Discussing Which Members of the Cleveland Cavaliers Are Under the Most Pressure With John Karalis

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA Podcast where there's no offseason. West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. On today's show, we've spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks going around the Eastern Conference. Well, what does it look like when someone talks to me about the calves? We'll find out in this additional Lockdown Caves. You are Lockdown Caves. For daily Cleveland Cavaliers Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

1:02Your team every day. Hi again, everybody. My name is Danny Cunningham and I cover the Cleveland Cavaliers over at my sub-stack, the inside shot you're listening to the latest edition of Lockdown Caves coming your way on Friday, September 11th. We're on today's show. We are talking with John Carellis. You may say, oh, we already did an episode on the Boston Celtics in the early Eastern Conference upon a preview and you'd be right about that. But this is kind of the inverse of that because as I've been having on so many of the great people that cover other teams in the Eastern Conference, some people like John Carellis are just stealing my ideas. Imagine that. Leave it to Guy from Boston to have to steal what I came up to do with. Well, I was nice enough to join John on Lockdown Celtics where we basically just talked about the calves. I thought, well, we've been talking a lot about the other teams. We should probably talk a little bit more about the calves as training camp is starting to creep up on us and that is going to be the plan. Starting next week, we are going to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Do we have a couple more of those previews to do? But for the most part, we are going to be calves focused again next week because we kind

2:04of come back from our summer hiatus. So this is kind of a jump start there. John is going to be the one leading this conversation. But over the next half hour, we talk exclusively about the Cleveland Cavaliers. We talk about how much pressure, effort, mobility, and pain in Watson are under. We talk about Don of Mitchell's contract. We even talk about Mario, his own. Yes, there's so much to dive into. Starting exactly how I think the calves will finish this regular season. So now here's my conversation with John Corralis. Danny Cunningham, locked on calves. And as you can see on the YouTube page, my best friend, my absolute bestie. That's the thumbnail right there. So all right. So you're Cleveland Cavaliers. I feel bad for the people who listen on audio. Sometimes you're like, John, stop making visual only jokes. Cleveland Cavaliers were pretty good last year. Have been pretty good, but not good enough. And I think it's been a bit of a frustrating kind of time for you all in Cleveland.

3:10You made a move. You got Peyton Watson. We'll talk about him specifically in a minute. But my first question for you, Danny Cunningham, is did the calves get better this off-season? I think so, but I don't think that we can say for sure. Yes. I think that with the addition of Peyton Watson, I think that having James Harden around for a second season in Cleveland, not trying to throw all this together in February like they did last year, I do think that this team will be better. I don't know if that's going to necessarily reflect in their win total this year, given that the Eastern Conference, I think we can all agree, is it in a better place than maybe it's ever been in the modern era? I think that their schedule has done them no favors as well, considering some of the stretches they have that are really, really difficult, I think, like unnecessarily difficult. But I do think that they, at the very least, they have a pathway to being a better team in the post-season next year than they were this past year. Doesn't mean they're going to get there. Doesn't mean that they will be. I don't think that they're worse. I think that will be better, but they're counting on Peyton Watson to kind of be closer to the guy

4:15that he showed in that month when Nikol Jokic was out in Denver. They're counting on Jalen Tyson to take another step forward. They're counting on Evan Mobley to have a bounce back season after he did deal with a couple of injuries during the previous season. And they're just kind of counting on all of this to work in a way that it just kind of never felt like it did last year. All right. I got to do the Evan Mobley thing since you brought him up. Let's just do this now. Okay. Bounce back season. He's been kind of like, okay. First of all, he's still young. And I will remind myself of that because I feel like he's been around for so long that this is his sixth year. And I'm like, this guy's got to figure out at some point or what are you doing in Cleveland? He's what? How old is he? 24? He's not even 25 yet. So he just turned 25. Okay. Just turned 25.

