1 00:00:00,098 --> 00:00:07,807 Welcome to Fear the Fro. Shot blocked by Mobley. Holy Mobley. Down to the Mitchell is eight 2 00:00:07,908 --> 00:00:17,375 for eight from downtown. There is Garland. Hit it from Euclid. Laudale is pow. Whoa, that 3 00:00:17,395 --> 00:00:21,738 was gorgeous! A Cleveland Cavalier podcast. What do we need to add? What do we need to 4 00:00:21,778 --> 00:00:25,901 give the coach? The game has come down to space and opportunity. We address that... Hosted 5 00:00:26,121 --> 00:00:31,725 by the voice of Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, his name is Bob Schmidt. Bob Schmidt. Spectacular 6 00:00:31,765 --> 00:00:38,450 talent. That guy is a legend. Get out of the buzzer! Welcome to the Fear the 'Fro podcast. 7 00:00:38,490 --> 00:00:42,613 We're back from All-Star Break, not the way that I wanted to return. I laid out for an 8 00:00:42,673 --> 00:00:48,175 entire week. I sat out through all the bitching and the moaning about All-Star Break and the 9 00:00:48,235 --> 00:00:52,977 meaningless exhibition that is that. I said no, I'm going to come back when the games come 10 00:00:52,997 --> 00:00:57,479 back and the Cavaliers keep this momentum going after the break, a break which saw them in 11 00:00:57,539 --> 00:01:02,801 second place and while they still maintained second place, lost a little ground tonight 12 00:01:03,261 --> 00:01:10,124 as the New York Knicks gave a pretty good pummeling to the Philadelphia 76ers and we dropped this 13 00:01:10,164 --> 00:01:10,564 game 116-109. 14 00:01:14,298 --> 00:01:18,339 to the Orlando Magic. Now there's a lot of stuff we can discuss but I think the first thing 15 00:01:18,419 --> 00:01:24,681 I should acknowledge is that I did a very long podcast with Mack Perry of the It's Cavalier 16 00:01:24,721 --> 00:01:29,622 podcast. If you haven't heard that you should check it out. It will be probably a much more 17 00:01:29,662 --> 00:01:34,243 enjoyable listen because we recorded it prior to the game tonight but I did not want to wait 18 00:01:34,343 --> 00:01:39,365 any longer to come back so let's get into what transpired tonight despite the fact that it 19 00:01:39,405 --> 00:01:45,823 wasn't necessarily positive. Let's get to the elephant in the room right out of the gate. 20 00:01:46,683 --> 00:01:53,625 Darius Garland. I feel like that has been the majority of the conversation as he's been re-acclimated 21 00:01:53,665 --> 00:01:59,046 to the rotation here in Cleveland and with Donovan Mitchell out of the game due to illness tonight. 22 00:01:59,467 --> 00:02:03,468 Certainly, you saw the impact of a guy and you saw how meaningful he is to everything that 23 00:02:03,488 --> 00:02:08,969 the Cavaliers are doing out here. Darius Garland had a chance to put together a game that would 24 00:02:09,029 --> 00:02:14,223 halt. a lot of the criticisms that he's taken. You could make the argument that, okay, yeah, 25 00:02:14,263 --> 00:02:18,204 Darius, his stats aren't great, but he's in a situation where not as much as being asked 26 00:02:18,244 --> 00:02:23,225 of him. He's being asked to fill a certain style of play. He's trying to do that, and we shouldn't 27 00:02:23,245 --> 00:02:26,966 get fixed. I've made all those arguments myself. Tonight was a game, though, where he could 28 00:02:26,986 --> 00:02:33,088 not afford to sit back because we did not have option 1A Donovan Mitchell. And 18 and 10, 29 00:02:33,388 --> 00:02:38,349 not bad on the surface, but ultimately not enough. And certainly not enough in the first half. 30 00:02:38,369 --> 00:02:43,431 There's... No way to sugarcoat it. It wasn't Darius Garland's best effort. We also had a 31 00:02:43,471 --> 00:02:47,313 lot of turnovers. Now some of that you need to credit to the Magic. They are a very good 32 00:02:47,353 --> 00:02:52,835 defensive team. They were very physical, a lot of slapping, a lot of grabbing. JB alluded 33 00:02:52,855 --> 00:02:56,917 to that in the post game. In fact, let me play you that now. I mean, obviously that's a strength 34 00:02:56,957 --> 00:03:03,620 of theirs. Give them credit, they use it well. I think it forced us into some of our turnovers. 