Is the Cavs’ halfcourt offense a problem? | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

Is the Cavs’ halfcourt offense a problem? | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

On today’s show we’re asking a simple question is the Cavs half court offense a problem we’ll discuss that in Cavs wolves on a new episode of Locked on Cavs are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast today’s episode is brought to you by priz pick the easiest and most exciting

Way to play daily fantasy sports so go to prize.com backlock innba and use our code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 I’m Chris Manning filling in for Evan damal today is Fear the Sword and right down nucleid contributor extraordinaire my friend and yours

Jackson Flickinger find him went we at Jacker uh Jake Stevens as always on production Cavs wolves Jackson was a certainly a basketball game that we all watched certainly was I think to start here not a good cast performance 91 points 7 of 29 from three Darius Garland eight of 21

And 0 of six from the field on a 19 and4 night for him obviously Cleveland super injured no towns for Minnesota on top of that but a pretty grimy game that favored the Wolves ultimately and the Cavs despite leading at the half ultimately weren’t going to

Get this one done yeah well when you score 42 points in the second half that’s usually not the recipe for sucess including 17 points in the third quarter so it’s like third quarter you got to like you got to score points to win the game and like the Cavs just don’t

Have a whole lot of options to do that and there are you know there are reasons why the Cavs are like that they are short-handed Darius Garland is not him has not been himself this year and probably won’t be himself after you know know losing the weight that he did

Because of his jaw injury but if we’re going to talk about what’s wrong with his team it’s like the guard play they’re not able to get to the basket and if you can’t get to the basket you’re probably not going to be a good offense and that’s kind of what we’ve

Seen since Donovan’s been injured yeah I think particularly against this wolves team that is a great defensive team can play the style has a bunch of big wings and smart players and has Mike Conley even though he’s older and being really smart at the point of attack they’re going to defend you and

Make you have to beat them by scoring in the half court and getting inside and and making tough shots and making some threes the third quarter Jackson I think in particular illustrates just how tough this was and I think a lot of what went wrong so Garland in that quarter is one

To five from the field takes the most shots of anyone in that quarter he’s 0 of two from three two assists two turnovers I will give him Credit in in this I think way that I think is generally being fair to him he was not shy about shooting when they just needed

Someone to shoot and be aggressive like they needed someone other than Caris silver to take shots Shar down like he’s not going to self-create Nang not a self Creator like the only two guys on this team right now that you would feel comfortable with creating their own shots or really attacking creating for

Others are Darius Garland and Carris Levert Garland in the 10 or about 10 minutes he played at least did that there was something there but it was so the the the lift for him the effort level required just to get off looks against this wolves defense and just

Where I think he is at right now it was just way too hard and and that quarter we’ll get into this kind of big picture segment too about like what this half court offense is and how concerned you should be about it if you’re if

You’re a fan but I look at this quarter and it’s like this well yeah okay this is like this is like you could look at this two ways I think you could just say hey this is like where you need Donovan Mitchell and like he solved some of your

Problems but I think it also tells you what this roster is right now and even if you added in Max stru you added in Evan Moy in certain instances and you added just you were healthy and you added everyone but Mitchell I think it would be easier but

I still think it would be hard and I for and there there are solutions you could thr up tactically there are roster changes you could make long-term but right now and in this quarter and and what goes on with this team the lift in the half court against

Good defenses like the Wolves is just extremely high I feel like we say this a decent amount is the Cavs just have a bunch of Specialists on their team they don’t have a lot of guys who can pass dribble and shoot you know so like if

You have guys like Isaac Isaac a corlo who have been very complimentary of this year my guy but always always have been hug you know but you know you have guys like Isaac aoro George Nang you know Sam Merill these guys aren’t creating their own shots you

Throw in Jared Allen he’s not creating his own shot Tristan Thompson Marcus Morris like these aren’t at this point in their careers these guys are all Specialists that need to be set up in order to be successful offensively and when you pair that with Garland and

Levert who are right now now not playing like the lead engines of good offenses it’s just going to be really hard to do anything like there’s a reason why the offense was so good with Donovan Mitchell because his ability to get to the paint his ability to move the ball

To see the open pass and make the easy passes really optimizes everybody in a way that Darius Garland right now isn’t and they don’t really have a counter because what else are you going to do say Isaac Aero please generate some offense just dump it into opposed to

