9.1.22 - JR Interview with Chris Fedor

We all learned that Donovan Mitchell would be traded not to the New York Knicks but ultimately to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Collin Sexton and his recovering knee head out to Utah in addition to Lori Markinen. In addition, and this is what the Utah Jazz wanted, first round picks. Three of them from the Cavaliers in addition to two pick swaps that will take place over the next seven years. The Cavaliers have one of the most dangerous and young lineups in the NBA right now with room to grow and room to compete.

Garland now with Mitchell and Allen and Mobley and someone with experience like Kevin Love. They are on their way to talk about it. Right now we are being joined by Chris Fedor of 92.3, the fan in Cleveland.

He also covers everything Cavs basketball for Cleveland.com. Chris how are you my man? I'm doing good man. How are you? I'm excellent.

Thank you for taking the time to hop on. Your thoughts overall on this trade especially the fact that it was pretty much sprung on all of us. I think it was the right time and it was for the right player and it's not like the Cavs can go into like a superstar market and pick the exact guy that they want right? You can only go by what the market has to offer you so I don't know that it's an ideal stylistic fit and there are some things that the Cavs have to figure out with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell and ball handling responsibilities and whether that backcourt pairing can work on the defensive end but this is the type of player that they didn't have on the roster. This is the kind of guy that can shift a seven game playoff series. This is the kind of guy that can take pressure off of Darius Garland in a way that nobody was able to do at the end of last season for the Cavs. So I think when you have an opportunity to get this caliber player to make this talent upgrade and the guy happens to fit your timeline and you have some control of his contract for the next couple of years. I think it's an opportunity that the Cavs coming off 44 win season JR it's one that they couldn't pass up. Yeah Donovan Mitchell under contract now with the Cleveland Cavaliers until 2026 where he will make 37 million dollars. How shocked were you when this deal came through Chris?

