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- [00:02]
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- [02:27]
Andrew
Welcome to the Saturday Slam and Jam here on the Athletic NBA Dailies podcast and YouTube stream. If you're not listening or watching on YouTube, we'd appreciate if you guys would go check out the YouTube channel. Just search Athletic NBA Daily and go check that out on today's show. We're doing our good, bad and what we're talking to Carter Rodriguez of the Chase down pot about the Cleveland Cavaliers and their kind of strange start to the season. And then we're gonna do some trivia. But first, Al, tell me what happened in the NBA this week.
- [03:03]
Alex
Well Andrew, the top story this week was the firing of Mavs GM Nico Harrison. Less than one year since Harrison traded away Maxi Kleba for peanuts, Mav's owner Patrick Dumont decided he didn't have the patience to wait and see if more than two mavs were going to shoot better than 29%. Now Harrison said after the LUCA trade that defense wins championships and as of Friday morning, the Mavs had the fourth best defense in the league per cleaning the glass. And the offense is improving too. Earlier this week, Bobby Corella of dlls shared a stat that the Mavs had the worst offense in NBA history relative to the league with a -11.8 relative offensive rating. Well, since then the Mavs relative offensive rating has climbed to minus 10.7, making them only the second worst offense in NBA history. With this kind of obvious progress, was Nico Harrison fired prematurely? Question mark. Now that Harrison is gone, attention turns to the future of the Mavs. Will they trade Anthony Davis? If you listen to any podcast this week and heard the fake trade packages being offered for ad, no they won't. But the good news for Mass fans is that they control their own pick this year. Something they won't be able to say again until the current class of 8th graders are eligible for the NBA draft. Now in honor of Nico Harrison and his favorite saying, defense wins championships, let's go through the other teams in the top four for defense on cleaning glass. Coming in at number three, third best defense in the league is the Denver Nuggets. That's right, Denver Nuggets who currently sit at 9 and 2 on a six game winning streak. While it hasn't been a murderers row of opponents, the Nuggets and especially Nikol Jokic have been impressive. In four games this week, Jokic put up a 3712 1/2 9 line on, get this, 79, 7587 shooting splits. And what's crazy is that line from this week isn't that far off from what his overall season stats are. This guy's shooting 68.4% from the field for the season right now, averaging a 29 point triple double and shooting an absurd 78% on two pointers against the Clippers who just lost Bradley Beal to a season ending hip injury, jokic put up 55, 12 and 6 tying SGA for the highest scoring game so far this season. After the game, Clippers head coach Ty Lu said, quote our game plan was to make him score success the second best defense in the league belongs to the Detroit pistons, who are 10 and 2 atop the Eastern Conference. They've won eight games in a row, the longest current streak in the NBA. In a comeback overtime win over the Wizards this week, Cade Cunningham put up 46, 12 and 11. Now it wasn't the prettiest game as it took Cade 45 shots to get his 46, but the Pistons got the win. Now Kate is only the 13th player in NBA history to take 45 plus shots in a game, accomplishing something that guys like Russell Westbrook and James Harden never did. Unreal and unreal. After the Wizards game, the Pistons needed a rest which meant one of more random box scores this season as the Pistons backups got the win over the Bulls who have lost four in a row in the game. Paul Reed B Ball Paul put up 28, 13 and 6 with four steals on 11 and 13 shooting. Rookie Danish Jenkins had 18, 4 and 12. Duncan Robinson had seven threes. It doesn't matter who the Pistons throw out there right now they are cruising and next up is a Friday night showdown with the Philadelphia 76ers, now the number one defense in the league. It' no surprise, it's the Oklahoma City Thunder. This week looked like it was going to be the first big test for the Thunder facing a home back to back against the warriors and Lakers. Instead, it was another chance for the Thunder to put the league on notice, winning the two games by a combined 53 points. OKC's vaunted defense, which per Cleaning the Glass is almost seven points per 100 possessions better than Detroit, who is number two, held step to 14 on night one while holding Luca and Austin Reeves to a combined 32 on night two. Shay Gilgeous Alexander has been doing his best 2016 Steph impression by sitting out his sixth and seventh fourth quarters of the season. And despite not playing in the fourth quarter in more than half of OKC's games, SGA is still averaging over 30 points per game while also somehow leading the league in clutch points. OKC's winning ways are unlikely to end soon as their next four games are Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento and Utah and those were the top defenses this week. Long live Neil.
- [07:56]
Andrew
Didn't mention the Mavs there. That's. That was kind of weird. More on the Detroit Pistons, who you just told us are the second best defense in the league. Part of that is their the their growing center Jalen Duran just. He's been really, really good. First, let's talk about their offense, though. He leads the league in points per possession as a pick and roll roll man. By the way, do we have to say roll twice? They are pick and roll roll man.
- [08:25]
Alex
Pick and roll roll. I think you got to. I think you have to, Andrew.
- [08:28]
Andrew
We just can't say pick and roll man.
- [08:30]
Alex
Pick and roll man. But is he the ball handler?
- [08:34]
Andrew
I think you can say pick and roll ball handler, and you can say pick and roll man.
- [08:39]
Alex
I don't know. I think of like. Like James Harden. He was. He was a pick and roll man. Like, Chris Paul's a pick and roll man.
- [08:45]
Andrew
I just sitting there staring at pick and roll roll man. And I'm just, like, necessary to have the roll roll there. Okay. Anyways, he leads the league and points per possession for a pick and roll roll man at 1.46, which is better than Nicole Jokic right now, who is like an efficiency monster. But Jalen Duran's better right now, which is pretty cool. And the thing that's kind of holding their defense all together and making them this dominant is that teams right now are shooting 60% at the rim with Jalen Dern as the closest defender. That's similar to guys like Jared Allen, Isaiah Hartenstein, Daniel Gafford, Mitch Robinson. It's. It's down like 7 percentage points. Like he was. He was decent last year, but not very good this year. He's good. Like, he's considered one of the best. And when you combine that with beef stew, who is literally, I think, the best rim defender so far this season, like, it gives you, like, a good blueprint to have the second best defense in the NBA and a huge reason why the Pistons have made this jump to 10 and 2, top of the Eastern Conference. And if he can continue to play like this on both ends, I think that it helps them be sustainable.
- [09:57]
Alex
And Andrew, of course, that was your good of the week. I forgot to intro good, bad, or what?
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Carter Rodriguez
What?
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Alex
That was your good of the week. And that's a great good good. That's a great good. Because he has been incredible. And it's just. I mean, he was so young coming into the league.
- [10:14]
Andrew
Yeah.
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Alex
And how people talked about him after those first couple seasons, and he has become the player we all thought. And he's still super young.
- [10:23]
Andrew
Yeah. At this point, it's probably because he looks ready, you know, like, if he was skinny.
- [10:31]
Alex
Yeah, for sure.
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Andrew
If he was, like, super skinny like Chet was or something people like, you know, What? Give him time. Give the guy time. But whenever you look like a man at 19, when you're entering the league, people are like, all right, he's clearly ready. But 19 and a half points, 12 boards, 1.6 assists, a steal on a block per game. Like, we're starting to see him, like, start to develop into the player that he should be. And he is still 21, I think.
- [10:57]
Alex
Yes. He turns 22 on November 18th. Happy birthday.
- [11:03]
Andrew
21'S crazy. Like, that's.
- [11:05]
Alex
It is.
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Andrew
That's. That's nuts.
- [11:08]
Alex
Yeah. Shout out to Troy Weaver. Pretty good drafter, Pretty good draft.
- [11:13]
Andrew
He drafted some good players.
- [11:15]
Alex
He did my good this week was all the random ass guys hitting a ton of threes. One of the byproducts of the spacing revolution in basketball is that on any given night, any given guy can get hot from three because there's so many players who can take and make threes now. And we obviously had Aaron Gordon hit 10 in the first week of the season, but just this week, we had three crazy ones.
- [11:37]
Andrew
Yeah.
