CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. MILWAUKEE BUCKS INSTANT REACTION: Emoni Bates, Jaylon Tyson & Luke Travers

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. MILWAUKEE BUCKS INSTANT REACTION: Emoni Bates, Jaylon Tyson & Luke Travers

and just like that the Cav summer league Dynasty is back Friday was a catastrophically ugly loss to the Orlando Magic fast forward 48 hours and on Sunday the Cleveland Cavaliers summer league Squad looked like the same team that ran the table in Vegas last year won the championship and is back for vengeance for as bad as Friday was today was equally as impressive and we’ll break it all down coming up right now on the ultimate Cavaliers show what is up ladies and gentlemen Mikey McNuggets here we’re going to make this a quick summer league wrapup because we have a MLB draft to get ready for and we’re going to be back live on this channel starting at 650 to go live as the Guardians make their selection with the one over all pick but the Cavs just beat the Milwaukee Bucks 112 to 81 a 40-point win essentially for the Cavs after getting blown out on Friday to the Orlando Magic talk about a flip of the script you go from looking absolutely putrid to absolutely incredible in the span of two days and frankly that’s to be expected in the summer league these guys are being Loosely coached they very for the most part are very unfamiliar with each other’s games it comes down you’re going to make some shots today you’re not going to make some shots today who’s going to pass the ball who’s going to play defense who’s going to hustle and today it was a great culmination for your Cleveland Cavaliers a bunch of guys I thought had some pretty solid performances worthy of a shout out so we’ll run through them all but overall keep in mind this is Summer League one bad game on Friday should not change your opinion on a player one great game today should not change your opinion on a player when we’re done with Summer Le we can look back in totality and see how they per form but one performance good or bad should not really sway you on whether or not a player has a role on the NBA team or in the NBA in general but it gives you a little more data points to end up making your conclusion summer league is not a definitive the competition of the summer league is nowhere near the competition of an NBA game so keep that in mind but it does not take away from some of the impressive performances we saw and we’ll start with Luke Travers who did not play in Friday’s summer league opening lost to the magic and maybe that’s the Cav’s secret weapon they were missing I thought Travers and I’m being 100% honest out here was the most NBA Ready Player on the court tonight for the Cavs he was the connector that I had been screaming for Cleveland to try and acquire this off season everything Tristan da Silva did which is why I was pounding the table for D Silva in the draft leadup process and obviously he got taken two picks before the Cavs run the clock at 20 and Tyson played well tonight we’ll talk about about him in a sec he’s one of the guys that I was very impressed with uh Travers brings that connectivity to the NBA court that frankly none of their other three four combo players do it’s the passing it’s kind of the basketball IQ that you can’t quantify in words but you know it when you see it he’s always in the right spot at the right time he’s always willing to make the extra pass he’s in helps side defense at the right time in the right position more often than not is he an NBA athlete yet we’ll see it’s tough to judge going up against g-league and summer league competition but today he certainly looked like he was ready to at least fight for a chance to contribute on the Cavs NBA roster I saw a couple of my Cavs Twitter friends Mack and Tony and uh and Justin Rowan out there saying we got to get Luke Travers on a two-way at minimum and I kind of agree with that because his skill set is something that the Cavs don’t really have on the roster without Luke davers and at least having him on a two-way gives you the chance to see if his skill set can translate up a level in athleticism that’s kind of the big question on Luke Travers he’s 6768 not a terrific athlete but a smart basketball player and sometimes those guys can make a seamless transition other times their lack of athleticism negates their ability to outthink lesser opponents for example Kyle Anderson has kind of overcome that and he plays slow not that great of an athlete and he’s turned into a really solid NBA contributor not a star and Luke Travers will never be a star in the NBA level but I do think he can be a solid bench roll contributor whatever technical uh hole you want to peg him into there on an NBA team with the right surrounding support cast support cast around them not surrounding support cast support cast around them so I liked what I saw from Luke Travers a couple really nice transition passes a couple deflections on defense the very first possession of the game they run a little dribble handoff with uh Pete Nance and ammani Bates who then kicks it to Travers in the middle who could have taken a shot but says no I’m gonna kick it to Jaylen Tyson in the opposite corner who drilled the three just a really really heady basketball player and like I said he’s not the