Hey Windy --- 4.3.15
http://stationcaster.com/stations/w..._Windhorst___and_Dave_DeNatale-1428067720.mp3
01. Great decision to rest Love against the Heat.
02. Bulls game is last meaningful game of the regular season.
03. Cavs had a great gameplan early in the game against the Heat. Went to the post with LeBron against thin (injured) Heat frontcourt.
04. I can't recall a coach giving players 2 consecutive days off during the regular season. Blatt did that after the game the other day. And it worked.
05. Some people have been worried about the Heat. But the Heat are banged up, and that was before Wade hurt his knee last night.
06. Wade is great when healthy. But he's fragile now.
07. The Heat can't beat the Cavs 4 out of 7 games. Maybe they could get 1-2 games, max.
08. Since the Cavs traded for Mozgov, the Cavs have the most alley oop dunks in the NBA. 72 or so. Next closest is the Clippers with 47 or so. The lob dunk is now a weapon for the Cavs.
09. Cavs' lob plays are impossible to defend because they are usually thrown by Kyrie and LeBron. So you either let them go one on one to the basket or else you come and help them and they throw the lob.
10. Kevin Love is a pick and pop player, not a pick and roll player. But LeBron loves to play with pick and roll guys.
11. The Cavs run the "horns" play a lot. This sets up two high post options with big men. Then LeBron can pick who he wants to go to. He would always choose Varejao and not Love (choosing pick and roll man). But Andy can't finish like Thompson and Mozgov. So it's even more deadly now.
12. Tweeter: What do you make of Chris Webber calling you out on the broadcast last night? About making something out of nothing (says the tweeter).
13. Windy: I don't think Webber called me out. It was his interpretation of what I said. (Windy seems a bit defensive)
14. Windy: I regret that my comments about Blatt this season have seemed personal. They are not intended to be so. I'm just reporting what I have seen.
15. David Aldridge got it wrong. I did not say that LeBron ignored Blatt (think this what he said).
16. The modified Princeton was run in the preseason. And it worked. Varejao thrived in it.
17. By mid to late November they stopped running Princeton. And then it became common for LeBron to call plays. This was when LeBron started to play point guard.
18. After the timeouts, Cavs would run Princeton.
19. I don't think it was controversial at all to say that offense went from Princeton to LeBron-controlled offense. Just stating fact.
20. I understand how my comments sounded controversial, but not intended to be.
21. I have gone after Blatt before, this was not intended to be one of those times.
22. I'm sure Blatt was not happy with me (this is true; Blatt said as much in the postgame press conference last night. Mentioning "nonsense" reports).
23. I don't think Aldridge and Webber really did their due diligence on the matter.
24. Host: Blatt is sensitive about being a "rookie" coach.
25. Windy: That's fine, it's his prerogative.
26. Way Cavs go about their business is different than other teams (meaning sideline stuff and so forth).
27. Cavs are winning, so Blatt can tell me to kiss off and say he's the coach of the month.
28. I cover the Cavs different than Cleveland.com. BS Report (Simmons podcast) is a worldwide phenomenon.
29. I don't think I was called out, but if that is how you choose to see it, so be it.
30. [The good part of all of this is that is sounds like Windy got the message that people are tired of his BS this last week. I'm a fan of Windy, but this last week has been a farce and made Windy seem like the worst of TMZ-ESPN. Hopefully now it will stop. Thank you to David Aldridge, Chris Webber, Cleveland Scene and anyone else who called out Sensational Windy. Stop the Blatt vendetta and stop the TMZ-ESPN baiting headline garbage. Blatt won, you (the media and the Mark Jackson gang) lost, it's over. Move on. This team is on a path to a possible title and the last thing they or the city needs is this garbage.]
31. LeBron played power forward against the Heat with Love out. And they took advantage of the Henry Walker match up.
32. LeBron as power forward has been a "thing" going back to Mike Brown 2005-06. Because he's so good at it.
33. LeBron does not like to play power forward, especially on defense.
34. Sometimes running isolation offense late in the game is smart. But maybe in the last 30 seconds or so. You don't want to see it for the last 4-5 minutes or so.
35. I'd like to see LeBron used in the post selectively in certain late game situations. As an option. But not constantly down the stretch.
36. (Talking about if Cavs have any "secret plays" to come in the playoffs. Windy talks about this, says maybe some wrinkles but no brand new things).
37. Comment from Twitter: Mozgov fitting in great.
38. Windy: Mozgov has fit in great. They targeted him for 6 months. Blatt wanted him from the beginning.
39. LeBron has fallen in love with Mozgov. He's a power center, and LeBron has not played with many of them in his career (including Z). And he loves it, as does Kyrie.
40. Cavs trades were a home run.
41. First tiebreaker is whether a team is a division champ. So Toronto has the edge over Chicago. And they have an easy schedule coming up.
42. Cavs would rather play the Raptors than the Bulls.
43. If the Cavs beat the Bulls on Sunday, this helps the Cavs face the Raptors rather than the Bulls in the playoffs.
44. I don't think the Raptors can stop the Cavs when the Cavs are on offense.
45. If Cavs are on opposite side of bracket from Hawks and Bulls, and only have to play one West team for a title, best possible path to title.
46. Only 5 teams can win the title. Spurs, Warriors, Grizzlies. Cavs, Hawks. And Cavs could have easiest path of all. The Grizzlies are kind of on the bubble though, I think (about whether they can or cannot win a title).
47. (Talking about possible "contradictions" between Blatt wanting to possibly play starters late in the season to keep them in rhythm as compared with other teams wanting to rest guys and LeBron usually wanting to rest. Yawn. IT'S A CRISIS!)
48. Blatt has sliced his rotation to 8 guys since January. So the rotation is close to what you will see in the playoffs. Except Delly's minutes will be less.
49. Pat Riley said that in the playoffs you play 8 and trust 7.
50. When you "trust 7," the 8th guy will be Delly.
51. My guess is that Blatt will have either LeBron or Kyrie on the court almost all the time in the playoffs (not both resting at once). And likely 2 of the big 3 on the court at once in the playoffs.
52. I don't think the Clippers play good enough defense to win the title.
53. I think Houston is too banged up to win the title.
54. I think Cavs must re-sign Tristan. He's too valuable.
55. I think you can't rely on Andy coming off the Achilles injury.
56. SALARY CAP 101. Teams will now start signing D-League guys to multi-year deals. These are often non-guaranteed deals. It allows the players to be trade assets, and to keep them under contract during the summer. Lakers just did this with Jabari Brown. Cavs did it with Scotty Hopson last year. Cavs can't do it because they have a full roster.
57. NON BOLD PREDICTION. Kyrie will get votes for Most Improved Player. I know this because I'm going to vote for him.
58. I will be at the Cavs game in Milwaukee.
