Hey Windy --- 2.20.15
http://stationcaster.com/stations/w..._Brian_Windhorst___Jason_Gibbs-1424441475.mp3
01. Most interesting thing that happened on trade day for Cleveland was what took place in Miami.
02. Good haul for the Heat.
03. Miami's starting 5 is right up there at the top of the league now.
04. I expect Heat could zoom up to as high as 5th in the East, depending on their health.
05. Heat have become more interesting now for Ray Allen.
06. The Cavs next target is likely to be Kendrick Perkins.
07. Perkins not a great player, but Cavs need a backup center.
08. Clippers will be in the hunt for Perkins as well.
09. Perkins has no connections to the Cavs (and he does have connection with Doc Rivers).
10. Thomas Robinson is a (bought out) power forward (and not a center; Cavs need a center). And he's not very good.
11. Every year there is a surprise buyout.
12. I think the surprise buyout this year could be Jeremy Lin.
13. I think the Cavs may have interest in Jeremy Lin.
14. ESPN stats guys told me that Dellavedova is a better spot up shooter than Jeremy Lin.
15. Jeremy Lin has some playoff experience, Dellavedova does not.
16. Larry Sanders is not an option. He has stuff going on for himself that I'm not comfortable talking about.
17. Sanders left $20 million on the table, because he needed out of the NBA for now.
18. Backup centers can be tough to find. But backup point guard can be found, possibly.
19. There is also the school of thought that LeBron is the Cavs backup point guard.
20. Any guy who is signed up now for the team likely won't play many minutes.
21. You want backups so you are protected from injuries.
22. I thought Cavs might be able to trade Joe Harris for something, and they looked into it.
23. Cavs looked into trade for Norris Cole.
24. There was a chance Cavs could have gotten Miles Plumlee and Norris Cole from Suns yesterday after Cole was dealt to Phoenix.
25. Plumlee/Cole deal would have required Haywood to be traded. In the end, Suns wanted Brandon Knight so made that deal instead.
26. Cavs were never close on Plumlee/Cole deal.
27. Cavs now, after trade deadline, must focus on their difficult schedule to come.
28. Cavs winning streak was mostly against a soft schedule.
29. Cavs have 14 of their next 19 games on the road.
30. Starting next Thursday, Cavs will play 7 games in 10 days. Will be tough.
31. Cavs have the second hardest schedule in the NBA for the rest of the season based upon the BPI measurement (BPI = ESPN strength of schedule measurement).
32. Cavs have hardest remaining schedule in the East.
33. Bulls have easiest schedule in the East remaining. Second easiest in the league remaining.
34. Cavs must not wear out their players during this tough part of the schedule.
35. LeBron should be sitting in a few of the upcoming games.
36. Cavs should not "sell out" to move up in the standings.
37. LeBron was worn down right before the all star break. Saw this in his minor injuries.
38. I'm not sure if we can get a straight answer from Kevin Love about his health.
39. Kevin Love has not played a game in 9 days. (Eye injury)
40. If Kevin plays well tonight, then might be a sign he could use more rest coming up.
41. Kevin Love has still not found his rhythm with the Cavs.
42. People in the league roll their eyes at players needing more rest, but I think it's important.
43. Lack of rest is a "market inefficiency" right now in the league. Rest is undervalued, not understood properly in the league yet.
44. The San Antonio Spurs are ahead of the NBA in terms of resting players.
45. LeBron saw how the Spurs resting their players paid off in the playoffs last year.
46. "What would Pop do?" What would Gregg Popovich do in terms of resting players?
47. I want to see more defensive consistency from the Cavs.
48. I would like to see another good defensive month from the Cavs, as they had in the streak.
49. I want to see, and feel, that the Cavs can overcome any offensive struggles they might have in a series because of their defensive ability.
50. I'm not sure if the Cavs can win the title this year with their playoff inexperienced roster.
51. I tentatively agree with LeBron's statement yesterday that the Cavs are a championship level team.
52. I can't know if the Cavs are ready to win a title yet until I see how they respond in the playoffs.
53. Biggest stat for the LeBron Heat teams was that in 16 playoff series they had, they won a road game in all 16 series.
54. Over time, you knew the LeBron Heat had what it took to turn it on and win in the playoffs. The Cavs have yet to prove that.
55. LeBron Heat won 14 of their 16 playoff series.
56. You knew LeBron Heat were mentally tough. Not sure yet about Cavs.
57. Host: I think Cavs will run into some trouble in upcoming schedule.
58. I completely agree. I want to see how Cavs respond to likely upcoming adversity.
59. Last time the Cavs had a rough patch, they barely held together and borderline collapsed. Maybe next time is different.
60. Last time Cavs had adversity, I was not very impressed with what I saw.
61. In last week, I was likely texting and emailing executives in the league 4-6 hours per day.
62. This year, I was not able to get the best breaking info to announce trades. Some years are better than others.
63. I knew by Wednesday that the Cavs were unlikely to do anything.
64. NBA media and media executives, like fans, are often reading Twitter at trade deadline to get (some of) their information.
65. NBA has a ton of preparation. But there are also things that happen quickly with little preparation, as can happen at trade deadline (for example).
66. There is a lot of "debriefing" that goes on after the trade deadline. Executives and agents want to go over what happened with reporters.
67. I was on the phone last night with several sources until 3 am, doing debriefing on trade deadline day.
68. It was revealing to see that Reggie Jackson was thrilled to leave Oklahoma City, and that his former teammates seemed to be happy to see him go.
69. Oklahoma City added some nice players to their team, including Dion Waiters.
70. Thunder seem primed for a playoff run, but they also seem to have some instability on the team that could affect them later in this season.
71. It's a bit worrisome that Bucks would make a move with Brandon Knight when it seemed they were doing pretty well.
72. Seems a commentary on Brandon Knight (in a bad way) that Bucks traded him.
73. I don't understand what Phoenix did at all, including why they signed Isaiah Thomas this past offseason. Their moves don't seem to make a lot of sense.
74. Salary Cap 101. Discussing how buyouts work. Players are paid by the game. It's entire salary divided by 110 (preseason games and all included). When guys take a buyout, they usually have good idea they will be signed somewhere else. Sometimes a team will tell a player to basically go to the other conference, so they don't see them again in playoffs (has happened in past).
75. Non Bold Prediction. I think time off will help Kevin Love. I expect to see a more bouncy and energetic Love tonight in Washington. Thinking Love will be renewed tonight.