best shooter in the world he’s not the best ball handler he’s not the best passer he’s not the best rebounder he’s not the best defender but he has a little bit of everything and when you combined a little bit of everything into a guy in a 67 body who is unselfish and knows how to play basketball and knows how to make the little place to help everyone else surrounding him up their level he’s a connector and I think Luke Travers has the potential to be a pretty decent NBA role player who comes off the bench in that connector role speaking of Jaylen Tyson another game another performance from The Rook that I was pretty darn impressed with he he looks theart it jumped off the screen on Friday’s game against Orlando he was a little up and down with his shot his shot selection a little questionable his play making looked pretty good his defense looked pretty good but he just looked big strong and athletic in a way that guys in the summer league should if they are of the caliber player Jaylen Tyson hopes to be and tonight once again it kind of flourished off the screen he had a couple nice finishes in the paint he had a couple nice passes his defensive intensity and his work ethic defensively to fight through screens and get his hands in passing Lanes I thought was really impressive for a guy who in summer league defense is preached but it is not stressed if that makes sense they want you to play defense but it is by no mean a mandatory facet and component of the game I mean look at the Milwaukee Bucks tonight and look at the Cavs on Friday giving up 100 points in these we’re barely going to call fouls get up and down uptempo kind of contest so I love to see that from The Rook the strength the physicality the rebounding he had a couple nice finishes in transition I mentioned before he had a uh a great steal that led to a transition foul he also had the three from the corner he had the steal in the second half that led to the ammani Bates dunk he just another guy like Travis seemed to be in the right spot at the right time and I know that sounds simple guys but there are players who go their entire careers who seemingly never get to the right spot at the right time it’s not a skill that you can pinpoint or you can place or you can work on it’s just an inherent feel for the game and so far through two Summer League games which once again are two Summer League games take all this with a grain of salt and keep it in context he has shown The Knack to kind of be in the right spot at the right time which is something the Cavs can desperately lose off a bench that is not consistent it’s one of the things that you can be consistent at is kind of knowing what your team needs in the moment it needs it I liked how the Cavs and jordanut gave him the opportunity to try and run some more offense uh in the second half when the game was out of touch Milwaukee’s defense was gambling a ton which kind of throws him out of the rhythm of getting good looks and reading a defense in the traditional way so I’m not really going to judge him good or bad in that sense I I I was just impressed overall and you take what what I took from Jaylen Tyson is what you hope to take from someone who’s drafted in the early 20s or 20th like Jaylen was does he look like he can be a player and the answer is yes and the shot still has to come around the release is still a little bit slow but from a physicality standpoint from a creation and shot creation standpoint from a defensive intensity standpoint and and from a he just seems to look the part and gets it he checks those boxes so two for two in terms of Jaylen Tyson impressing during the summer league Craig Porter Jr had a really nice bounceback game I thought he played frankly like crap in the first game against Orlando I thought today he was much better uh you still want a little more from cpj a guy who you would expect and you hope contributes on the NBA level last season I know I was willing to go into the playoffs last year thinking he was their best bet as a first guard to back up Darius Garland if they needed a traditional point guard in he was their best defensive perimeter guard and I thought if he had not gotten hurt in that regular season finale against Charlotte he would have played a legitimate role in the playoffs and a guy who’s playing or could be playing in a playoff series should be dominating the summer league and I thought he looked better today but I still think he can play even better which is like I guess promising on the one hand and also slightly disappointing but Porter Jr definitely better today than he was against Orlando and then there’s ammani Bates guys and ammani in the first half was terrific 14 points five rebounds four assists in the first half I actually don’t know exactly what he finished with I think it was 186 and four uh if someone in the comments knows his exact final stats leave it I believe he finished with 18 points six rebounds four assists I know he had 145 and four in the first half so he did most of his damage in the first half before the game had become a blowout couple things that stood out from Amman in my standpoint first and foremost he had a couple really nice passes in transition and we’ve been asking ammani hey we know can score we know you’re an ISO player can become a little more of a playmaker