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Alex
First, in a game against the Clippers, which was a three point win, Hawks wing Vite Krechi hit eight three pointers. He went 8 of 10 from three, scored a career high 28 points. Shout out, beat. A few nights later, his teammate Onyeko Kongwu, who had only hit four threes once in his career, hit eight in a game against Utah, going 8 of 14 from three, also scoring a career high 32 points. But the highlight of the week, on Monday, Grayson Allen finally got to double digits. He'd hit nine threes in three different games during his career. But in a game against the Pelicans, Allen went 10 of 15 from three, scoring a career high 42 points. Grayson Allen. In the ranking of things that can happen during an NBA game, a random role player suddenly getting hot from three. It's one of my favorite things in basketball, and I was spoiled this week. I was, I was checking some of these games as they were going on. Oh, my gosh. We just keep going up and up and up. So, Andrew, I want to. I want to make a prediction, okay? Who will be the next random role player to have eight plus threes in a game? Now I have a name, so I'll say my name. I'll give you a little. A few seconds to think, okay, you know, I'm giving myself points for the more obscure the better. You know, I mean, obviously there are shooters. You know, you could say, oh, well, Sam houser will hit 12. 3. Okay, baby.
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Andrew
Not good.
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Carter Rodriguez
Enough.
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Andrew
Not good.
- [13:06]
Alex
Not good enough. No. I'm talking random. You're not really thinking of him doing this? I'm gonna go with Simone Fontechio.
- [13:13]
Andrew
Okay.
- [13:14]
Alex
Who is only playing, like, around 20 minutes per game right now. But the one game where he did play 27 minutes, he did hit five of seven from three.
- [13:22]
Andrew
Wow.
- [13:22]
Alex
He's getting him up when he's out there. So I think if he gets hot in a game, it's possible we could get an eight threes. Fontechio game.
- [13:30]
Andrew
Wow.
- [13:31]
Alex
What do you think? You got any names popping into your head?
- [13:34]
Andrew
You know, this is a guy that I think deserves to play more minutes, and he. He has, as of late, has played a little bit more, but Keon Ellis for the Kings.
- [13:44]
Alex
Keon Ellis.
- [13:45]
Andrew
I've been a Keon Ellis fan for a long time. I think he needs to set free, give the guy some minutes. And Sacramento Kings could have an 8 3. You know, Rando role player here in Keon Ellis.
- [13:59]
Alex
Now, he did in that most recent game to Atlanta, they finally play him 31 minutes.
- [14:04]
Andrew
Finally.
- [14:05]
Alex
They did lose by 33, but he was 6 for 11 from 3, so he finally was able to get in range. He took 11 threes in that game. Previously, he's taken, you know, like four, two, one, because they're just not playing them more than 15 minutes a game. So I think that's a good one because hopefully we're reaching a turning point with the Kings. Not in terms of them being better, but just deciding what they're going to do going forward.
- [14:30]
Andrew
Just playing Keon Ellis. How about that?
- [14:32]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- [14:33]
Alex
Okay. Andrew, what's your bad this week?
- [14:37]
Andrew
My bad this week is about player scoring in isolation. So last year, in the top 15 players in isolation possessions, the worst was alperin Shangoon at 0.86 points for possession. The best, his teammate, Kevin Durant, 1.16. Shea was near the top as well at 1.10 so far. I'm going to read some of the worst numbers here. KD right now in the top 15 in isolation possessions is at 0.84. Tyrese Maxi at 0.67. Six, seven. Everybody. Giannis at 0.84, which is not. Not a crazy number for him. He's been around that. Paulo, 0.84. Alpi is still one of the worst at 0.88, which is technically an improvement, and the worst. Ja Morant at.52.
- [15:38]
Alex
Oh, no.
- [15:39]
Andrew
Just like, so, so bad. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna spin this a little bit from a Bad to a good. Most of these numbers have to get better. If you're the Rockets and you're winning and you have these guys that are not for sure, you know, scoring up to their potential with KD and isolation, like, that's gonna get better. Terry's maxi is certainly going to be better than 0.67. And then John Morant, you just can't function at.052 in, you know, per possession. Like, he's. That has to be better. Not that he's going to be some elite player, but typically, like, some of the worst are. Like I said last year, the worst was 0.86. Yeah. So those numbers have to increase. So that's. That's my bad, which is kind of. Kind of spin it into a good there at the end.
- [16:26]
Carter Rodriguez
End.
- [16:27]
Alex
Speaking of jaw, I did want to shout out friend of the show, Keith Parish. Yeah, I listened to Grits and Grind from last Friday, I think, and it was the best conversation I've heard about John Morant.
- [16:39]
Andrew
Yeah, I listened to this as well. I'm. I'm a big Grits and Grinds fan.
- [16:43]
Alex
Yeah, it. It was just a really good conversation. Kind of teasing out, like, how much of this is like him doing a. A Jimmy Butler style like sabotage versus him just losing multiple steps as a player. And I thought it was a really good conversation. All right, Andrew, my bad. For my bad this week, I first want to talk about some. Some good. Because one thing NBA podcasters we like to do is we talk about teams that are top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. It's kind of fun to use as, like, a general marker of contenders. Per Clean the Glass, we have several teams that currently qualify. Denver, Houston, okc, San Antonio, and yes, this is true, the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns. Now, that's fun. We'll track that over the season. But I'm more interested in what's happening at the other end of the spectrum, a place that I'm going to call the land of the Lost. Okay. Because these are teams that have no identity. They aren't good on offense. They aren't good on defense. They are bottom 10 in both offensive and. And defensive efficiency per Clean of the Glass. The Land of the Lost. And currently there are eight teams in the land of the Loss. Eight teams currently in the bottom ten of both offensive and defensive. Wow. This sounded like an especially large number of teams to me. So I went back through the cleaning glass database to see how unique this was. So it goes back to 03 04. I looked at the rankings after the first month in all of these seasons. And what I found was that there has never been this many teams in the land of the loss one month into the season. On average, through the first month, there's usually around three and a half teams in the land of the lost.
- [18:26]
Andrew
Okay.
- [18:26]
Alex
Before this season, we've never had more than six.
- [18:29]
Andrew
Wow.
- [18:30]
Alex
And now we have eight. They are Brooklyn, the Clippers, Washington, New Orleans, Sacramento, Memphis, Indiana, and Utah. All of Those teams, bottom 10 in offense and defense. And I think there's several reasons for this. One is several teams that we expected to be competent. The Clippers, Memphis, and Indiana were hit with injuries very early in the season, which knocked them off the pace. We also had a pretty big crop of teams that we expected to be tanking quality from the jump. Brooklyn, Washington, New Orleans, Utah. And then we have Sacramento, who are kind of their own thing. They're just Sacramento. They don't follow. Fall into either of those. I talked about scheduling earlier, or actually, I'm about to talk about scheduling later, and I thought it'd be interesting to see which teams have played the most teams in the land of the lost as just a general marker of who's gotten the biggest schedule boost so far. So, for instance, Detroit and Denver, off to hot starts. Five of their games so far have been against teams that are in the land of the lost. OkC. Who has the best record and point differential? They've played eight of these teams. They're about to play three more.
- [19:42]
Andrew
How is that possible?
- [19:43]
Alex
Isn't that crazy? But there's one team whose schedule thus far, which has only been 13 games, has included 10 teams in the land of the lost. Ten of their 13 games have come against these eight teams who are bottom 10 in offense and defense. And if you were paying attention earlier, you can probably guess it. The Phoenix Suns. Now, this isn't a shot at any of these teams. You know, you. You have to beat the bad teams, and you have to take advantage of any soft spots. You're gifted in the schedule. And for a team like Phoenix, it's. It's going to get a lot harder. Honestly, I thought they'd be one of these teams. So the fact they're beating all these bad teams, I think it's a great sign.
- [20:24]
Andrew
That's a good sign.
- [20:25]
Alex
Now, looking at the teams in the land of Los Andrew, who do you think has the best chance of escaping and what side of the ball will we see the jump?
- [20:34]
Andrew
Oh, my gosh. All right, list the teams out for me again.
- [20:37]
Alex
Okay, so Brooklyn, the Clippers, Washington, New Orleans, Sacramento, Memphis, Indiana, Utah.
