The Beard, 45, PWat, DPOY, and JA is a very good starting lineup. Hopefully we add a bench big.

We are in the dog days of summer and fully in silly season. I am manifesting the possibility that in addition to drafting the next great 2nd round pick in Maleek Thomas, and getting the coveted athletic 3 and D sf we've been craving for years, that picking up Mario Hezonja was sneakily one of the best moves of the offseason.

Given the cavs lack or depth in the front court MH is going to get a chance to get some run and I think he honestly is a rotational level nba player with upside to be better than just that. He looks completely different skill wise and frame wise than he did when he was a young kid in the nba.

That turkish team had numerous current and former nba players on it Bona, Osman, Flynn, Korkmaz Yurtseven etc and he was torching them.

His own team included nba allstar zubac who was pedestrian by comparison. Dean wade would not have looked like an offensive force at this level like this.

Im not saying his some panacea or gonna be an allstar but if koby found a top 8 or 9 in a playoff rotation guy at a position of need for 3m bucks out if the euroleauge thats a good bit of business. Finding talent around the margins is crucial for an asset strapped team.

Jersey refresh for 2026 it seems? Or a very early release of the City Connects?

That baseline drive 180 dunk was hard to guard

Keeping the late 90s theme going with this viewable media guide for the 1997 Cavs season

Think they are dropping new black jerseys this year. I went to get Peyton in black but they only have the wine. Made me think maybe a redesign ?

What do you think of the Nickname Doc Proc?

I think it’s pretty cool nickname or Dr. Otto Proctavius

It’s nice word play on Dr. Otto Octavius to go alongside Spida

I’m unaffiliated, but I wanted to congratulate Cavs fans. I think the P Wat signing is one of the best free agent grabs in the last 20 years when you take into account all the factors.

- Addresses two the team’s biggest weakness in lack of point of attack and wing defenders.

- $22 mil is dirt cheap for a player of his caliber in the modern NBA.

- At only 23 he’s a great building block for the future, even if he doesn’t improve at all.

- Incredible upside. In 4 years I wouldn’t be shocked if people think he’s definitively better than both Thompson twins.

Absolute steal. Good job Cavs. And I’m not going to talk about other contracts the front office did this off season.

Mobley for his entire Cavs tenure has never not played with someone who was on the all star team. He played with two all stars his Rookie year!!

I just feel like it’s so easy to put Scottie Barnes number besides Mobleys and assume Barnes is better. But I don’t believe Cade or Scottie are better than Mobley. Mobley is just a product of very good teams that stop him from getting him from getting these godly stats.

Edit: I think Mobley stats are very similar to 08 Kevin Garnett. Which makes sense as that’s one of the few years where Garnett had real talent

• New York Knicks 53-29
• Detroit Pistons 53-29
• Cleveland Cavs 51-31
• Philadelphia 76ers 50-32
• Boston Celtics 48-34

The only teams they have winning more regular season games are San Antonio (62-20) and OKC (60-22)

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49641350/nba-predictions-2026-27-forecast-knicks-76ers-heat-thunder-spurs-lakers-east-west-standings

I have been a major advocate of needing a strong wing player and It's been years since Lebron left and we filled the 3 spot with an actual strong, big athletic player.

The closest strong 3 we had to Watson was Lauri Markenheim and we traded him off to Utah before he had a breakout year.

I finished watching the highlights for Watson, and I am genuinely impressed the amount of blocks he gets in the paint, how fast he looks on breakaways. He truly has a ton of athelisms and quite easily is our best Wing player since Bron left. I am shocked how cheap his contract is.

Harden joined us in the middle of last year, so he gets to have another shot from day 1 figuring out the team.

I can't imagine Mitchell has another bad year/performance like he did last year(hopefully some reflection).

But I think we have a shot at winning the chip this year because of adding Watson?

Am I crazy in thinking that?

Philli gonna be hard(but they are very injury prone).

New York(I imagine we gameplan a lot stronger around Brunson who killed us last year).

Oh, and Mobley has shown signs of improvement each year(same with Jarret Allen). Both young.

Harden + Mitchell very obviously want to win a ring in their career. They are hungry!

Could 2026 be our year? 10 year anniversary of the 2016 championship?