5:16So he hasn't even hit his prime. I feel like we should give him a little bit of slack. At the same time, I personally am so done with Evan Mobley as this potential savior. If he hasn't broken out as a superstar at this point, I don't know if he's going to, but don't you need him to be a superstar? I don't know if they need him to be a superstar. And I think that's kind of like you can kind of pick nits on what the definition of a superstar for him is. But like, they need him to be the guy that he was the year they won 64 games. He was second team all NBA. He was defensive player of the year. Like, I don't know that there are any more defensive player of the year awards in the cards, considering that guy in San Antonio. Like, as long as he plays 65 games, I think we can just ship the award there. And that certainly is something that hurts Evan, but like that doesn't make him less of a defender than what he was. But they need him to be the guy that he was that year, which he was not this past season. And I think that was part of the reason why things never really felt right for the Cavs. Now, in Evan's defense, he dealt with a couple of calf injuries, which he came back from relatively quickly,

6:19which I wonder if that was in the best interest of the team. But he missed time before Christmas. He missed more time leading up to the All Star break. And like, I just feel like he never really got an aridum and the shooting was poor last year after it. It had been pretty good. Like, he shot 37% on three in each of the previous two years. Not that he is a high volume shooter from outside, but like it's a respectable figure from a guy that you've got taking maybe three shots of game from deep. Like, you can live with 37% I think you're happy with that. They need to get him being back to being that guy. And like, if he can be that guy, is that enough for them to go out and win a title? Not exactly sure. I think he gives them a much better chance than the guy that they have this year. Now, I will say I thought in watching him, he looked like a better player in the postseason this year than he did during the regular season this year. I still don't think the guy that he was in the regular season was good enough, but I thought it was better. And like, I think if you're looking for hope with Evan, Moby that he's going to not only get back to what he was two years ago, but maybe even take a small step forward from there.

7:19I think you can look at it and say, okay, maybe just was a lost season given the injuries. And he was closer to the guy that he should be in the postseason and having a fully healthy summer. Hopefully not having to deal with calf injuries during the season that he can get back to being an all NBA type of guy, because it's very clear that he is an all NBA talent. Now, I don't know that he's ever going to be a superstar. Like, I don't look at him at this point in his career and say, yeah, Evan Moby can be the best player in a team that wins the title or Evan Moby is going to win an MVP or finish top three MVP voting. I'm not sure that's in the cards. I bet against those things happening, but I would probably bet on Evan Moby being an all NBA player again at some point in the next couple of years. So then, okay, so I was going to ask you how good do you think he can be when he hits this pridely. Okay, there's a couple of things that are happening here because I am also. We're previewing this upcoming season and I don't want to go too off the rails, but I'm also I am also fascinated by the Evan Moby thing maybe because he was, you know, seen as a transformative type of player and he's not a transformative type of player.

8:24He has all of the tools to be one of those guys. He's, you know, set almost seven feet tall. He can he's supposed to be able to shoot. He can do a lot of different things. You can get off the, you know, do something off the dribble and all that stuff and we know the defense. I just feel like if if the calves are going to be a true title contender, maybe you don't need him to be the best player, but don't you need him to be the second best player like third at worst, but I think he needs to be like the second best player off of it. If if the calves are going to surprise people, right, because if the calves make it to the conference finals this year, I think that will be a little bit of a surprise for the rest of us. Maybe because we all are just like, okay, the calves have tried and they're done. If they're going to do that, you need mobility to be behind Donovan Mitchell and be like, yeah, this is that's a clear one to incredible duo and James Harden is just there for a long for the ride and Pete Watson is great,

9:30but it's those two guys. I completely agree with that. That's where I think he fits in like when the calves made the Donovan Mitchell trade, which no feels like forever ago at this point Donovan's going to enter his fifth season with the calves now when they made that trade, that trade was a bet on Evan Moby being the guy on Evan Moby and that was after Evan's rookie season. That was betting. Okay, this guy can be the best player in a championship winning team, but I also don't know that the calves envisioned Donovan Mitchell being as good as he was, right? Like when they traded for him Donovan had never made an all NBA team and he's done that in three of the four years he's been in Cleveland. The one year he didn't he didn't play 65 games qualify. So I think the math has changed a little bit there, but I do agree that he does need to be a top two player. Like it needs to be Donovan Mitchell is in the prime of his career still. I don't think he's on the back side of it yet. Like I don't know how much more before we say, okay, Donovan's not getting better anymore. Like I think we're getting near what his peak should be. Like he's still in all NBA first second team type of guy.