- [20:48]
Andrew
I think, I think Memphis. One of the big reasons why they are here is that they have had basically no center. Like they have Jacqueline Dale like has been their starting center and once they get and I'm not the biggest Zach Edie guy but I do think like the difference between the diff which we'll talk about here in a little bit is pretty big between Ed.
- [21:11]
Alex
Yeah.
- [21:12]
Andrew
And lain down. So I do think that Memphis's defense which was like their serve, the way they survived was defense. And so I do think like that will improve for them. So I, I would kind of bank on that one.
- [21:26]
Alex
That that was my pick as well. I mean obviously I looked at the Clippers and I do think as bad as losing Bradley Beal is, it does put them in a position where they're forced to play more of their defense. Defensive players.
- [21:38]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [21:39]
Alex
So maybe we start see an improvement in their defense.
- [21:43]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [21:43]
Alex
But yeah, those are the two units that I would expect to get better most quickly. So Andrew, that brings us to your what this week.
- [21:54]
Andrew
So as Of Thursday, only five five man groups have played at least 100 minutes together. There's some obvious ones. The Nugget starters, they played their most minutes, the most minutes together, they're a plus 11.9 which is really good. The Buck starters have played 144 minutes together and are a minus 4.8. And but that's not even. Neither of those are that weird. But the very best Al is the Orlando Magic starting lineup.
- [22:24]
Alex
Yeah.
- [22:25]
Andrew
At a plus 19.6. Suggs Bane, Franz Paola Windell plus 19.6. I thought this team sucked. But listen, when you sub in Anthony Black for Jalen Suggs, which is the second most played lineup by the way for the Magic, they plummet to a minus 6.3 with just one change.
- [22:47]
Alex
That's brutal.
- [22:49]
Andrew
And then Al, if you change Anthony Black for Tyus Jones, what do you think happens?
- [22:57]
Alex
It gets better.
- [22:59]
Andrew
It gets so much worse. Minus 54.4. And this is limited minutes. But like, like when we think about how bad the Magic have been to start the season and like, like Jalen Suggs has had like this outsized like importance to this team and we saw that last year like when he went out the bottom dropped out of this team.
- [23:21]
Alex
Yeah, yeah.
- [23:22]
Andrew
And we're seeing more of that now as well because like Tyus Jones is supposed to be like in our heads in our basketball imaginations. Tyus Jones is like this steady table setting point guard that like theoretically should be Able to help you. And in so many ways he hasn't really been that for a couple seasons. But part of me just thinks like, this is going to level out, like they're not going to be this good and this bad. I think eventually they've started to figure it out as we've seen the last couple of games for them. But the extremes that have existed so far with this team are like too wide right now. Like for, for it to be a real thing, like, for the gap to be this like 70 something point, like a 75 point gap that we're, that we're seeing right now between the starters and the starters with Tyus Jones instead of Jalen Suggs. Like, the gap is too big for it to be real. And so I would just like caution people that just think like the Orlando Magic are just like, they just stink. Like, I don't think so. I think they just are trying to figure out like some, some small nuances and like how, how do they survive minutes without Jalen Suggs is like something that is really important for them to figure out. They didn't really figure it out last year and they need to start to figure it out this year. I think, like, that's got to be like, the number one thing is like, we can't be this bad without Jalen Suggs. Like it. It honestly doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
- [24:46]
Alex
Yeah. This will be the last season that a fan base gets excited about their team bringing Tyus Jones on. Because I feel like we've done this for a half decade.
- [24:56]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [24:56]
Alex
And every team has been, every fan base has been let down for several seasons in a row.
- [25:00]
Andrew
True. It's true.
- [25:02]
Alex
My what this week. It's about a big man that everyone is challenging right now. Pick it on him, Andrew. On NBA.com you can go to the defensive dashboard. You sort by shots within six feet. It's a really fun stat just to see how often big men are having to deal with shots around the rim each game. Also, what opponents are shooting on those shots. And if you look at this season's defensive dashboard, something jumps out very quickly now among players who have played at least 10 games this season. Here are some of the names near the top in terms of field goals defended within six feet of the rim. So this isn't like good or bad. This is just guys who are defending a lot of shots around the rim. Evan Mobley. Nicola Vucevich. Scotty Barnes. Interesting. Ryan Kalkbrenner. Nikola Jokic, Cooper Flag. Miles Turner. It's a fun stat because some of these guys are defending those shots because their teams are funneling ball handlers towards them, knowing they've got a good rim protector behind him, while others like Vuch are probably being targeted. Which is a good idea since his defensive field goal percentage on those shots is 66.3%. Now, all of those players I just mentioned defend between 6.6 and 7 and a half shots per game within 6ft of the rim. 6.6 to 7.5. Number one in the league in shots defended per game within 6ft is Alex Saar with a whopping 12.1 defended shots per game, dwarfing everyone else in the league. And while the Wizards defense has been terrible, they are in the land of the lost SARS. Defensive field goal percentage on those shots, 53.1%, which is really good. And this is just one indicator of the leap that Alexar has taken this season. He's having a great second season, averaging 19, 9 and 4. He's cut back on his three point attempts. He's become much more efficient overall. He went from shooting under 40% from the field in his rookie season to 53% this season.
- [26:58]
Andrew
Yeah, he's legit. Yeah.
- [26:59]
Alex
There's a lot to like about his game right now, including the fact that he's getting an absurd amount of reps defending shots inside and is holding up really well.
- [27:08]
Andrew
Well.
- [27:08]
Alex
With that defensive workload. But 12.1 per game is crazy. Which is why that's my. What this week? I mean, we, we saw it in Chet's rookie season where just because the way he looks, even though he had this reputation as a good rim defender, he was just getting challenged so much. And I'm sure it's a mix of that. Also, like the Wizards perimeter defense is not good. So he's just going to be facing a lot more shots.
- [27:30]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [27:31]
Alex
But it's. I just, I was wildly impressed with that stat from Elixir.
- [27:36]
Andrew
Yeah, a lot of it is that like the, the perimeter defense is like just see through and you can. You just, you just get all the way to him.
- [27:45]
Alex
It's a great way for him develop these skills though.
- [27:48]
Andrew
100. It is, it is. You know, there's a lot of like weird cheat codes that you can do while you're tanking and like while you're trying to get better.
- [27:56]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah.
- [27:58]
Andrew
Part of it is like if you have a big. It's like, let's give him all the reps and like give him every kind of shot to defend at the ramp. I do think It's. I do think it's a good thing.
- [28:08]
Alex
Now, Andrew, before we go to our next segment, I did want to bring up some predictions I made.
- [28:13]
Andrew
Oh, yes, please.
- [28:14]
Alex
Now, these predictions were made August 14th. Okay. Long time ago.
- [28:20]
Andrew
Yep.
- [28:20]
Alex
And I was trying to make predictions about what would happen through the early part of the season based solely on the schedule which had been released that week. Week. Yeah. I thought it'd be fun to go back through them.
- [28:30]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [28:31]
Alex
And see how. See how well or poorly I did. So my first prediction. By mid November, we're there. Orlando is the top seed in the east and has the overall best record in the NBA.
- [28:44]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [28:45]
Alex
Didn't happen. But listen to this. The. What? The reason I said that they did not play a Western conference team until November 10th.
- [28:53]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [28:53]
Alex
And that team was Portland. They don't play their first Western Conference team that made the playoffs until November 16th. It hasn't even happened yet.
- [29:01]
Andrew
Oh, no.
- [29:03]
Alex
So that's a little worrying. Like this, this early start, that's been rough. It's been like an easier schedule, at least in terms of facing Western Conference opponents.
- [29:12]
Andrew
Yeah. I don't like. I don't like that.
- [29:14]
Alex
Yeah. Not great. My second prediction. So. So we're not going to give me any points on that first one.
- [29:19]
Andrew
Yeah. Zero points.
- [29:21]
Alex
Zero points. Not negative.
- [29:24]
Andrew
Okay.
- [29:24]
Alex
Not negative. My second prediction. By mid November, Philadelphia is a top four seed and Sixers fans are finally sucked in again.
- [29:35]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [29:37]
Alex
Nailed it.
- [29:37]
Andrew
Let's go.
- [29:39]
Alex
Now, I was, I was watching this this week because, like, they needed to win one more game to get back into the top four. Because they're seven and four. They could have easily been six and five.
