00:00I mean, Kenny's not actually fired, not yet anyway.
00:02They got hammered last night by the Charlotte Hornets.
00:08But for all the things about Kenny Atkinson getting canned,
00:10we'll get back to the Browns coming up.
00:11They ain't going anywhere right now.
00:13Have a day off.
00:14We've got a trade deadline coming up.
00:16We've been wanting to get this off our chest.
00:18Cam's got hammered last night.
00:20I know what was the final tally?
00:22Only by 12.
00:22They were down by over 30 at one point.
00:25To a team they've beaten eight straight times.
00:26That a team that did not have their starting forward,
00:28did not have Konkanupal.
00:30And they still went out there and got smashed.
00:32They gave up 23 three-pointers to this team.
00:35And the other thing was, if you didn't get to see it on DAZN,
00:38and I don't know why you'd buy DAZN right now, they're under .500.
00:41So I don't know if it's...
00:42I'm on the free trial, and it's decision time.
00:45I think your decision's pretty damn clear right now.
00:48Well, hold on.
00:49It kicks in if I don't do anything by...
00:55You know what?
00:55I've got to find out my own deadline.
00:57We're talking about the NFL trade deadline.
00:58I have my DAZN deadline.
01:02My free trial deadline.
01:03Your DAZN line.
01:03So if it started, it was a seven-day.
01:06I like that.
01:07We should make that a graphic immediately.
01:09It was real damn good.
01:10If I started my free subscription, my free trial period on Saturday night,
01:17minutes before the Knicks game when my other passwords didn't work,
01:21so that's Saturday.
01:22But I don't think you get minutes up to the minute.
01:26Okay.
01:27So that was day one of my free trial at 7 o'clock at night or 8 o'clock at
01:32night.
01:32That was Saturday.
01:34So Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
01:38I have until Saturday.
01:39Sound like the Mooner Knights.
01:40The Saturday will be...
01:44You know, Andrew Brand always says deadline spur action.
01:48But did that game last night spur action for me?
01:52I think you just mark it down in your calendar going,
01:54when's the last day you said it was again?
01:57Saturday.
01:57Okay.
01:57I think you mark it down in your calendar when you get rid of the zone.
02:00I love how I needed to go through the days of the week to know what seven days
02:03from Saturday would be.
02:04There's been a lot of booze.
02:05You get the Knicks game, but you don't because that's on ESPN.
02:07It's ESPN.
02:08That's a non-factor.
02:08And then you get Miami on the road.
02:12So that could be it.
02:13Yeah, you pulled the trigger too early on this.
02:16Next week was the window.
02:19I circled next week because that's when you maximize.
02:21Did you do your free subscription?
02:23That's when you maximize.
02:24But now it's like, why even bother?
02:27This is turning into an all-time backfire.
02:30Not only are you losing, you've got to pay for the privilege of watching.
02:33Okay.
02:34Because if I do nothing, it's $19.99 that will be added to my account.
02:39Monthly.
02:41On Saturdays.
02:43And if they were over .500, it wouldn't be like you even noticed.
02:47If they weren't getting blown out every other game, it would be like you wouldn't even notice.
02:51But they are, and they look like they don't care.
02:54And my issue is like, hey, if you guys want to fire Kenny Atkinson, go right on ahead.
02:58But is Kenny Atkinson, is that going to stop James Harden from walking around?
03:04Is that going to stop Peyton Watson from looking listless right now?
03:06Is that going to stop Donovan Mitchell from looking like he has burst?
03:10Is that going to stop any of the other problems that we've had where nobody is interested in playing defense
03:14and we can't hit a free throw for crying out loud?
03:16Is that really going to cure everything?
03:18Because you can fire Kenny Atkinson just like you fired J.B. Pickerstaff before.
03:23And you can make Johnny Bryant the head coach.
03:25Or you can do what a lot of people are saying.
03:26I think some people have been listening to you, going, hey, what's the Mad Butcher doing right now?