Jared Allen like that’s not his game so you’re just really left with a team that’s pretty mediocre and mediocre teams need things to go right if they’re going to beat good opponents like the Timberwolves and things didn’t go right the Cavs weren’t hitting threes and this

Is what happens when that when you get that formula yeah like even that’s even with Caris L like I think to his credit not just this game with other games like making Reeds a little bit quicker and trying to play into the role they need him to play it’s just like not enough

Jackson as a thought exercise if you just swapped out Nang for Kyle Anderson do you think that would change anything for you like would you feel a different type of way if you just took one roll guy in for another roll guy but a roll

Guy who you know lesser of a shooter but play makes does some other stuff would would that make you feel any different if you had a different kind of guy kind of slotted into that salary spot those minutes I mean I would feel better about those minutes but with this current team

I think I think the gap between what they need and what they currently have is more than just a Kyle Anderson solving this if this was if you if you had if this was like Donovan like a Donovan Mitchell Leed team instead of Darius Garland in there right now and

They were still losing games I’d say yeah if you tweak it around the edge I think we can optimize this just a little bit better but and this really I’m not trying to just take like shots at Darius because we’ve seen him be a very highlevel player before just I don’t

Think we’re going to see this year with all that he’s been through and then him coming back having to just carry the entire offense essentially since the All-Star break is just really not fair to him and it’s just not putting him in a position to be the most successful

Version of himself so that’s where I think this team is really kind of having its issues and there’s nobody besides Garland to carry that load L but you know what I mean like there’s just not a whole lot of options out there yeah I I think this team you can feel it

Right now is just I I think even what we say Jackson I think about this team and can write about this team frankly is just like yeah this this team was built for Donovan Mitchell he’s not healthy we’re kind of just waiting for him to come back and maybe have his knee

Functioning again for any of this to to make sense which is that’s not fun to talk about I don’t but I think for us to be kind of grounded and also just realize that this like this is March in the NBA I I think kind of is part of the problem it’s like

March of the NBA often um kind of stinks and this is this is why because you start players get banged up and here you are and especially if you’re the cast this is this is the third year in a row that this has happened it feels like

This felt like a game from 20121 where the Cavs were in their like honeymoon season and all ball handlers died and Darius G was just out there on on a island with with EV Moy trying to like create stuff with Ron Rondo playing minutes with him so it’s not it’s not to

That level but it’s it’s you know like this is like when you don’t have ball you don’t have ball handlers you don’t have people who can put pressure on a defense you can’t generate three-point shots because it’s like what was it like 29 threes today which you want them to

Shoot more threes but it it’s you can’t it’s just really hard to generate three-point shots like shots that they did take I don’t think that they were probably even necessarily good three-point shots you know there was a couple Marcus Morris ones where he was falling out of bounds that he you know

He actually hit one of them but it’s like it’s just hard to make a functional team like this and I think I think where we see this most is like Isaac okoro who is somebody who is a derivative player and when there’s nobody attacking the basket forcing defenses to shift their

Focus off of him he’s really he just really hasn’t been an offensive Factor and in any way that he was say from December through the beginning of February yeah particularly when you can’t it’s not you can’t just rigger an offense and like run a bunch of new

Stuff like it just that that capacity doesn’t exist in the NBA so you’re kind of stuck with we have and this is what the Cavs are right now um after this yeah we’ll get we have half court offense is it an issue is this a an issue about where the Cavs are going

What they are particularly against Elite defenses and against playoff caliber teams we’re going to debate that topic up next and then segment three would you rather be the Cavs or the Timberwolves going forward that’s all coming up on lockdown Cavs today’s episode is brought to you by prize picks prize picks is daily

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So Jackson I’m going to give you a number here about the Cavs half court offense not going to give you just the the full like nerd number but just a placement Cavs ISS year 18th in half court offense in terms of efficiency and half court offense of efficiency would

Be the clean way to say that that is coming into Friday’s game I suspect the number will be a little bit lower after the performance against the Wolves if you look at clean in the glass where you pull that stat from the two teams that I would view as like good

Playoff teams in the EAS or at least scary playoff teams or in however you want to Define it it’s like I’m taking the Wolves Out of This or excuse me the Bulls out of this in either conference that is lower than the Cavs right now so