- [29:49]
Andrew
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [29:50]
Alex
But they are seven to four. They are currently the three seed, so this counts. And. Yeah, but. But I do want to like, point this out. Like, the reason I said this was because their schedule was so cake. They don't. They haven't played a Western Conference team. It hasn't happened yet.
- [30:06]
Andrew
That is weird.
- [30:07]
Alex
It happens on November. It happens on November 17th. They don't play their second Western Conference team until December 2nd.
- [30:14]
Andrew
What?
- [30:15]
Alex
That means 19 of their first 20 games against the Eastern Conference.
- [30:19]
Carter Rodriguez
That's.
- [30:20]
Andrew
That's straight up weird. And their next. Their. Yeah, they're. They're next. We'll learn a lot about this team because they, they got Detroit, the Clippers, you got. Toronto has played well lately. Milwaukee, Miami, Orlando. Like, we'll learn some stuff.
- [30:34]
Alex
So point for that one. Third prediction. Coming off their strong second half finish, preseason hopes for the Blazers will be quickly Dashed due to the brutal opening schedule. Shout out to the Blazers. They have fought this off.
- [30:47]
Andrew
Yeah, they have.
- [30:48]
Alex
They have fought this off. They are currently 6 and 5. Now. I did bring up the stretch that they are currently in, which is a five game road trip from November 8th to the 16th, where they play every other night in a different city. And they did start off that road trip so far, 1 and 2, so we'll see. But they had a brutal opening schedule in their first 13 games. It was 11 Western Conference teams. Miami owner, Orlando. Of course, I thought Orlando was going to be great at that time, but so far they fended it off. And I would say if you're a Blazers fan, like being.500 through this early stretch, that's incredible because it's going to lighten up. And this team has the type of team that's going to destroy bad teams. When they start playing some of these land of the lost teams, they're going to kill them.
- [31:33]
Andrew
They don't, they don't have many coming up though.
- [31:35]
Alex
No, they're.
- [31:36]
Andrew
They're next. I mean, they've got Houston or Dallas's. Dallas is bad. Phoenix, Chicago, Golden State, okc, Milwaukee, San Antonio, okc.
- [31:46]
Alex
All right, well. Well, they just got to keep proving it. Just keep proving it. It'll. It'll happen eventually, guys. I promise. There are Brooklyn games on the schedule eventually, so no points for that one. My. My fourth prediction. Man, I love this one. Trade rumors were start early for the Sacramento Kings just this week. Carmichael, Dave report. The Kings are looking at trades for Sabonis, Levine, DeRozan. Happened this week. Yeah. Perfect timing.
- [32:19]
Andrew
Wow.
- [32:20]
Alex
They've had a brutal schedule. I've said this stat so many times, but nine of their first 18 games, OKC, Denver and Minnesota, nine of their first eight, they never had a shot. Doug Christie never had a chance with that schedule in this roster. It was never gonna happen.
- [32:36]
Carter Rodriguez
No.
- [32:36]
Andrew
No. Yeah. Yeah. Sam Amick reported that there, there's interest in demonic Sabonus throughout the league. Yeah. And no interest in Zach Levine.
- [32:48]
Alex
So I saw that post on Reddit in the first comment was like, you didn't have to say it like that. That was why I hated that trade so much. It's like you're trading for a guy, guy who is untradeable. The whole, the whole M.O. on Zach Levine going back two years was like, the Bulls just can't trade this guy. There's. Yeah, the, the trade market is frozen. You know, like there's no interest. And then they trade for him. Well, of course, you're stuck with them now. Like, it's not going to happen. It's not like the Bulls got some amazing return when they traded them.
- [33:21]
Andrew
Yeah. I mean, can you imagine being the Bulls at that trade? Like, you know, like the, the Kings and the spurs are going to make this Fox trade. And then like, you pick up the phone and like, you want to do what you want to. You want to take on Zach Levine. That's, that's what you want in this deal.
- [33:39]
Alex
It's just you're creating like, great. The best player on your team, first or second best player on your team. And you're getting back a package headline by an untradable Zach Levine. Like, it was such a bad deal at the time. Time. All right, so I get a point for that one. Two points so far. Final prediction, the spurs will be a top four seed by Ben November. Boom. Currently third seed. 8. 3. Another point for me. I mean, I've talked about this with both the spurs and okc, but they just got gifted these early season schedules.
- [34:12]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [34:13]
Alex
Where they're playing a ton of these bad teams. Now, the spurs haven't played as many as okc, but they, they did get a lot of help from playing like, Brooklyn. Although actually now I'm looking at the teams that you have played. Brooklyn, Toronto, Chicago, Phoenix, and Dallas. It's funny who those teams are now because, like, Toronto, Chicago, Phoenix, like, those are all, you know, solid teams. So it didn't really happen maybe for the reason I thought. But the spurs are a top four seed by mid November, so that is three points. Andrew. Three out of five.
- [34:47]
Andrew
Looking good.
- [34:48]
Alex
That's pretty good.
- [34:48]
Andrew
Looking good. Another team that's kind of looking good is the Cleveland Cavaliers. And we're going to talk about them right after this quick break. This episode is brought to you by Gab. It's that time of year again. The holidays are coming fast, and if your kids are anything like mine, that list is already getting pretty long. And let's be honest, some of the things on that list make us stop, stop and think. Like a smartphone. I've got three boys that are all of age to have a smartphone. I'm telling you, it's something that we talk about constantly and there are tons of concerns around it. And that's why I was so relieved when I found Gab. Gab offers phones and watches made just for kids. No Internet, no social media, and just the right features for their age. Kids want phones to feel independent and connected as parents. We want them to know they're safe with Gab. You can have both and protect them from scary stuff with Gab's tech and steps approach, Kids get the right tech at the right time. From watches with GPS tracking for the youngest explorers to the perfect first phone with no Internet or social media to the teen phone with parent approved apps. So get ready for a Christmas morning. They'll never forget the one where they get their first phone. And really, it's a gift for you too because these kidsafe phones will give you peace of mind. Visit gab.com mbadaily and use the code NBA Daily for a special holiday offer. That's G A B B.com NBA Daily Gab Tech and steps Independence for them. Peace of mind for you. Your ambition just met its match with Robinhood. You play for the win. Not just on game day. Every day locking in on every opening, beating your pr, beating in again channel that drive into your money. Robinhood puts you in control of your money Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures and crypto all on one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with the Robinhood Legends advanced tools or take advantage of the new Robinhood strategies with the tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today@robinhood.com yourmoney again, that's robinhood.com yourmoney your money. Your move. All investments involve risk including loss of principal options, futures and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Investors security is offered through Robinhood Financial LLC Member SIPC Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives LLC and not SPIC or FDIC Protected crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto LLC. NMLS ID 1702840 not FDIC or SIPC. Protected portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies and SEC registered advisor.
- [37:50]
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- [38:21]
Alex
All right Andrew, it is time for the Wheel of Fandom. The weekly segment where we spin a wheel. It lands on a team and we become fans of that team for the next week. And last week the wheel landed on the Cleveland Cavaliers who I believe for the first time in slamming jam history played five games in the last seven games. Seven days unsurprisingly up and down week when you have two back to backs the cavs went three and two. They had wins over Chicago, Washington and Miami. And then the losses were to Miami on a buzzer beating dunk in overtime and Toronto on the second night of a back to back and again the fifth game in seven days. Her cleaning the glass. The 8 and 5 Cavs have the ninth ranked offense and 14th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Cavs are a favorite team, who is our guess it's our.
- [39:09]
Andrew
Guy Carter Rodriguez from the chase down pod. Carter, thanks for joining man.
- [39:14]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh yeah, I'm so happy to be here. So happy that the wheel of fandom landed on on my beloved Cleveland Cavaliers though not so happy that about this stretch. I mean come on. And, and let me also whine for a moment about it is unacceptable to have a team play two road games in Miami in a row. That is just asking for fans to feel painful.
- [39:38]
Alex
Although we got this magical second game that I don't think anyone was really expecting with like the. No, no.
