Reacting to Kenny Atkinson’s latest comments on the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers

Reacting to Kenny Atkinson’s latest comments on the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers

What’s up ladies and gentlemen? Mikey McNuggets coming at you on a Wednesday morning here and it is the doldrums of summer when it comes to the NBA calendar. We saw a relatively notable move yesterday. I wouldn’t call it big with George Niang being traded from Boston to Utah. But that’s really all that’s happening. There is not a lot going on. This is the downtime post draft, post free agency. Most rosters, most coaching staffs minus the Cavs are set and now we are just simply awaiting training camp. But Chris Fedor caught up with Kenny Atinson and Darius Garland over the weekend at Darius Garland’s softball charity event and got some interesting information out of the head coach and the Cavs All-Star point guard that I wanted to react to real quick this morning. Before we do that, today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is the number one sports book in America. If you could think of betting on something, you can find a place to bet on that something with the FanDuel app. And right now, FanDuel is offering new customers an awesome promotion. If you bet $5 as a new customer, and that first $5 bet wins, you can win $150 in bonus bets to use at however you want. So, make sure you guys sign up at fanduel.comus. Get in on the game with FanDuel America’s number one sports book. So, as I was mentioning, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com caught up with Kenny Atinson and they talked a couple of different things. They hit on a number of different topics, including Darius’s rehab and when will be healthy. So, I want to read you a little snippet of the back and forth Q&A between Chris Fedor and Kenny Atinson. And I want you guys to tell me what catches your attention. The question first and foremost from Chris Fedor to Kenny Atinson was, “Do you expect Garland to be ready in full go for training camp?” Kenny said, “I don’t.” It’s not a medical opinion. That’s just my sense of this. Underpromise and overd deliver. We’re not going to rush or push this. If he’s ready, then great. I’ll rely on trainers Steve and Darius to tell me, but I don’t expect it. Chris then followed up, if Garland isn’t ready for camp, it would seem likely he also misses time to start the regular season. You don’t have Ty Jerome anymore, so what’s the plan at point guard? Kenny responded with, “Well, we have Don, we have Lonzo, we have Craig Porter. We are kind of covered. We also have Evan Mobley where we can throw it to him in a trail position and have him be a playmaker. I hate that this injury happened to Darius, but allows you to start figuring out things for the times he is not available. Last year in the playoffs, it just hit us and maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could have been. If we have to play a game without him, this will allow us to kind of experiment a little and see if we can find playmaking in other places. Last question and answer I want to read. Chris continued with his questioning, unreelishing the chance to experiment and tinker with lineups. Kenny said, “Remember Max started playmaking a little bit more and we found that little thing in our offense with him playing pick and roll? I didn’t know we could do that. Sometimes that’s how you discover new things in the NBA. We will discover something. It might be finding out that CP is better than we thought or Evan is ready to play more pick and roll than we thought. Something good will come of it.” End quote. Let me ask you, what was the big takeaway from what Kenny Atinson said in that back and forth between him and Chris Fedor? I’ll give you a sec before I give you my answer. A lot of information, I understand, but what was the big takeaway? Well, to me, it was obvious. It was simple. I’m going to read that line again. It might be finding out that CP Craig Border is better than we thought or emphasis right now Evan is ready to play more pick and roll than we thought. Something good will come of this guys. The 2025 2026 season is all about unlocking Evan Mobley and turning Evan Mobley into whatever the peak version of Evan Mobley could be so that when the playoffs roll around, the Cavaliers don’t have a option one and then a bunch of option twos. They have two number one options in Donovan and Evan. And as much as we may go through some growing pains in the regular season trying to figure out what Evan can and can’t handle in a primary playmak position, that is okay if the end goal is getting him comfortable in some of those spots for a playoff series. Evan is the Cavs biggest advantage. He’s their biggest X factor. A big man, preferably a five in Evans case, a four or five depending on the lineup, who can dribble, shoot, handle, and protect the rim, is the cheat code to unlocking positional flexibility in today’s NBA. And the Cavs have someone in Evan who just coming off this past season was a second team allNBA player, is one of the three or four best already among the likes of Wemi. I’ll put Giannis in that even though he’s not much of a shooter. Joic in a bit of a different way. Cadet Homegrren to a certain extent. Like he’s in that elite category of guys who can protect the rim and initiate offense from the five position. And if you look at most centers, even we’ll use Jared Allen for example, Evans co-partner. Jared can’t do 65% of the things Evan can do offensively. Can’t do some of the things Evan can do defensively. And Jared’s better than most centers in basketball. Is he a top 10 center? He’s right on the fringe. But that’s still better than twothirds of the league. So if you have two of those guys and you can put shooting and playmaking around Evan and not have a guy on the court who’s an anti-playmaker, an anti-shooter, that’s the Cav’s best weapon. And Kenny said in that short back and forth between him and Chris Fedor, that they could utilize Evan more as a playmaker from the trail position, which we saw him be incredibly effective at last year, by the way, and putting him in more pick and rolls as the ball handler, whether it’s an inverted pick and roll with Darius, Donovan, Lonzo, whoever, setting the screen, forcing defenses to choose. How do we cover that? If Evan can punish them with threes, then drop coverage doesn’t really work. if I think can get downhill and turn the corner and show some off that show off some of that advanced finishing we saw last year. Dunking with the left hand, finishing with either hand, the slow deceleration, the euro steps, using an increased strength that he puts on in terms of muscle this summer to body into guys and use his physicality. The opportunities are endless. And I’ve said this before. I think I’ve said it on this show. Maybe I’ve said it on UCSS. Told you Bush. Evan Mobley has every opportunity in the world to make that leap this season. Every opportunity. Donovan has said it. Kenny has said it. Darius has said it. I’ve said it. Jason said it. Wintor has said it. Zack Low said it. Bill Simmons has said it. Rillo said it. If you know basketball, you know the Cavs ceiling goes alongside Evan Moley’s growth. And this season, the Cavs have been outward forward and present with the fact that they’re all in on turning Evan Mobley into the best version of himself. I believe that could be top 10 player in the league, maybe even top five player in the league when it’s all said and done. What happened in one year? Maybe not. But he’s going to have to take a jump from where he is right now, which is in that 15 to 17ish range into that 5 6 7 8 9 10 range. And it’s possible. And if we don’t see an exponential jump from Evan, not a finished product at the end of next season, but another exponential jump like we saw in Kenny Atinson’s first year overseeing his development, then then maybe it won’t ever happen. And maybe Evan is maxed out around the player he is currently, which is a damn good player. Make no mistake, but I I do think, and I’ll die in this hill, and maybe I’ll be wrong in the long run, that his potential and his ceiling is legitimately elite. And he’s not an elite player yet. He’s a very, very good player, but he’s not an elite player yet. And for the Cavs to reach their full potential, Evan has to become elite. And if it’s not going to happen this year, I have my doubts that maybe it will ever happen. but he is going to put be put in every position possible and given the the keys to the car in every way imaginable to develop into that elite player on both ends of the court this upcoming season. I want to touch on something else. Kenny didn’t say this. Chris Fedor didn’t ask this, but I’ve seen some discourse on Twitter the last few days over who the Cavs starting three should be. Now, if you guys have followed UCSS, the Ultimate Cab show, whatever, you know my stance and what it has been in the past. last season when they traded for DeAndre Hunter. I thought it made sense to keep him coming off the bench in a reserve role so he could play alongside Tai Jerome, someone he played with at Virginia. And also, it’s it’s tough to put DeAndre into the starting lineup mid-season where he’s not 100% familiar with the Cavs philosophies, their styles, their terminology, and expect him to play off of Evan and Donovan and Jared and Darius as opposed to a guy like Max who doesn’t need the ball nearly as much and was more equipped to be the fifth option in an offensive sequence. DeAndre can create for himself. He doesn’t need those other guys to help create. Max relies on other guys to help him create good looks more than DeAndre Hunter. So, I thought it was a better fit in that sense. However, next season, and I’m not gonna die on this hill. I don’t think it’s the biggest deal in the world, but I would start DeAndre Hunter. I would. And I think at the end of the day, it comes down to something that is a premise as simple as this. You want your best five players to play as many minutes together as they can. And if you think that your closing lineup involves DeAndre playing alongside Jarrett and Evan, then they got to get as many minutes together throughout the regular season as they can. And if the other team’s going to start their best fiveman lineup, for the most part, most teams start their best fiveman lineup. There are the occasional teams that have a reserve in their closing lineup, kind of like the Cavs did last year, but for the most part, the five best players, the starting lineup is the team’s closing lineup as well. You want to counter that if you’re Cleveland with your best fiveman lineup, too. And I think at the end of the day, as much as I like Max Truce and I value what he brings to this team, I think the Cavs are at their best with DeAndre Hunter on the court. Whether that’s at the five, the four, excuse me, or the three, whether he’s at the four alongside Evan, the three alongside both bigs. Pick and choose, that’s your call. But he is part of their best closing five lineup. So, with that being said, I think I want to see him in the starting lineup. And also without Tai Jerome in this group or on this team really, you need some more playmaking off the bench and Max is a better playmaker than DeAndre is. DeAndre is a score first guy. His passing numbers have never been impressive. Kenny alluded to it. I’ve said it a couple times before. Stress has a really good pick and roll chemistry with both Evan Mobley and Jared Allen. He comes off that little handoff flip, turns the corner, and throws the lob up. We did a whole breakdown on it last year. And now if he’s coming off the bench as your secondary creator on that bench unit, he’s gonna get more opportunities to play in a pick and roll with those guys. So I think it may end up working out better for both of them in the long run. Lastly, we want to touch on the Darius Garland health issue. He was healthy enough to play in his softball game or at least host a charity softball event this weekend. He’s still recovering from that toe injury that kept him out of the Indiana series for the first two games. He also missed the last two games of the Miami series. And basically he opened up to Chris Fedor about the injury saying it hurt to do everything before the surgery. It hurt to walk. It hurt to talk. Not talk, that’s an exaggeration, but it hurt to essentially do anything. He couldn’t push off it. He couldn’t do much of anything. He was basically limited to standardized movements this off season. He’s been focusing on lifting weights, getting stronger. And that’s kind of what I want to focus on with this. Daryus said when he’s healthy, he’s healthy. He doesn’t want to rush it. The Caps shouldn’t rush it. They don’t need him for the start of the season. They need Darius at 100% for the playoffs, not 100% for opening night. So, if he misses the first four weeks, fine. If he misses the first eight weeks, fine. Cavs need him for the second half of the season in the playoffs. Way more they need him for the first four, five, six, seven, eight games, whatever that number is. But if Darius does put on some muscle this summer, how does that help his game? How would that help improve the Cavaliers as a team? Well, when you watch Darius play, he’s so shifty and quick that on one level, I’m a little hesitant to have Darius put on too much muscle because it would take away what he’s best at, which is that stop start, hesitation, shifty, keep the defense on its heels, explosive burst. But sometimes guys who are on the smaller level like Darius are able to put on muscle and still keep most of their agility, quickness, and speed because their body just isn’t used to having that extra explosiveness. And while they may be a little heavier overall, they’re more explosive which counteracts the extra weight. So I think Darius actually may be just as quick with an extra five, six pounds of muscle, maybe more. I have no idea how much he’s actually put on. And that would not negate his ability to navigate ball screens to get in and out around defenses like you’re seeing right there to be just a half step quicker than most defenders because that’s what makes Derrick special, right? That his ability to get in the paint, his ability to pass, and his ability to kind of finish. He was the Cavs most clutch player last season. So, if he adds a little muscle, it obviously helps him on the defensive end. He’ll still be targeted. There’s nothing Darius can do. Daryus could be 245 pounds with pure muscle. he would still be targeted because he’s the smallest guy on the court. Just it is what it is from a height perspective. Guys are always going to be able to shoot over Darius Garland. But if he’s stronger, he can help push guys off spots. They won’t be able to post him up as easily. He’ll be able to battle back and it’ll be tougher for it to be screened. All that stuff plays a role in it. From an offensive standpoint, he’s already good at finessing his way through traffic with five. I’m just going to use five or six as the arbitrary number. It could be seven eight. It could be 12. I have no idea how much he’s put on, but let’s say he puts on five, six pounds. He’s not just a finesse finisher anymore. He could be more of a power finisher and he can be more of a guy that plays through contact, not playing around contact. And when you have the option to do either, the best players can do either. LeBron can play through contact or when he wants to, he can finesse his way through. Anthony Edwards should play through contact every time. My big knock on is he plays away from contact because he’s so athletic. He can usually out jump the defender trying to get in his way. Darius is not a freak athlete in that realm. Not by any means. But but if he has the ability at times to then play through contact, it takes defenders initial thought process of how to defend him when he’s driving and puts them into a frenzy or into a pickle. Do I play the power? Do I stay jumping straight up? And that allows Darius to finesse his way through. Now, if he’s strong enough and they expect the finesse and they jump back, well then Darius goes right to their chest and finishes. And when you get both of those to happen, that’s when the float game comes in. The defense is on its heels, backpedaling, unsure of what Darius is going to do offensively, that’s when Darius stops on a dime and hits that little floater, that little hesitation pullup. anything in that short mid-range game that he was one of the most effective players in basketball at last season. According to cleaning the glass in the short mid-range area, so that not a layup, but in between free throw line and outside of the restricted area, he ranked in the top 85th percentile among all qualified guards in his effectiveness and efficiency at those shots. So Darius putting on muscle. It’s not going to unlock a whole another level to Darius’s game, but I do think it can refine some of the things that make Darius special and make some of the things that make him in uh an all-star caliber point guard even better. Will it put him in the conversation with SGA and Luca and those guys? Will it make him a top three point guard? No. No. No. No. No. No. No. He has his limitations, but he is an all-star caliber point guard. it helps him in the East, but nevertheless, he is an all-star caliber point guard that I do still think can improve. And if he gets a little better defensively and becomes a little more unpredictable offensively and a little more versatile in that 8 foot and in range, I think we can see the best version of Darius yet next season, especially if you have Evan in attack mode, which takes even more pressure off Darius. That’s going to wrap it up for the Ultimate Cab show this morning. We’ll see you on UCSS coming up at 11:00 a.m. It is myself, Jason, and Bull on the panel. I hope you tune in. For now, though, I’m Mikey McNuggets, and remember, go Cavs. Peace.

Kenny Atkinson sat down with Chris Fedor this weekend to discuss a number of topics related to the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Evan Mobley playing point guard? Darius Garland’s health. Lonzo Ball & Max Strus as secondary playmakers.

Coach said a lot, so let’s break it down on this episode of the Ultimate Cavs Show.

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