Cleveland Cavaliers announcer Tim Alcorn says the Cavs are the favorite in East

Cleveland Cavaliers announcer Tim Alcorn says the Cavs are the favorite in East

Then we’re gonna bring on Tim out to Cleveland Guardians. This, uh, next segment is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing, and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following in on the action, why not make it a little more thrilling. With Fandu, you get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburn at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuo to track my favorite matchups, and the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. New to Fanduo, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open up the FanDuo app today or visitanduo.com/UCSS. Wonderful. All right. — Where are
— we going? Tim is joining us. Awesome. The play by play voice of the Cavs on the radio. Hey man, — we out here cooking
— right. Maybe I can get Tim to get me, uh, the, the, uh, Cavs. I wanna get the Tim, I wanna get the, uh, Cleveland WNBA team play by play gig. Can you help me with this or? Another job you’re gonna take. I don’t know. Can you do both? Hey, listen. Oh, you know that you listen, that, that is a subsidy, but that is definitely. Can you do the WNBA and the NBA? Now it’s interesting you ask me that because Joe Tate, yes, when the Rockers were in Cleveland, Joe was the only. NBA guy that did the WNBA out of all the teams he was hit. He was it and he loved it. He, he is thrilled from up above that Cleveland will have a WNBA franchise again. — He loved calling Rockers
— basketball. You know that sets a precedence. You know, I like precedence. Well, we’ll see. — Jim’s not so sure
— about that. — The question is when there’s
— enough pressure sitting in the Joe Tate. The question is when the team arrives in 2028, can we steal Caitlyn Clark from Indiana? That’s the question. But think about the growth of the WNBA unbelievable and how spectacular it will be for Cleveland to have a WNBA franchise and Caitlin Clark and everybody else that has taken this league to a whole new level and now Cleveland will be a part of it. It’s gonna be amazing. Pretty exciting stuff. I had made the comparison that when Larry and Magic joined the league. Uh, league was not even close to where it is now. Their finals were on tape delay. And then the next thing you know, the Larry Magic rivalry blossoms into, now, obviously, it was fertile soil. Boston and LA, it couldn’t have been any better, but what they did collectively for the NBA I feel. Like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark and some others, uh, we’re seeing that now with the WNBA. — Would you agree with that
— analogy? Absolutely. No, they have done such a sensational job in taking the league to another level, marketing the league, the branding of the league, the quality of basketball, uh, that they have brought to the floor is simply amazing. Not to give folks uh PTSD, but, uh, when we were in Indiana for the playoff series, uh, the incredible excitement and fever for that team. There’s a waiting list for tickets. To see Caitlyn Clark in Indiana, — I
— see what you did there with fever. Uh, — let’s
— see what you did. I, I thought I’d slide that one right there. Great, — great
— analogy. We, we talked. Well, let’s go back there a little bit. Um, what was your overall takeaway from the Indiana series? Well, now that you’re a couple of months removed and you decompress a little bit, the sting isn’t as great when you see what Indiana did against the Knicks. And what they did against OKC and now you’re gonna forever think, boy, if Halliburton doesn’t get hurt, do they win the whole thing? I mean, he was off to a great start in game 7. So all that being said, Indiana was playing at such a level. And I think they, they sped the Cavs up. They forced the Cavs. To play their style of basketball and the Cavs didn’t respond. And so, uh, you take that, you learn from it. Obviously, you make some adjustments, uh, both perhaps in what they’re gonna do this year scheme wise and in personnel. You bring in a guy like Lonzo Ball. I think the Larry Nant signing is flying under the radar, but I think that’s gonna be a, a real good addition for this Cavalier team. So, uh, again, Looking back, Indiana was playing at such a high level. Cavs were banged up. DG, I think now we know, man, he was really hurting. Uh, and he just couldn’t bring it. Like you’re used to seeing DG bring it at the level that we’re accustomed to. Uh, they certainly sped Ty Jerome up. That was a pace that was just too quick for Ty Jerome and, and obviously give credit to Rick Carlisle and the coaching staff. They recognized that. And took advantage of it. Tim, what’s going on in the league right now is interesting