35 00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:10,446 Hard to win. You turn it over 19 times. but they have great size, great length that was 36 00:03:10,466 --> 00:03:14,789 supposed to make them a really good defensive team. And, you know, it's on us to, you know, 37 00:03:14,929 --> 00:03:18,971 move them around a little bit more, make them chase us a little bit more, get the ball from 38 00:03:19,051 --> 00:03:23,594 side to side, and then be strong with the ball. I thought they did a good job of fouling us 39 00:03:24,174 --> 00:03:29,277 and helping create some of those turnovers, but being physical, slapping, reaching, grabbing, 40 00:03:29,317 --> 00:03:34,239 holding, you know, that helped them create some of those turnovers. So clearly, I think you 41 00:03:34,259 --> 00:03:39,246 hear some frustration with JB, despite the fact that we won the free throw battle. I don't 42 00:03:39,266 --> 00:03:45,789 think he particularly enjoyed how physical the Magic were able to play. But to their credit, 43 00:03:46,409 --> 00:03:52,171 if you always push the envelope, it's a little bit like the Draymond Green thing. Mo Wagner 44 00:03:52,211 --> 00:03:56,073 plays a certain way. And yeah, they're going to call him for plenty of fouls. It's not as 45 00:03:56,133 --> 00:04:02,476 if he escaped unscathed today. He had four personal fouls, but it felt like he could have easily 46 00:04:02,496 --> 00:04:07,598 fouled out. He's effective and he knows his game and knows... exactly who he is and knows 47 00:04:07,638 --> 00:04:13,519 how to play on that gray line. Again, there was a lot of offensive fouls when he had the 48 00:04:13,539 --> 00:04:18,821 ball in his hand. I don't know how our guys are supposed to defend when they're in legal 49 00:04:18,861 --> 00:04:23,702 guarding position and he's allowed to launch himself through their body over and over and 50 00:04:23,822 --> 00:04:31,184 over and over again. So again, I'm not taking anything away from him. He understands what 51 00:04:31,224 --> 00:04:36,806 they allow him to get away with. He's an extremely effective player and he impacts winning. I 52 00:04:36,826 --> 00:04:39,628 mean, you're taking a little away from him. Over and 53 00:05:05,962 --> 00:05:11,806 Now other people would like credit for predicting, you know, breakout teams before it happened. 54 00:05:12,006 --> 00:05:16,350 I was in early on the Oklahoma City Thunder. I don't care if you ever give me credit for 55 00:05:16,390 --> 00:05:21,054 correct predictions that I make. What I do want you to recognize is when I'm first to the, 56 00:05:21,234 --> 00:05:25,237 I hate this guy and you should all hate him two party. And I believe I was with Moe Wagner 57 00:05:25,277 --> 00:05:29,200 because I've been saying it for multiple years now. I might, in fact, I might've been the 58 00:05:29,221 --> 00:05:36,739 very first person to say Mo Wagner. You piece of shit. Yes. Basically, since he's been a 59 00:05:36,799 --> 00:05:41,523 member of the Orlando Magic, I have hated this man. So if you're there with me, well then 60 00:05:41,563 --> 00:05:48,829 you have exquisite taste. Exquisite. It's exquisite. You and I are kindred spirits of asshole identification. 61 00:05:48,949 --> 00:05:55,054 Look at that huge German asshole. Mo Wagner has now eclipsed, in my mind, Marcus Morris 62 00:05:55,154 --> 00:05:59,818 and Jae Crowder. And that's not to say that I still don't have an excessive amount of disdain 63 00:05:59,858 --> 00:06:03,781 for them, but they are not effective basketball players anymore. In the case of Marcus Morris, 64 00:06:04,150 --> 00:06:09,234 He's all but irrelevant. Jake Crowder is out there logging trash minutes. George Yang lit 65 00:06:09,274 --> 00:06:16,260 up that fat bitch for 33 points. You fat piece of shit. My hate for them, it doesn't burn 66 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,284 as bright as watching a guy who not only hands us a loss, but leads the way for the magic 67 00:06:21,304 --> 00:06:26,348 in doing it. So