Chase Down Podcast Live, presented by fubo: Draft Review and FA Preview!

Chase Down Podcast Live, presented by fubo: Draft Review and FA Preview!

[Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] this crowd Rises to its feet Theo slammed it home garlet left wing free ball perfect of the lane lock the boldly Po and Allen blocked the shot at The Rim how with the left hand and a foul welcome to the chasetown podcast part of the C media family I’m your host Justin Rowan the face down is presented by fubo the official streaming partner of the Cavs watch over 350 channels of live sports and TV including balet Sports Ohio without cable there’s no cost and no commitment try for free at fubotv.com Cavs we are going through changes baby the Cleveland Cavaliers have a head coach in Kenny ainson and we have a new first round pick in Jaylen Tyson but today we have an old co-host my co-host Carter Rodriguez is back on the podcast Carter how you doing buddy I’m doing good I uh I’m calling in from sunny California as we knock out Call of Duty major 4 uh at the day job but uh had to sneak into a side office so I could uh talk to my old pal Justin we we just couldn’t contain the takes you know it doesn’t matter if you fly across the country you’re still here you’re still ready to give takes respect man because I you know whenever I’m out of town I’m not uh techsavvy I’m not able to to set this thing up so I appreciate you making the time and making the effort uh big thanks to Danny Cunningham for coming on earlier uh to discuss the hire of Kenny ainson but obviously we haven’t got your thoughts yet Carter uh what was your kind of reaction to the the hiring of Kenny ainson um I mean as as I mentioned I was really into the idea of James bgo so it was there was a little bit of that like H you know it wasn’t my number one guy but I think Ryan Morton our dear friend put it best where he said uh I’m I’m a bgo guy but I’m comparing uh what a coach did with his team four years ago uh versus a guy what he did with his team six years ago like like the the the info and the data isn’t really quite there um for for me to really feel strongly one way or the other um you know I think what you feel good about is that the process you know was a little drawn out it wasn’t an Impulse higher it didn’t seem by any any means you know uh despite the fact that anytime you have a uh a search with an or this big that you’re going to have different folks I’m sure with different favorites but like the reality is I feel like we wanted a coach that checked a few boxes Kenny checks those boxes and like you know I think we’re going to see a very different Cavaliers offense this year which is ultimately what really we needed to see yeah I think it’s the strongest resume that was out there on the market in terms of job experience um mentioned it with Danny but I I think the fact that you know he had the head coach experience he had those data points of what went wrong what went well and then going back to kind of that assistant role on a title team right and seeing that through the lens of someone that had previously been a head coach I think that that is is so much more valuable than just going through that experience strictly as an assistant coach because you you know kind of what to look closer for when when you’re studying Steve cerr and you’re learning from him obviously you know also coaching under tyo uh since his time as a head coach as well and what I like I always you know we we look at what’s happening we look at the news we look at the games and data points ahead of us but I think we always try to take a little bit of a step back and look at some of the macro Trends and I’m already starting to see you know some of that develop which you know Kenny Atkinson you look at his offenses in the past lot of initiators a lot of ball movement you know not relying on any one person to dribble too much lots of structure to it and then you look at the Cav pick of Jaylen Tyson at 20th overall and it’s a player that can do a lot of things right and in that draft process that was one of the things that you know I had said that I really value and something I want to see the Cavs ad whether that be free agency whether that’s the trademarket or in the draft guys that are capable of contributing in a variety of ways playing a variety of positions and Jaylen Tyson that selection makes me very excited for those reasons yeah I mean I you know he wasn’t someone that I dove very deeply into on my first kind of uh you know homework pass it didn’t feel like a guy who we were hearing was associated with the cabs a lot uh you know you were hearing a lot of Fury some filipowski some guys like that and so he wasn’t a guy paid a lot of attention to till we had Maxwell bomach from No Ceilings on and he kind of mentioned all the things that make him such an interesting Prospect and like on our last podcast before we started fully into draft prep I did ask you does the team have too many specialists you know and like you know sometimes you ask a question you kind of think deep down is the case and you know I and like so adding a do everything kind of player whose biggest knock on him in college in terms of the review of his tape is that he tries to do a little too much he has to do a little too much for his team kind of feels like a hand and glove fit yeah yeah it really does and you know it’s kind of similar to Jaylen Williams who I remember we when we had you know a month basically after that uh that series to to look at oh or I guess the the play in loss to to look at okay what prospects are available to the Cavs kind of really deep dive in that class um we we kind of that was the guy that we started leaning towards we’re like you know just under 66 but he’s strong he’s able to provide playmaking he you know was in a larger role and kind of sell within that role there’s a lot of those same parallels with Jaylen Tyson and and you know for someone that um went from a specialist role when he was playing at Texas Tech and played it at a very high level uh our buddy Bob Schmidt tweeted out these stats but he was in the 97th percentile in cutting efficiency 90th percentile in catch and shoot efficiency 94th percentile and transition efficiency and 88 at The Rim that was in kind of that you know off ball kind of role player role at Texas deck and then he goes to Cal and is basically asked to do everything as Maxwell said to us you know their season started to turn around when they really gave him the keys and let him spread his wings and uh even though some of those efficiency numbers dropped his overall efficiency was high you know 47% from the the floor 36% from three