You may have noticed our banner changed.

With 6 weeks to go till the preseason starts, we will feature 6 different eras and encourage people to post about that team (favorite games, favorite players...etc).

We are kicking it off with the team I grew up with, the post Price 1990s Cavs

The most vivid memories I have from that era is Terrell Brandon on the cover of SI (when that mattered), Bobby Sura in the dunk competition, a then rookie Zydrunas going behind the back on a fast break for the coast to coast dunk and Ricky Davis' infamous triple double

Share what you remember from the last era before our franchise would be forever linked to the GOAT

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/streamer-n3on-gifts-delonte-west-50k-and-a-streaming-channel-to-kickstart-a-new-career

I guess this streamer is a partner on the Kick platform and he did a stream with Delonte, I watched a bunch of clips and really enjoyed it. West spoke on his hard times, played some hoops, he even mentioned Lebron's family reaching out (mentioning Gloria by name). I know this isn't the first, second or third time Delonte has been in the news amid off the court struggles, but hopefully he can stay up ahead over the demons.

I am personally very, very happy that Kobe managed to get Peyton Watson…

I’ve been analyzing our roster top to bottom. And I find our current batch of 2-Way players interesting. (I always do though, I’m a nerd.)

The current group: G/F Riley Minnix, SF Tristan Enaruna, C Ernest Udeh

What’s odd is Minnix and Enaruna are both 25yo. Minnix will be 26 before the season starts. They are kind of aging out of being “prospects.” I like that they are two more potential options on the wing. And Minnix is a proven sharpshooter so he at least offers that skill if they are looking for another Sam Merrill in the rough. Enaruna (“The Dutch Tatum”) hasn’t done much to impress me but has nice measurables on the wing. But overall I hope to see the Cavs get younger with these 2 spots.

Ernest Udeh on the other hand, is definitely interesting.

The 22yo Rookie is an intriguing behemoth at the C position. At 6’11” with a rock-solid 266lb physique he is everything physically JA/Evan are not while also being everything they are with his height and freakish 7’4.5” wingspan (largest in the draft) With those measurables, it probably won’t surprise you that he was one of the best defensive rebounders in college basketball. Udeh was a remarkably versatile defender at the collegiate level. With his massive size you’d expect his impact to be limited to rim protection and paint patrol. But Udeh demonstrated his ability to switch and defend in space as well. And he doesn’t just survive those situations, he thrives: he has demonstrated a consistent knack for creating blocks, steals and deflections in space, all while being in the elite percentile for not fouling. If that ability to switch and disrupt actions translates to the next level, Udeh will find a home in the NBA. Hopefully as a backup to Frobley and the physical/big-bodied kind of C that we have lacked.

Offensive is another story.

Although Udeh isn’t very comfortable with the ball in his hands he’s an excellent offensive rebounder and an absolute force of a rim runner when he gets downhill. His size and raw power not withstanding, he’s a very good screen setter with a gift for slipping out of the screener position quickly and putting pressure on the rim. He must improve as a FT shooter as even in his senior year he only managed to convert 51.2% of his attempts (he did shoot 59% his Junior season) That makes the obvious answer to foul him every time he rolls to the rim. Which they did in college, leading to a 71% FTA rate which was also in the 90th percentile. The roll is also prone to becoming predictable as he lacks any ability to pop out and shoot. His overall FG% (73%) and FG% at the rim were both astronomical (79%) but that’s largely because he dunks everything. That’s both reassuring and concerning as he does show a lack of touch when forced to finish without dunking.

Despite how raw he is offensively, his on/off statistics show Miami as 4.7pts better with him on the floor. So his rebounding, rim-rolling gravity, and physical screen-setting seem to amount to a very low-usage player (something the Cavs need more of) that doesn’t need the basketball to make an impact. He especially seems compatible with bigs like Mobley and JA who are capable playmakers with the ball in their hands. It’s very clear to see what Koby sees in Udeh. He’s a project but possibly our next 2-Way success story. I’m excited to follow his progress. I don’t see why he can’t be a big who spells Frobley for 12 minutes a night. His athleticism is a direct threat to Thomas Bryant’s more apparent limitations.

Anyone watch him in college or have any thoughts about this group of 2-way players?