he has eclipsed them. Now, he has not eclipsed players. I was asked by Darlene 68 00:06:26,468 --> 00:06:31,533 on Twitter, what about a Draymond Green or a Joel Embiid or a Dillon? Well, she asked me 69 00:06:31,593 --> 00:06:35,659 Dillon Brooks. And then. The Duke of Sports asked me, well, what about Dramat? No, those 70 00:06:35,699 --> 00:06:41,423 guys are on their own level. Mo is just recklessly aggressive. So far, to this point, he hasn't 71 00:06:41,483 --> 00:06:47,246 hurt anyone. He did not punch Donovan Mitchell in the penis. Dong. But this isn't a magic 72 00:06:47,286 --> 00:06:51,889 podcast, okay? You wanna hear the fifth year anniversary of that? Go to the Six Man Show. 73 00:06:52,570 --> 00:06:58,533 Let's get back to Darius Garland. Darius Garland did not have a good first half. There's really... 74 00:06:59,070 --> 00:07:03,513 No way around it. We kind of things unraveled a lot in the middle of the second quarter. 75 00:07:03,813 --> 00:07:08,917 Thanks to mostly Jared Allen in that final stretch and an eight Oh run to close out the second 76 00:07:08,957 --> 00:07:13,940 quarter. The Cavaliers did cut the lead to four points, but that was largely on the heels of 77 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,544 the big man. I thought Darius Garland struggled mightily. I thought Caris LaVert struggled 78 00:07:18,564 --> 00:07:24,528 mightily in the first half collectively. Those two guys were three for 12 and we had nine 79 00:07:24,568 --> 00:07:30,236 turnovers at halftime. So that's. It's unacceptable. 6 points from Garland isn't enough. Now obviously, 80 00:07:30,536 --> 00:07:35,179 being that he finished with 18, he did do a lot of scoring and fairly efficiently in the 81 00:07:35,219 --> 00:07:40,662 second half. Now just in a 1 minute span in the third quarter, Darius Garland ripped off 82 00:07:40,722 --> 00:07:45,605 6 points of his own and had a steal that put the Cavaliers back in the lead finally. After 83 00:07:45,685 --> 00:07:49,347 digging a hole in the second quarter, they clawed back in the third quarter. Their first and 84 00:07:49,387 --> 00:07:52,809 third quarter was very good tonight. Second and fourth, that's where they lost the game. 85 00:07:53,074 --> 00:07:57,776 And a lot of that directly overlaps with when those guys on the Orlando bench murdered us. 86 00:07:58,116 --> 00:08:02,999 Now I spent a huge portion of my conversation with Mac Perry talking about the luxury of 87 00:08:03,019 --> 00:08:08,483 being able to play through some peak and valley performances from a Struce and a Darius Garland 88 00:08:08,523 --> 00:08:12,465 because of how well the rest of the team was playing. With Donovan Mitchell out of the lineup, 89 00:08:12,905 --> 00:08:17,448 it becomes a lot more difficult. So in the absence of your best player, if the bench only scores 90 00:08:17,488 --> 00:08:23,820 24 points, probably an uphill battle. Every single one of the Cavalier starters shot better 91 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:30,285 than 50% from the floor. Isaac Okoro, probably him or maybe even Max Struz, one of those guys 92 00:08:30,345 --> 00:08:35,229 I would say were the bright points for tonight. I thought it was probably, I would give the 93 00:08:35,289 --> 00:08:41,253 nod to Isaac. Outside of incredibly efficient offensive production, I thought he did a good 94 00:08:41,293 --> 00:08:46,557 job taking Franz Wagner out of the game. Now, Mobley drew the toughest assignment in theory. 95 00:08:46,986 --> 00:08:51,168 in Paulo Banquero, although I thought Banquero settled for a lot of jumpers and he was just 96 00:08:51,208 --> 00:08:56,272 not hitting them tonight. This Orlando Magic team, it's interesting to watch them and see 97 00:08:56,312 --> 00:09:01,055 what we've seen this season because earlier in the year we got just a transcendent career 98 00:09:01,095 --> 00:09:05,678 night from Paulo Banquero where he went for over 40 points and tonight it could not have 99 00:09:05,698 --> 00:09:10,842 been more the opposite. He started the game 0-6, didn't even score till midway through 100 00:09:10,862 --> 00:09:17,462 the second quarter and at the end of the evening he was an abysmal 4-15. What really carried 101 00:09:17,502 --> 00:09:22,025 the day was the bench, as I said. Now, just to put this into some context, statistically 102 00:09:22,045 --> 00:09:28,530 speaking, we have given up four 60-point bench outings this season, but none since late November. 