because it seems like, OK, everybody’s gonna get a turn. You have a new champion every year. I can’t remember another, particularly in the NBA where you go back 20 years, it felt like the Lakers and Celtics had combined for like 60% of the total championships. Cavs and Warriors, not 4 and 4 straight. Now it seems like it’s just, it’s a passing of the baton. Now, I know AKC is well positioned to do this and perhaps become dynastic. Overall though, with ratings down and getting to middle of America markets in the finals, do you think that what’s going on league-wide big picture is good for the league, or could this be detrimental to some of the league’s growth? I think fans want competitive balance. I think they want to see different teams have an opportunity. There’s, there’s nothing worse. Doesn’t matter what the sport, whether you’re the Browns going into the training camp or the guardians in the spring training or whatever the case may be, where you think, We don’t have a shot. I think now in the NBA, a strategic move here, a strategic move there, or you go through the process, all of a sudden you realize there’s been 7 different champions in 7 years. And so, uh, and to the ratings, Jay Game 7 was the highest rated finals game that they’ve had in the last 67 years. Well, — it
— should
— have been. I mean, — it was a fantastic game
— and a great, you know, I think I, I was compared to, and it’s not fair. In the NFL, small markets, if you have Green Bay in New New Orleans or somebody smart, it doesn’t matter because it’s the one day out of the 365 that is appointment viewing. People cater parties for that game. You’re obviously not gonna do that for an NBA series because there’s 7 of them. But when you Lucky enough to get a series to that 7th game. Now, you kind of have that one day made for the title because the trophy is going to be awarded. So I, I think the saving graces for the series was that they got it to a 7. And the highest rated regular season game this year was not LeBron, was not Steph, was not Kevin Durant. It was the Cavs and OKC the first time they met at Rocket Arena. That was the highest rated regular season game of the year. So I think NBA fans, basketball fans appreciate great basketball. And when you go into a season where you look at 456 teams and go, they’ve got a shot at this, I think it adds more intrigue. I think it’s great for the league. I, I do too. I, I, I think, you know, we all are obsessed about TV ratings. People are watching things differently now and I, and how that’s being. Uh, how that’s being recognized by the ratings. I mean, who knows? But I, I think traditional rating systems both in radio. And in TV are becoming maybe not irrelevant, but less important than they used to be because of how people, especially young people, could, and young people like basketball. It’s just I could complain at 55, all I want that I, I want to see Hakeem Olajuwon and guys battling in the, in the paint. But young people like the NBA. They certainly like it more than baseball. There’s no doubt about it. You can’t compare anything to football. It’s a monster. It’s on its own island. So I think it is good because it, you, for so many years in the NBA it’d be like, it’s about 2 or 3, I don’t know why I’m looking at my watch, which I don’t have. Uh, you just think well there’s 2 or 3 teams that can win a title. Now, it’s like, I don’t even know who really is the favorite. I guess technically, In, in Vegas, the Cavs are the favorite to win the East, but, you know, I mean, there’s probably by the time we get to the season, there’s probably 67 teams in the East that could win it, right? And we saw that this year with Indiana coming out of the East, they got hot at the right time of the year and they were really hot from the 1st of the year on, just nobody was paying attention. Uh, in OKC certainly deserved to be in the NBA Finals. They had the 2nd or best record in the NBA. So, uh, but to your point, I, I like the fact that you can look at things and go, that team could get out, that team could get out. I mean, I think it adds a lot of intrigue to the playoffs. It adds intrigue to the season. Uh, and to your point, young fans, and certainly that’s what the NBA is after, they take in basketball in so many different ways. I know we experienced that on the audio side. I mean, we have a thing where people text in. — We get people
— texting, by the way, I love that. I love it. I think it’s it’s interesting. There was a game this year where they were blowing somebody out, and I’m like, why am I listening to this? And Honestly, the text, the fans being able to reach out and become part of a, I’ve never heard that before, but that’s what young people want. That’s what they want to do. A lot of interaction, but they come from all over the country. — They come from
— all over the world. That’s right. I mean, so it’s telling you it’s not just somebody in Cleveland listening on the radio. We love that. Don’t get me wrong, but they’re listening and they’re watching in every way. Imaginable. So that has changed everything, you know, you, you bring up that point. I think the best thing the NBA did is, uh, on YouTube, like YouTube has changed the way people watch stuff. Like I don’t, I have cable like, but I just watch YouTube like because it’s a la carte. I could watch my shows what I want and the NBA did a great job of not, uh, not violating, you know, how you got rules. the NFL, you violate, you can’t rebroadcast or reposition anything. The NBA said, no, we’ll lean into it. Go ahead. Please broadcast. Now you can watch an NBA game, highlights in 12 minutes, right? Right at your fingertips and it, and, and it changes the way um people can watch all over the world. See, what I always wonder about, Tim, you probably know inside the business, I always wonder about cannibalizing your broadcasts. Because for me, and, and listen, I do the same thing, especially with Major League Baseball. 12 minutes oftentimes in a day I don’t have 3, and baseball does the same thing. Sit down and watch the, uh, the Guardian’s White Sox game from yesterday. I watched this this morning in 8 minutes. I saw everything I needed to see. Does that cannibalize the bigger number and is, are the YouTube views enough to monetize their losses from the live broadcast side? Well, I mentioned Joe Tate earlier, and one of the great pieces of advice that Joe gave me so many years ago was If they, if you think people are listening to every word, every minute, you’re flat dead wrong. It, it, they, they listen in short little spurts. They’re in and out of their car. They’re in and out of a store. They’re in and out of whatever. And so you get listeners for 4 or 5 minutes at a time. His, his long view was that’s why you always give score and time reset, because people aren’t listening for 2.5, 3 hours. So I think to your point, Jay. They know people aren’t gonna sit down and probably watch for 3 hours. They probably listen on the radio side for 3 hours, but they want to get the, — the gist of the
— game. Get them where you can, yeah, — those
— numbers up and that’s. Their product. And so they want eyeballs and in my case, ears on their products. Tim, — you
— look at the east right now, we just talked about it a little bit. I mean, it felt like, you know, the West seems to have been dominant for so long. The East felt like it kind of caught it, especially at the top. But now, you know, Boston’s breaking up their team. Halliburton’s out for the year. Uh, the East is obviously wide open, you know, so even with the disappointment, it feels like the Cavs are in a good place. We know the Knicks are good, Atlanta’s coming up, Orlando’s coming up. What do you make of the East right now? Well, I certainly would think the Cavs are the favorites. And I’m not saying that just because I’m sitting here wearing my Cavs or Knicks, I think. I, I would think it would be the Cavs and the Knicks as far as 12, to your point, uh, without Halliburton, Indiana is just not gonna be the same team. Boston blew it up. Uh, so Atlanta is a team to watch, and I, I think now Orlando is a team to watch. We think Detroit is sort of on that clock too. You’ve got 3 teams. It’s fascinating how worse, and it goes back to my earlier point about how everybody seems to be getting a chance. You, if the, if Orlando and perhaps Detroit and Atlanta start now taking over the top of the east, just look at how in a decade, the power structure in the east went from Celtics, Celtics, Celtics to it’s just a rotation now. And I think for the league we league-wide approach, it does it. Brings excitement to all of these other cities that normally start a year and say, yeah, maybe we can make the playoffs. Now they’re saying, hey, maybe we can be the Indiana this year. And, and that does, I think, bring excitement. Oh, Jay, that’s a great point, and I think the NBA to its credit, in their collective bargaining agreement, which of course the players took part in with this 2nd apron. I don’t care how big of a billionaire you are. You get into that 2nd apron and it’s crippling. And so that has really leveled the playing field. You don’t see these super teams being constructed, or at least for long periods of time. Look at Boston right now. They’re like, Doesn’t matter. We gotta break this thing up because we’re just gonna get crushed in that second apron. So I think to your point, it’s now leveled the field so that these other teams can rise as the other teams — that are that have to break it
— down a little bit. Tim, I, I just to play devil’s advocate to that point, I agree with that, but on the flip side, we’re seeing, uh. Big money, Mark Cuban, the Lakers, the Celtics. We’re seeing teams change hands. Has it, have we gotten to the point where owners that are in it to win it and thought they could outspend are now saying, yeah, I don’t think that this is, this is not the business I want to be in anymore. Is there a danger in that too? Well, you just use the word business. It’s a business, any businessman’s gonna look at the bottom line or business person. There’s a lot of women in business. Any business person is gonna look at that P&L and go, OK, how much am I willing to pay in a tax or in a, you know, whatever the case may be, in a financial hit to say I’m, I’m backing out of this. I’m not getting that ROI. — I’m not
— it’s funny that you said that plastics is a business that for years and years and years had such a huge ROI. And you mentioned P&L, a lot of teams looking at profit versus loss. I, I had somebody use the plastics business and say, look, I made my fortune in plastics. If all of a sudden I was paying the kind of tax these NBA owners are paying, I would not be in plastics anymore. I, I go where the money is. And, and so now all that being said, what’s the Lakers price tag? $10 billion. So there’s always gonna be somebody that’s gonna say, wow, owning a pro sports team. That sounds fun. Let them have have a run at it for 4 or 5 years before they realize what the reality is, but they, they, they’re not going down in value, that’s for sure. And with the new TV deals that now come into play, I mean, the money is going to skyrocket on the Uh, we’ve mentioned the P&L profit loss on the revenue side, uh, but still, uh, the salaries are gonna be commensurate with the revenue, and so you’re looking at a huge, huge stake to have sports ownership. Well, you know, uh, speaking of the, the second apron, well, that’s the place the Cavs are, are now, uh, staunchly in at this point. We look at Evan Mobley, especially when you look at you guys making first team all NBA second team all NBA. When you start to get winning defensive player of the year, uh, you look at the amount of money he got to jump up to, and now Evan Mobley is making is one of the top guys in the league making the money. Darrius Garland is already on a max deal. We already know what Donovan Mitchell and, and how much money he’s getting. Are you looking at this Cavs team and saying, OK, this is kind of who they are gonna have to win with because of the restrictions and is now a, a bigger thought process on how you develop talent within and cheaper talent that you can, you know, like Sam Merrill that you can keep in order to stay relevant and stay competitive. I think that’s a fair point and Again, when you look at these rosters and the money, you know, how deep do you want to go into that second apron? As you said, it looks like the Cavaliers are gonna be there this year, but uh it, it creates that window, right? And I think the Cavs right now are looking at that window to say, How many shots are we gonna get at this? How many shots are we gonna have to, to have another parade in downtown Cleveland. So, the, the Mobley money, the Mitchell money, I mean, you ran through them all. So, uh, you’re gonna have an opportunity for a couple of years and then the Cavs, I think, will be in the same situation that other teams are looking at, saying how far. And we project this forward, but hey, that’s, that’s why Kobe Altman just got his contract extension. He’s got to figure it out and the rest of the front office. — They gotta figure that
— all out. Who benefits when Sam Preston, you realize the value now of an architect, architect of a team that can just wash your hands of one, the fact that they had 3 Hall of Fame. On their team at one time and he was faced with rebuilding after all those guys left and that he stayed the course, he made the moves. Now, not only are they the NBA champions, they’re well positioned. The, these guys are shy. They are young and, and so it might be a great time to be a really above the grade cut. General manager in the NBA because it’s, uh, it’s a it’s the commodity right now. Absolutely. And I think Kobe, to his credit, uh, has taken that prestige trek where you put the pieces together and, and you’re upfront with fans to say be patient, but we’re gonna bring in guys like Darius Garland and like Evan Mobley and then swing a deal a couple of years ago for guys like Ricky Rubio and then you take the big swing for Donovan Mitchell and piece by piece by You put this whole thing together. And once it all blossoms, you’ve got a very special basketball team. And so I, I think that template, uh, is one that has been successful for the Cavaliers and now they’ve got that