- [39:45]
Carter Rodriguez
Certainly if you were to ask me which of those two games they would have lost, it wouldn't have been the one with most of their players playing and not the one with led by Naquan Tomlin and Luke Travers.
- [39:58]
Andrew
So The Cavs are 8 and 5 which is perfectly fine, but not quite the 150 start that we saw last season. One of the issues has been the defense which is dropped off. Do you think that this roster still has the personnel to be a top defense in the league or would you move the needle like you know, based on like perimeter defensive needs and stuff like that?
- [40:17]
Carter Rodriguez
Well, you know it's. I feel like this, the start of this season has really been a, a real case of like you get what yet, you know, be careful what you ask for kind of on both sides of the ball so far where Justin, my, my esteemed co host and I on the chase down spent a lot of the summer kind of griping about how you know, base the Cavs defense would be. You know, it was a defense that was not, while very, very good, wasn't really a defense that would make you feel them in the form of like a lot of deflections, a lot of, a lot of blocks, a lot of steals, playing passing lanes, getting a little, you know, adding like injecting chaos, you know. And that even goes down to like look at a guy like Isaac Okoro who has been their perimeter stopper for the last several years that they traded to Chicago this offseason. He, even though all of his defensive metrics have always been great, his, his stocks have always been terrible he's not a guy who gets steals, not a guy who gets deflections, not a guy who gets blocked. So you bring in a guy like Lonzo and a guy like Larry Nance, two guys who ranked super, super well in all the chaos stuff, and you go, okay, like, let's see how that feels. And turns out you give up a lot more easy looks when you're gambling for steals and playing passing lanes and, and kind of breaking scheme in order to try to inject that chaos. And I think, and I think where they are right now on that end is kind of an open question of have they swung too far in the other direction, both from a personnel and playstyle perspective, where, yeah, they're, they're gambling a lot, but they're also giving up a lot of, a lot of clean looks, a lot of, a lot of busted coverages and things like that on that end. And then like, you know, you just don't know how much it matters that, you know, Isaac Okoro is gone and you've replaced his minutes with Lonzo Ball and Jalen Tyson on ball. Defense hasn't been Jalen's best trade, even though he's had a very encouraging start to the year. And even someone like Darius and Max, who have been mostly out of the lineup entirely in Max's case, rate us some of the better team defenders by, by the metrics for these guys. Doesn't feel like it should feel this stark though, I gotta say. So I'm not sure if it's a focus thing, if it is a, a emphasis thing, but right now the defense definitely has taken a step back and I'm not sure, frankly, I'm still kind of in the. I know it's not. Not the best podcast answer of I don't know, but right now I'm not sure what is leading to if it's growing pains on the road to something better or if it's just worse.
- [42:56]
Alex
You mentioned Lonzo and I want to ask you about him because Cavs moved on from Ty Drone this summer, they brought in Lonzo Ball. I feel like nationally a lot of people presented that as kind of like a one for one swap. Like they got rid of Ty Jerome, they brought in Lonzo Ball, but they play very differently from each other. And so I'm interested in what you thought about his fit with the Cavs so far since he is bringing such a different set of skills.
- [43:18]
Carter Rodriguez
Well, I'll stay on theme and talk about the other side of the ball, the changes they made of the view. You Wish what you be careful what you ask for. Because the other thing that the Cavs have had over the last three, four years of this, of this team's kind of journey is they've. They've been a team that on offense has really relied on pick and roll play and you know, know getting. Relying on their guards to get them into the paint. Obviously you have Darius and Donovan that do that at a very, very high level, though I'll note Donovan's drives are way down. We'll talk about that later. But they also have always had a bench player kind of crutch that could do that for them. Whether it's Caris Lavert for, for a couple years that could just kind of run a downhill pick and roll and shovel a pass to one of the bigs who have unbelievable hands, great touch, great feet for easy buckets, or they had Ty Jerome who obviously played like a sixth man of the year last year. And even outside of the, the, you know, the production not being where Ty gave them, which I didn't even think we'd get that from Ty if we brought him back because like that was like bananas the season he had for them, that stylistic change. They're really having a hard time finding their way through it. This is a team that's, you know, really, especially with Darius missing so much time and Donovan appearing to pace himself because it doesn't seem to be a problem for him to get downhill and get two feet in the paint when he really chooses to. But without that, this team kind of is having a hard time getting teams into rotation on the offensive side of the ball. You know that you mentioned their ninth in offense. A lot of the, A lot of their best offensive games have come with Darius back and you've seen a lot more stagnation and ugliness without. Without him available. And I think a big part of it's that. That trade off. And again, we asked for this. We asked like, hey, like a crutch of Kerris or Ty Jerome is really nice for 82 games. When they start getting on the scouting report in the playoffs, that just stops feeling as good. You know, we watched Andy just completely destroy Ty Jerome spirit over five games with. With the way they guarded him. But, you know, you do kind of forget. It's nice to have for those 82 games. And I don't think they've quite found a way to consistently get teams into rotation. They've experimented with Evan Mobley doing a lot more play initiation, which you kind of again, a thing I asked for. But you know, it hasn't really borne a ton of fruit. He's not catching. They're not consistently getting the ball to Jared or Evan with advantage for them to make the decisions and use their, their, their plus length, athleticism, footwork, touch. And as a result, I think the offense has just gotten really chunky and very, very reliant on three point shooting. Justin and I have talked a lot about how, you know, at times they're playing Celtics ball without Celtics personnel. And, and yeah, I do think in a lot of ways this is a team that's finding their way on both ends of the ball. I know that, I know, I know 8 and 5 isn't like, I'm not talking about them like they're 8 and 5, but like, I do think like this is the downside of when you ask a team to kind of change their identity midstream and integrate, you know, four or five new pieces of the rotation in real time, mostly due to injury, in fairness. But like, I do think there are some real things for them to figure out.
- [46:49]
Andrew
Let's talk about something good. Jalen Tyson, who has made a leap from year one to year two. Tell me what you've noticed about his development. Like what are some of the biggest things there?
- [47:00]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah, well, he, he does something, you know, I've spent a lot of time talking about things they didn't have that they're trying to inject. Something that they really didn't have from the wing was a plus rebounder and Jalen is a really, really physical offensive rebounder and, and just an active player. Like he's not a, a plus athlete on the wing, but he's got, he's got a great frame. Another thing they really haven't had on the wing is a guy who's just strong and you know, I only expect that to get better as he, as he ages into his body. Still a second year player, but, but you know, a guy who, who can kind of carve out position and, and get put backs and, and help our relatively lean front court get contested rebounds by just kind of being an extra chaotic body in there. I think he's done really, really good job there. And then the three point shot has just been bananas. He has really, really worked on his form. It's, it's a funky form. It's like a, he, he kind of catches it and doesn't. And does kind of a no dip jumper where he kind of just gets it right up kind of almost trebuchet style. But it's going in at A really, really high rate, not just in the corners, but on the wings, which is, you know, what you really want to see from a three and D kind of role player. And then he's shown just enough of that on ball playmaking that we wanted to see. Like, I don't need him running 30 pick and rolls a game for the team to be healthy, but if it's a swing swing and someone's closing out, he needs to be able to attack or flow into a handoff or a dribble or a. Or a high pick and roll and be able to make. Make the right read. His playmaking shots were something that really interested us from his college tape, that, you know, he's not going to be that at the pro level, but being able to be a secondary playmaker is really, really important. A fun little fact. I always laugh when people say tertiary playmaker on podcasts because it's always like, well, then you're just like, catching the ball and dribbling and like, that's not. That's not really playmaking once you get to tertiary. I'm so.
- [49:08]
Alex
But.
- [49:08]
Carter Rodriguez
But yeah, he's showing just enough chops there, you know, where, like, if he's getting you three, four assists in a game, like, you feel really, really good about the fact that he's operating as a ball mover as. As you know, the. The threat of the, of the jumper is doing its job overall. And by the way, he started terribly. His first three games of the year had us being like, oh, man, did we misread this? Because he really hadn't played meaningful minutes in his rookie year. He had some very nice, like, spot starts when the entire team was resting. But, like, we were like, man, is it? Were we wrong? Was the staff wrong? And then, like, ever since, he's just been shot out of a cannon. And, and really, one of the. One of the real bright spots of the season so far, so we saw.