103 00:09:28,570 --> 00:09:33,333 This was the first one of this calendar year, and this was the first one in basically three 104 00:09:33,373 --> 00:09:38,437 months. The Cavs themselves have scored over 60 points with their bench unit five times, 105 00:09:38,557 --> 00:09:42,080 and they have won every single one of those games. Some of them have been their more impressive 106 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:48,235 outings. We did it to this Orlando Magic team. in late January in that game we won going away. 107 00:09:48,515 --> 00:09:55,278 We failed on multiple fronts. Physicality, their bench exploded, they had an outlier shooting 108 00:09:55,318 --> 00:10:00,060 night. I didn't love all the rotations. Lots of things to improve upon, Darius's play included. 109 00:10:00,140 --> 00:10:04,682 But the second half, we got a good game out of Acora, we got a good game out of Struce, 110 00:10:04,702 --> 00:10:09,124 we got a good second half out of Darius Garland. Jared Allen, I thought, had some huge possessions 111 00:10:09,144 --> 00:10:14,854 during the course of this game when we needed buckets to keep it competitive. and Evan Mobley 112 00:10:14,874 --> 00:10:18,835 came out of the gates quick. With a back-to-back in front of us against Philadelphia, if you 113 00:10:18,876 --> 00:10:22,617 told me I could only have one of the two games, of course I would pick Philly, and they got 114 00:10:22,657 --> 00:10:28,479 handled tonight by the Knicks. So I'm hopeful that Donovan is back in the second half of 115 00:10:28,519 --> 00:10:33,201 this set, and that the Cavaliers give us something that can quickly wipe away the memories of 116 00:10:33,241 --> 00:10:38,704 this game. But let's keep it moving, because we have an update on the enemy of the pod front. 117 00:10:39,064 --> 00:10:44,758 Tim Bontemps stopped ducking the smoke, so even though he's technically not the enemy of the 118 00:10:44,798 --> 00:10:49,682 pod. Let's just fire up a past enemy of the pod update, shall we? Enemy, enemy, 119 00:10:55,505 --> 00:11:01,409 enemy of the pod. Fuck him! So today I received a tweet from BP and Pepper Pike, one of the 120 00:11:01,490 --> 00:11:07,233 listeners of the podcast, friend of the podcast, telling me, making me aware that an appearance 121 00:11:07,253 --> 00:11:15,323 by Tim Bontemps on 92.3 The Fan was coming. And that if I tuned in, in what was five minutes 122 00:11:15,343 --> 00:11:20,687 from the point I was made aware that Tim Bontemps would be doing an interview. So I did. I tuned 123 00:11:20,747 --> 00:11:27,192 in, I rolled tape, I recorded the whole 12 minute interview, and yes, finally, finally we got 124 00:11:27,252 --> 00:11:34,278 Tim Bontemps addressing his slanderous, unnecessarily harsh critique of Evan Mobley from just a month 125 00:11:34,318 --> 00:11:38,281 ago. Now I will set it up again. I know most of you heard this, but could be new listeners. 126 00:11:38,602 --> 00:11:44,018 At any point, I'll give you the concise summary of what Tim Bontemps said previously. It goes 127 00:11:44,078 --> 00:11:48,481 as follows. I mean, to me, Evan Mobley's been one of the more disappointing players in the 128 00:11:48,521 --> 00:11:53,064 league. He has not improved on offense at all. If you're a non-shooting four, which is what 129 00:11:53,084 --> 00:11:59,028 Evan Mobley is, that's probably the least valuable player in the league. Now, we don't need to 130 00:11:59,068 --> 00:12:04,852 rehash my feelings or your feelings on that. I think they generally go as follows. You piece 131 00:12:04,992 --> 00:12:10,757 of shit! But ever since Evan Mobley knocked down those three triples, I was waiting to 132 00:12:10,797 --> 00:12:15,682 