and today he showed some playmaking chops that frankly we hadn’t seen much of yet up to this point in his professional career and that certainly is a promising step in the right direction was it a ton no but four assists and a half impressive not easy he had a couple more passes that could have been assist had the other player made the shot he had a couple passes that then led to assists just like the first play of the game when he passed it to Luke Travers who then kicks it to Jaylen Tyson in the corner for a three that’s a hockey assist but it was more of just the willingness to pass the ball and the vision there was one play in transition where he thread the needle with I think it was a left-handed almost full-court bounce pass that led to a Travers dunk like that’s impressive playmaking I don’t care if it’s a one-off it’s still pretty damn impressive that he was capable a to see the pass through traffic and then B execute and if it was his left hand and I apologize for not not making a note of it here’s what I wrote in my notes for that exact pass uh another dime to another dime from Bates threads the needle and transition quote or question mark is this the best passing we’ve seen from Bates yet I do think it is I I didn’t say if it was a left-handed pass or right-handed pass so bad job out of me but it was a really impressive pass he had a couple other passes in the first half I thought with the right reads and the right plays as well he also his release on catch and shoot threes today was lightning quick and I think that’s something to keep note of because last year it was not slow by any means when we talk about slow releases aanii Bates last year would never have been in the conversation of slow releases but today he was catching and firing like this and it was noticeably quicker and you may be asking well why does it make a difference well you don’t need as much space if your releasees that quick and according to my notes and once again this is my personal notes he was two for four on what I counted quick trigger releases from three today and if you could shoot 50% on those kind of Threes think Klay Thompson where he catches it the ball hits him right in the pocket it goes right up there’s no load up there’s no release it’s catch and go super hard to do it takes a ton of talent a ton of skill and at 69ine if ammani Bates can get it off that quickly that is a really promising characteristic and skill that he can bring to the NBA level when he gets the opportunity to see if he can play uh overall from Amman the playmaking was good five rebounds he had a couple I thought he went up in traffic and grabbed not all rebounds are created equal some fault to you he had two that I tracked that just kind of fell in his lap and he had two in the first half that he went up and got and that was something we didn’t see a ton of last year his aggressiveness in terms of defensive and offensive rebounding I loved what I saw from ammani Bates he missed the three I took a note of this he took a bad three in the second half it was in the third quarter he caught it it’s one of the quick trigger threes with 21 seconds in the shot clock it was way too quick but he hustled to get his own offensive rebound saved it and Jaylen Tyson ended up getting the uh the the save I guess it’s not a rebound but he ended up getting the save and at least he didn’t put his head down have bad shot crap got to get back on defense so all in all I thought Bates played okay in the opener I thought he played much better again today in the second game as a team they all played much better which is a promising sign a step in the right direction fat still took some shots that you don’t love I mean his shot selection is what it is it’s it’s not impeccable but I thought he was smarter today trying to all right my first look’s not there let’s see what my other guys can do and if it gets back to me in the offense then I can go there was a possession in the first half that showcased that exactly he took a early three with 22 seconds in the shot clock it was an inbound off a side out of bounds catch shot fire he air balled it bad shot to start it uh Tyson gets the rebound kicks it back out it comes back to Bates with six on the shot clock and then that’s where he does what he does best goes oneon-one and hit a tough floater over a Defender I think it was Bo champ and that’s when you could take those tough shots so ammani still learning but by far his best playmaking performance I can remember his best rebounding performance I can remember and if that quick trigger three becomes a legitimate skill that he is well-versed and dangerous at that’s just another tool to put in his tool belt as he looks to make the transition from the g-league to the NBA roster couple other guys look decent but all in all the four guys who really stood out Travers Tyson Porter Jr and Bates uh Travers to me just because we didn’t even see him on Friday and the fluidity and smoothness to his game I thought he would get my quote unquote game ball if he could give one but you’re splitting hairs if you wanted to give ammani Bates the game ball I wouldn’t argue and if you wanted to give uh the rookie Jaylen Tyson the game ball frankly I wouldn’t argue with you much either and also shout out to zier Smith for the dunk of the tournament