I wasn't that shocked honestly JR. I know the Cavs and the Jazz they they had conversations at summer league and at that point in time I'm told that the Cavs kind of walked away from those conversations saying yeah I don't think it's going to happen for us the price is going to be too high other teams are going to be able to put together a better package than us but the team that everybody expected to get Donovan Mitchell the team best position to get Donovan Mitchell the New York Knicks decided that they were going to dawdle a little bit and and they thought that Utah didn't have any other promising offers that they would be willing to take and the Cavs kind of lurked and they they kept in contact with the Utah Jazz and the two sides talked about like what pieces are going to work, Kellen Sexton, Ojibwaji, how many unprotected picks like all those conversations were going on in a private way and when Kobe Altman the the president of basketball operations for the Cavs decided to re-engage with the Jazz two weeks ago it felt like to the Cavs that there was a path to actually getting something done because the Knicks weren't going to offer everything that the Jazz wanted so with the Knicks taking the approach that they did JR it created this path to the Cavs jumping in and giving Utah a good enough deal that they weren't going to sit and wait for the New York Knicks. Absolutely and we saw what took place this afternoon Chris Fedor is joining us 92.3 the fan in Cleveland as well Cavs reporter for Cleveland.com you talked about the the just the mix the backcourt between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell two smaller guards we know there are giants up front long arms and limbs and levers with Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. Cavs fans for the most part have to be enthusiastic about this move what's the ultimate vibe in the city when this took place this afternoon? Yeah there's excitement no doubt about it because I think the Cavs are now positioned to do some things that they probably weren't positioned to do a week ago right I think if we were having a conversation about the Cavs and their ceiling and the expectations for this coming season and where they fall in the Eastern Conference I think the conversation is a lot different and that conversation centers on you know how close are they to the Toronto Raptors and the Chicago Bulls and some of these other teams that are fighting to avoid the play-in tournament right now the conversation is how close are the Cavs to the Boston Celtics the Miami Heat Philadelphia 76ers Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks and that's a legitimate conversation for them to have it's not outlandish to think that they can avoid the play-in tournament it's not outlandish to think that the ceiling of this team in the regular season is a top four seed in the Eastern Conference and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs so this is the kind of player the talent that they were missing that that I think raises their ceiling when it comes to what they can accomplish both in the regular season but also once they get into the postseason because JR if you think about it last year the Cavs got to the play-in tournament after a 44 win season and they played against the Nets and the Hawks and both those teams just threw everything that they could at Darius Garland because they said we got to slow him down and if we slow him down the Cavs are going to be a completely different team and offensively they're going to bog down the Cavs didn't have enough play making and they didn't have enough shock creation and they didn't have enough scoring to take that burden off of Darius now they have somebody in Donovan Mitchell where if those two guys are playing together at the same time like in most cases they're each going to be the top name on the opposing scouting report they can't anymore because they're sharing the court together and it allows the Cavs to do some different things offensively that they simply couldn't do last year because they didn't have the personnel to do that Chris Fedor is here with us representing for Cleveland.com and 92-3 the fan this is a squad in Cleveland the Cavaliers in general a team that we haven't seen in the playoffs the legitimate playoffs since Lebron James since they they lost in the finals for every name that you just mentioned between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell figuring it out Evan Mobley he may also it's expected for him to advance over the next years a few years into being one of the best front court players in the league he might end up being the best player on this squad it's one thing to get to the playoffs what do you feel are the realistic expectations for the Cavs to grow with this young roster and ultimately compete for a title? See that's the thing about it JR because of the way that this roster is constructed and their four most important and best players are all 25 years old or under that means that they don't have to be for this year championship or bust right that means they don't have to have these high expectations like the Milwaukee Bucks or the Golden State Warriors because eventually they're going to get into luxury tax hell or eventually they're going to have to break things up that they have going here or eventually one of these guys is going to hit free agency and they're not going to be able to pay them they're not in that kind of situation down the road you know Donovan Mitchell is going to have a decision to make on whether he wants to stay with the Cavs whether the organization is good enough or whether he has starry eyes for a bigger market or something along those lines but immediately not only do the Cavs become better but you feel like the contention window for this organization is going to be about three to four years maybe even longer than that so yes the expectations are much higher and they have to be when you acquire a player like this and you give up everything that the Cavs gave up in order to get it done but it doesn't have to be only for this year you know what I mean they can still in a way grow this thing organically and hope for internal improvements from some of their young guys like you mentioned beyond Evan Mobley you know Isaac Okoro Darius Garland Jared Allen all those guys can continue to get better alongside one another and I think that makes for what you think is going to be like the next half a decade or something like that for the Cavs and I agree with you JR I think there's no doubt about it that Evan Mobley has the ability to be the best of all these guys that we're talking about when it comes to the Cavs I think Evan Mobley has the ability in the next three to five years to be a top five player in the game that's how good he can be that's how unique he is and that's how impactful he is at both ends of the floor well Chris you certainly know about everything going on in Cleveland this has been a a busy this has been a busy summer for Cleveland Cleveland sports the the optimism I guess in the long range between both the Browns and the Cavs has to be collectively at probably the highest point that it's been in a very very long time what's the temperature in the city right now for the sports scene especially ultimately we know whenever Deshaun returns yeah and I think you can throw the guardians in there as well as the top team in the AL central right now and a team that has exceeded expectations on the baseball diamond it's rare that you have three teams in a major sports city where there are legitimate expectations of playoffs and even beyond that and it's not unrealistic either you know fandom is what it is and you're going to say ah the Browns are Super Bowl contenders and the Cavs are NBA finals contenders and the guardians can go to the World Series because that's how fans are but I mean if you look at the future of both these teams and the presence of both these teams and then you toss in the guardians as well you know I can't remember a time jr where you had all three teams in this city with those kinds of expectations and that kind of talent level it's a really really exciting time for the city of Cleveland there's no doubt about that and the other thing on top of everything is all of these teams are are building through the draft and it's young teams that fans can grow along with it's not like rent a rent a team or buy a championship or something along those lines you feel like these players that are here the young players that are so important are going to be here for a number of years and you can buy the jerseys right you can buy the season tickets and not have to worry about whoever it is bolting yeah tell LeBron to stay his ass in Los Angeles yeah new new contract who needs LeBron when he's uh 43 nobody let him let him stay in Los Angeles don't come back home I will say though jr if there is one hole that the Cavs have and this is not a perfect team right this is not Milwaukee this is not Boston they still have work to do with this roster the one hole that they do have happens to be the one that that guy in Los Angeles occupies just saying oh so yeah give us give us three years and LeBron and his son and then the next one will join the Cavs and what a story that will be isn't it that's a way to bookend the career isn't it it'd be a hell of a way to go out Chris I appreciate you for taking the time to hop on representing 92.3 the fan all our listeners in Cleveland as well as Cleveland.com where can people keep up with you and follow you yeah I mean Cleveland.com slash Cavs that's where all my stories appear on the website and you can check me out on twitter too because I put a bunch of stuff on twitter it's just my name at Chris Fiedler nice and easy I appreciate you thank you Chris so much for taking the time to join us certainly Cleveland sports has been at the forefront this year there's been a lot of conversations in the NBA people will not be able to avoid the the Cavaliers as a part of the convo and as he mentioned yes even the guardians kind of moving in here over the next month they aren't going to be a team that just rolls over and goes away and so a lot of optimism in Cleveland right now and thank you so much to Chris for joining us here.