hear how he would couch. or walk back his comments when he had to acknowledge that Evan Mobley 133 00:12:15,722 --> 00:12:21,304 perhaps isn't the lost cause that he presented him as. Now just to support how good Evan Mobley 134 00:12:21,324 --> 00:12:26,605 has been in the month of February, I alluded to this on the It's Cavalier podcast, but he's 135 00:12:26,666 --> 00:12:33,087 second in the league with players who have over 20% usage in 25 minutes per game in true shooting 136 00:12:33,127 --> 00:12:38,209 percentage. The only guy who's outperforming him in this stretch during February is Danny 137 00:12:38,269 --> 00:12:44,030 Avdya. His box plus minus. for the month of February coming into the evening was a 7.3. 138 00:12:44,811 --> 00:12:50,572 And to put that in some perspective for you, typically guys who get a six or more over the 139 00:12:50,592 --> 00:12:55,633 course of a season, that's an all NBA season. Dudes who get up around an eight. So Evan's 140 00:12:55,693 --> 00:12:59,815 splitting the difference and he's, in fact, he's leaning more towards the plus eight. That 141 00:12:59,835 --> 00:13:06,516 would be an MVP season level. What he's doing this month, it's truly the worst confluence 142 00:13:06,556 --> 00:13:12,931 of events for the Timbontemps anti-mobile development agenda. that could possibly play out. Now at 143 00:13:13,011 --> 00:13:17,635 some point he was going to have to address it. People have been tweeting him. He hasn't been 144 00:13:17,675 --> 00:13:22,159 on the podcast where it came up on the low post or the hoop collective but it was only a matter 145 00:13:22,199 --> 00:13:28,424 of time and today was that day. Today on Cleveland radio, as is to be expected, you got a much 146 00:13:28,484 --> 00:13:34,189 more conciliatory, measured version. What was this? He has not improved on offense at all. 147 00:13:34,669 --> 00:13:42,651 Became this. And obviously since coming back from... the knee surgery, he's hit some shots. 148 00:13:43,111 --> 00:13:47,614 What was this? There's not a real logical path for this team making any kind of run in the 149 00:13:47,634 --> 00:13:52,977 playoffs. Is suddenly this? I think they could make the conference finals now, especially 150 00:13:53,017 --> 00:13:59,201 if they get matchups to fall a certain way. That's a win, right? It's at least a half win. 151 00:13:59,241 --> 00:14:05,825 Some Cavs fans took an exception to what you said about Evan and his development in year 152 00:14:05,865 --> 00:14:10,551 three. Are you buying into this, even though it's a small sample size, that this could be 153 00:14:10,591 --> 00:14:16,112 the turning point for him in terms of what he does offensively? I mean, again, I'm not trying 154 00:14:16,132 --> 00:14:21,294 to parse words at all, right? But like, I just need to see a lot more than a handful of games 155 00:14:21,314 --> 00:14:25,035 where he took a couple threes. Now that's kind of the approach that I would think that he 156 00:14:25,055 --> 00:14:29,716 would take. I will say, this interview was 12 minutes. It didn't even make me angry. I'm 157 00:14:29,756 --> 00:14:35,557 not mad, Tim. I'm just... I'm just disappointed. The easiest way to avoid having to acknowledge... 158 00:14:35,970 --> 00:14:40,372 that perhaps your criticisms were unfounded, don't take the L, just say, okay, best two 159 00:14:40,412 --> 00:14:45,555 out of three, and then say, okay, best of five. Well, let's make it best of seven. Just keep 160 00:14:45,675 --> 00:14:51,559 extending the sample size. Now, eventually there may be just a mountain of unimpeachable evidence 161 00:14:51,579 --> 00:14:56,882 that contradicts your first most emphatic take, but hopefully by that point, people have forgotten 162 00:14:56,962 --> 00:15:02,285 all about it and moved on. I mean, I ran out of steam on the enemy of the pod within a month. 163 00:15:02,858 --> 00:15:07,079 If I have to keep this thing going for six months, I don't know if I can do it. I'm not that creative. 