show a couple weeks ago he’s been dealing with this his whole life his name’s LeBron James Jr he’s taking guys for since he start picked up a basketball and said I’m coming for you yeah you think you’re so tough let’s see what you got so I do think that that’s something that he’s dealt with and he’ll have to continue to deal with all right Jason have fun in Vegas we’ll talk to you next time all right man all right see you next week up buddy Jason Lloyd out in Vegas we’ll see him back in studio next week when we come back here on the ultimate Cleveland sports show on wkz the Browns are usually great at signing extensions with their players but one player is not happy with this contract B we’ll get into it now [Music] welcome back to the ultimate Cleveland sports show here on WKYC channel 3 and I know exactly what we’re talking about right now it’s the Cleveland Browns guys the Browns generally in the last few years have done a great job when it comes to signing extensions with players that are looking for new contracts in fact to the point where they’ve signed guys that we were even surprised would get extensions like David njoku which has worked out and like Jack Concklin was we’ll see if it works out hasn’t so far but one guy who is not satisfied at all and is very frustrated with his contract situation is Amari Cooper He’s been a great Brown in fact he’s the only player in Browns history to have back-to-back thousand yard receiving Seasons the only player in the history of the franchise but the Browns haven’t taken care of him yet Earl are you concerned yes bull I am concerned you know Andrew Barry is my man’s and you know I’m all for Andrew Barry usually standing on big business but when you look at at the Cleveland Browns wide receiver Court you cannot afford to stand on business with Amari Cooper especially with so much at stake in the 2024 season we spent the first hour and a half going back and forth talking about Deshawn Watson expectations for the Cleveland Browns and in order to help Deshawn Watson get the most out of him you’re going to need aari Cooper out uh out there but furthermore when you make that trade for Jerry Judy and you sign Jerry Judy to that contract extension I’m under the assumption that you do that because you know you have Omari Cooper in that locker room and Amari Cooper can do a lot to help Jerry Judy become a better Pro a better route Runner just a better guy all around on and off the football field and if you’re going to do that I think common sense says you keep a guy like Amari in the fold I’m I’m on record saying two years maybe 52 million I think is a good you know deal for Amari Cooper because he has been highly productive but you got to make sure that you get him in here and keep that dude happy listen you know you know I’m the the the colonel of project stock P the general and project stockpile we’ve already allocated the funds for it it’s already there there’s no way we can go into this season without Amari Cooper because now you’re leveling stuff up now if you don’t got Amari Cooper you’re asking Jerry Judy to be a number one receiver we asking Elijah Moore to be a number two receiver we already see that’s not the case now that you guys like uh Bell the guys you know like Tillman those guys have to play I much rather have my number number one receiver they got a roll coverage to Amari Cooper you look at Jerry Judy he can be comfortable at number two now Elijah Moore is in the slot we still got David and joku running down the seam and now you can specialize and have guys like maybe a Jamari thrash or cedri Tillman be specialist type players you need everything in all hands on deck especially in this AFC North and the way the schedule looks game one when Tom Brady is calling the game I need Amari Cooper out there flank flanked out right getting ready to receive these set up passes so guys I’m not worried about Amari Cooper holding out because I I’d just be very surprised if he did that that being said I’m with you Amari Cooper to me and maybe obviously some people would disagree is the most important player in this offense not named deshun Watson I he is a star he’s a pro bowl player he’s the best receiver in the history of this franchise even though he hasn’t been here very long and he’s by far their best player on off defense now Nick chub was but he’s coming off injury but I I got a million running backs and and I believe in the NFL these days you win by throwing the football you win by putting up big numbers on offense they if if Thea we argued as you said in the in the in the YouTube version in the show about how important deshun Watson putting up big numbers is well I think one thing we’re all in agreement if Amari Cooper is not healthy and playing the full season it’s going to be hard for deshun Watson to put up big numbers Amari Cooper is the man in this skill position group the Browns have taken care of everybody including as you mentioned Earl Jerry Judy you can’t take care of Jerry Judy I know he’s younger but you can’t take care of a guy who has really proven nothing and then leave a guy who’s done it all hanging that’s not right they took care of Jack Conlin he’s been injured for the most part of two years you took care and again I get these guys are younger conin is not younger though that’s fair take care of Amari pay him what Jimmy hlam has shown us that he doesn’t care about the cap and he doesn’t care about money he’s got a lot of it take care of aari Cooper I hope they will before the the preseason starts all right we’ve talked Browns we’ve talked Cavs when we come back the Guardians are struggling a little bit oh boy but who will they take with the first pick in the draft it’s not going to help him this year it’s going to help him a lot in the future that’s coming up next on the ultimate Cleveland sports show on WKYC welcome back it’s the ultimate Cleveland sport show here on wky I can’t talk today apparently uh okay let’s talk about the Guardians here we’re going to get to the the first overall pick of the draft in a minute guys Guardians struggling for the first time this year they’ve dropped nine of the last 15 games have a three-game weekend Series in Tampa Bay before the All-Star break so hopefully going have a good weekend to end it on a high note they did have a nine game lead in the division at one point it’s down to 4 and a half so they’re not playing great right now but don’t panic trade deadline right around the corner hopefully they’ll have some upgrades now one of the upgrades to the roster is going to be the first overall pick