It is the JR Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, there's so much going on in the NFL. There's so much going on in the NBA. We got March Madness getting ready to heat up. But I want to talk about an NBA team that has certainly been hot all throughout the course of the season. They've already clinched a playoff berth. They're on another 12-game winning streak.
They're hopefully going to get to the Eastern Conference Finals and then go even further than that. Joining us right now to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers and everything going on in the NBA is someone who covers the league out of Cleveland, also nationally for the athletic. It is Joe Vardon. Joe, how are you, man? I'm doing fine. Good to be back.
All the time, all the time. Well, these Cavaliers, I mean, they've been hot all year and I feel like people are finally starting to pay them attention. What are your overall thoughts on what they've been able to do this year?
Well, I'll start with the attention. They're on ESPN or TNT all the time now. They're switching out the games and putting the Cavs on. They just had a streak where they had four games in a row that were national TV and then they were on last night against the Heat and they're going to be on Sunday in Milwaukee and I'll be there.
And then, you know, it just goes on and on. They switched out. They're putting them on Sunday, ABC, next Sunday against the Magic. So, you know, the league and fans are paying attention to this team. They're the second team in NBA history to have three winning streaks in one season of at least 12 games.
And I was thinking about this today with them. When you think about the dominant teams in the league now and teams that you might think are contenders, you know, most of them have that single dominant player. You know, whether it's Shea with the Thunder, the Lakers with LeBron and or Luca, the Denver with with Jokic. And then in the East, you know, the Celtics, I mean, they're a little bit a little bit deeper and a little bit more diverse. But I mean, you know, you still have Jason Tatum is kind of the alpha. And Jaylen Brown's right there with the Cavs, like Donovan Mitchell is a great player for sure.
But but they really do this by committee. You know, I mean, Donovan's numbers are very similar to Darius Garland's. And Evan Mobley is right behind them as far as points per game, you know, and Evan and Jared Allen both, you know, are double digit rebound type guys. And then they have a bunch of role players that are doing great. You know, the trade for DeAndre Hunter. He just has been tremendous and he has really helped them.
You know, they haven't lost since he's been on the team, which is kind of crazy to say it's been a month now. And then I guess the last thing I would say, as far as the 30,000 feet view as to what's going on is that they they have a player, Ty Jerome, who I would probably vote for. And I have a vote. I'll probably vote for him for six man of the year. And he's six five and he's a guard. And he's he's averaging about 12 points a game off the bench. But over the last 10, 12 games, his averages are way higher. And what's so crazy about him is that he's been in the organization for a couple of years.
He missed the he missed the entire year last year with arguably the worst sprained ankle of all time. And so, you know, you talk about like, well, how did they change a team? How did they go from this team that was middle of the pack last year to being so dominant without changing the roster? And that's true.
They did. But but Ty is an addition just by getting him back from injury. So they do it a little different in Cleveland than some of the other dominant teams. But it really has been fun to watch. And Joe Vardin is here with us from the Athletic. You talk about changes. Well, we see Kenny Atkinson taking over now. J.B. Bickerstaff having success elsewhere. What has that change done stylistically for the team is that Kenny Atkinson's mantra kind of spread the wealth around?
Yeah, I think the thing is that there are a number of components to the style that Kenny Atkinson preaches. But I think even the casual fan could watch this team and see that the ball never sticks. It doesn't stop. And even you go back to the Cavs glory days, you know, 2014 to 2018 with LeBron. And there would be lots of times throughout the year and in the playoffs where it would just be pound, pound, pound. You know, you know, grind the shot clock down with the ball either in LeBron's hands or Kyrie's hands. And then you get a shot there at the end. The ball never stops moving in Cleveland. And it's really hard to guard that way. And, you know, there's a lot of movement away from the ball.
So that's the first thing. I also would say that Kenny has done a really good job with how he manages player rotations and what the Cavs do, depending on which players are on the floor. When they go to the bench and let's say Darius Garland is off the floor, but Donovan Mitchell is still on it, they switch one through five defensively.
You know, they don't feel like they have somebody who can be hunted. And then when Darius is on the floor, but Donovan isn't, they go to a little bit more of a helping defense so that the teams that try to isolate Darius have a little bit harder time to do it because there's help there. Maybe those were some things that didn't happen before. But, you know, the thing that Kenny says all the time is that this team has been together for a while.
And, yeah, he's made some changes, but a lot more of it is about just the continuity of the group and Kenny just sort of tinkering here and there to take a group that has known each other well and really turn it into this cohesive unit. Joe, right now, probably the biggest hurdle in the East is currently playing a rec league game in Boston against Philadelphia. All things considered, if everybody's healthy, it's not going to be no rollover, you know, for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Would you still favor the Celtics here? You know, I think about this a lot. I get asked this question a lot. I was there in Boston last Friday to watch those teams go at it, but Kristops wasn't out there and Drew wasn't out there.
This is how I'm viewing it today. I would pick Boston because they've done it, and that matters to me. I just think that postseason success matters, and yet you can't have it.