164 00:15:07,419 --> 00:15:13,801 The Cavs from last year's team took Lowry Markkinen, not a very good player. Replace him. He's fine, 165 00:15:13,881 --> 00:15:18,022 he's a rotation player. He's not a very good player. A average or below average player. 166 00:15:18,502 --> 00:15:22,663 What about Donovan Mitchell? He's not below average, he's an average player. I mean, whatever, 167 00:15:22,723 --> 00:15:27,105 he's not very good. But let's go back to the comments. Give me everything you got for this 168 00:15:27,145 --> 00:15:32,279 wet ass P word. Where'd that come from? That's not the comments. The reason I've harped on 169 00:15:32,339 --> 00:15:38,563 his situation so much is because it is really the critical question about the Cavs going 170 00:15:38,603 --> 00:15:46,689 forward. I of course disagree with that. I think the very clear first concern, critical question 171 00:15:46,729 --> 00:15:53,094 of the Cavaliers going forward is where is Donovan Mitchell in that future? His situation has 172 00:15:53,134 --> 00:15:59,698 to be addressed first. He has the most potential to have the ability to leave. Evan Mobley to 173 00:15:59,758 --> 00:16:06,103 me might be the third most pressing concern for this Cavalier team because even in a situation 174 00:16:06,703 --> 00:16:13,028 where you decide either him or Darius Garland isn't a long-term fit with the construction 175 00:16:13,068 --> 00:16:18,432 of the roster, Darius is already on a max contract. You don't have that problem yet with Evan Mobley. 176 00:16:19,032 --> 00:16:23,716 And even if you didn't think he was gonna be a long-term fit alongside Jared Allen, in all 177 00:16:23,756 --> 00:16:28,158 likelihood, you would just extend him and deal with that later. when you're absolutely confident 178 00:16:28,178 --> 00:16:32,960 that doesn't happen. But I think he's far from the most pressing concern for the Cavaliers. 179 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,342 However, I know that there's that group of people who believe that the Cavaliers will never be 180 00:16:37,382 --> 00:16:42,204 a championship contender until he's our best player. I will tell you, I'm not of the belief 181 00:16:42,224 --> 00:16:46,146 that so long as Donovan Mitchell is on this roster, Evan Mobley will ever be the best player. 182 00:16:46,466 --> 00:16:51,188 Donovan Mitchell is, period. A night like tonight should illustrate to you just the impact he 183 00:16:51,208 --> 00:16:55,842 can have on a game with the way that he plays. And... I don't think that that's the type of 184 00:16:55,882 --> 00:17:00,644 player that Evan Mobley is. I think he can be an elite player in this league. I don't think 185 00:17:00,684 --> 00:17:06,966 he can be option 1A on a team, both offensively and defensively. And in my mind, I'm not sure 186 00:17:06,986 --> 00:17:12,647 if that's what Bontemps believes, but he puts an immense amount of focus on a guy who I think 187 00:17:12,687 --> 00:17:18,609 has a very high floor already. I would have far more concern with a guy who, when he plays 188 00:17:18,649 --> 00:17:23,344 bad... by his standard can have a much more detrimental effect on the whole roster. And 189 00:17:23,364 --> 00:17:27,747 that's a guy like Adarious Garland. But let's go to the, let's leave this behind though. 190 00:17:28,268 --> 00:17:33,451 To wrap this up, no, I'm not going to make Timbontemps the enemy twice because quite frankly I think 191 00:17:33,471 --> 00:17:40,396 he's slowly walking this back. And if I was to institute one person a second time, well 192 00:17:40,436 --> 00:17:45,840 then the grievance should be worse. It should be like I let you off for a slap on the wrist 193 00:17:45,860 --> 00:17:50,663 because you stole some candy from the grocery store. and then you still came back to the 194 00:17:50,703 --> 00:17:56,386 same grocery store and you put your penis in one of the donuts. I love apple fritters. I 195 00:17:56,426 --> 00:18:02,029 need to see a ramp up of tensions. This is not that, this is working in the opposite order. 196 00:18:02,270 --> 00:18:07,513 So no, Tim Bontemps is not the enemy of the pod. I will wait till I feel more aggrieved. 