his assist percentage went from 9% to 23.6 uh so for those that don’t know Assist percentage is perc percentage of teammates field goals while you’re on the court that you assist and his turnover percentage dropped as that assist percentage went up over 14% that to me is a really good indicator and even though he’s not going to have that high usage with the Cavs in all likelihood having someone that excels within a role but has the juice and the capability to expand upon that and give you something else I think is really really important yeah and just the fact that he’s a guy where the team took off as he took on more responsibility I think that really kind of goes to show that he isn’t a guy who’s just filling up empty numbers on a team that doesn’t have enough on ball juice it’s like you know you want higher volume to correlate with higher team success it can’t just be higher individual numbers I mean that’s kind of the Crux of what you’re always evaluating when you’re looking at some of these lower end teams of like okay well is that because you just got a lot of shots and the team stinks like so I I think that is exactly the kind of you know again it had he kind of has all a little struan in the sense that you know he can be a role player um but like you know when he does get that secondary playmaking opportunity he seems to really be able to pop and like I saw in terms of watching some of the tape he makes some high level reads Justin this is not just a utilitarian connector passer at least at the college level you know obviously higher degree of difficulty the high higher up you get in the competitive you know chart but like I saw him running some pick and rolls where you know he’s running pick and roll he looks to the to the you know weak side corner to hit that corner three and draws the defender over you know makes the the defender at the Baseline take that extra step towards the three-point shooter and then hits a cutter for a wide open dunk you know those kind of misdirect manipulation plays are some of the hardest playmaking plays to make a lot of guys don’t ever get there so the fact that he’s seeing those those plays and yeah the turnover rate was high uh he certainly got a little too big for his Bridges sometimes but like I again I go back to seeing the pass is so much more important than always making the pass uh when you’re evaluating a prospect yeah you can always you know pair that down you can clean it up you that that’s something that you know you can gain a better understanding of what you’re able to pull off on film um and you know the the second half of the podcast with Danny which is now lost for time I I I want to you know at least bring up some of the points I made because I you know I I like being accountable to my takes whether or not they’re hidden or not and one of the things I was saying kind of going into draft day was I get worried like I got worried looking at the wings where I just felt like there were too many specialists like the Silva the fact that you know he’s 23 24 years old here and he’s not really able to boss guys around physically um you you look at for who 35% shooter and if his shot isn’t falling he’s not going to contribute like that that’s a really concerning thing to me and I just felt a lot of the wings um even someone like Keon George uh who uh or um no kaon George sorry um who I I in the podcast with Maxwell I I said this is someone that I’m kind of leaning towards I had cooled on him already uh by the following week just because the the volume was so low in what he was doing and there just so many questions that I was starting to lean towards hey should we just get a stretch four like should we just try to address that need and go find a wing or a playmaker somewhere else and the fact that they didn’t go stretch four and you saw those guys uh that we were looking at like filipowski and Tyler Smith fall to the second round it shows you that a lot of teams kind of agreed that you know that’s a little bit too high for them and the fact that they said you know what we’re going to take this guy that that’s you know 66 220 um he’s able to contribute in a whole lot of different ways to me that that’s so much more important than taking someone that you know maybe has a little bit more height but has less to their game to to me I I think that that that is important and I I don’t know about you Carter where where do you fall in the height thing because I I did see that that came up a fair bit in the conversation after the pick I would say tall enough you know I think there is there is probably a hey we got this Wing we’re interested in he’s 6’4 it’s like uh we kind of have a lot of that archetype you know I’ve been big positional siiz guy and you know Tyson certainly isn’t going to be that he’s not going to flip the Paradigm and make this team all of a sudden a huge team but one thing that I think you give him a lot of credit for is this dude’s nasty he’s physical and he’s thick you know like I think one of my gripes with the team being small is I think they’re small and they big and their their guy a lot of their players don’t play a lot of them don’t play as even at their height in terms of physicality on the roster and so the fact that you have a guy who can dig out space and really play with a nastiness on his drives where when he turns the corner he’s just shielding uh with his body so well CU he’s just a bigger framed guy I mean uh what does he weigh like 20 pounds more than Caris is listed at or something like that like yeah so uh you know I think the height is not crazy and the length is not crazy but it’s not bad and like I think the fact that he plays a physical style cuz like when you hear me talking about positional size in the postseason it’s getting frustrated that our 64 65 guys are getting dug out by 67 68 guys you know at the Baseline for offensive boards and things like that not worried about that with this guy man uh a voracious rebounder um tough as they come uh and like I think like that level of physicality um takes you know what I would say average hype for the position is and makes it more than okay yeah and I I think a great example of that is someone that you know I I’ve seen Cav fans Pine for in the past which has been Kellin Johnson and you know that’s been a guy that we’ve had interest in too he’s smaller like he’s 6’5 like you know he’s a half inch shorter than Jaylen Tyson and they weigh the same amount they’re they’re both 220 right like these are big guys uh you look at Jaylen Brown Jaylen Brown measured uh without shoes the exact same height as Jaylen Tyson only Tyson you know is a Little Bit Stronger Brown has the you