You can't go into a series being successful unless you've done it, so at some point you have to break that seal. But the Celtics are as deep or close, and they've all been tested, and they all have done it at the highest level, and they won. The Cavs have proven this to be the case, that they are worthy of the respect of the Celtics, and they have assembled a team that can beat Boston in the seven-game series. Ken and Will are really different things, and we're going to have to wait until late May to decide if the Cavs will actually do this, but this is not a fluke. What's happened this season is not a joke, and they have every chance to take that series and move on to finals. Joe Vardin here with us from the Athletic.
It's the JR sport re-show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. If we go out west, we see another team that's surging. That's the Los Angeles Lakers. Luka Doncic looks like he's played his way into shape. LeBron James looks revitalized. Surprisingly, the defense is rolling with Jackson Hayes out there as the big man.
Of course, typically when you have change, everybody is excited. Are the Lakers in this for the long haul out west? Do you see them going to a championship?
Man, I just got through talking about how much experience matters to me, and we don't need to talk about LeBron's experience. The participant in the finals out of the west last year was Luka Doncic's team. Right away, we're talking about two of the best players in the NBA still, and they both have finals experience. The other thing that's really interesting about this when you say, are they a finals team, is that they really could wind up playing their franchise nemesis in the second round, the Denver Nuggets. Where is the answer on the Lakers for Jokic? I don't know that they have one, but they didn't even when Davis was there.
That would be a pretty massive hurdle. When I got home from my game last night, you throw on the Thunder, and they're playing a Memphis team that's pretty good, and the Grizzlies just weren't close. Like Shay Gildas-Alexander, he controls the pace of the game. He reminds me of the way Kawhi used to do that when he was in Toronto, and Leonard would just slow things down to his pace, and Shay does that.
They're also deep, but they are also untested. They flamed out in the second round last year, despite having the best record in the west. It's a fascinating bracket over there. Golden State's back in it all of a sudden. I really love the job that J.J. Redick has done in Los Angeles. They were playing really well before this trade, and obviously the trade changed that team not only in the present, but for the next decade probably. So as long as LeBron's going to be engaged like this at both ends and Lucas stays healthy, why not? Well, Joe, when you think about a team that is far from engaged, Kevin Durant had to defend his behavior with Putinholzer the other day. We know about the attempt to trade him. We know about the attempt to trade Bradley Beal. We know he's going to be gone in the offseason. What do you think is the ideal landing spot for Kevin Durant?
Wow. I think you start with Dallas, and sure, the Kyrie injury changes that a little bit, but you still, I think, Durant and Davis together, that was a heck of a pairing at the Olympics. So I like that one. I think the Heat can always be a possibility. Obviously, we're not going to see the Warriors.
That's not a thing. The Rockets have always been mentioned. I actually have been told that Brooklyn would have him back. There's a reason they didn't trade Cam Johnson, and it wasn't just that nobody would meet their asking price.
It's more so that Brooklyn is interested in being better again quickly. I don't have a singular answer for you, but if you think about how huge that lineup is already in Dallas, and some of the other pieces that they have, you throw Durant in there, I do think that's a goal for the Mavericks. Final disaster team question for Joe Vardon. Joel Embiid, he's just a 7'1", 7'2", paperweight?
What can we expect from this guy besides making $70 million a year? What are we doing? It's such a mess. I was thinking about them today, the disaster of the season for Joel, health-wise, the fight with the pushing of the reporter, and the injury reporting, and all that stuff. He's the biggest issue, right? If Joel isn't right, it's not going to work in the Philadelphia period. Paul George hasn't worked there at all, and a lot of their role players are way up there in age now. I still like Nick Nurse. I think his reputation has took a little bit of a beating in the league. People who play in the league and work in it don't speak of him as highly as they used to. It's not going to work unless Joel gets healthy, and I think they're right to have shut him down for the season. I think he's getting surgery, so then he's going to have time to let this heal and hopefully show up in shape and ready to go. When the Olympics ended and we were all leaving Paris, I didn't see this for him. I thought I saw a player who had played his way back into shape and would have been one of those guys who maybe experiences a positive bounce from the Team USA experience.
Instead, it's been the exact opposite. All the best to him in recovery, and hopefully it's the last surgery in recovery by Joel Embiid, an interesting career that is still ongoing. Hey, Joe, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody again where they can follow you and your work. Well, the best way is just at The Athletic. The subscription is affordable. We have all the various social media handles. If you're still on social media, that's fine. Just value our customers and check us out at The Athletic and our stories appear on the New York Times homepage as well.
Thanks for having me. No doubt about that, Joe. Maybe a finals by the Cavs without LeBron. How about that? How about that?
For me, personally, the last seven years, I guess, and then the bubble was a whole other thing two months down there. I cover every finals without having a home team in that you're gone for a long time straight, conference finals and finals. Personally speaking, it'll be alright if the Cavs make it to the conference finals.
Then get all the way there to have half the playoff games at home will be pretty cool. And nothing wrong with that, Joe. Well, we'll catch you on down the line. Enjoy the rest of the season. OK, don't get sucked up into March Madness either. Yes, sir.
I'll do that and look forward to talking to you soon. All the time. That's Joe Vardin from The Athletic. The J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back, I'm going to get to some of your calls. I see that the Internet is kind of going crazy over a lot of things. The Draymond Green and Charles Barkley want to talk some NFL. We got a lot to do.