10:30They need Evan Moby to be closer to that than he has been. And if that is the case, then I think almost anything is possible for this group. Now it's not as if I would pick them to win the title, but like I look at that and say if Evan Moby, if Evan gets back to being an all NBA player, if he plays that a regular defensive player, the year type of level, which again probably doesn't exist anymore. I think it opens up the door for a lot of things because then you're right. When the capture for James Harden, they didn't trade for James Harden because they're like, hey, James, we need you to carry us in the post season. We need to be in the post season in a way that Darius Garland wasn't because of his injuries. They gave when they trade here for James Harden, it was not asking James, hey, we need you to be the best of the second best player. We need you to be the third, maybe sometimes the fourth best player, which at this point, like that is a very, very fair ask of James Harden and something I think he's more than capable of doing in any situation. So I do think a lot of this is on Evan Moby and like we can look at the other than we can look at James and like, I think it's easier to pick out playoff struggles for guys that have the basketball on their hands more and create for themselves with to do.

11:35But I think a lot of this is on Evan, like if he can be and he should be the second best player on this team, I think that changes a lot of the calculus for where the calves are at. The problem of finding clothes that you can live it all day, be comfortable and do whatever you need to do, whether it's just chilling, go into meetings, playing golf, being on the move. That problem has been solved by Kozy Earth. The everyday polo is the answer. It's lightweight, built to move with you, just easy to wherever I've got it on right now and it's fabulous. Plus the Kozy Earth essential socks, they're exactly what the name suggests, soft, supportive, comfortable enough that you stop thinking about them halfway through the day. Plus Kozy Earth backs everything with a 10 year warranty and hassle free returns. So if something isn't quite right, you're covered. That makes trying them for yourself an easy decision. I've got the Kozy Earth everyday polo in blue and in black.

12:36Check them out at Kozy Earth dot com. Use the code locked on for 20% off. That's right. Locked on for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post purchase survey, please mention you heard about it right here. Kozy Earth dot com. Before we get into Peyton Watson, how do you feel about that down of the Mitchell contract? I think at the end, it's probably not going to be the best deal in sports, but it's something I think the calves had to do. And I do think they got a little lucky in some ways that it was this year and not next summer because down even could have said I'm not going to sign the extent you could have done what Nikola Yoke is doing. And I'm not trying to compare down of a Mitchell or Nikola Yoke is just players, but Nikola Yoke is in Denver right now is in a situation where he's going to be a free agent next summer. And he is told the Denver Nuggets that I'm going to sign with you guys next summer. But anytime a guy like that gets the free agency like you get a little bit nervous and sure it's one thing for that to happen in like Los Angeles or New York or Miami or even Boston.

13:40It's an entirely different world for that to happen in Cleveland, Ohio where stars are not exactly flocking to it. So I do think that the calves are a little lucky in a sense that don't have ensigned it this summer because it is $80 million cheaper than if he would have signed an ex summer. And he also doesn't get a no trade clause, which we have seen that just absolutely torpedo contracts. I think right now it's fine like Don of a Mitchell is going to be worth the money that he's making this upcoming season to you after that probably the you're after that. And you're then you're going to start to look and say this guy is being kind of paid for what he has done and not for what he is doing. But in some ways you have to live with that because what's the alternative here the calves who don't control their own draft where they don't have future assets at this point like they kind of had to be who they are right now. The alternative would be to try and like some soft reset without down of a Mitchell. I just don't think that would have made sense for them and I also look at it to the point about like Cleveland and stuff like that. It's difficult to get stars to choose Cleveland.

14:41And if you remember when the calves traded for Don have been there was there were press there were questions at his introductory press conference gone about him wanting to be in New York or wanting to be somewhere else. And you and I have been in enough of those settings to know when guys are just giving lip service right like we've heard it and I'm not trying to pick out a specific player. But like we've heard that from guys you heard that from coaches all those things and Don have been gave the politically correct answer that you would want to hear. But he's also backed it up with his actions and I think it matters to this organization that they feel as if they've got a guy that is a top 10 ish player in basketball that genuinely wants to be in Cleveland. And I think that is something that if you have to overpay for it if the last year that contracts when he's 34 years old doesn't look so good then so be it but it's worth it right now. The dynamics are different for a team like Cleveland we I think I think we all have to expect that but I'm looking at their cap sheet right now and. Okay your hard cap to the first apron for now but the salaries like this this upcoming season it's done in Mitchell and Evan Moby making the same amount of money 50 million dollars hardens making 30 Jared Allen's making 28 Peyton Watson's going to make 20 and a half that's a lot of money.