know Advantage when it comes to wingspan um but I do think that in vertical pop that man is an athlete absolutely but I think when you’re talking you know just strictly size and whatnot I I feel confident that that he’s going to be able to you know play some three and be able to to play at that position because strength is such a big part of it right if you’re able to get in front of guys and disrupt where they’re going and they’re not able to move you that defense before the shot matters just as much if not more I honestly I would argue more than the defense on the shot in the contest because especially in today’s NBA where you’re not really allowed to get your hand in the face and like if you so much as graze them it’s going to be a shooting foul what you do before the shot to disrupt the Rhythm to throw off the timing of the jump shot I think is really important or just not get knocked back back so they can rise up with with you backpedaling right so you you look at him uh compared to a guy like Kellin Johnson who plays power forward I’ll remind people at 65 um it gives me a lot of confidence and you know I am happy that when we had Maxwell on that was one of the things I asked him which was he is he a big two or is he a three and you know Maxwell basically said H you know with with the strength that he has that’s a small forward right and I I think the fact that he is the same as the starting small forward on the world champion Boston Celtics uh should at least dispel some of that um but what I really do like and I I think we we’ve talked about it already a little bit here but I just want to continue to hammer this point the fact that he is able to contribute in a lot of ways where you know in a reduced kind of off ball role he was incredibly efficient and able to contribute able to kind of provide playmaking a good pick and roll ball handler someone that gets out in transition someone that sees the reads that can play multiple positions and defend multiple positions I think that’s really really important from a team building standpoint because when you have guys that are Specialists or you know that there’s just really the the one position that they can play all of a sudden they become dependent on other guys around you and I think when you start adding guys that are multi fasted in terms of what they’re able to bring to the table and the number of positions they’re able to play it allows you from a team building standpoint to pursue more options on the trade and free agency market because all of a sudden you had that little bit of confidence of oh we can slide this guy over here like even if Jaylen Tyson is just a highlevel bench player for the Cs moving forward which you know for a 20th pick would be a high-end outcome for this pick even if that’s his role that flexibility from a team building standpoint I think is really really important yeah I think I think you’re 100% right both from coaching the team and from team building perspective like something that came to the Crux of my like kind of do we have too many specialist questions is so many guys when they’re on the floor we have to figure out like okay so they’re on the floor so what do we need to do to help kind of insulate them at this thing you know okay we got both bigs on we’re going to need a lot of shooting okay we got both guards on we’re going to need probably a point of attack Defender and a really good rim protector on the floor uh you know we have Nang on we’re going to need you know better point of attack to and at least one rim protector on the you you’re just constantly kind of doing this like who are we going to help cover you know and I think one of the reasons Caris has been such a high minutes player over the years is he’s a guy who really hasn’t necessitated a ton of those kind of uh you know sacrifices or choices you know you can kind of play him with a lot of these lineups I feel like the same way for Tyson um because you know he can he can defend a little bit he can shoot a little bit he can guard he can playmake a little bit he can do all these things a little bit and like so as a coach you have a lot of lineups you can find him in assuming he’s good enough which by the way is going to have to be the kind of Perpetual disclaimer because again you mentioned 20th overall pick like yeah a lot of those guys aren’t rotation players in good drafts in very well-regarded drafts so like he’s going to have a lot to prove but then also to your team building point you know if you do need to move off of a player you know having someone having like not needing to replace a player one one for one because you don’t have that skill set anywhere else on the roster like he can guys like this can kind of bridge that Gap a little bit and let you be a little different and not just need to go like for like on every kind of type of trans transaction you make and just kind of start slowly but surely twisting and changing the shape of the roster construction so I I I’m really excited about this pick Justin I I went I I was you know pleasantly surprised when the pick was made uh and and now I’m full on happy about it I I’m actually very excited about this guy as I’ve done more I do think we should spend a little time talking about some of the limitations some things that I’m curious about on the on the lower end outcome um you know uh the no seing you you should take Take the Lead uh with with concerns because we know just like Jaylen Tyson seems to understand what his role is going to be I understand my role on the podcast and you know I’m I’m the one that’s it’s a little brighter lit and I’m the Sunnys side guy so you know let’s uh let’s go wet blanket Carter here yeah not quite wet blanket cuz I do I do want to couch some of these concerns but like uh you know No Ceilings on the draft guide the top prospect that they compared him to was Denzel Valentine um who is a player who was a very very successful College box score stuffer that was not a successful NBA player and Cavs fans you know saw Denzel Valentine do a shift here uh the other comps they had for him were Gordon Hayward and John Sal Salmons who were much more successful I was about to say that middle one probably just warmed your heart didn’t yeah that’s quite the highend outcome Salmons kind of feels like the middle ground between all between the two because John Salmons could was a bucket he was a player was he ever um I I remember those Celtics bull series that those were awesome yeah but if you are a Tyson skeptic I think you could point to a couple things you could point to the fact that not an explosive athlete um you know there were some finish is at the college level where