197 00:18:07,593 --> 00:18:12,496 And right now, I will tell you what bothers me more, quite frankly, it's when I hear people 198 00:18:12,636 --> 00:18:17,650 use the phrase. It's like it's the worst kept secret in the NBA. worst kept secret in basketball 199 00:18:17,710 --> 00:18:22,291 to talk about their belief that it's just a known fact that Donovan Mitchell is gonna walk 200 00:18:22,311 --> 00:18:28,253 away. People who do that, they're getting under my skin vastly more than simply listening to 201 00:18:28,293 --> 00:18:33,695 Bon Temps scale back his criticism until eventually he's praising Evan and he's done a complete 202 00:18:33,715 --> 00:18:39,976 180 and he's gaslighting all of us about how we didn't hear what we heard. Okay, let's do 203 00:18:40,116 --> 00:18:45,182 one more thing here before we wrap up this episode of the Fear the Frol podcast. Many of you have 204 00:18:45,222 --> 00:18:50,664 participated in the audio mailbag. It is a feature I rolled out somewhere in the middle of this 205 00:18:50,704 --> 00:18:55,706 season, where you can go to CavsPod.com, the website of the Fear the Frol podcast, and there's 206 00:18:55,726 --> 00:18:59,928 a button on the website that says, Talk to Bob. It allows you to just record a voice memo, 207 00:19:00,268 --> 00:19:04,610 essentially, and it sends it to my email account, and I can include it here as a way for your 208 00:19:04,630 --> 00:19:09,312 voice to be heard, but also for us to interact in a little bit more personal way than me just 209 00:19:09,392 --> 00:19:14,519 reading emails that you've sent to me. So... I got an audio mailbag submission. Let's hit 210 00:19:14,539 --> 00:19:21,784 that. Please leave a message. And now a message recorded and submitted to me at calvespod.com. 211 00:19:23,085 --> 00:19:31,791 Today our submission is from Zach. Hey Bob. Zach from Chicago. Zach, thank you for joining 212 00:19:31,831 --> 00:19:37,335 me. What do you got? Absolutely loved the show. Look forward to new episodes each week. Appreciate 213 00:19:37,355 --> 00:19:42,338 all the hard work. Over the past couple months, I feel like whenever Donovan gets interviewed 214 00:19:42,358 --> 00:19:52,302 about the success of the team. He mentions players stepping up a lot. And I feel like top billing 215 00:19:52,882 --> 00:19:59,205 usually goes to Sam Merrill. And it got me curious why. I mean, considering there's so many other 216 00:19:59,245 --> 00:20:07,849 players that have been playing above their pay grade. Is Donovan lobbying for Sam in some 217 00:20:07,969 --> 00:20:14,849 cryptic way amongst other players or am I reading too much into it? However, over the All-Star 218 00:20:14,869 --> 00:20:21,834 weekend, it was never more clear about the promotion of Sam Merrill from Donovan than it's ever 219 00:20:21,854 --> 00:20:26,778 been. So I thought there was something to it. But like I said, I might just be reading completely 220 00:20:26,878 --> 00:20:33,122 too much into it. So curious your thoughts. Well, I'll tell you my thoughts, Zach. My gut 221 00:20:33,162 --> 00:20:38,414 tells me you're probably reading a little bit too much into it. But then again. Who knows 222 00:20:38,454 --> 00:20:43,437 what's going on inside Donovan Mitchell's mind. If we did, all of this drama around his impending 223 00:20:43,477 --> 00:20:49,442 free agency would be much less dramatic. I will say this though. I think if you were to ask 224 00:20:49,482 --> 00:20:55,366 me why Donovan Mitchell throws so much praise Sam Merrill's way, I think there's a few factors. 