so far the dunk of the summer league I mean I’d like to report a murder someone called 911 that was in incredible I mean I remember zier Smith back at Texas Tech and he was a I think the 19th overall pick by the 76ers a few years ago has never really panned out as an NBA player but the athleticism he displayed on that one particular dunk my goodness I mean I was on the phone with BU as it happened live and I started shouting he’s like are you okay are you okay like did someone like uh yes someone died it’s whoever he just dunked on but I didn’t know his name uh it was an incredible dunk incredible performance from the Cavs honestly so you win by 41 points in the summer league it’s a hell of a performance we’ll get to some of your comments real real quick and then we are going to wrap up here because I gotta be back in about an hour and 20 minutes Soul Train says uh baits really improved since last year he’s also by the way he got to a couple spots on the court today uh he said he put on 20 pounds of muscle I don’t think he’s getting to some of those spots unless he puts on that muscle so the the time he spent in the wait room certainly paying off Soul Train also says Jaylen Tyson has been interesting uh Tyson Bates Porter Jr have been consistent so far I don’t know if I’d say Porter Jr has been consistent I’ll be honest I thought he was bad in the first game he was much better today uh Ian says Travers a Swiss army knife Mr Jolly says I thought Luke should have been on the squad last year shouldn’t go back to Australia this year he’s always by the ball and ready to make a play I don’t know if it was his choice of the Cav’s choice to send him back to Australia last year that’s something I’ll look into I don’t have a great answer on that uh Adam says he plays beautiful unselfish ball can gets his teammates involved uh can Telly learned a lot from Deli yeah listen uh all the feedback so far uh even Sprout 216 listen all the feedback from uh Travers so far has been impressive I me he just plays in a smart IQ level of basketball so yeah Adam Baker says Tyson or baates in the rotation first it will be Jaylen Tyson in the rotation first uh he finished with 186 and four thank you John that’s what I thought uh rumpy says glad to hear his playmaking it was his best um it was by far his best playmaking game Todd be says shout out to the Guardians pennant hey when I went to get the penants the first time they didn’t not have any Guardians in stock went back to Crocker Park today got the pennant it is up there it was not a shot against the Guardians it was simply they did not have one in stock when I went to Crocker Park last time so got it up there and it will be up there uh great team win it absolutely was a great team win the dunk was wild uh what up G Bush Travers was good Tyson has a good feel for the game yeah Hey listen 40o win in the summer league you take it you run to the bank you go to bed happy tonight there’s no real negatives to take away from tonight’s game but once again one Summer League game good or bad is simply One Summer League game if you want to overreact to this game you also have to overreact to what we saw on Friday I’m choosing going to play it cool common collected down the middle till we have an entire summer league to digest then we’ll start making some big time Big Picture assumptions on players like Amman Bates and Luke Travers and uh Jaylen Tyson and who can and who can’t play or who has a chance to really compete for minutes in the rotation we’re gonna wrap this one up and guess what we’re back in about an hour and 15 minutes we will be live as the Guardians make their first overall pick in franchise history that’s going to go live at about 650 just before the Draft starts the draft begins at 7 and we’re going to stay live throughout the pick and see if we can predict correctly and hopefully react to who the guardians take and have a happy reaction I hope it’s who we all want so we’ll see you in about 50 an hour and 15 minutes peace

The 2nd Summer League performance for the Cleveland Cavaliers was much better than the first.

Emoni Bates, Luke Travers, Jaylon Tyson & Craig Porter Jr. all showed out against the Milwaukee Bucks, erasing the horrific performance from Friday against the Orlando Magic.

The Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-79 in the NBA 2K25 Summer League at Cox Pavilion on Friday.

The only lead change happened in the opening minutes, with the Magic riding a 36-21 first quarter to an easy victory. They took a 62-41 lead into the half and led by 35 points in the fourth quarter. The Magic shot 47.4% from the field and 37.8% from 3-point range while holding the Cavaliers to 39.7% from the field and 18.8% from long range.

The Magic (1-0) were led by Jett Howard, who finished with 22 points, two rebounds and four assists. Anthony Black collected 20 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals. Jay Huff amassed 16 points and six rebounds, while Tristan da Silva totaled 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Cavaliers (0-1) were led by Emoni Bates, who accrued 20 points and three rebounds. Jaylon Tyson tallied 15 points and eight rebounds. Craig Porter Jr. provided 10 points, two assists and two steals, while Pete Nance had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks.