Do you buy the LeBron James to the Cavs hype & what Browns’ story isn’t getting enough attention?

Do you buy the LeBron James to the Cavs hype & what Browns’ story isn’t getting enough attention?

Happy 4th of July from the Behind the Glass crew. Mikey McNuggets, Earl the Pearl, Anthony Anteneelli coming at you. There is no UCSS today in full because it is the 4th of July. But right now as we record this, it’s Thursday morning as you guys see it. It is Friday, July 4th morning. The behind the glass crew figure. You guys needed some fresh new content to dive into, even on a holiday. Earl is at the crib, his inh home studio. Anony’s about four feet to my right, but on a different laptop. What’s up, man? So, let’s get into it. It’s been a while since behind the glass, guys. It’s been too long, actually, if I don’t say so myself. We got to bring it back, man. We got to bring it back once a week. Give get the fans what they want. I’m trying to finish my setup at home. Uh shout out to Nick for still building a bookshelf for me. I’m waiting on it. As soon as that gets set up, I’m good to go.
All right, Nick. The pressure’s on and just called you out in front of a live uh live audience. So, if you weren’t working fast enough, uh get on it. Guys, before we dive into some LeBron stuff, some Guardian stuff, and a little bit of Brown stuff, what is a staple in the Malden family tree household tradition? What is a Fourth of July staple for you, Earl?
Oh, barbecue ribs. Barbecue ribs. You know, I got some I got some grill masters in my family. Uh they can throw down, you know, they can do the ribs with the sauce, ribs without the sauce because the seasoning be so good. So, barbecue ribs is definitely a staple for the Fourth of July and every single holiday. Uh, I think I might take a ride downtown and watch the fireworks behind Honeyton Bank Field. Who knows? No, we don’t do anything for Fourth of July really in my family. I I had a firework blow up almost in my hands when I was like 13. So, I don’t mess with them anymore. I I usually just stay in and watch movies on Fourth of July now. What? Tell us that story. You can’t bury the lead. We would have led with Fourth of July fireworks. Anthony Pierre Paul over here. What’s I was about to say a
I was at my cousin’s house in North Royaltton. And if you’ve ever been to North Royaltton, there’s huge backyards. So, we would always fire off fireworks. Uh, one of them, I don’t know which cousin, put the mortar in upside down. And when it fizzled, it looked like it was a dud mortar. And we had had plenty of duds tonight. So, we’re like, “All right, let’s just go grab it.” Me and my uncle went to go grab it. Boom. All over the yard. I couldn’t All I could see was green for probably about like five, six minutes. It was horrifying. And so, I won’t go near fireworks anymore.
Fair enough. And that’s it’s a good reminder for everyone out there. In all seriousness, be safe if you’re using fireworks. Handle them with caution. Uh and and just be make sure you’re aware of your surroundings. But we’re going to go for the next 15 20 minutes here talking all Cleveland sports. Let’s start with the Cavaliers and LeBron James. Though, guys, this is Thursday morning. Mind you, if stuff changes between Thursday morning at 9:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Friday when you’re watching this, we can’t change what we’ve already said in the past. But we are going off the information that we currently have. There were pictures of LeBron allegedly golfing in Cleveland with a welcome home hat.
Earl,
there have been rumors from the highest of INBA reporters, insiders saying that there is some friction between LeBron and the Lakers. It is a new spot for LeBron on an expiring deal with a team being built around another superstar instead of him. We’ve had preliminary discussions prior to this most recent report about should the Cavs go get LeBron, what would it take, what would it be worth? But Earl, now that it feels like the heat is as high as it’s ever been on the LeBron out of LA rumors, do you think that we’ll actually get, not whether they should or shouldn’t, but do you think we actually will get a LeBron farewell tour with the Cleveland Cavaliers?
I don’t see it happening. I know that’s something that we really want, but I don’t see it happening. The reality of of the situation is the Cleveland Cavaliers will have to give up a hall to acquire LeBron James in a trade. It would take multiple teams, multiple draft picks, etc. You’re talking about losing guys like Jared Allen, Darius Garland, possibly Max Truce, or DeAndre Hunter to add LeBron James to what we have now. And yeah, LeBron James is LeBron. It’s appealing. We know in the Eastern Conference is wide open. We know here in the city of Cleveland that pretty much LeBron James damn near guarantees a trip to the NBA Finals. But with all of that being said, you pointed out to me a couple days ago that, you know, even LeBron being as great as he is, he has lost in the first round two straight years. Now, coming here to Cleveland, he won’t be asked to do as much as he was asked to do in LA, even with Luca on his team. But I don’t see it being the case. I think the only way I seeing that truly being, you know, a scenario, is if he get the Lakers to vile his contract. you know, he still get his money and he makes a choice on his own to come back to Cleveland on a veteran veterans minimum and and face a championship. I can’t see a a world, Mike Ant, where LeBron, you know, would even sign off on a trade that would decimate this roster knowing that his goal is to chase a championship. I think the best case scenario for him, if that’s something that he truly wants, whether it’s Cleveland or anywhere else, ask the Lakers to buy you out. you still get your money and you sign a veteran contract somewhere else. The minimum veteran contract somewhere else.
Yeah, I agree. I I actually am really hoping he gets bought out. Um I don’t know if he’ll take a veteran minimum. I don’t know if he’ll do the buyout. I don’t understand though if he really wants to compete for a championship why he would want to go to a team and decimate them through a trade. Like no matter how many teams get involved, somebody’s giving up something for him and it’s probably going to be a lot. So, if he gets bought out and he chooses to come back to Cleveland, I’m I’m so for it. I like 2016 me just wants to see him retire here real bad. Like, I grew up with LeBron. He got drafted in what 03. I was born in 97. I don’t know the NBA really without him. So, getting to see his last year here and having the chance to go to any home game and see him in a Cavs uniform one more time, I’m I’m here for it. I hope it’s a buyout and I hope he chooses Cleveland. So there LeBron is is trying to bake his cake and eat it too. Like if he says it’s all about championships, then you don’t opt into a $52 million contract with the Lakers. You sign a smaller deal maybe for two, three years and I don’t know, let’s say three years 75 million that gives them $25 million to use on other players. If a team wants to trade for LeBron because of his contract, you can’t just give up spare parts. like you have to match essentially in the Cavs scenario, not only match, but go over the salary it would take to get LeBron to then make it financially feasible via the second apron. And what’s the incentive for LA to buy him out? Like, hey, LeBron, just go. We’re going to trade a top 10 player in the league for nothing. Like, when does that ever happen in the history of the world? Unless he decides to say, uh, Jeie and Rob Pelinka, I’m going to make your life a living hell every single night. which, you know, I don’t think LeBron’s in a scenario, we know how much his legacy means to him to to tarnish his own legacy like that. I kind of all for it for the right deal. I’ve seen a couple out there that I like. I’ve seen a couple deals out there that I think make absolutely no sense for Cleveland. I wouldn’t mortgage the entire future for him, but I can talk myself into in a down Eastern Conference. Adding LeBron to a core of Donovan and Evan would solidify your status as the favorite, but with LeBron comes great expectations. Then if you fail with LeBron, then everything’s up in the air. So I can be swayed either way. But at the end of the day, guys, and we’ll move on to our next topic in a sec. LeBron’s done this every time his contract runs out. He wants the leverage. He loves this. Like, he loves being the talk of the NBA. And there’s nothing wrong with that. He’s earned that right. He’s either the best or the second best player in the history of the universe. And if he feels like even at this stage of his career, he should be the focal point, more power to you, man. You have earned that right. But at the end of the day, this feels more like a leverage play for LeBron than anything else. Uh the Fourth of July, known for fireworks, even if Anthony does not participate. There’s not a ton of fireworks right now when it comes to the Cleveland Guardians. They’ve lost six in a row. They lost on Wednesday night to the Chicago Cubs. They played Thursday night again. Once again, we’re recording Thursday morning, so we don’t know exactly what happened tonight. But Ann, are you just you’re at the game last Sunday. Are you just out on the guards at this point? Is is it What’s it going to take to get you back in? doing something productive at the trade deadline. If it turns out to be another bells and