- [49:54]
Alex
In the Philly game and the second Miami game that Jared Allen can be very productive for this team. Advanced stats suggest the Cavs are great when he's on the court, but his minutes are kind of up and down. And most notably, he only played 21 minutes in the first Miami game. He wasn't on the court for that final play in overtime. What do you think about how Cleveland has been using Jared Allen so far this season?
- [50:16]
Carter Rodriguez
You know, we always say that Jared is kind of the canary in the coal mine for the overall health of the team and has been since he's been here, you know, because he's not a self creator, right. Like that's just never going to be what he is. So if he's consistently catching the ball in open space where he can use his footwork and his touch and or you know, at best as a lob threat, then it kind of just shows you that the overall offense is healthy. And I think that on his quiet nights, like there is a little bit of like, hey, you're one of the higher paid players on the team. You got to be more than just a canary in the coal mine. Sometimes you have to like lift the team up, not just be representative of the overall health of the team. So I'm not trying to say, you know, Jarrett's without any accountability here, but you know, on nights where you'll see, you know, a 6 rebound, 5 or 6.5 rebound game, generally it's he's not getting boards because he's covering up really bad point of attack defense and an out of position to rebound. And, and when he's not getting a lot of field goal attempts, like what you'll see is he's just not getting thrown the ball like he's sitting screens like he always does. He's diving like he always does. There's not enough kind of verve on the offensive side of the ball to get him to make the defense open up those passing lanes to him. And again, like he does have motor issues on a night to night basis. There are some days where if he, you know, if after setting three or four of those screens he's not getting it, he kind of, you know, can, he can float again. I'm not trying to fully absolve him of, you know, any responsibility. I mean he's called one of the core guys of this team so the expectations should be a little higher. But with that said, like I do think some of those, you know, the lack of drives are really hurting him. Like someone like, like Caris Levert, you know, not a perfect player by any means, but a few folks in our discord will sometimes call him a dump off merchant, you know, but like that's not nothing like being able to get two feet in the paint and just do a little shovel past your big in the dunker spot for an easy dunk. Like that matters, especially when they're guys who are as bouncy and have the touch that Jared and Evan have. So like I think what we're seeing is the offense not consistently create clean looks for their bigs and Jarrett is probably the most dependent of the group on those clean looks. To be, to be the offensive player you want. With all that said, I was super disappointed with him not being on the floor. I think they have this idea of. And I've seen this over the years, but it feels stronger this year, maybe just because there's more, more speed bumps through the journey. To start, it's like, like it's not, it's easy not to worry about any of this stuff when you start 15 and 0. So I want to acknowledge like, like some of this might be a vibe thing, but I have seen them be a little more apt to. Once they downshift, especially if they've fallen behind in the game, they'll downshift. Makes sense, right? You want to get more three point shooting, a little more variance on the floor. And you know, they have the ability they, they can run out some really good downshift lineups that are interesting. And sometimes that means Jarrett is going to sit for an extended stretch in like the third quarter when you're trying to come back from 12 down. But what I would argue is like, if you're on the highway and you're driving stick shift, I know like nine people still do, including myself, by the way. You do? I do.
- [53:57]
Andrew
Okay. What are you driving?
- [53:59]
Carter Rodriguez
I know a Mazda 3. It's not a.
- [54:01]
Alex
It's just.
- [54:02]
Carter Rodriguez
It was a financial decision at the time. But, you know, if I'm on the highway and I know I need to get around someone or I need to catch up, so to speak, I might downshift into third gear, zip around someone. But I'm not gonna drive the rest of the hour. Drive in third gear.
- [54:18]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [54:18]
Carter Rodriguez
And what I've kind of seen the Cavs do is like they'll downshift and then they'll be like, well, that's the way we're playing the rest of the way. Like we saw in that Miami game in that. I want to say it was in the overtime, but it might have been late in the fourth. DeAndre Hunter bangs knees with someone on the Heat. And who goes to the scorers table? Not Jared Allen, Dean Wade. And it's like, you know, like I feel like there's been maybe a bit of a, like a brain lock where it's like we gotta, you know, this is the way we got back in the game. We gotta stay here. And like, you know, that can lead to Jared Allen not being there to play goalie and, and that you give up an alley loop dunk with 0.4 seconds left completely unimpeded. But I would argue, by the way, if you watch that play, Sam Merrill definitely messes up the switch. If Sam Merrill doesn't mess up the switch, I still think they score because he is not, he's not blocking a free run. Andrew Wiggins lob to the rim. That's just. God bless Sam Merrill. He's been one of the best players on the team to start the year. That is not what I'm asking him to do on a night to night basis.
- [55:21]
Andrew
Yeah, and, and to, to the Cavs credit, they hadn't seen a screen from Miami all night until that one moment. So it's tricky to cover screens whenever you haven't had to do it all night. Okay, last question. You mentioned earlier about the increased three point volume. So. Cleveland currently leads the league in three point attempts per game. It is only slightly behind where Boston was last season. Evan Mobley's taking five per game. Like what, what do you think about this? Like where, where are you at with this?
- [55:53]
Carter Rodriguez
You know, I think first off, they put up 65 in that Miami overtime game. That's the third most in. That's the third most in NBA history. And like I'm, I am, I will always say I'm not really that worried about the number. I'm worried about the how, because in that follow up game, the one that their skeleton crew won, they put up 47. That's still a lot of threes. But they had some folks like Craig Porter Jr. Who had an amazing game putting pressure on the rim. And like, I think I, I don't actually really care that much. But the Cavs three point volume is like past a certain minimum. If, if it is a byproduct of constant rim pressure and getting the team getting defenses in rotation. I think right now, when we've seen this offense at its best, that's still what they're doing. You know, the, the few games Darius has been back, I mean, it looks like a completely different team. Like my, my, A running bit I have on our podcast is, is a very dated hook reference when the team finally looks like themselves. I do that. There you are, Peter. Like, like that's like. And like when Darius was back, that's what we saw. We saw the guards kind of getting into the paint, running like a little bit more pick and roll, letting Evan slip and attack, empty space, things like that. It's not just Darius, you know, spamming pick and roll and getting to the rim. It's getting the Cavs machine going. And I don't really care if they shoot 55 threes in a game. Like that because this is a team with a lot of three point shooting talent and guys that we want to see testing their their volume. I want to see Evan trying five threes a game. I just don't want him dribbling into a pull up with 22 seconds on the shot clock, taking some of those threes. And I think what we've seen is a lot of the defense is half in rotation, swing, swing around the perimeter to a semi contested three and like that's the stuff. I'm just like that Celtics ball to me at. And I don't even like it when the Celtics do that. And I don't think Celtics fans like it when the Celtics do that generally. So like I do want to see it move, but I think it's much more like I don't want to treat something I spend a lot of time with on our podcast. Like don't treat symptoms, treat illnesses. And I think the illness, if there is one, I mean they're ninth and off. Not like this a disaster. It's just a far cry from like the second best in offense in NBA history last year. But I think the illness is rim pressure and finding ways to make defenses react all the way down near the hoop so you can find your three point shooters for easier threes than I think they're currently getting.
- [58:30]
Alex
Well, thank you for answering all of our Cavaliers questions, Carter, before we get to our game. You know, as a Cavs fan, you've gotten to experience the diff every night on the, on the telecast. Do you think it's ready for national implementation? Do you think the diff needs to be in all 30 markets?
- [58:49]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm so glad you asked this, Alex, because in my opinion, there is no more overwrought concern trolling behavior from the NBA community than trashing the diffuser. It's fun. It doesn't matter. Like my argument has always been, just don't look at it, it's fine. You know what's really nice? I have two small children and every now and again my daughter will ask me who's winning. Guess what I get to point at for a five year old who's basically still learning to count to give her a very quick indication of who's winning and by how much. I point at the diff.
- [59:29]
Alex
Fellas, I'm so glad you're a diff defender.
- [59:33]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm not even a diff. This is my thing. I don't even care. I'm indifferent. I mean, he's diff neutral.
- [59:40]
Andrew
Oh, he's indiff rent but the.