window of opportunity. They can win a championship here in the next few years. I think the, I think the patience from the fans may have worn out a little though this, this season because there is some frustration for, you know, such a great regular season, it feels kind of meaningless after. The way they lost in the 2nd round, even though Indiana did have a great team. So, yeah, how long is this window? Is it 2 more years with Donovan? We shall see. But I think it’s gonna be a weird season for fans because they were so invested in how good the team was and it ended so badly. But Donovan Mitchell, to his credit, throughout the regular season, was saying, Regular season means nothing. every night he did. Hey, we’re thrilled 15 games, whatever, but it’s all about April and May. And nobody was more crushed than Donovan Mitchell. Uh, and again, I’m not gonna sit here and speak for those guys, but they hurt going into the offseason. They will, they will carry this with them and, and not only did they. It, it hurt the organization, believe me, it was, it was a bitter pill. And so now you come in with that resolve. I, I heard AC just talking to you guys about Boston took 6 years, 7 years to get there. So you’re gonna go through some painful steps, but no, I agree with you. It hurt. And so I’m not saying the Cavs are gonna win 64 games again this year. Probably not. But in the end, fans are gonna say, when we get to April and May. — It has to go
— with that. Yeah, you can’t do this 3 years in a row where you have a 2nd round bounce or even just a disappointment, you know, the, the, the feel in the city felt like, wow, this could end in the NBA Finals and then obviously anything can happen once you get there. But when you’re two steps from getting there, that, uh, I think, I think Bull’s right. A lot of the fans now are gonna look at the regular season, but they’re gonna say, well, the show me season, the Missouri season. It starts in April and — and
— and that’s it. — Do
— you think, um, in, in, in this kind of is the overarching thing. I don’t know, you’re inside the organization. Do you think that there’s a sort of a passion or or thought process that They wanna get this thing done without LeBron. LeBron is the, is, is a specter that is there and it’s almost like, it’s an enticing thing to go back down that road. But do you think that the, the front office, the team, uh, everybody involved, they have this desire to say we can do it by ourselves. They have the desire to get it done, period. That, I mean, whether it’s with LeBron, without LeBron, that’s what I say. A ring is a ring. A ring is a ring, and from Nick Barled to Kobe Altman to Kenny Atkinson, they’re relentless to bring a championship to Cleveland. So, Whatever guys are on that roster or aren’t on that roster, they just wanna have another parade. They wanna wear another ring and, and I think that’s what drives this organization. They truly — have that ambition to win a
— championship. So you’re saying it’s a possibility. Yeah, I, I, just one quick question about, I’m curious about Jalen Tyson because I was like I thought he showed some promise in his rookie season and I, I was a little surprised when they were so banged up that they never gave him an opportunity in meaningful minutes. Do you think he could get there this year to meaningful minutes? I do. In fact, again, it’s summer league, it’s, you know, you watched the game last night, you, you know, you watch what he’s done. This kid has potential. This, this young man can play and Kenny last year already had a rotation that was 9 or 10 deep. So he was comfortable, you know, with Ty Jerome and later DeAndre Hunter and those guys coming off the bench. Uh, but I know they really like Jalen Tyson, and I think he will find his way. To more minutes this year, not that I’m sitting here speaking for Kenny Atkins, but, uh, they like this kid and he can play and they like guys, you saw that with the drafting of Procter. They like guys that have numerous years of college basketball under their belt. And even with with Craig Porter Junior, they like guys that have been through some wars at the college level and so. Uh, I think you will see more of Tyson. OK, cool. Hey, Jim, thanks for stopping by, man. Good. Enjoy the rest of your offseason. It goes fast, doesn’t it? You blank and you’re like, wait a minute, we’re in October already. Now don’t let Jason Lloyd lie to you about how bad he hit him. He stinks. — We
— know we’re not gonna fall for it. Thanks for having me. Thank you. — Thank
— you very much. We appreciate it.

Cleveland Cavaliers radio announcer Tim Alcorn talks about where the NBA is right now, the current Cavs, and the Cavs being the favorite in the East.

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