East or West are the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic not good that that does not put the Cavs in good category if you’re kind of building up where this is this is going and what they are they’re they clearly just aren’t up to the level that

Some of these other teams are in the half court by comparison like the Bucks are fifth the the Knicks are 12th uh Cleveland is in category with teams like Chicago and Houston and Orlando and Brooklyn and Miami and Toronto and Minnesota’s even better than them um

This to me Jackson is aside from health I think what the Cavs are going to look like in the half court which is what they kind of based are off season about which making the offense more functional it’s what they said for beta met media day basically this this This concerns me

If I’m them 100 per. yeah well it should and I think it’s really tough because I think we’ve seen stretches where the half court offense has been good so I you are what your average is because that’s literally the average um but yeah I feel like I

Wish I could see this stat with like Donovan Mitchell on the court is like basically the the thing because like Donovan Mitchell has like last time I checked he in like the 97th percentile and like onof differentials with everything and a lot of that has to do

With the offense where when he’s not on the court this is a very mediocre team I think we’ve seen that since March 1st they’ve they’re five and seven and have the 21st ranked offense so it’s like yeah that that that I’m kind of surprised it’s 21st is probably that

Probably that like Pelicans game that’s really giving him a little bit more of a boost than what they actually deserve and Donovan was playing in that game so that’s you know that to and even that it’s like he didn’t even play well is the thing it’s like he wasn’t good and

Like he was bad no no no but still it’s just kind of like when you were like talking about the teams that are good half court offense teams those are those have teams with multiple guys who can put pressure on the rim especially guys from the perimeter like you’re talking about the

Bucks they’re fifth in half court offense well you have Giannis and Dame two guys who can put pressure on the rim that’s going to equal a good offense when you look at the Cavs I think one of the issues that we’ve seen the Cavs have in the past when they’re fully healthy

Is it’s hard to get pressure on the rim when everyone’s already standing at the rim with the two big lineups but then we saw from December through the beginning of February that they can get pressure on the rim if you just space out the floor and have Donovan just kind of you

Know work with three Shooters in a big so it’s like I guess my concern level is if you told me that this is the team that’s going to be having to scrap together a playoff offense I would say it’ be great if they got out of the 80s like I think

You’d call that but you know if you if you give them if you say hey Donovan Mitchell’s going to be playing and they have a full cast of players I think I’m much less concerned and I’m probably higher on Donovan than I think most people are so I kind of

Trust him to figure it out if you give him the tools to figure it out and I think think JB will be much more willing to do that this year in the couple games that we saw Donovan play When the team was fully healthy for like that brief stretch there with when

You had Allen and Moy JB was very aggressive about just having one of them out there at a time like he was not closing games with with Moy even though he was available and was you know so I think that we’re not going to see a lot of situations in the playoffs where

They’re going to be running two bigs and Mitchell and Garland at least not in the crunch time so I’m not super concerned if they’re healthy but you know today the next couple games you should be very concerned one ahead I just want to correct one thing that I said so the the

Teams that are actually worse than them I there brain farted Orlando is worse them and the Knicks are about even with the Cavs the Cavs and Knicks coming in Friday’s game we’re Within like point2 of each other per R possessions in half court Miami is better than Cleveland in

This um Minnesota’s better than this the top 10 like in Boston obviously just like in Oklahoma City like shellacking the rest of the league in in half court offense Cleveland and the Knicks are both kind of a slog in this the weirdest part Jackson if you look at last year as

Like a point of comparison the Cavs were 10th in offensive efficiency in the half court they ran a ton of their plays in the half court and the offense worked this year or they running few slightly fewer plays like got a percentage less point less they’re less efficient there’s not like demonstrable

Differences in terms of like offensive rebounding rate or anything like that but it’s like a full point worse is just how it’s like kind of it’s like it’s like two points worse per 100 like how this is kind of broken over the course of the year it’s it doesn’t always feel

Like that number is like in line with what we’re seeing at their Peak to your point but I think we’re I think if I’m looking at this I’m thinking about this and the Cavs play Indiana in round one or Miami in round one or New York again in round