16:02Talking about a team you know the Celtics are a team that just traded Jalen Brown because they can't have they said you couldn't have two guys like that making 60 plus percent of the cap the cap percentages are like crazy next year gets even worse in the year after that so Peyton Watson is here he adds to this mix. What's the first of all what do you expect from Peyton Watson and what's the pressure on Peyton Watson because it feels like it's a you know look Denver we know cheap doubt and all of that stuff they probably should have kept him he was really good for them. He's still a young guy and still a little bit of an unproven talent like last year was his first really good year it was a breakout season there's no guarantee like past results don't indicate future performance yet we we have to see it again. So is there a pressure on him what are the expectations and in like what's this team going to be it does this change what the team is going to do like at the trade deadline are you have to start moving guys how does this team kind of evolved now that Peyton Watson is here.

17:15So I think it's hard for me to get to the end of that like the trade deadline and stuff like that without knowing what this roster actually looks like on the floor and the calves are like you mentioned they're hard capped at the first apron they're like 700 thousand dollars below the first apron with 14 guys in the roster so they kind of are going to be who they are for this season and then they'll have some flexibility when that hard cap gets lifted next year and they were the only second apron team in basketball last season and they were able to get out of it like they lost Max Truce and they've lost Dean Wade. And obviously trading away Daria's Garland and one of the things about James Harden like you know he took a pretty substantial pay cut to make this happen where he had a player option for 42 million dollars or 42 and a half million dollars and you shave that down to 30 which like 12 million dollars is why the calves were able to get Peyton Watson but as for Watson the player I think that the calves are expecting him to maybe not be the same guy he was for that legendary month when Nicolae Oak which was out night in a night out. He has to be able to show glimpses of that relatively consistently like they don't need him to go out there and be the guy that has maybe the second highest usage on the team but they need him to be a good defender which I think is proven he's capable of doing they need him to be able to make catching shoot three which he has been an awesome shooter from the corners over the past couple of seasons and I think those opportunities are really going to be there when he shares the floor James Harden who at this point is not the score he was but certainly in the regular season he is one of the best ball distributors in basketball and I think if he can do those things.

18:44And they can give him more and more because listen down to Mitchell's probably going to play about 65 games James Harden probably will play about 75 because say what you want about James is incredibly durable he's out there almost every single night but there are going to be opportunities for him to have the basketball in his hands a little bit more frequently and can he show a little bit more self creation can he show some creation for others so like you mentioned the contract it's four years 88 million for me I think it's going to be I think it's really on the one likely that he is worth that amount of money specifically I see a world in which we look at the end of this contract to man Peyton Watson was not worth 88 million and we also see a world where it's like oh man Peyton Watson was not worth 88 million and tone in my voice is very different with those two things because I think he's either going to be like a $40 million player over the next four years or a $160 million player over the next four years like I think the contract is either going to look really good or not.

19:44We're really not so good because if he becomes the guy that I think and the league is pretty split on him like I've heard from some for an office is that don't like this move some that love it for the calves if he becomes the guy that some people think he can be which is like maybe 90% of who Paul George was in his prime if he can become that guy the calves are going to be really really good through all of down of Mitchell's contract if he's kind of a bust then this air is going to be chalked up as a failure so I guess in that sense. There is pressure on Peyton Watson even though he's going to be asked to be like the fourth or fifth best player on the calves this year. You've kind of been answering my question about can they rely on James Harden throughout this all of your answers. It feels like it feels like yes thanks for taking away now I'm going to now I'm going to think of my feet Danny and that's just not that's not me you know me I got to plan things out aren't you trained. In doing that because you have to ask Joe Missoule questions every night just a train for this I have an easy I can just lob softball can you I can sit in here bl

20:48you got to work with Joe yeah no Joe is I'm doing like Tai Chi in the middle of the media room just trying to like center myself and get to a place of nothingness so I can ask him the right question and it works maybe 2% of the time but it's a challenge. Harden obviously I think I think what you guys have built in Cleveland is a team that can survive Harden's kind of playoff deficiencies he is he is a really good regular season player. But is he at a point where you can go away from him in in the playoffs a little bit like is he going to be okay at his age at this point understanding that maybe the closing lineup doesn't include James Harden. I think so and I think like for evidence here I want to read you stats from one of his playoff games this year so this was a game in which he played 35 just under 36 minutes he went two of 10 from the floor did go five of eight at the free throw line missed all six three pointers that he took.

21:57Had six assists had five rebounds finished with nine points so we got the old triple single there only at one turnover he was a plus 31 in those 36 minutes and that was a game seven on the road against Detroit pistons so they can not consistently like you can't be like hey we're going into a seven game series and this is what you get from James Harden every night like that's not survivable but they do I do think they've built enough of an infrastructure towards like hey James doesn't have it but I think that's not the right thing. It's not going to kill us and I think part of that is he's not being asked to be the guy was in Houston he's not being asked to be the guy even he was with the clippers or with the Brooklyn next right like I think that what the calves are asking of him is different than what he's been asked at any other point maybe you know we could go back and discuss what it was in okay see but that was so long ago I don't think it's we're talking about but he's not being asked to be the guy or the guy next to the guy like he's being asked to be the third and on some night.

22:57It's like let's say Peyton Watson has a really strong game or somebody like in this game Jared Allen had 23 points in 25 minutes like they have I think enough to where if James doesn't have it they can find ways to make up for what they can't survive is when he has that type of stat line and also has five turnovers like that's where it has you have to find this happy meme like they don't need him to go out there and score 35 points in an elimination game if that's what they're asking of James Harden that means down of a Mitchell didn't do not have the mobility didn't do it. After it all in the new enough Peyton Watson Jalen Tyson like we can go on and on and on because that is not what they should be asking James Harden they didn't protect the basketball to set his teammates up and scoring come scoring come says great like that's certainly a plus but I think it's I think all of this just gets back to the cabs need to make sure that the guys are properly aligned in the correct roles and if James is being asked to be the third or fourth best player then I think you have enough insulation where if he doesn't have a good game you can make up for it elsewhere.

23:57More John and just a second but first today show brought you by Odu running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never really designed to work together you've got one app for accounting you have another app for inventory a different one for sales and somehow none of those find a way to talk to each other because that would just make too much sense well that's exactly why you need to because Odu is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform sales accounting inventory marketing all those things that you need to make sure that you have a good game. Make your business run it all works in one place. Odu's one platform to manage grow and scale your business up the best organizations they know success it's not just about talent you need talent but you need more than just talent it's about having everyone that's working towards the same goal that's true in sports just like it is in business right think about ownership front office coaching staff roster all of those groups of people they all have different goals they all different ways of achieving things but the main goal the big goal right that can only be accomplished with that.

24:57Everyone pushing together in the same directions and great organizations they win because their operations matter and that's exactly why you should get Odu. Odu is one platform to manage grow and scale your business try for free today at odu.com slash locked on that's odod.com slash locked on L O C K E D O N one more time that is odu.com slash locked on. This is Jake from locked on when the games on the line the best no way to pass because the right assist can change everything and off the court it's no different that's where your state farm agent comes in whether it's protecting your car your home or helping you prep for the unexpected that helps set you up with a game plan that works for you like a good neighbor state farm is there cover options are selected by the customer availability eligibility very by state. All right let's let's wrap up this this whole thing obviously i'm sure all of our listeners are saying why have you buried the lead to this point you guys sign Mario his own which is obviously the big danger that's that's huge huge things so tell me why he's averaging a triple double this upcoming season.