you know year where we just get rid of everybody at the end of the deadline, I I’ll I’m out and I’ll stay out. The energy in that stadium last Sunday against the Cardinals was pitiful. Understandably, I I mean, I left in the top of the eighth. I think the final score was 7 nothing. Uh it was 5 nothing when I left. The only people that brought any energy in that stadium were the Cardinals fans. And there was a lot of them. There’s a lot of Cardinals fans right on that first baseline behind the dugout and they were making a lot of noise the whole time. It’s It is just one of those years, right? Like it’s one of the down years. I have no real interest in watching them other than when stuff we need for the show. And it’s tough. It sucks because it’s really our only entertainment other than watching the Browns drama unfold. So, I hope they can turn it around and decide to be buyers at the deadline, but I don’t see it happening right now. Uh, I’m out on the Guardians. I think the only thing that will buy me back in at this point of the season if they call up CJ Kus and uh and Chase the Lauder. You know, at this point, I don’t even see us, you know, making the playoffs as a wild card team. There’s no shot at the division title. The season is a wash. We are an average or a below average baseball team. So, the only thing at this point that can really get me interested is seeing these young guys who, you know, could potentially, you know, add value to this to this lineup for the rest of the season and hopefully going into next year. I think what has me out on the Guardians is they keep feeding us BS. Chris Antinetti and Steven V. you know, when I every time that they cut and Andre KN does, you know, an interview and he’s talking to Chris Antinetti and Antinetti is just preaching patience and, you know, just give it a little bit more time and, you know, trusting the young guys that’s already in the big leagues right now when they’ve proven not to really add any value to the roster, it’s frustrating. And then when your skipper comes out and keeps hammer on the fact that this team is a good baseball team and this team has played competitive baseball minus a few weeks in the season, it’s like you’re not holding your players accountable and you feeding the fan base BS. And so yeah, I am out. I think the only way I have interest is I’ll be excited to see the young guys get an opportunity to show what they can do in the big leagues.
Philosophically speaking, I’m out. I I don’t think you can win a championship with the roster filled with this many guys who just aren’t power hitters and their pitching, particularly the starting pitching, hasn’t been nearly good enough. And the young guys haven’t taken the steps forward to where I think they could overcome a lackluster uh lineup. But physically, in reality, in my actual day-to-day life, no, I’m not out because I love going to Guardians games on a Friday and Saturday night in the summer. It’s the best place to be in the entire city and there’s nothing else going on. And except for two weeks from now when summer league’s going on, we are sportsless in Cleveland until August, which gives us basically an entire month and a half before the preseason starts, we have nothing else to watch. So, philosophically speaking, big picture, yeah, I’m I’m unfortunately out on the Guardians. But in the macro for right now, I’m still going to go to the game on on Saturday this weekend. And I’m still going to go to the game uh next when are they back again? I got tickets for none later this month. It’s when I get back from Italy, so later in the month because Progressive Field’s awesome and I know you were there and I know you said there was no energy and Earl, I know we’ve gone a couple games together and I’m not sure if you’ve been to a game this year or not.
I haven’t. It’s still the most fun place to do it. It’s still the most fun way to spend a Friday night in the entire city, man. Progressive Field, regardless of the product on the field, is one of the top baseball atmospheres for a fan in the entire major league circuit. And if you haven’t got to a game this year, I highly recommend it because there are other ways to entertain yourself inside Progressive than watching that lineup. Eat nine hot dogs, drink nine beers.
Did you do that ant when you went? Did you do the 99?
No, it’s too expensive to do it. But I I have a workaround that I have pitched to my friend that wants to do it with me.
Dollar dog night?
No. No, I uh live stream it instead and just watch on TV instead of actually going to the ballpark.
That way I can cook nine hot dogs.
Fair. Do you think you could do the 999 challenge, girl? Like take take the price out of it. Just in theory do a 999 challenge.
I’m not a big big beer drinker. Like on a dollar night, price out. Yeah. The price aside, probably not nine. I probably get about five,
maybe six.
Uh if I’m with my boys, you know how you kind of clock into a different mindset. I’m not a big beer drinker, but I can throw some beers back if I if I was really put to the challenge to do so.
I’d do so. Just make sure I got a designated driver. But yeah, you better
drinking the nine beers, I think, is the easy part. I don’t know if I could eat nine hot dogs. That’s the opposite part.
Yeah.
The thing is it’s like nine beers isn’t that much. I just get full off beer. Like I don’t know if I’d have a single extra ounce of space in my stomach. I do nine hot dogs easy. I could eat like m I know I’m skinny, but I could eat like a mad man. But nine beers of liquid in my stomach, especially in these new faster games. Yeah, this should be a lot easier before the pitch clock three and a half hours. You know, there the new pitch clock more than anything else may have hurt the 999 challenge. Yeah, you got 66% of the time. Yeah, I was just watching a live stream of two Reds fans doing it last night. That’s why cued the live stream idea for me and the one just looked it was top of the eighth and he barely had his eyes open.
You know, you know what though? I think that’s part of the frustration of of this team being so bad this summer is because summertime in Cleveland is beautiful and we have a beautiful ballpark and the Guardians fan experience is one of the best. I would go Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Browns as far as the fan experience and what the fans get. And even without a competitive team, you could still take your family out there, enjoy a ball game and have some fun. But man, it would be so much more hype, so much better if they actually gave us a quality product on a baseball diamond. And I think that coming off last year when we seen the moves that they made, it was all about dumping salary. It was not about adding to the roster. And here we are with the Cleveland Guardians pulling the Cleveland Browns move where they want to, you know, throw all this PR about a renovated stadium, all this PR about brand new uniforms, and you did nothing to upgrade the roster to make the roster quality. Like what are we doing really? Like what the hell are we doing here? I’d actually go as far to say as the Guardians are the number one experience in town because I’m with Bull on the argument that the Q sorry Rocket is it’s too loud during games. They just need to turn it down a little bit and then it’ be number one.
See, me and Mike love it. Yeah. No, I like I like the Guardians. It’s breezy. It’s quiet. I can just watch the game and relax. Like
I actually would agree with Ant. I think I like the Guardians fan experience better just cuz it’s outside and on a nice day. Like when it’s not nice, being in a ballpark I’m not a fan of. But on a nice summer night with a nice little breeze rolling through the outfield, drinking a beer or a sun cruise or whatever you’re drinking
outside beats drinking the exact same drink inside. So I I think I would just lean basically if you took the Cavs and it was make an outdoor arena, you cut the top off a Rocket Arena, then maybe I’d switch my answer, Earl. But I think I just always prefer being out. So that’s why this winter was so miserable. And the fact that we didn’t get summer weather until like two weeks ago, it’s driving me nuts. Man,
it’s funny cuz I think Bull went to a game with us. Steve Becker went to a game with us and both times those men sat next to me and Mike was like, “Oh my god, it’s loud.” You got to be ready for it. Jason says it’s one of the loudest stadium environments on between the crowd, the DJ, the entire entertainment factor that the the stadium pumps in is one of the loudest in the league and he’s been all 30 and probably more because he’s old as hell. Uh NBA stadiums. He’s been in some that aren’t even standing anymore. But uh let’s talk Browns touch on them yet, guys. We are just under three weeks till training camp. Earl, as we get through the next three weeks, we probably won’t hear, we probably won’t learn, we probably won’t develop any new identities, trends, themes that we haven’t already discussed at Nauseium, but is there something you think we haven’t talked nearly enough about when it comes to the Browns in anticipation of this 2025 training camp? Believe it or not, I think it’s the kicker situation. We we spent a lot of time on every other position group, but I go back to last season, right? And I got to go back and double check the numbers, but the Browns had about seven or eight games to where the margin of victory was less than a touchdown. Uh probably like four points. And I think about some of those games, watching those games live and you know, we would score a touchdown or miss the extra point or we would miss 25 30 yard field goals and then the Browns ended up losing by three or four points. And believe it or not, the Browns probably could have had three or four mill win more wins last season if the kicking game was was was decent. Andrew Barry made the decision by a touchdown or less by the way.
Yeah. Like Andrew Barry made the decision to sign Dustin Hopkins to this crazy contract extension coming off the best season of his career. And if you look out throughout his career, it it almost seemed like Dustin Hopkins regressed to the mean again. And so to me, when you invest that much money into a kicker and you’re not getting return on investment, and then you you you cut a veteran defensive lineman, which probably had nothing to do with them adding another kicker, but the fact that you brought another kicker in, like it’s something that we need to pay attention to because you drafted a kicker in the fourth round, that didn’t work out. You you you caught lightning in the bottle with in one year with Dustin Hopkins. Last year, just seemed like he got back to being a regular old kicker. And we don’t know about that position going forward. Quite frankly, I think not just the kicker, but Bubba Ventron in that special teams unit has not been all that great. And when Kevin Stfansky hired him, you know, he touted Bubba as the special teams guru. I don’t think we’ve had many kickoff return, punt return, touchdowns. We didn’t had the block field goal under under his tenure, but we can get more from the kicker position and from that unit overall in my in my opinion. Yeah, I don’t think there’s one rock that we haven’t probably overturned other than the kickers. But my biggest concern about like the quarterback situation that I haven’t gotten to speak on yet since we haven’t done behind the glass, I don’t know how you’re going to rotate in Dylan Gabriel efficiently and effectively with him being left-handed in this system because with a left-handed quarterback and Mike, you’re left-handed. You know as well as I do, everything in the world is kind of like backwards for us at some point. So, I’m just curious to like how they’re managing that and how it could genuinely affect what we see out of Gabriel.
Yeah. I think the one thing we haven’t talked nearly enough about is Mason Graham is the fifth overall pick. Like when is the last time we’ve had a number a first round pick a we have a first round pick in three years. We have a guy not just a first round pick, but a top five pick. A guy that was a two-time all-American at a premium position. We barely talk about the guy. And I know it’s hard to talk about the guy when he’s not in pads and defensive tackles and offensive linemen and stuff like that in in OTAAS and rookie camp. Don’t have a ton of highlights and you’re not really evaluating anything like you can with quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, etc. But this dude was a top five pick. One of five top five selected defensive tackles in the last basically two decades in the NFL. And the historical track record says guys who were drafted that high at that position go on to have these illustrious careers, their resume stacked with provos and all pro uh selections and we barely have spent any time on Mason Graham and I feel like we’ve done him a disservice, but I also don’t know how we have those discussions until he puts on pads and we see him actually operate. But the Browns had a top five pick at a premium position when the historical precedent says guys drafted at that position at that spot in the draft turn out to be really damn good football players and all the attention’s on the quarterback battle because at the end of the day nothing matters unless you have that quarterback. So I think the story we’ve been missing most is the 300 pounder sitting right in front of us which is the dopey looking white boy from Avon as Bull said who could turn out to be a multi-time allp pro. Mason Graham, I am sorry. You will get your love in due time. But for now, Browns got to figure out their quarterback situation. Earl, any last thoughts before we wrap up here for impromptu July 4th edition of Behind the Glass? Uh, just happy 4th of July to everybody that’s watching this program and to your family. Be safe, have some fun. Anytime the holidays come around, it kind of creates a moment to spend time with family, and family is important. So, happy holidays to you all. Enjoy the fourth, be safe, and enjoy your family. and
enjoy your holidays and be safe around fireworks, guys. Like, have fun. Eat a hot dog and a rack of ribs for us. That’s going to wrap it up for this behind the glass fourth of July edition. We are back on Monday with your regularly scheduled UCSS program for the Pearl. Anthony Antelli aka A. Now, I am Mikey McNuggets and we will see y’all next week. Have a great weekend and enjoy. Peace. Peace.

The chatter is real: trade rumors linking LeBron James to a potential return to the Cleveland Cavaliers have resurfaced. He has opted into the final year of his contract, creating speculation as the Lakers shift focus to Luka Dončić. While teams like the Knicks are seen as more viable landing spots due to financial flexibility, the Cavs are also sneaking into the conversation thanks to loyalty, nostalgia, and a young supporting cast. But league sources caution: Cleveland’s financial constraints and cap structure make this move exceptionally difficult. Some insiders suggest the Cavaliers aren’t truly interested unless major cap-clearing moves are made

While national attention focuses intensely on the quarterback battle between Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, one story flying under the radar is the Browns’ identity crisis beyond QB play. Analysts are raising alarms about Cleveland’s difficult 2025 schedule and the risk of muddling through a constant rotation at QB without a true answer emerging. ESPN’s projections show the Browns as one of the likeliest teams to land the No. 1 pick in the 2026 Draft. That looming uncertainty—structural and strategic—deserves more focus than just the hype around the rookie passers.

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The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Produced by Mike Lucas, Anthony Antonelli, and Earl Mauldin. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, and Tyvis Powell.