he was kind of relying on little push hook shot type of shots overlength and like that 10% more athleticism 10% more length at the NBA turns those from like efficient shot attempts to like no chance shot attempts pretty quick so they might be going into the 15th row yeah so I think some of those shots are just going to not get to be part of his diet anymore and you know that’s going to meaningfully affect him at The Rim he’s a little bit older he’s 21 one and a half so he is more physically developed than a lot of guys but like that’s where the Valentine comp does not play for me Justin because Valentine was 23 and was one of those guys who just got a little better every year through college and was like just beaten up on 18year olds by the end right there wasn’t the leap year like we we’ve seen here uh with both Jaylen Tyson and you know the comparison I made earlier in the podcast with with Jaylen Williams yeah absolutely I think that you know that is a very good comp for for high-end outcomes Tyson so you know I think I think like you you worry a little bit about the finishing and athleticism the on ball defense took a big step back last year at Cal with the high volume and sometimes you worry about that cuz like hey you know the NB even though your role is getting smaller I think sometimes we’re a little too quick to be like but he won’t have to dribble as much so it’ll be easier for him to be a great defender at the next level like NBA defense is hard so any evidence that says that you’re not so good on ball I think you have to call out and note I agree um uh because there’s no guarantee that a good college Defender is going to be a good NBA Defender right like there there is a learning curve there so I think you’re correct to point that out absolutely and then uh and then on the last one the shot isn’t pretty like it went in at a pretty high rate I think you know and and you know he was a 37% uh catch and shoot three-point shooter at college but it much like Denzel Valentine who was a high percentage three-point shooter in college it’s not the prettiest off his hands at least in my opinion um and that’s not a death sentence that doesn’t actually it might not matter at all frankly but given that you know uh it’s one of those things where it’s like the Aesthetics of the shot don’t quite match the numbers for me and maybe that matters maybe it doesn’t I mean we’ve had players that have gone the opposite way where I’ve loved every shot coming off their hands and they didn’t make any of them so those I think that is the case we miss you Dylan yeah yeah I mean I think that is the case against Tyson those three things did any of those jump out at you as like an exceptionally large concern as like oh that’s the one I’m actually worried about no I I wouldn’t say anything’s a large concern because I I think I’ve learned to kind of temper my expectations with with prospects coming into the NBA even an older Prospect right like I I think the oai baji experience even was a little bit instructive right where okay it’s like hey he’s a little limited with what he can do but it’s very polished and then you see it in summer league where he’s hitting every shot it’s like hey like this is going to work out and then you know two years later he’s kind of tossed aside as an afterthought um uh someone you know uh other guys in that draft even like I I thought AJ Griffin’s going to be a knockdown shooter and that hasn’t proven to be the case right so I think I’m you know I’m I’m not as like sold on any strengths or weaknesses I just think they’re all important data points to to point out and you know one of the things that I I certainly find encouraging is listening to someone now like Brian windhorse who who went on ESPN Cleveland and was talking about how every Scout he talked to said insanely hard worker incredibly high IQ like he’s putting that work in all the time someone that that’s going to work as hard as they can to maximize their ceiling to me that’s encouraging um you know I did you did you see his uh interaction with Spencer Davies no I did not okay so Spencer asked him about his close relationship with Al Harrington um because apparently that’s been you know uh someone that’s been in his life for a long time and he of course messed with Spencer saying who never heard of him and just got Spencer to totally panic in that situation really mean I I really liked it but you know um you know just someone that has strong uh support structure right and is coming into an environment where that’s definitely going to be the case I think that that’s really really important and I think the other thing that matters is developmental reps early on um Matt ing him with a team and a culture and a coach that matches his skill set and when you look at those Brooklyn Nets teams and how they succeeded wasn’t because you know they they had uh a Steve Nash that’s creating good looks for everybody it’s let’s have a variety of guys that can create right like obviously de uh D’Angelo Russell is going to do it uh but we also got Carris Levert that’s doing a little bit here we got Spencer Den witty we got Allan crab uh we we’ve got you know r h we got Ronda Hollis Jefferson who we’re going to give him some ball handling reps and just kind of like explore the space here right like it was kind of throughout the lineup that you know it’s playmaking by committee empowering everybody uh to to have a role and I think someone that’s a jack of all trades is really really uh a good fit for that and you talked about how he can give you flexibility if you have to move off somebody in the future I think the hope is that he gives you the flexibility that all of a sudden you feel like guys that you know you don’t have to move off but you’re kind of operating from a position of luxury of we have you know like we we’ve got someone that can fill this role but Jaylen can also do that like he he can also bring some of that what the Denver Nuggets are doing with Christian Brown right this second AB absolutely right like it allows you to explore the opportunities that are out there and available to you and I think that that is so important given how punitive the CBA is um and you know just the more challenging that team building has become um I I think being able to add someone like this at 20 is advantageous and you know going back to our Draft preview podcast with with Maxwell the fact that he mentioned yeah you know like the top end of this draft isn’t very good but this post Lottery range is stronger than it was two years ago right like I feel better about it I feel better about some of these guys that have experience about their ability to come in