26:07Well i think first off the hope is that it needs to start off strong because i don't know if you know that's like he has an opt out in November in his contract or not his his contract is not fully guaranteed until i want to say it's around November 11th i don't have the specific date written down right by me. But like it was and there was some weird reporting. That oh he's only signing with the team so that he can leave the team he's on in Europe and go to a different European team because all of those guys in Europe have an NBA out cause every year basically so it was like this whole thing. Um but i do think and if you've watched Mario play over in Europe in this most recent feeble window he's looked really good. Yeah i think he looked he has looked like somebody that is going to be in a little bit of a different role with the calves and he has been. Internationally but i think he looks like somebody that could be a rotation level player like i look at the calves roster right now i look at the rotation right now. think the starting five is pretty clear with out of a Mitchell James hard and Peyton Watson i've been mobility jarred Alan you've got Jay and Tyson Sam Merrill coming off the bench and then i think it's kind of Mario his own you right there i like that.

27:14Eighth and nine sky whether you want to mix in. Craig Porter junior i'm depending how like how high you are entire is proctor Malik Thomas had a great summer like i think Mario is only somebody that the calves are looking at and saying. you're not going to be a starter you're probably going to play 18 minutes a night but how good can you be in those 18 minutes and i do think there's something there now this could crash and burn and he could be off the team. By the end of November I have no idea how this is going to go but like i see a pathway to it being good. Danny kind of i'm taking a joke questions here is the let's let's look at the matchups between these two teams i'm a little. How do you see the calves matching up with the Celtics i think that the Celtics have been able to at least last year and i think that two years ago when these two teams were both really good and both 60 plus win. Teams i think it was a little bit more fun but i think that the version of the Celtics and i am curious to see how different Boston is. This upcoming season with Jason Tatum as opposed to Jalen Brown because obviously Jason was out with that Achilles injury for the vast majority of last season.

28:18But i think the one thing that jumas all in that team does. Is they do a great job. Of playing harder than you in the regular season and exposing your weaknesses in a regular season, especially when. Maybe one team is not super prepared for it and like i think that they can be a really really annoying thing to play and the other thing that i look at. Mitchell Robinson at times now i don't think this was the case this year like i did not think in the the Eastern conference finals not that the nicks needed him against the calves because they smoked Cleveland. But i didn't think Mitchell Robinson was really effective but there have been times in the past where he has absolutely owned Cleveland and i'm curious if that's something that's going to keep up. I think this would be a match up that patent Watson is really really important because you need somebody like him to try and defend Jason Tatum i think it's a match up where somebody like jalen Tyson is really important because you need somebody like him. To try and defend Jason Tatum because it's not just a job for one man, but i also look at this and say well. Don of Mitchell has had a lot of success in his career against the Boston Celtics too and i think that is something that is really worth keeping in mind he.

29:23Just from having watched him play that team as many times up close as I have. I and maybe this will change with jalen brown not there because him and brown are are close i don't know if there are very many teams that he enjoys defeating more than the Boston Celtics i don't know if that's going to change that goes around. Yeah, I don't think he's unique in that I don't think he's a I think the only guy ahead of him. As far as all time Cleveland great also feels the same way about the Boston Celtics, but i'm curious what that looks like if that changes with jalen brown not in town, so I do think that. These are two teams that I don't necessarily believe in right now as championship contenders, but I think both of them have relatively high regular season floors and I think that should make for. A fun few matchups this regular season i didn't realize Brad Dordy enjoyed beating the Celtics as much as he did. Love it yeah love it that was Larry birds last game. And in his career. The okay let's let's look at the standings here and try to figure out where do you think how many wins the the Cleveland Cavaliers finish with this season where do you think they finish.

30:35Finish the year i think they will finish in a similar place as far as wins go as they did last year they won 52 games last year where it felt like a lot of things went wrong where basically everybody missed a significant amount of time. They obviously made that big trade in the middle of the season really they they changed over a lot of the roster because it wasn't just areas garland betrayed it was deandre hunter forgot how to play basketball and he got sent to Siberia over in Sacramento. um so i do think that like they will have the benefit or they should have the benefit of a little bit of continuity that they didn't have last year now what i will say. Their schedule is brutal and i know that you can look at and say well they play all the other teams in the eastern conference and you're right about that. But i want to direct you to one stretch on their schedule that i think is going to make or break their season it's either they get through this. They will be a team that's going to win 55 plus and be a top two seat if they don't they're going to win somewhere between 50 and 45 and being that three four range on December 23rd.

