00:00While we talk and while we wait for LeBron's Cleveland decision, come on now,
00:04this is Brian Windhorst on ESPN explaining why other teams are skeptical about LeBron
00:11and Le Watch. What I suspect that is going to be important to him is that he is going to
00:16be able to
00:17get through the regular season without having to go to extraordinary measures, without having to
00:22play 38 minutes a game, without having to take 25 shots. I think Philly can make a compelling case
00:28that they would not tax him too much and he could save his body for the postseason and he can
00:33build
00:34up to the postseason. Philly can make a strong case to do that, but so can Cleveland. Cleveland has a
00:39buildout just as strong as Philly and they are home. That's what everybody out there is worried
00:46about is they're trying to make a compelling case. Can anybody make the compelling case that's more
00:52compelling on the roster than Cleveland and more compelling on the home front than Cleveland?
00:58The teams out there that I've talked to are skeptical. They don't know for sure, but they're
01:02skeptical. Yeah, I think, you know, I was on in the Bay Area last night with a game and our
01:08sister
01:08station out there. I've been on a couple stations of people asking one to talk about LeBron,
01:12will he come home, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And every time they're like, how confident are you
01:18that LeBron's coming home? And I say 60%, but the 40% of doubt is just that. It is, I
01:24don't trust the idea
01:25that we're front runners for LeBron. And I've, I'm like, I am, I don't want to be let down. So
01:31I
01:31don't want to say a hundred percent, even though I just think it's the place that makes the most
01:34sense. Yeah. But you can't, you can't possibly know what LeBron is thinking. Yeah. That's the
01:37hard part about all this. And that's why I like myself, when I have reservations on it,
01:41but how does LeBron want to end this? Does he want to end it, uh, making his life as easy
01:45as
01:45possible? Does he want to end it where he just wants to hang out with buddies? That would be the
01:49Golden State side of things. Is he going to go for a shoot? He just always wanted to play in
01:53Philadelphia and play with Maxie and all these guys. I don't know. We don't know what his brain
01:57is thinking. How pissed is he still at Dan Gilbert all these years later? I don't know these answers
02:01and, and none of us do. And that's what makes it so hard. Yeah. And I just think like the
02:05only,
02:06the only thing that could go wrong with the calves being seen as front runners is if he just doesn't
02:10come home. And I do think like, I think LeBron has been, I think LeBron has to understand
02:15that whatever his last move is, that it's one that solidifies his legacy and doesn't obstruct it.
02:24And I, and then when I say obstructed, I mean, compromise the going away that's going to happen
02:29over the next year or two, because I do think if you, if you let everybody think like he can't
02:35be
02:35like, he's not the guy planting these seeds. It's everyone else saying Cleveland is a front runner,
02:39right? Right. He could stop that if it wasn't the case. And he has to understand the power of
02:45if you go somewhere else, it shouldn't be the reason you make your decision, but if you go
02:50somewhere else, there are going to be people that get very upset in, and certainly in Cleveland,
02:56and it's going to be a part of the end of your story. And I don't know that he, I
03:00do think that's
03:01something he wouldn't want is that complication. I think at this point, he would have pissed off
03:04some Cavs fans for sure. I think he also understands though, in five years, 10 years from now,
03:09Cavs fans aren't going to hold that against them. They'll go back to 2016, more than maybe
03:13a two-week stretch in the summer where we thought he was going to return.
03:16I don't know. And I, so I, the people that already don't like LeBron are just not going
03:20to like LeBron anyway, but I think so. I think there's over the edge. I do think most of us
03:24love
03:25LeBron. And I think there is the hard set with 10% of people that have just decided whether it's
03:30his politics, whether it's the previous decisions, whatever, uh, whether it's just the fact that he has
03:36been as good, it would just greatness hating, like whatever the reasons they don't like LeBron,
03:40the self-applied nickname, all that branding crap that people get pissed about. Um, then I think
03:45there's like 25% in the middle. I think that's the 25% that I think you risk maybe getting
03:53closer
03:53to that other 10%. I just think he's above criticism for myself. And so if the other,
03:57if the other 25% wants to make this be the reason why they don't want to have a fond
04:02memory of LeBron,
04:03I just don't think LeBron should worry about that. But LeBron's always kind of beat to his own
04:06syndrome in all of this. Uh, and so that's why even like going to Miami to begin with,
04:10that was not a popular decision. He knew that was going to piss off more than 25% of people
04:14in his hometown. He was prepared for everyone to hate him and was still comfortable making that
04:19decision so many years ago. So I just, I just think it's impossible to know because he clearly
04:23shown a sign of not caring about pissing people off, which by the way, probably the right mentality.