and make an impact and the fact that you know Jaylen Tyson was near the top of his list as best possible fits for the Cavs um I I certainly found that encouraging and you know out of his three Tyson was the youngest and the one that I kind of feel most confident in physically being able to contribute right like going back to the D Silva concerns like it just like man was old surprised that’s what I’ll say I I think he’s going to stick around like that’s someone I think he’s going to stick around in the league and have a role as kind of a a spot up shooter and whatnot I think he’s going to do well uh you know congratulations to the Orlando Magic they you know a good young team that went out and added some veteran pres uh with a d Silva pick um but you know I I just think uh that Tyson is just a little bit more versatile yeah I I I mean I would have put those two prospects in different tiers and you know I don’t know what the Cavs final big board was but like in terms of like you know if I’m looking at an older player um I want an older player that feels physical that feels um like they can do a lot that they’ve developed a lot of their skills in a lot of different areas and um you know just I mean I just think he I just think athletically Tyson is a wing and I don’t know if D Silva is so like it’ll be really interesting to see I mean how far off I am on that I mean a lot of smart people are bigger fans of him than I was but I mean I just think that the board landed really really well for this Cavs team you know I I think they could have you know you look down the board and you see Fury and flip don’t even go till the second round which was a pretty precipitous fall based on everything we saw um so like you know the fact that like seems like the Cavs maybe didn’t value them as highly I think in terms of names that you might come see burn burn you later is a guy like donon Holmes who goes 22 who you know if if you were on team stretch big having him there and if he and what an awesome landing spot for him by the way um to just get to you know Mentor under joic but uh but but you know if he pops in a big way maybe you have some of the a Shucks you know Tyler Smith going to Milwaukee which is an awesome spot for him uh that could be an a Shucks but like for the most part like I think all the guys that I really would have been highly interested in like run to the podium guys like Bob Carrington guys like dton connect which oh man he almost got there yeah um yeah those guys were unfair that he went to the Lakers I hate that you know whatever those guys are gone so like I think I think they made a really really good fit choice that I feel like in a draft like this that I was not as enamored with the talent in the range I’m like this guy has less warts than all the other people that I’m watching and you know like I think has a very very high chance to become a successful role player for them yeah and the trend that I’m seeing when you mention guys that you think might be able to pop off is you know they landed in the right situation right like the the fact that that Tyler Smith in that spot W with the Bucks like I I think that that’s a really good spot for him uh you know homes as well that’s a a really nice spot where you know the structure is going to be there and I I think that was a big part of why um you saw um Tyson show up in articles being like hey like you know draft a steals or or best value and stuff like that because there’s a belief that hey the Cavs are the right situation for him like you know every prospect’s a Gamble whether it’s the lottery whether it’s outside the lottery like you know all the research in the world is only going to tell you so much but it’s about you know is the structure there is it the right situation is it the right coach is is the right support going to be in place and you know for us we always have the right support thanks to zoom support for this podcast and the following message comes from Zoom a single platform for phone chat workspaces events apps and video Zoom enables realtime collaboration for teams on the globe Zoom how the world connects Carter you know what’s right around the corner um not your birthday I don’t think uh what what what is it it is it is it is you know thanks for uh thanks for being a good friend that that wasn’t what I was going for though uh Canada today is right around the corner uh we got more seab bears games right around the corner that that’s very exciting RI to the Byron Mullen Sia by the way good Lord man we cut the the rainning MVP Teddy Allen and we’ve gone undefeated since uh cut Byron Mullin you know just a real culture of accountability going on up here in Winnipeg man we’re oh yeah brother you know the team over names but of course it’s none of that stuff buddy it’s summer league the Cavs have to defend their summer league title uh we got a little bit of information from uh my ganzy about uh who is going to be available at summer league and of course I think the name that most Cass fans were interested in uh was uh getting Luke Travers uh back on on the team and getting yet another look at him because you know when you’re talking about the Cavs adding guys that are able to contribute in a lot of ways I think people have gone excited in the past us included about Luke travers’s ability to you know get blocks get steals get assists the the vision that he has uh being able to play at you know 67 68 whatever he is and then you know play even bigger than his size and uh I’m I’m definitely really interested to see what he can bring to the table because when you make some of these second round picks man like it it might not pay dividend until two three years down the road and now you know this is going to be the the third summer league with them it I’m going to be interested to see if uh hey is there some beat on the bone here yeah it feels like a I mean it feels like a big summer for Travers who I think both of us are pretty big fans of and you know frankly I really want to see him on this Cavaliers roster next year you know even if it’s on a two-way deal um I I just think it is a and but with all that said I think this this is the summer league where Travers shows like hey I’m an NBA Prospect or I’m not you know I mean he’s 22 now uh you know he’s no he’s not a kid anymore you know he’ll he has three four years of pro play under his belt um and like he’s got great size he’s got great instincts solid athleticism um you know it’s that it’s that jumper it’s that physicality and like I I just I I’ve watched that guy for two straight Summers leagues and been so dang impressed by his contributions to winning plays and I if I just kind of