Cavs: the Podcast Cavs: The Podcast

The Cavs' coaching search saga is over! Exactly one month after the wine and gold fired J.B. Bickerstaff. In his place: Kenny Atkinson, who was primarily hired over James Borrego so that Cleveland wouldn't have a second coach with the same initials. The 57 year old Atkinson brings four seasons of head coaching experience in Brooklyn from 2016-2020, resigning the year that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving came to town. He has been an assistant coach to Steve Kerr in Golden State for the last three seasons, and won a championship ring with them in 2022. The season before that he was on Ty Lue's staff in L.A. Atkinson reportedly won the backing of Dan Gilbert and will join the team before the Wednesday night draft.
To process all this, Nate Smith, Eli Kim, and Chris Francis rotated through the CtB podcast Studios in late June fashion (casually). The trio discussed the hiring, why the Cavs passed on other candidates, and who Atkinson may add to the fill out the Cavs' staff.
The crew then dug into as chaotic an NBA draft as any of us have ever seen, with no clear cut number one, or even clear cut top five. It's safe to say that anything could happen Wednesday night (... and Thursday afternoon) as the now two day event unfolds with the Cavs holding onto the 20th pick. The gents broke down who they liked, who they didn't, and some of their theories around old wings, stiff centers, and stupid names. Top that all off with a random tour of Boston, some novel picks, and some gushing over the Guardians, and you've got a pretty good podcast.


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Whelp. It's time to put a coda on the 2024 Cavalier post-season, and all in all, your favorite Cavs: the Blog bloggers were at peace with it. Without Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, and Caris LeVert, the Cavs dropped games 3, 4, and 5 to the Celtics, but I think all of us here at Cavs: the Blog felt proud of the way the Cavs fought to the end and never gave up in their final series of the season. 
To take stock of it all, Chris Francis, Elijah Kim, and Nate Smith booked some time in the CtB podcast studios and broke down the series and the players and what went right and what went wrong in the post-season. As is tradition, the post-season was yet another referendum on J.B. Bickerstaff's coaching tenure with the Cavaliers. After a respectful period of time breaking down the series, the gents put their pig noses and ears on and started gorging on some puerile slop that dripped down into the hog trough from the Athletic's Shams Charania, Jason Lloyd, and Joe Vardon no less than 30 minutes after the Cavs were drummed out of the playoffs. 
The Cavs went through all the rumors around all the guys: Donovan Mitchell's dissatisfaction with his teammates, Darius Garland's purported need of a scenery change, Jarrett Allen's ribs, J.B.'s ineffectiveness, Mobley's desire not to be drafted by Cleveland, and most importantly whether Spida was inclined to sign a contract extension. The CtB boars wallowed into all the muck and mud and garbage and came to conclusions on L.B.J., J.B., D.M., both D.G.s, and J.A - some more concrete than others. It was a fun and cathartic 90 as the gents even got to pitching some cool Akron haunts, some Cinci legends, and a trip down vinyl lane. We think you'll find it to be an entertaining season coda with just enough delicious slop to keep coming back for more.


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After a truly epic series against Orlando, we can all thank Elijah Kim for the Cavs winning this series. Eli's live presence for three games of this series clearly tipped the scales for the wine and gold. Eli and Chris Francis got "live" in the podcast booth to break down the series and to look ahead to the Boston series.


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Forgive me as I channel one of Ohio's greatest bands: the venerable Guided By Voices, to name this podcast. 1999's Do the Collapse was likely the Band's most commercially appealing album, which for many of their critics and fans, made it not their best, as Rick Ocasek's "glossy production was a departure from the band's lo fi roots. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers, some of whom weren't even alive when GBV frontman Bob Pollard released those songs, are facing their own identity crisis.
After taking a commanding 2-0 series, lead, the Cavs have collapsed the past two games in Orlando during the third quarter. Notable issues have been an absence of players understanding their roles, understanding what made them successful, an utter lack of confidence by the team in their leadership, an an inability to deal with success or adversity productively.
To break down whether the Cavs need to lo-fi it up, or glam it up by launching threes, Nate Smith, Elijah Kim, and Chris Fancis hopped into the CtB independent label studios.
After a good bit of cathartic bitching, our Indie Rock trio tried to focus on the now, which is what the Cavs should be doing: no talk of this season, or the summer, or even the series. What do the Cavs have to do to win game 5? Everyone agreed that Darius Garland needs to be shooting more, especially from deep, and that Evan Mobley needs to be shooting a lot less from anywhere other than dunks and threes. So really it's a mix of the glitz and the grind that needs to happen for Cleveland.
What other adjustments in terms of personnel? Well, we all want to fire Georges Niang into the sun, and play a whole lot more Sam Merrill and Max Strus at the four. Do the Cavs have what it takes to hold serve and win this series? Decisions are split, so you'll have to tune in to find out who thinks they have the juice.


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To recap a tumultuous couple weeks in Cavsdom, Nate Smith, Chris Francis, and Elijah Kim donned their best jurists suits and shuffled into the podcast booth. First up? Breaking down the Cavs worst loss of the season, a 121-84 debacle Sunday against the Miami Heat. Then the guys adjudicated the 115-92 get-right victory against the Charlotte Hornets, Monday night. 

Has the Cavs' season all come down to injuries? Is the Cavs' perpetual injury misfortune worthy of an inquest? Can this coach get this team out of the first round of the playoffs? Will that be enough to keep his job? Who do the Cavs even want to play in the playoffs? Which teams scare you? Have the Cavs done enough to keep Donovan Mitchell? Do the Cavs need to move Darius Garland? Why isn't CPJ playing more? Was Dune 2 worth seeing in the theater? The jurists judge all these things and more in this week's Cav's the Podcast.


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Chris Francis and Elijah Kim traversed to the CtB Podcast resort studios to touch base after a long winter slumber that saw the Cavs wrap up their best stretch of basketball in the post-LeBron era. The Cavs finally get out of their post-All-Star Break slump to collect an ugly win against the Washington Wizards 114-105, which saw the Cavs come thru in the clutch after a stinky first half. The Korean Brotherhood quick caps the Wizards game, and touch on the Cavs' trade deadline, and the NBA landscape post-ASB in a tight one hour episode. Last but not least, Eli pitches his Cavs' game day fits while Chris plugs for some late-night Chinese food in the Queen City... Go Cavs!


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