03:31Okay, he'll run them into the ground, but at least they'll try in the regular season.
03:35Or are we going to start looking at the guy who was the architect of this whole thing?
03:38Well, here's the thing.
03:39I want to be fair to Kobe Altman and say that—
03:42I think we've been pretty damn fair to Kobe Altman for a decade plus now.
03:46Well, so I saw a bunch, obviously, online.
03:48Everybody's showing the same play where James Harden is glued to the ground
03:52while the Hornets move the ball around, get a wide-open three.
03:56I'd say, also, you might want to look at Donovan Mitchell on that possession and many others
04:00and say that right now James Harden's actually taking a lot of people off the hook here.
04:03I've seen refrigerators move better.
04:05Well, Harden right now is letting a lot of people off the hook
04:07because the full brunt of this is right now—
04:11and I've seen it every game that they played this year.
04:13It's Harden, Harden, Harden, Harden, Harden.
04:15He just looks so old.
04:17He's looked awful.
04:18He's looked washed.
04:19He's looked borderline unplayable.
04:21They've kind of relegated him to the—go stand in the corner,
04:24and it's like, well, then why is he even on the team at this stage?
04:27Why is he still a starter?
04:29Why is he—I think up until last night, he led the team in minutes so far this year.
04:33That's great.
04:34You can put everything on James Harden.
04:35What that does not do is begin to go into detail on the guys
04:43that are going to be making $70 million and $60 million a few years from now,
04:46which is James Harden, which is Donovan Mitchell, and obviously Evan Mobley.
04:51I mean, did you see Mobley last night get completely outplayed by Nas Reed?
04:56I mean, really, Jared Allen and Evan Mobley got completely outplayed by Nas Reed?
05:01Yeah, they're bad.
05:02Like, yeah, you can just continue to sweep everything under the James Harden rug
05:07and say it's on James Harden.
05:08What are you doing about the guys that they have the most significant stock in?
05:13I have zero argument.
05:14The most significant investment in.
05:15I have zero argument with you.
05:16I love how you're talking about this because you're talking about this
05:19as that there's no scapegoats here, and that's what I'm trying to fight is scapegoating.
05:23Like, yeah, go ahead.
05:24Fire Kenny.
05:25I know there's a lot of people cussing out Kenny.
05:26And, hey, you know what?
05:28Last year was an out-and-out disgrace.
05:31When you say those things after last year's game, last year's series with the Knicks,
05:36and you get made fun of over and over and over again in every single show,
05:41and Josh Hart is taking swipes at you in the NBA Finals,
05:45and then after the game, after the NBA Finals when they won the championship,
05:49and other people are taking swipes at you.
05:50I think you mentioned it was a joke on SNL at one point.
05:53Yeah.
05:54Like, that comes back at you.
05:55Every national podcast, any time the Cavs get mentioned,
05:59it's the immediate punchline to the point where it's like, come on,
06:02come up with some new material.
06:03And I started really disagreeing with a couple of the TV people out there.
06:07Like, Camino was like, well, gosh, are you starting to disagree?
06:10Are you starting to – is this the beginning of the end for Kenny Atkinson?
06:14I go, the beginning?
06:15It's just – we're at the end.
06:16It saves.
06:17I love John, but he goes, he might not make it to Christmas.
06:20I go, he might not make it to Veterans Day.
06:22I go, what are we doing here?
06:24They have the Knicks on the road tomorrow night.
06:25And even though you could fire them, am I going to – I'm not going to come in here
06:29and say everything is fixed because I don't think it is after everything you just said.
06:34And I go, all right, the players I think are culpable in this.
06:37And then again, who put together the players?
06:39Who put together the roster?
06:40So, look, all of this is in play to me right now.
06:44I will say that I watch a lot of NBA, Kenny.
06:48I know you do.
06:48This is what it looks like when you're trying to get a coach fired.
06:51So, my question is, were they not listening to the players at the end of that Knicks humiliation?
06:58Last year?