feels like a if not now win time for him and as someone who is pretty in pretty uh pretty invested in him and is a big fan of what he’s brought to the table and by the way just keeps winning even in Australia um I I I got to think this is the year it kind of feels like a make or break year that’s not sourced or informed anything it just kind of feels like that you know how many summer leagues can you really get to you know please aggregate Carter please get him in trouble we we want that here make a break year for Luke Travers uh clutch points uh eat your heart out um yeah it’s going to be interesting because I I think when you look at it now as the roster currently stands uh we do have 12 roster spots spoken for uh or at least with contracts next year that’s Garland Mitchell Moy Allan stru Caris Nang Wade Jerome Merill and of course uh Jaylen Tyson um the 13th spot I think you know you can pencil in right now for Isaac okoro who you know is up for an extension uh it’ll be interesting to to see what happens there uh if you are assuming that okoro is back that leaves two roster spots and B is on a multi-year two-way correct I believe that’s the case I believe that’s the case so we have two two-way spots as far as I’m aware but I’m not sure on that yeah well well and you know there’s always flexibility uh with those two ways as well if an opportunity were to come up but I think you know if we’re penciling in Coral for now that leaves two roster spots I think one of those you would like to have uh for for a big man um whether that you know that’s a a four or five you want to have some depth there um but adding some Wing depth would be nice and you know that that roster situation can certainly change uh if there’s a you know some sort of consolidation move uh where you know your your uh pack ing some guys together to to get a more proven Wing that could open up a roster spot but I think you know there’s a real opportunity for Luke Travers and I’m I think I’m at the opinion of if he were coming over I think I’d want him on a full-time deal I think I’d want him with the Cavs rather than playing him in the g-league just because I think the level of competition in the NBL uh is higher like you’re you’re you know you’re playing against grown men there’s a little bit more structure if he’s going to be playing I’d like it to be there even if there’s not a lot of minutes available for him on the Cavs I would like to have the option of having him there right like okay you know we’re we’re winning this game comfortably let’s get Luke some developmental minutes let’s get him with a very strong developmental coaching in Kenny Atkinson and see what can happen here I think that would be the way that I would lean personally but you seem more open to the possibility of a two-way yeah I don’t really care how how he gets on I mean those r spots are precious and you know uh we’ve seen this front office be pretty creative with how they structure even their full-time roster spots for guys that are more on the periphery of of the league so you know I don’t actually feel that strongly about one way or the other I just think like this is the summer league where Luke probably proves whether he belongs in the in Cavs fans mental real estate you know if if another summer league comes and goes with solid plays and high IQ ball and not another deal you know it’s just eventually you know you again how many Summer Leaves Can you play yeah maybe that’s kind of where I’m getting at here where I’m like if the answer is yes say it with your chest get get him a full-time roster spot because like functionally the two-way contract allows you to kind of explore the space a little bit right like we we saw that with Craig Porter Jr of hey you’re on a two-way but opportunities are here you’re you’re up with the big team uh you get to play a lot and you can earn ear kind of that full-time contract so you know from a cap standpoint maybe there are some advantages that I’m not seeing maybe you know maybe there’s advantages uh to use a portion of the mid-level exception and because all of a sudden we have all of this depth and uh you know opportunities to consolidate weren’t really there on the trade market let’s keep this kind of full roster let’s get Travers on the two-way and then if there’s an opportunity early in the season to pull the trigger on a sort of deal and create roster spots then were able to do so or after you know he’s proven himself a little bit more uh you know over here in North America that um we’re able to give him that opportunity so maybe I shouldn’t you know speak as strongly with it but I I think the the the spirit of what I’m trying to say is in line with you which is you know this is a very very important year for him um and that you just kind of like it might not be true but in my gut it kind of feels like if not now it might not happen and and I’m just because of what he’s shown in the past in these kind of Summer League experiences and just like he’s someone that stands out as very clearly is just like a team basketball player like I I think he’s someone that excels in five on five probably more than he would in one onone um and that’s the type of connecting piece that this Cavs roster needs absolutely buddy should we talk a little free agency before uh we say goodbye yeah I’ll I’ll mention one more thing uh there’s reporting that that you know DJ Burns did receive a summer league invite I haven’t seen that confirmed by the team yet but I I certainly find that interesting I saw you know the the weight loss photos of him if he is in fact on the summer league team that’s going to be interesting uh I forget who made the the comparison I think it might be our buddy DH in the Discord uh to Udonis Haslam that you know had some weight in College lost it going to the pros and just kind of found his way as a backup big uh you know just someone that has a lot of touch a lot of feel passing chops and great footwork like I’ll say one thing yeah one thing I always like with Summer League invites are like actually unique weird players you know like they get a chance to do some funky things yeah like there’s a lot of guys in the prospect Market that are like you know really capable good basketball players that are probably Euro league level basketball players that aren’t quite NBA level and you get out there and you watch them you go yeah that’s a basketball player all right uh whereas like when you get to watch a you know a weirdo play it’s like oo what’s what’s going to happen when he’s on the floor and you kind of you kind of find out really fast like is this a good weird or is this a no shot weird yeah yeah absolutely and you know