in the draft he’s probably not going to help the team this year but certainly by next year he could guys we’ve talked a lot about this uh we don’t usually talk about baseball draft we talk a lot about the football draft we talk a lot about basketball draft baseball draft usually gets ignored this year because the Guardians had the first overall pick we’ve actually talked about it a decent amount this week it seems like the two big names are Charlie Condon and and bazan Condon and bazan those are the two big names that we’ve heard here who are they going to take we’ve had predictions from some experts so far but I’m GNA make my pick right now and that’s Condon Charlie Condon played at in the SEC which is the best level of college uh baseball the highest level excellent competition he had 37 home runs fifth best in the history of college baseball he had he averaged over one extra base hit per game he’s got size which you can’t you can’t teach size you can’t coach size you either have it or you don’t he’s a big dude lot of power quick trip to the big leagues yeah there’s an issue what position he’s going to play he’s been a third baseman he’s not going to play third base for the Guardians you got to make him an outfielder probably maybe a first baseman we’ll see but I think more likely an outfielder but I think Condon is the way to go I think he’s the most proven entity out there if they take bazan I’m fine with that they take weather HT I’m fine with it I generally trust this front office but I’m going to go with Condon as the choice easy easy money me give me Condon listen his freshman year 25 home runs comes back in sophomore year 37 home runs and then McNuggets tells me he only played like 57 games I’m like this guy is B 433 he’s putting up 37 home runs and he has a boatload of doubles in that as well so when you look at him it’s a power hitter he plays your power positions we’ve been wanting a right hand Ed power hitter in right or left field for years um and it’s an opportunity to grab one of those guys it’s a slam dunk for me I’m taking him oh man great pcks by you guys I’m going Condon as well but for different reasons so Bo you alluded to this earlier this week what number does Condon wear right number 24 what’s the last guy that was a homegrown Cleveland prospect that weree number 24 that turned out to be a damn good here hitter I don’t even know cuz I don’t know numbers I never remember Manny Ramirez Manny Ramirez I’m bad when it comes to numbers I’ve never been outside of that when I look at it is you know I made a mistake the other day on his graphic right with his Ops and the mistake ends up being the reason why I want them anytime that you’re slugging 1.9 for a season sign me up for that man give me Charlie Condon for the Cleveland Guardians number one overall do the Guardians currently have a number 24 on the roster I don’t think so off the top of my head I never remember baseball numbers I I don’t know what it is I remember Ernie Banks and Larry Doby both 14 Ryan Samberg was 23 Mark Grace was 17 I don’t really remember many I Michael Jordan’s 45 everybody knows basketball numbers and football numbers there’s no current 24 on the Guardians Rost there you go get them up here let’s let’s have him in the line can we get him in the lineup by next week hey yeah listen can I pull the curtain back real quick for one SE go ahead uh between our last commercial break our last block and this block I went out and asked everyone all right so I have the graphics ready who are you going to take and Vos I’m taking bazan right he did he said yeah I got did I was I was like maybe he switched it up maybe he got some more a f job out of me he’s like I just played along I was like yeah okay you don’t get this on any other show folks you don’t get people n they probably by the way bull is an amazing host an amazing host just a couple you know brain lapsers today I’ll take bazan let me get the case for bazan because I’m not grading myself an a today I don’t get an A grade for this B does not play a premium position does swing a premium bat just like Condon who had a 1.5 plus Ops this season banana bazana excuse me was 1.47 90 at 28 home runs from the second base position if you draft him at second base you can move Jimenez over the short stop and just like Condon who I think can make his MLB debut next season I think Banna can also crack through the minor leagues in Rapid succession and we talked to everyone throughout the week we had Jared Goodwin from perfect game we had Joe Doyle we had Tim kirkon bazan cond and weather hole all seem to be the consensus one two three I’m just going to trust the Guardians to take the best player by way don’t steal that if they do get uh bazan I got bananas for bazana like don’t steal that it’s coming it’ll be here be used consist that’s a big nugget special and someone’s going to say it like it’s new yeah bananas for bazan huh that’s true they’re going to steal that and not give you credit I on the guardian show ear by the way if you missed the ultimate Cleveland Guardians show from this morning make sure you check it out Zach predicted that the would take Condon he doesn’t have inside information he thought bazan could end up moving to the Outfield too Mike that that was his opinion from talking to people in the organization that either of them could end up moving the Outfield although it is possible as you say that bazan could end up playing second which is what he’s played and Jimenez can move to short especially if they end up trading which I hope some of their shortstop glut here at the trade deadline to get better all right thanks to everybody for joining us we’ll talk to you next time if you don’t watch us other times make sure you check us out every week day 111 on YouTube thank you for joining us on the ultimate Cleveland sport show peace
Koby Altman and the Cleveland Cavaliers re-signed Donovan Mitchell, hired Kenny Atkinson, but haven’t done much else this offseason. So how do you grade the front office in totality for all these moves, or lack thereof?
Jason Lloyd joins us from Las Vegas for a little preview of Emoni Bates and the Cavs Summer League team.
What should the Cleveland Browns do about Amari Cooper’s contract and when does the looming negotiation become a distraction for the team?
Plus, if you were in charge of the Cleveland Guardians #1 pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft, who would you take: Travis Bazzana, Charlie Condon, JJ Wetherholt, Jac Caglianone, Chase Burns or someone else?
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