One my confidence level to your points I think are basic is basically how good does Donovan Mitchell’s knee feel yes and that’s what I’m going to feel about their half court like if his knee is a eight out of 10 I’ll feel like a seven out of 10 about their half court

If it’s a six out of 10 and he has no if yeah and if he doesn’t if it’s a six 10 and his burst is inconsistent then it’s like okay uh we’re looking at a four like it that it’s all based on Donan it feels like yeah and

It’s I kind of think that the last year’s half court offense was kind of Juiced a little bit more than like it was higher than I think it kind of should have been I think we’ve like last year in the in the half court they just

Ran a ton of high picking roles and teams weren’t like aggressive ly collapsing the paint in the same way that they have this season after seeing the Cavs you know melt down against the Knicks because of you know trapping the guards and things like that so I kind of

Think that and I this is kind of what I think about like the like the core four numbers from last year to like their net rating I think that’s kind of almost like Fool’s goal just because it’s I don’t think it’s reflective of what they showed in the playoffs and how teams

Have adjusted to them so you know I I feel like now I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth because I’m saying that I am kind of concerned but it but it’s it’s it’s like but I I think we’re you’re I think where we’re at in this is

Like it’s a little bit of column a it’s a little bit of column B right like there’s reason I think to just be like this is what this team has always been why are you worried about it and I think on the other side of it it’s like okay

But does this mean this team is actually not that good because they can’t score in the half court cons unless one guy is healthy and rocking like it’s because it’s not even like the Mitchell Jazz teams Jackson where it’s like even when that kind melted down it was like and

They had all those Specialists it was like you kind of knew exactly what was going to work and what wasn’t and here it’s just like okay like what actually works sometimes and some of that I mean it’s the Garland injury but it’s also like I whatever was going to happen with

Moy I think it kind of feels like that has also been like stuffed into a locker for the rest of the year because he got hurt and it’s like anything that was burgeoning for him and I think there was stuff kind of coming the shooting numbers post like

Just in terms of like willingness to shoot was like a big deal that’s now just like okay like I don’t know what to make of that this year it’s going to be an incredibly small sample for for him the whole year it’s a weird place to be

It’s a very very weird place to be I mean that’s kind of how I feel about Darius because when he came into training camp he came into training camp with more weight and the first month and a half of the Season he played terrible because he decided to turn it over every

Other possession for some reason but yeah he he had like he had his highest percentage of finishing at The Rim he’s ever had in his career he was really comfortable taking it to the paint kind of ab absorbing contact in a way that he hadn’t at any other point in his career

I think of that game against the Sixers where he kept like driving into the paint at embiid you’re like this guy is like this is the next step for him and then when you you know when he broke his jaw and lost 12 pounds like all that

Progress was gone so it’s like that’s where it’s like on one hand it’s like yeah should the Cav be better when they don’t have their best player and it’s like yeah they should on paper if you said yeah you still have a Max caliber guard you still have an All-Star Center

Like yeah you should be better but like these circumstances kind of make it really hard to really fault them because it’s like this it’s just hasn’t been through a year in terms of injury luck and you know sometimes that’s that’s that’s the NBA like the NBA will make you what you

Are ultimately I think I think is part of the lesson right after this we’re going to end on something a little more light-hearted a little less serious a little less kind of grounded in this moment would you rather be the Cavs or the Wolves going forward that’s up for debate for

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Only exclusions apply EB guaranteed fit is only available to us customers Jackson just ask a point blank would you rather be the Cavs or the Wolves going forward Cavs I don’t I don’t think it’s really that close but I know that you’re a huge wolves fan so I

Don’t know every every game that I see the Wolves play it is I mean I you’re really this is like your step this is your stepping stone to lock on wolves so I really I really you know if you put me on your reference put me on your

Application I’ll give you a good reference because I’m just like I mean look I’m not out here defending the Rudy go bear trade uh my co-host of the just the just basketball show Brennon clean is like is like a defender of the goar trade at this point I’m like Brendan who

Hurt your soul like you make me feel like I’m well adjusted um so I I will say this about my Affinity for the Wolves it’s kind of it’s not even so much like a this team thing is I don’t know if you had this when you were

A kid Jackson but there’s always like other teams or players you kind of end up liking and holding a soft spot in your heart for Forever at least I do when I was a kid my favorite non- LeBron NBA player was Kevin Garnett I absolutely love that guy which probably