uh we got a uh I saw former seab bear Darius D is getting his opportunity with the the Sixers uh summer league team so uh root rooting for him he didn’t didn’t look particularly good for Winnipeg so I’m a little skeptical um but you know rooting for him uh it it’ll just be fun man I I obviously you know I I hope ammani plays uh I I don’t know if greig will will play for that one uh it would be nice uh obviously he doesn’t have anything to prove now that he has an NBA deal uh so probably won’t happen but just that was such a luxury with with last year’s team being able to have kind of these proven guards uh and guys that are able to to just run offense and you know have Shar there it feels like we’re going to have um you know I mean to me like I wonder if this you know if it’s going to be a pretty uh tough summer league team where you do have a bunch of guys you know whether it’s Isaiah whether it’s Pete Nance um whether it’s Travers whether it’s a guy like Sharie Cooper and guys you go H you know like there’s only probably so many spots here you know like I think I think there’s going to be a lot of folks in the mix for those two-way spots and they might not even be on the summer league roster in the end you know like like you know th those are really fungible spots and uh it’ll be interesting to see who shows out the best and kind of earns their way on the roster yeah yeah it really will be interesting uh to track the other thing that’ll obviously be interesting to track is the the Cav’s own kind of options here right uh I mentioned you know the only free agent really is Isaac aoro we’ll see if there’s an extension agree to there or how the Cavs manage that situation but you know there’s obviously the possibility of a Donovan Mitchell extension an Evan Moy extension um you know the the start a free agency all of this is going to be coming together soon and you know from a podcast standpoint if you’ve been hanging out with us the last couple years you’ll know uh during the legal tampering period where you know deals are announced but not official we will be taking a Hiatus you will not be hearing from us on the podcast but after July 6 when things actually are real we will be back we will be breaking down what’s going on for the Cavs Carter H how you feeling how are you feeling about you know extension season um you know I’m feeling pretty confident uh you know uh you read the reporting you kind of see where the tea leaves are are lying and I just think I’m expecting you know Donovan to be back you know and normally when you offer you know when when you’re when you have a player like Mo you do everything you can to keep them and the way the league is structured it’s really not that hard to get that first uh extension uh done if you if both sides are motivated to do so so um you know I’m expecting good news on that front and then it just then it gets hairy you know because you have a guy like okoro who you know has shown some really really strong flashes especially I mean I thought his on ball defense this year was the best it’s ever been by a country mile the shooting was better than it’s ever been and yet you still had yet another post season where it’s like uh even when we’re really banged up Isaac’s getting like 20 to 25 minutes even when we’re down four rotation players Isaac’s only getting 20 minutes cuz they’re not guarding him and he’s not really making him pay I thought you know we talked about a little bit on past PA I was disappointed to see that not only did the jumper kind of abandon he wasn’t finishing well either in the postseason um yeah so he’s going to be in a weird spot from a value perspective obviously restricted free agency you know you look at the league Trends and teams do not often put in offers on restricted free agency role players you know look at PJ Washington last year man yep and that’s a player who the league clearly values you know I mean uh the horn got first rounders for him so I I I think it really comes down to if I’m the Cavs you know Brain Trust it’s do I want to keep Isaac on the roster long term does he still fit in our plans then it’s do I you know with how close they are to that first luxury tax apron it’s do I like Isaac more than options that I think you know I would be available at the mid level um and and and you know or is there external interest where you could do a signning trade or something like that which gosh with all these crazy CBA rules I can barely tell what triggers what anymore but whatever all all I’m saying is it’s a pretty wideopen Playbook as far as I’m concerned I don’t really have strong expectations for Isaac because the thing that’s a little interesting is you know I’m a guy who is very much on team like I really believe in running the core four back and not making any moves just to make them just to just to say you made them and making your team less talented in the process but if if you are going to do that and then you run back every single role player like a team almost never runs back their top nine in the rotation like that would be that is very very very uncommon so it kind of comes down to if you do bring Isaac back how much can you meaningfully change the shape of your roster to better fit around the core that you have and like so I I wish had I know this sounds a little wishy-washy but I just don’t think I have a very good answer Justin short of seeing the full Tableau of of moves that they can make elsewhere yeah I don’t think it sounds wishy-washy I think it sounds like an accurate assessment of how difficult the decision-making is going to be for you know Kobe Alman Mike YY in the front office right like I I think they’re going to need to analyze every option that’s available to them and you know really kind of sit down with with the new CBA and see what what’s available what option are there like this is a really really tricky thing and I think anyone that acts like this is a straightforward process is you know being a little shortsighted and um you know from from my standpoint whether it comes to the core or the rotation players I think anytime you have serious expectations I I think you need to evaluate every single aspect of you know the core and the rotation and see what options are available to you like I I don’t it’s as much as you get attached and like I think you and I certainly get attached to the guys are here and are more interested in and about making who you have available currently work and how to maximize that you know front offices have to be a little cold they they have to you know uh examine every single option and I I think the the one thing that continues to give me confidence is that historically looking at this front office is they’ve taken their time they’ve really thought things through right they’ve made calculat risks they haven’t all panned out um but you can get the logic with each of these moves and I I’m just I’m I’m interested to to see how they approach this I have a question for you which is last year this was a team that like got their business done really early in the moratorium period it was like day two free agency done forever for the Cavs you know they they get Jerome they get Levert they get Nang they get stru all those things just happen bang bang bang bang bang at the beginning of free agency does it feel to you like it’s going to be the inverse on this one where it could be a thing where we’re a month in to free agency and we don’t feel like they’re done with what their roster is going into next year I feel like the League’s going to move quickly like it’s if it’s a month or two later I just don’t think there’s going to be opportunities out there like whe whether it’s trades whether it’s free agency I just feel like teams are going to try to get their business done and just kind of settle down um so I guess my my short answer is no I I think we’re going to be able to kind of take the temperature of what’s going on relatively quickly but you know I kind of go the other way I feel like the with a restricted free agent situation with a there’s no no-brainer use the full midlevel on this guy uh prospects and free agency like honestly it might just be a portion like I wouldn’t be surprised if they just use a portion of mid level what I’m saying is for for the the go kind of guys the Cavs might be targeting in free agency if you know using the midlevel um like a lot of those guys are like not 1213 million a year players you know at least historically a lot of the guys that I think are fits for this team are kind of in that like B and C tier free agency MH and I think those tend to go a little longer so I actually think it’s more likely that we’re a weekend and we’re Going H are we going to do something you know and like that’s just like trying to read what how weird restricted free agency is but you know literally we might hit the first day we might hit Sunday at 5:00 and start seeing reports coming out about Cavs we just don’t know I mean I’m guessing here this is the most conjecture that could possibly be yeah and with the top ones I think it’s pretty straightforward Donan Mitchell if you were healthy uh you would have been an all NBA player that’s a very easy pitch Evan Mobley you were the youngest finalist for defensive player of the year and you if you would have stayed healthy all year you probably would have been in that conversation again you are awesome the way you are and we feel really really damn good about this um so I’m I’m I’m looking forward to to seeing what’s happening and obviously we will be tapping back in uh as Things become official and whatnot so uh big thanks to to everyone for your understanding uh and you know uh for continuing to support us we’re we a talking about it on Twitter either by the way so you’re just not going to hear from us doesn’t mean we don’t like it or do like it we’re just G to you know we we got to go radio silent well we’ll we’ll be laying low we’ll be checking out what’s going on and I’m just I’m looking forward to to seeing what happens man like I I feel I feel confident I like what this team’s doing I like the hire Kenny ainson really like the the selection of Jaylen Tyson I think that gives them what they’ve something that they need and something that you can’t really add very often easily through for agency if he hits yeah absolutely and I I I I know we’re probably going to wrap here pretty soon but one thing I did want to say is I continue to be encouraged as myself as an individual Cavs fan that so many things that the front office Contin continues to do generally aligns with my value system you know like the things you hear the front office talk about um uh you know in the postseason availability and the in the you know moving even moving on from JB in terms of uh and like the things they’re saying in that press conference the things that they’re saying in the immediate aftermath of drafting Tyson the fact that they chose a guy like Tyson like that they seem seem to be messaging a lot of the things that I want to see them message as a fan and like you know your mileage may vary on that you know I I have perfectly smart friends who are hearing who hearing the same things I’m hearing and go I don’t like that direction at all so your mileage may vary but as this cows fan is happy that you know my value system seems to be aligned really well with this front office’s value system yeah I totally agree with that and you know I think there’s a lot of room you know to disagree to this discuss and all that I think basketball is one of the most subjective games uh to discuss because so much of it comes down to chemistry right it it’s about finding that right mix it’s about maximizing the talent that’s available to you making compromises left right and center right like that’s my favorite thing when it comes to the draft is why did you draft this player that actually exists why didn’t you draft hypothetical archetype that doesn’t fit any single player that was on the board like that that is so of in the conversation and I just I I I have a lot of fun you know living in reality and discussing what’s available and how to to kind of make this stuff works and uh you know offseason I I think is one of our my favorite times uh to discuss the team just because so much of it kind of ties into philosophy and then you know it just continues to build that hunger for the games to to to return and I I just can’t wait to see what next season looks like so uh big thanks to everyone that tuned in Live on YouTube make sure you guys like And subscribe click the notification Bell so you know when we’re going live if you’re listening via podcast leave us rating review subscribe subscribe you subscribe and help cook those books if you want to be part of our discords or the chased Down’s exclusive Discord chat send a screenshot riew to chase downt gmail.com however you choose to support us we really do appreciate it make sure you guys are staying safe out there until next time go Cavs

Justin and Carter are react to the selection of Jaylon Tyson in the NBA Draft before previewing the team’s Free Agency needs!

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Please Note: The opinions expressed by The Chase Down podcast are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Cavaliers or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, or partners.