31:36They play the Washington Wizards i believe that game is in Washington and then on February 6th they get back from a west coast trip and in between john. They do not play consecutive games in the same city they have a 24 games. Wow every game is in a different city than the game before and like. Teams are going to go to such as like that not that long I think for Boston i believe the Celtics longest stretch without back to back games in the same city is eight games. I think the sixers is seven i want to say Detroit is nine like all of these Atlanta's low India's low. And the cabs have a brutal stretch from right before Christmas to right before the trade deadline and if they survive that. And we are going to learn a ton about that team and say you know what they're legitimate for surviving that if they don't they're probably going to be the three or four seat again i will say like. I do think they have a high regular season four they've won 50 plus games in three of the four years down if the Mitchell's been included in the one year they didn't again didn't play 65 games they have not been.

32:40Since oh gosh I think since the early 90s if i'm not mistaken the calves have not been in the playoffs. Without home court advantage in the first round historically they are either a top four seed or they don't make the playoffs and I think they'll be a top four seed again this year. i'm looking at this stretch for the Celtics. And they have a well it kind of depends kind of depends on what the. NBA Cup knockout rounds are but yeah like the Celtics have a November where. Everything is on the road but in the middle of it they have two games at home. Um so every I think this this NBA Cup has has changed a lot of the schedules and you have stuff like this but. That that's search for the calves i mean realize that that was that was on their schedule that is. That is rough. I didn't know the NBA was allowing the Celtics to be in the NBA Cup I thought it was only the Cavs group in the Eastern Conference because that is.

33:43People are calling it this is not me this is the other people people are talking about this is the. Most difficult group in NBA Cup history the long history of the NBA Cup that is wow. The Miami Heat the Indiana Pacers the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks that is their. In the world it is really. Historically difficult NBA Cup group. Yes people are talking about a job you're you're it's it's all the buds it's all the buds well that's going to make. If you win it that banner that you raise in the middle of the season all that much more worth it that's going to be so it's such a sweet banner ceremony. When you win the NBA Cup at uh what was it is that hinkle it's i believe so yeah yeah nothing nothing says prestige like playing an NBA game at a college arena. So i love traveling to indy it's a great steakhouse city i signed me up for that like when i saw it was going to be there instead of a. So i'm like you know what i'm like the cab's advancing this year.

34:44Well i've been to indy so much but the Celtics have obviously they they play each other a ton in the east and it seemed like for four or five years there was always a seven game series against the Indiana Pacers always a playoff series against the Pacers. So i am actually welcoming no disrespect to Tony East host of Lockdown Pacers. Uh but uh i'm okay okay with not going to indy for a little while. Oh i will go to Cleveland. I have to go to harry and nazis every time i relish my trips to indy and apple so i can go to harry and nazis you can ask Tony about it he will tell you. All right all right all right well we're going to leave it there Danny Cunningham appreciate you having on for a few minutes. Thank you for having me. A big thanks to john kralis for having me on it's always a pleasure to go on a different show and get to talk about the cabs and i was hoping that. This audience that locked on cabs would appreciate hearing just a little bit more about what it sounds like when i'm on the other side of one of those early eastern conference opponent preview show.

35:47So next week we're getting back to cabs talk five days a week summer break is over here at lockdown so we're going to be back every single day. Not that we really every ever stopped being every single day here on lockdown cabs we kind of just powered through and did a lot of. Five week or five episodes weeks over the past couple of months while it's a three week three day week show but we're back training camp is two weeks from monday so on monday we will be fully cabs focus show. Gonna try and line up a couple of guests next week still do have a couple of. Opponent previews to dive into but vast majority of stuff now going to be back focus where belongs which is on the Cleveland Cavaliers so as we get out of here please do me a favor hit the thumbs up button and click that notification bell if you're watching on youtube and wherever you're listening apple spotify anywhere else please make sure that you subscribe it is the very best way to help grow this show and i will be back on monday talking more about the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day. For your second listen find the locked on NBA podcast where there's no off season.

36:50West mat and haze keep you up to date on contract negotiations rumors and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find locked on NBA on youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the locked on podcast network your team every day.