- [59:43]
Carter Rodriguez
The world has. Has gone so far in opposition to this harmless thing that I must. I must step up. You know, I'm the hero that Cleveland needs, not the one it deserves right now.
- [59:57]
Alex
All right, and that brings us to Andrew versus the Beat, our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head to head with NB Rider. This week, our guest, Carter Rodriguez from the Chase down pod. Now, Carter, how this works. I've come up with eight questions about the Cleveland Cavaliers. You'll give me a number between 1 and 8. It will correspond to a question. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. If you get it wrong, Andrew have a chance to steal for one. And they will go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So to start us off, Carter, I just need a number between one and eight.
- [60:30]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, six.
- [60:33]
Alex
Question number six. How many players have had a 30 point game this season for the Cavs? You don't have to tell me who. You just have to give me a number. How many players have had a 30 point game?
- [60:48]
Carter Rodriguez
Donovan. Donovan has. Evan has. DeAndre has. I'm gonna say three.
- [60:57]
Alex
That is incorrect, Andrew.
- [61:04]
Carter Rodriguez
Four.
- [61:06]
Alex
That is also incorrect, though. Carter was so confident in saying that a couple guys had had a game that I do need to look at. Okay, so DeAndre Hunter had a 29 point game.
- [61:18]
Carter Rodriguez
Okay.
- [61:19]
Alex
Okay. And then Evan Mobley, another name. You said he had a 29 point.
- [61:28]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, my gosh. Wow. So is it one?
- [61:31]
Alex
It is two because the other player is, of course, Jared Allen.
- [61:35]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, my gosh. I forgot Jarrett. Oh, my God. Terrible.
- [61:39]
Alex
All right, Andrew.
- [61:40]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm very bad at trivia.
- [61:42]
Alex
Wow.
- [61:43]
Andrew
Number one.
- [61:44]
Alex
Question. Number one. Per cleaning the glass, Cleveland is currently ranked highest in which of the following categories? Half court offense. Transition offense. Half court defense. Transition defense.
- [62:00]
Andrew
Oh, boy. This is kind of tough because their offense and their defense is both kind of in the middle. Transition offense? I don't know. I have no idea.
- [62:14]
Alex
No way is incorrect. Andrew. Carter.
- [62:18]
Carter Rodriguez
I know for a fact because Justin is a cleaning glass merchant. He's been complaining about our transition offense ratings. I'm gonna guess transition defense.
- [62:26]
Alex
It is transition defense. That is correct. That is correct. Okay, Carter is on the board. The diff right now is one. Carter. What?
- [62:38]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah. I'll bet everyone appreciates that.
- [62:42]
Alex
Question number eight. All right. Cleveland has two players with a three point attempt rate above 80%, meaning that 80% of their shots come from three. That is, of course, Lonzo Ball and Sam Merrill. Name two of the other six players in the league. League who currently have a three point attempt rate above 0.8.
- [63:04]
Andrew
Wow.
- [63:05]
Alex
So you get one point per correct answer. There's six other players in the league who have a three point attempt rate above zero point eight. You can name two of them, but even if you only get one, you still get a point.
- [63:17]
Carter Rodriguez
Buddy healed.
- [63:18]
Alex
Buddy healed is incorrect. Andrew. Three point attempt rate, 3.2. Taken at least 80% of their attempts from 3.
- [63:32]
Andrew
Wow. Isaiah Joe.
- [63:38]
Alex
Isaiah Joe. That is correct. Andrew.
- [63:42]
Carter Rodriguez
A.J. green.
- [63:44]
Alex
Oh, Carter. Sorry.
- [63:46]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, does he get to go again? If he gets it right, I blow it.
- [63:51]
Andrew
How about A.J.
- [63:53]
Alex
Green?
- [63:53]
Carter Rodriguez
You're a bad faith person, Andrew.
- [63:55]
Alex
That's a great guess because AJ Green is correct. Now the other names. Royce o' Neill from the Suns.
- [64:05]
Andrew
Okay.
- [64:05]
Alex
Sam Houser.
- [64:07]
Andrew
Makes sense. Yeah.
- [64:08]
Alex
J. Will. Andrew. Okay. CS2.
- [64:11]
Andrew
J will.
- [64:13]
Alex
Yeah. Jay Will. And Nicholas Batum.
- [64:15]
Andrew
Let's see that.
- [64:18]
Carter Rodriguez
I would never have guessed Nick Batum. Wow.
- [64:21]
Alex
Okay, so wait. If. If Carter is Cleveland in this scenario, the diff is currently minus one because.
- [64:27]
Carter Rodriguez
Andrew's up two to one and I am the record. I am Cleveland in this scenario.
- [64:33]
Andrew
Number two.
- [64:35]
Alex
Question number two. What is Lonzo Ball's career high in points? Now, Andrew, you get to choose who answers first. You can make Carter answer and then you can go higher or lower. Or you can answer and then Carter would go higher or lower. Lonzo balls career high in points.
- [64:55]
Carter Rodriguez
Wow.
- [64:58]
Andrew
That is a very weird question. I'll say 31.
- [65:04]
Alex
31. Andrew, set the bar at 31. Carter, would you like to go higher or lower?
- [65:09]
Carter Rodriguez
Now do I just say higher or lower or do I guess the number?
- [65:12]
Alex
Yeah, you can just say higher or lower.
- [65:13]
Andrew
Over.
- [65:14]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm gonna go higher.
- [65:19]
Alex
Andrew, you were within two points. No correct answer. Lonzo Ball's career high is 33, which means Carter gets the point.
- [65:30]
Andrew
Dang it.
- [65:31]
Alex
And we are tied. The diff is zero. Carter, the board is yours.
- [65:37]
Carter Rodriguez
Three.
- [65:38]
Alex
Question number three. Donovan Mitchell. Currently making over four three pointers per game, which leads the league. There are only seven players in NBA history who have made more than four threes per game for an entire season. And we're going to name them all. So how this works, Carter will give me a name, then Andrew will give me a name. We'll go back and forth till one of you stumble. So these are players throughout NBA history who have had a season where they have made four plus threes per game.
- [66:06]
Andrew
Wow.
- [66:06]
Carter Rodriguez
And how many players are there?
- [66:08]
Alex
There are seven. All right.
- [66:13]
Carter Rodriguez
And I go first.
- [66:14]
Alex
Yes.
- [66:15]
Carter Rodriguez
Steph Curry.
- [66:16]
Alex
Great guess. Is correct.
- [66:19]
Carter Rodriguez
Like, oh my gosh, it's Not Steph Curry.
- [66:23]
Andrew
Clay.
- [66:24]
Alex
Clay. Another good guess. Back to Carter.
- [66:28]
Carter Rodriguez
Damian Lillard.
- [66:29]
Alex
Yes. Andrew.
- [66:34]
Andrew
Buddy.
- [66:36]
Alex
Buddy Field is correct. Three names remain. Carter.
- [66:44]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, my God. I don't want to, I don't want to kill the podcast. I don't think this is a good guess. I'm gonna guess Ray Allen.
- [66:55]
Alex
Ray Allen. Unfortunately, that is, is incorrect. Andrew, you got one more name in you?
- [67:02]
Andrew
Oh, man. I, I, I don't have another. Another.
- [67:07]
Alex
Don't have another name?
- [67:08]
Andrew
No.
- [67:08]
Alex
Okay.
- [67:09]
Andrew
I was really glad.
- [67:12]
Carter Rodriguez
At this point in the pod.
- [67:13]
Alex
So they're all currently active players. I believe one did it last season. Anthony Edwards.
- [67:20]
Andrew
Oh, that one makes sense. Yeah.
- [67:22]
Alex
Yeah, another one. I mean, prime. James Harden. You know, he's hitting a lot of threes. And then another guy who's done it once. Luca. Luka Doncic.
- [67:32]
Andrew
Luca.
- [67:33]
Carter Rodriguez
Luca. He had four threes again. That's crazy.
- [67:36]
Alex
Yeah.
- [67:37]
Andrew
Good. Good player.
- [67:38]
Alex
Turns out good player. Good player. We're learning that. Andrew, the board is yours.
- [67:46]
Andrew
Four.