225 00:20:55,526 --> 00:21:01,770 One would be recency, novelty. And by that, I mean there's a lot of other guys on the team 226 00:21:01,810 --> 00:21:07,518 who were huge components alongside of him last year. Jared Allen. and Isaac Okoro. Those are 227 00:21:07,558 --> 00:21:13,119 guys who occupied starting lineup positions or huge roles alongside of him during last 228 00:21:13,139 --> 00:21:17,601 season, whereas Sam Merrill was essentially found money that didn't really work his way 229 00:21:17,701 --> 00:21:23,662 into the rotation until December of this year. And we're still in the honeymoon stage of his 230 00:21:23,722 --> 00:21:27,883 emergence. He hasn't been around long enough to take what he does for granted. He didn't 231 00:21:27,923 --> 00:21:34,465 just work his way into the rotation, he exploded onto the scene. So for Donovan to praise him 232 00:21:34,645 --> 00:21:39,260 as much as he does. Part of it, I think, is Sam Merrill has emerged in a way where he has 233 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,942 shown one skill that's extremely elite, and that tends to be something that the fans have 234 00:21:43,962 --> 00:21:48,705 gravitated to. And in a three-point competition setting, of course that's the guy that he should 235 00:21:48,745 --> 00:21:53,388 draw attention to, the elite three-point shooter who wasn't included in the competition. But 236 00:21:53,528 --> 00:21:58,391 also, I think there's a certain element of it that when you're toiling away at your job, 237 00:21:58,671 --> 00:22:04,415 let's say, sometimes the people who tend to get... praised all the time on the conference 238 00:22:04,456 --> 00:22:11,162 calls and the manager meetings are the people who are working away the most for the least. 239 00:22:11,462 --> 00:22:16,987 It's not necessarily the most valuable components of the team or of the corporate structure. 240 00:22:17,507 --> 00:22:25,154 It's the ones who are working the hardest for the least monetary rewards and the kudos are 241 00:22:25,214 --> 00:22:31,726 a way to make sure people feel appreciated regardless. of their stature on the team from a financial 242 00:22:31,906 --> 00:22:36,508 or even solidified role perspective. Sam is on the fringe of having to fight for minutes. 243 00:22:36,548 --> 00:22:42,670 I mean tonight, logging anywhere between 11 and 13 minutes, there may be a part of Donovan 244 00:22:42,690 --> 00:22:48,351 that knows when they're back at full strength, the sacrifices are largely going to fall onto 245 00:22:48,391 --> 00:22:55,273 Sam's shoulders to see his role dramatically reduced. So that praise may be a way of trying 246 00:22:55,293 --> 00:22:59,800 to keep his morale. and spirits up and say, regardless of what you're doing out there on 247 00:22:59,820 --> 00:23:05,846 the court, I want him to feel appreciated and loved and remain engaged in a way that he doesn't 248 00:23:05,886 --> 00:23:11,070 have to do for an Isaac or an Allen because their roles are essentially solidified. That 249 00:23:11,090 --> 00:23:16,374 would be my theory anyway. I don't think that Donovan is any more positive feeling towards 250 00:23:16,394 --> 00:23:22,239 a Sam than he is towards an Isaac or towards a Jared Allen. I think he loves all his teammates. 251 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,635 I just think the three point competition was... the perfect storm, the perfect place for him 252 00:23:27,675 --> 00:23:33,218 to give a shout out to Sam Merrill because Sam Merrill is so elite at that particular skill. 253 00:23:33,298 --> 00:23:37,820 So that that's my feeling on it, but again, I don't know any better than you. Maybe there's 254 00:23:37,860 --> 00:23:44,064 something to what you said. And nice belch by the way. You've done me proud. So thank you 255 00:23:44,364 --> 00:23:49,767 for contributing to the audio mailbag. Let's wrap it up there. Shall we? Thank you to everybody 256 00:23:49,787 --> 00:23:54,629 who participated, the reviews, the ratings. I appreciate them all. We'll be back, hopefully. 257 00:23:54,986 --> 00:24:00,629 Following some more wins. Let's get back in the winning column. Shall we? I'm Bob Schmidt 258 00:24:00,649 --> 00:24:08,435 voice of Fox Sports Radio and this is the Fear the Fro Podcast Okay, that's enough. Stop it 259 00:24:08,475 --> 00:24:14,219 This has been another Fear the Fro. It's over. Podcast. That was pathetic. If you enjoyed 260 00:24:14,259 --> 00:24:19,722 what you heard today Put another highlight reel, please consider subscribing. Check out fropod.com 261 00:24:20,043 --> 00:24:26,071 for more Cavaliers and NBA coverage That's what's on display here Wet ass P word.