04:27You've got to take care of it. You got to take care of you, LeBron. You don't have to worry
04:30about everybody else, but also please come home. Yeah, let's do that. That's the easiest one there.
04:35Uh, now this being said, uh, one national host thinks we could be in store for more than just
04:41a LeBron homecoming. Nick Wright on the What's Right podcast talked about the Cavs, not just
04:47bringing LeBron back, but another familiar face. How can we turn James Harden into Kyrie? That's
04:53what the Cleveland Cavaliers should be trying to do. It would be kind of a perfect ending and it would
04:59give LeBron and Kyrie the finish they never got that Kyrie has since said he regretted.
05:04Now that team, you would really be asking Evan Mobley and Jared Allen to do a lot of defending
05:11as bad of a defensive backcourt as, uh, Donovan and Harden are at least Harden is strong and big
05:19like Donovan and Kyrie backcourt is tiny and bad defensively, but they would be such a dynamic
05:27offense, particularly with LeBron, you know, making a lot of the decisions that team obviously
05:35can win the Eastern conference. So I'm torn on this because Kyrie hasn't been healthy
05:40since he left Cleveland, basically. Uh, and obviously with Kyrie, there becomes,
05:45there's a lot of stuff that goes with Kyrie. Is there a part of me that would like to see
05:50Kyrie
05:51land the plan on his Cleveland legacy at the same time LeBron does? Yeah. Yes. Right. Everyone
05:58listening has got to be thinking that, right? Oh, I don't think everybody, I I'm like, I'm trying
06:02to figure out is it, is it running it back too much for people? No, I don't think that I
06:06just don't
06:07think that I think there are people who still think Kyrie. I just don't like Kyrie, whether it's
06:13the way he left or what I think the interesting part about this is I think there's just as many
06:17people that are disgruntled with James Harden in this whole aspect. And so you'd be getting rid of
06:21James Harden. You'd be sending him off to Dallas and you, and by the way, this, this would work
06:25from Dallas's perspective for a couple of different reasons that we can get into, but you'd be sending
06:29him to Dallas. Kyrie comes here. You're basically running the 2016 reunion back for the two most
06:34important parts of it while also having Donovan be the front piece and Evan Moply. I mean, this is a,
06:39it is a dream scenario in many respects. Yeah. I know. I think it was Scoop Robinson actually brought this
06:44up the first time like a week ago. I don't think it's going to happen. And I think we probably
06:48should
06:48have said that at the beginning. I don't think there's a chance this happens. No, no, no, but it
06:52is a fun discussion. But it's funny. Like I have softened with Kyrie over the last couple of years
06:58because I, I like all I really want from my athletes is, and guys that I root for is a
07:04little
07:04self-awareness and Kyrie was always into, you know, I'm a, uh, self-mythology, right? And that just kind of
07:12that on top of the way he left just really annoyed me. I thought his brain just got fried
07:18for a couple of years. I'm smarter than you. And I know it just, it just, it happened.
07:21It was people across the country. Their brain just got fried for a couple of years. Kyrie
07:24was one of them. And I don't know that his brain still isn't fried, but what I appreciate
07:28about what Kyrie is Kyrie's talked a lot about how much he regrets forcing his way out of Cleveland
07:34in 2017 and the way he handled it and the fact that he left this team early and really put
07:39a
07:39premature end to the Cavs run with LeBron. I think that does show at least some sense
07:45of self-awareness that allows me to go, you know, man, maybe I built you up as this big
07:51villain. So we're cool. Come on back.