Just like in some ways probably isn’t very surprising considering uh I’m a little nuts sometimes um I love the wolves and like I also just like small Market cold weather City team that’s in the other conference is just like that’s catnip that’s catnip for me personally um this this question

To me is interesting because you could look at it a couple different ways if you’re going to tell me like who’s the guy you want for the next like six years as as your star player to like Bank your next six years to I think ant is likely

The pick just cuz he’s a little bit younger than Donovan and he’s like Donovan’s going to be 33 and six years and like ant will not even be 30 yet so there’s just like that where it’s like you have a longer Runway the reason almost not to pick them is a very boring

Moy well EV Moy exists have you forgot about him Mo’s got to prove some we’re kind of in like proven Zone with moob at this point like we just and he’s about to and he’s going to get paid and like there’s there’s a lot going on here but but yeah the reason to

Not pick the Wolves is that their cap situation is absolutely insane and the Cavs cap situation is going to get very expensive it already is a lot of money but it’s going to be unavoidably expensive going forward with Evan mob’s rookie scale and Garland’s contract and

If Mitchell re-ups and what do you do with Jared Allen who’s extension eligible and all this stuff it’s going to be G to be pricey wolves is like Yeah The Wolves is like at the doorstep of like absolute I don’t know how we pay for this territory I think kind of what

I mean I’m not I’m not as big on Anthony Edwards as everyone else I’m just gonna I’m just going to say that I don’t I don’t see him as the guy that everyone else does and I think what if you sh what if he shaved his head and just was

Like a like a bald shooting guard would that change your mind at all like he just kind of levels it up no no bald shooting guards are kind of like I see him going in that trajectory and that’s that’s like my least favorite type of player you you hate Michael Jordan got

It cool yeah yeah yeah and and anybody else who comes to your mind that fits that description um but so like I don’t I don’t know I like obviously you’d rather have Anthony Edwards than Donovan Mitchell going forward just because of the longevity you know like he’s a younger player he’s

Going to keep getting better but I I think Donovan Mitchell is a better player now when he’s fully healthy that’s not a take that other people believe um also the Ricky Rubio Jersey makes so much more sense now that I put it all together that you’re a that

You’re a that you’re a ter yeah yeah people it’s off screen right now in this but yeah there’s I mean look it’s also just like that guy that guy’s one of the most like fun players i’ ever watched in like the mental health and that Jersey was really cheap and he’s a timber

Wolves fan and he’s a timber wolves Legend yeah but yeah I think I think kind of they both have similar issues with I think they’re eventually going to have to move on from cat and I think the Cavs are eventually going to have to move on from one of their bigs and

Obviously if the Cavs did have to move on from one of their bigs you’re going to move on from Jared Allen even though he’s better right now so I think like I I think there’s some similarities there you’d probably say the Timberwolves just I I heard said the

Cals but maybe you’d say the Timberwolves if you didn’t feel confident about Donovan Mitchell going for it but if you feel confident about Donovan Mitchell Darius Garland and Evan Mobley together for the next 5 years I think you can build something around them that makes more sense and I think

Like this is the worst version of Darius garland that we’ve seen since 2021 I don’t think we’re going to keep seeing this and they’re still you know they’re still the third seed in the East I know they’re going to fall probably by the time the playoffs

Come I think it’s more likely they’ll be the fifth seed but it’s still they have an incredible floor that I think we shouldn’t be under selling just cuz they’re playing so bad right now you think the Cavs are going to be fifth that’s where you have them going

Right now you this is like bearing the lead it’s just it’s just like the the I think so yeah yeah it’s just like the the way the numbers have like run is just like they that all the projections just have them like you’re probably the third seed is like where this ends up

Now the weird part about that is like it just feels well it shifts a little bit between Miami and Indiana but it’s like you’re probably it’s there’s very different outcomes for you there but like the most likely outcome in terms of like the models is Cavs at three um yeah

And I mean that’s but the Cavs have a they’re on they’re on the road they have no back-to-back home games to like the last two games of the Season yeah Hornets though Hornets they get the Hornets like it feels like nine times between now and the end of the season

Real D yeah but yeah but one of them is like the last game the last game doesn’t count everyone knows that like if you’re counting on the last game you’re not going to you’re not going to get it yeah 81 Game season uh against al against PUK poku and in the

The g-league short well you think that you think that um you think that like was it two years ago they played the bucks on the last game they needed to win to get like the a seed instead of the nin seat or something like that and

The Bucks played like no one the nases the whole time so it’s like game 82 is mostly meaningless so like you’d rather play the you’d rather play the Hornets now and play like a good team for game 82 cuz like Boston last day of the regular season that’s the team you want

That’s the team you want but all that to say like yeah they’re probably falling I mean have a tough schedule and Donovan’s like from the sound of it like from what Wendy was saying today on his podcast doesn’t seem like Donovan’s coming back like next week so and there’s no and Max

Dreu has been out forever and JB keeps saying he’s making progress like he was questionable the first game and he didn’t have surgery so like what are we like are we seeing maxu again like there’s a lot Dean Wade Dean Wade was out for personal reasons because I

Believe he had a child but then he and then he had n soreness yeah and then he right like he’s been off for he’s been off since Travis the Travis Kelce game like I don’t even know if you can sell the bobblehead online anymore like that

Was so long ago you you you probably can you probably can you absolutely probably can um I will say this just the the the only thing about the coaches and injury reports if anyone is like ever expecting a coach to give useful information about injuries I’m just saying just don’t like

I I say that with all due respect to NBA head coaches and JB bicker staff who oftentimes will give you like good answers answered your questions I mean very frankly the other day about gambling and maybe too frankly that’s a that’s that’s another for discussion okay no no no no no no

I’m I will give you a rant off air Jackson that I don’t I because if I get started on the air we’ll be here for like much longer and and we don’t need to be let me I want to ask you one last Cavs woles thing before we go who’d be

The role guy You’ pick from either team if you’re going to do like a role player draft who would be like your rope okay that that’s your between both teams you’re just like that’s my that’s your role guy in all seriousness like be your

So N I think that’s yeah it’d be I think it’d be him I I think I would go Jaden McDaniels but I like the NZ read Pick I think it would be I think it would like Jaden just being the big Wing who shoots and can cut and defend really well would

I think be where I would go yeah I mean I kind of you just need guys who can give you something on both ends of the floor and shoot and play like before that seems like something that you would really like you know the Cavs have yeah and I

Think that’s I think he would just fit so well with this team because one of the things that we saw when his team was fully healthy is kind of of how Max dreu gives them a lot more versatility to run different lineups and if you threw in

Somebody like Nas Reed into this group it’d be like you could run a whole lot more lineups than you can now so that’s I think it’s like it was a no-brainer it wasn’t a no-brainer because Sam was on the board but you know other than that yeah you’re like Sam marrow obviously

Like part of the core for Jared all is being traded so you’re replacing with same right that I thought that was where things went wrong Z zero shot attempts after scoring uh 10 points in the second quarter zero shot attempts from then on out can’t like to go yeah

I’m I’m not going to subject myself to rewatching this game but I might go back and rewatch some clips just to see like what did they do something to take Merill out of the game and did that have an effect I’m generally like wondering that now after the fact getting and

Would maybe like to go back and reconsider that because he had you know zero shots as you said and that’s uh that’s not great Bob we’re going to end there though this has been locked on cast for Saturday March 23rd thanks to Jake Stevens Jackson thanks so much for

Stepping in for Ev for Evan I appreciate you for talking about this weird game and and weird C with me my friend no problem always happy to jump on back on Monday Cavs heat oh boy we’ll see what that looks like on Monday morning Cavs in South Beach on Sunday we’ll have it

All here cover for you on lock down Cavs enjoy your Weekend

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Friday, March 23, 2024) host Chris Manning (@cwmwrites, The Just Basketball Show, SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, Forbes Sports) is joined by Fear the Sword and Right Down Euclid contributor Jackson Flickinger to talk the Cavs’ loss to the Wolves, what ghost the Cavs a game they were leading at the half, Darius Garland’s play against the Wolves, if the Cavs’ halfcourt offense is a problem and what team they’d rather be going forward, the Cavaliers or the Wolves.

Jake Stephens produced this episode. Check out his latest EP “If We Fall Asleep Too Early” on Spotify or wherever you listen to music.
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