- [67:47]
Alex
Question number four. When did he do that? That was the 2324 season season with Dallas. The year before they traded him. Number four. Okay, here we go. The Cavs. Nope. Donovan Mitchell is currently averaging over 30 points per game. The last time a Cav averaged 30 plus points per game was the 0708 season when LeBron did it. Question's not going to be that easy. I'm not going to ask you to say LeBron. During the 0708 season, how many points per game did the second leading score on the Cavs average? Now, whatever you guess, you're going to get a, you're going to get a plus or minus one. So let's say you're a really bad guesser. You said 5.6 points per game. That would cover everything from 4.6 to 6.6. So you're trying to tell me, the second leading score for the 0708 Cavs, what was their points per game?
- [68:42]
Andrew
Golly, this is like the Larry Hughes calves.
- [68:51]
Carter Rodriguez
I think most people.
- [68:52]
Alex
LeBron Cavs.
- [68:53]
Andrew
But not, not me.
- [68:57]
Alex
Not me.
- [69:01]
Andrew
The Drew Gooden Cavs. I saw Drew Gooden in OKC the other day.
- [69:04]
Alex
No, you're stalling.
- [69:05]
Andrew
I'm totally stall. Stalling because this is a hard question. I don't know. 15. I don't know.
- [69:11]
Alex
15. Andrew, that just covers it because it was Drew Ilgauskis with 14.1. 14.
- [69:22]
Andrew
14.11.
- [69:25]
Carter Rodriguez
All right, Carter, was Mo Williams not there till the next year? I think he was.09.
- [69:31]
Alex
I think so. Now, Carter, I have bad news. The Diff is currently minus three.
- [69:36]
Carter Rodriguez
Ah, we're in trouble here.
- [69:38]
Alex
But there's two questions remaining. You can still tie this up. So what would you like to go with? Five or seven?
- [69:43]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm a fiveman.
- [69:44]
Alex
All right. He's a five.
- [69:46]
Andrew
Five.
- [69:47]
Alex
The Cavs are taking and making a lot of threes. Four different Cavs have hit five plus threes in a game this season. Donovan Mitchell, Sam Merrill, and these two players. You get one point per correct answer.
- [70:03]
Carter Rodriguez
Craig Porter Jr. Is one of them.
- [70:05]
Alex
That is incorrect. Wait, unless. Did he do it last night?
- [70:08]
Carter Rodriguez
He did it in preseason.
- [70:10]
Alex
Oh.
- [70:10]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, no, I haven't a preseason game, I'm pretty sure.
- [70:16]
Alex
Let me see how close he's gotten in the regular season. Yeah, he's only at three.
- [70:20]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah, I think that was a preseason game. As again, let the record show I am here to protect the. The slamming jam pod from. From dead air there. And that's why I'm. I'm losing. Let's see here.
- [70:34]
Alex
Well, no, unfortunately, your time with this question has come to an end, Carter.
- [70:39]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh. Because I missed. Got it.
- [70:40]
Alex
But I will say, very impressive that you remember a stat line from preseason. I feel like that deserves maybe a ghost point.
- [70:48]
Carter Rodriguez
It was more. I was just giving you love from, like. I'll bet he got. I'll bet he's throwing a deep cut. Give me something.
- [70:56]
Alex
Andrew.
- [70:57]
Andrew
Who are the players that made who you gave us already?
- [71:00]
Alex
Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill. Okay, two other players.
- [71:04]
Andrew
Jalen Tyson.
- [71:06]
Alex
That is one.
- [71:13]
Andrew
Gosh. Hunter. DeAndre Hunter.
- [71:18]
Alex
No, the other name. Any other guesses? Carter?
- [71:21]
Carter Rodriguez
Was it Lonzo?
- [71:22]
Alex
It is. Tyrese Proctor.
- [71:24]
Carter Rodriguez
Oh, Proctor did hit five threes. I went with the wrong deep bench guard.
- [71:30]
Alex
All right, Andrew, final question. You've got a commanding lead. You get first dibs on this. Evan Mobley, one of only four players currently averaging 1.3 steals per game and 1.3 blocks per game.
- [71:44]
Andrew
Wow.
- [71:46]
Alex
I wanted to do 1.5 and 1.5, which was true before the Toronto game, but then he didn't get that, so I had to go down to 1.3. All right, so there's three other players who are currently doing that. So 1.3 steals, 1.3 blocks. Name one of the other three players.
- [72:04]
Andrew
Oh, boy.
- [72:05]
Alex
Who is doing that currently?
- [72:06]
Andrew
1.1, 1.3? Or would you say 1.3 or 1 point? It doesn't really matter.
- [72:10]
Alex
Oh, it's really going to matter.
- [72:12]
Andrew
No, it doesn't matter.
- [72:13]
Carter Rodriguez
I'm just thinking he's just scrolling basketball reference right now.
- [72:17]
Andrew
Right, Exactly.
- [72:18]
Carter Rodriguez
Where's one point?
- [72:22]
Andrew
I Don't know. Giannis?
- [72:23]
Alex
No.
- [72:25]
Carter Rodriguez
Carter Wemby.
- [72:27]
Alex
See, that's what I thought the first guess would be. And that was my trap. Wemby is not doing that currently. Oh, he's not in that crazy. The names Scotty Barnes.
- [72:39]
Andrew
Scotty.
- [72:39]
Alex
Miles Turner and then Walker Kessler, who only played five games.
- [72:44]
Carter Rodriguez
Wow.
- [72:45]
Andrew
Okay.
- [72:47]
Alex
Interesting group of players.
- [72:49]
Carter Rodriguez
I don't think we would. I think we could have gotten like 10 more guesses and I wouldn't have gotten.
- [72:53]
Andrew
Yeah, maybe I could have got to Scotty guy. He had a great game last night.
- [72:58]
Carter Rodriguez
Yeah, I don't want to talk about it.
- [73:00]
Andrew
Yeah. Yeah, that one's erased from our memories here.
- [73:05]
Alex
So that brings us to the end of Andrew versus the beat. Congrats, Andrew. Back on the winning side this week.
- [73:11]
Andrew
Feels good. Something else that would probably feel good is go subscribe to the Chase Down Pod and listen to more Cavs content. Carter, thanks so much for joining.
- [73:19]
Carter Rodriguez
Thank you so much for having me. Love this podcast. Have to be on.
- [73:25]
Alex
All right, Andrew, that was Cavs week.
- [73:28]
Andrew
Cavs week.
- [73:29]
Alex
It was almost a double week. Getting it was five games and seven nights.
- [73:33]
Andrew
It's a lot of Cavs.
- [73:34]
Alex
That's a lot of calves. All right, we're gonna spin the wheel. Wheel of fandom. We'll become fans of this team next week and it's going to be the. Oh, the Denver Nuggets. Man, I wish this was next because I happen to know their skin schedule and I believe they're playing Houston next Friday.
- [73:59]
Andrew
Yeah.
- [74:00]
Alex
So we're gonna be recording before this, like, awesome matchup.
- [74:04]
Andrew
Yeah, that's true.
- [74:05]
Alex
But. Oh, well, it's. I mean, it's still a great team.
- [74:08]
Andrew
Yeah, it's on Amazon. It's on Amazon Prime.
- [74:11]
Alex
Ooh, maybe this is our. Should this be our first Friday night pod, Andrew? No, it won't be.
- [74:17]
Andrew
But it's gonna be so late.
- [74:19]
Carter Rodriguez
It could be.
- [74:20]
Andrew
It could be.
- [74:21]
Alex
Actually, we are getting a great name on Saturday. They're playing in Minnesota. They've already played there once this season. Minnesota's. I think they've won five of their last six. Then we get a game in Chicago. Maybe Giddy will be back. Chicago's in a little bit of slump. And then Wednesday we'll see how many points they can score against the New Orleans Pelicans.
- [74:41]
Andrew
Oh, boy, can't wait for that. Can't wait for that one. Hey, something else I can't wait for is you guys to leave us five star reviews on Apple podcast. Please do that this week. We'll read it on the show next week. Hope everybody is doing great. Enjoy the basketball and we'll talk to you guys again next Saturday.
- [75:05]
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