07:53Now, I don't know that LeBron is as concerned as maybe Nick Wright was making it seem like,
07:57uh, about, about how he'd fit in with Harden. I, I, and there's some people that have concerns
08:01about that. I don't really have that much of a concern on it if we're being truthful,
08:04but, but we know Kyrie works. That is a, that is a proof positive test case that we already
08:10have. And so you wouldn't have to, you wouldn't have to wonder to yourself, how are these two
08:13going to fit in at any given moment? Like it'll be all taken care of defensively. It's going
08:16to be an issue, but it's going to be an issue already as is the way I, the way I
08:19think about
08:20Harden. If LeBron comes back, I don't, I don't think it's automatically, it's not going
08:25to work. I don't. Um, and I'm, again, I'm not a guy who wanted James here in the first
08:29time. I didn't like the Harden Garland trade and you and I had Donnie Brooks about
08:33it, but I think James is still a very talented player. And the farther you move him down
08:37the importance level on this team, I think it's a better chance of getting the best out
08:41of him without dealing with the worst out of him. Right? So I'm content with James is
08:46coming back. My, my take on James going forward though, is if LeBron does come back, he is
08:51Dion waiters in 2014. Dion waiters was very clearly the second LeBron came back, the most obvious
08:58guy to get gone. If things hit the fan was going to be Dion waiters for his style, from
09:05his mentality, from everything. And sure enough, the calves gotten that weird, uh, you know,
09:10spurt of bad basketball in the middle of that first season back. And he was the first guy
09:15shipped out. I would think that would be James Harden in this scenario. If it didn't play
09:20out well in the first half or even the first year, I could imagine that James becomes the
09:25interchangeable piece that they move off for something else. I don't even know that
09:28you could, uh, because he, he's going to sign this three-year deal, likely two or three
09:32year deal. And, uh, if he's, if he's that much of a hindrance of everything, like the
09:36calves would have to attach picks to get rid of James Harden at that point. We don't have
09:39picks to attach. I do 2031. Yeah. I mean, you're going to give away our first round pick
09:44in five years from now to get rid of Harden. I don't think it's the most, I mean, hell
09:47they gave up, uh, what? Cause like the Jalen, like the Paul George was going to call the
09:52idea that the 76ers want to get off Paul George. And they said that deal was
09:55going to cost them two first to move off. If they wanted to, uh, actually get rid of
09:58Paul George or you have to send two first to go ahead and get rid of them. Like
10:01Harden deals probably cost you a first. Yeah, I think so. But again, and again, by the way,
10:06he might even be the expendable guy. If you are getting somebody of value back, I just,
10:11I just think that's something to kind of watch here. Cause I could think like I could see,
10:15and this is going to be weird because I know Portland's got a new leadership group, but I
10:20could see like a Harden for holiday kind of swap at the deadline. Again, if Harden
10:25and LeBron aren't working out the way the caps want, I mean, I get everything's on the
10:28table. It's the NBA, I guess, but just know we'd be the ones that giving up pieces in
10:33that. Uh, and it would not be cheap to get rid of James Harden, but I don't think it's,
10:37I don't think it's going to be some sort of a disastrous pairing. If it gets to that,
10:40I really don't, I think he's going to appreciate how smart of a basketball player is and what
10:44a great passer James Harden is. And that's the part that always gets devalued and talking
10:47about James Harden that I think will be even more elevated with someone like LeBron.
10:51I think when it comes to Harden, I think the calves have to do right by both guys. And like,
10:57I think the splitting their minutes for the first three quarters makes a butt ton of sense just with
11:02how the two guys play and allowing them both to have the ball in their hands. I also think it
11:07makes sense because the less time on the court in the first three quarters, the less time there
11:12is for LeBron to get annoyed with how James plays. I will Brown's going to get annoyed with
11:15everyone that's doing a quasi point role. You know, I think about the heat situation with
11:19Chalmers to begin with. Like that was like, I've never seen a man more frustrated in his
11:22life than trying to navigate through that. Like this is, this is LeBron at the end of
11:26the day. LeBron is ultimately just a very, just very disgruntled basketball player at all times
11:31anyway. Particular. He's particular. He just gets angry about everyone. I kind of dig it.
11:37He just kind of gets angry about everyone. Speaking of Deion Waiters, anyone remember Deion
11:40Waiters standing, doing like jumping jacks on the side of the court, trying to get the ball?
11:44Well, it's the worst. And LeBron wouldn't look at his ass. And that's what, that's the nice
11:47thing about the Harden relationship. There'll be enough respect built in that he won't just
11:51be dismissive of him if it doesn't work. We'll see about that. I don't think he will. I don't
11:54think he will.
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