06:59Oh, do you think that they were saying something like, this guy's got to go?
07:01Why didn't they get rid of him then?
07:03Why did you waste the time to come back?
07:06You allowed them to have their training camp in, what, Spain?
07:10They spent that time?
07:11What messaging was being given out?
07:14Because, what are they, essentially a ninth of the way through the season or whatever?
07:18Eighth of the way?
07:19They're five and six.
07:20Okay.
07:22Seems to me like the message is loud and clear to the organization.
07:26We don't want to play for that guy.
07:28Yeah.
07:29So, why was he retained?
07:31I don't know, Anthony.
07:32I don't know.
07:33I thought that he could be gone after last year because of the comments.
07:35I'm trying to go through it.
07:36I'm trying to figure –
07:37Because the guys were clearly embarrassed.
07:38I'm trying to figure it out because, okay, they ran into the Knicks.
07:41The Knicks were on an unparalleled run to the NBA championship.
07:45They made the Spurs look really, really bad.
07:47Spurs won like nine in a row and look like the best team in the NBA right now.
07:50They made the Spurs look embarrassing last year.
07:53So, you could write that off and say, hey, the Knicks, they were on top of their game.
07:59They had gone on this incredible run.
08:01It's one of the great championship runs we've seen in that sport.
08:04One of the most dominating runs, the Knicks of all teams.
08:06So, okay, you can file that away.
08:08But then when they come out and play like this, my question is, were the Knicks – did the Cavs
08:14–
08:14How?
08:14Did they – hold on.
08:15Did they tell the organization – they do exit interviews and everything.
08:20Did they tell the organization we would be uncomfortable if he returned and the Cavs just didn't listen to him?
08:26Because then they come out and play like this, and I would include – we could say James Harden a
08:31thousand times until we're blue in the face.
08:33Watch Donovan Mitchell.
08:34Not good either.
08:35That's the guy that's going to be making $70 million a year in a few years.
08:37Can I piggyback a theory off of what you just said?
08:41Dan Gilbert is involved again, right?
08:44Yes.
08:45I believe so, yeah.
08:46Yes.
08:46I mean, he's all in again as a fan and the whole deal.
08:49Dan Gilbert's involved.
08:51We know one thing about Dan Gilbert.
08:53Like, he's willing to spend.
08:54He's more than willing to do that.
08:56He's an owner that's willing to dig into pockets.
08:58He doesn't care he wants to win, and everybody likes that.
09:01But also, he has been a guy that he's – since LeBron James, before and after again, he's not really
09:08wanted to give players that type of power.
09:12It's always been kind of, this is my team.
09:15And do you think that they were thinking, we've got to get rid of Kenny – the players were thinking,
09:19we've got to get rid of Kenny Atkinson.
09:21I've already got rid of J.B. Bickerstaff.
09:23J.B. Bickerstaff has Detroit up there running.
09:26We brought in this guy.
09:27You're not going to do this to me.
09:29And maybe they're sitting out there walking around, and he's going, eventually people are going to start blaming you.
09:33Because at first it was like, man, Kenny's got to go.
09:35This is bad.
09:36And here I am a week later, not even a week later, five days, four days later going, you know
09:40what?
09:41Yeah, you can fire Kenny, but look at the way these guys are going.
09:45Is that going to fix everything?
09:46Is he thinking, you guys can go out there and walk, it's going to be on you.
09:50You will eventually bear the brunt of all that.
09:53Yeah, I mean, I do think the Philly win might have given them a stay of execution for Kenny.
09:58But eventually, it doesn't even matter if they love Kenny.
10:02The organization loves him.
10:03All that goes out the window when you see guys walking around last night.
10:07When you get drilled by a team, you're down 30 plus points to a team without their two best players,
10:12and they're not even good to begin with, that team, when you get drilled like that,
10:16in the NBA, the way this goes is the coach gets fired.
10:18It just happens almost 100% of the time.
10:21Because you can't get rid of it.
10:21You can get rid of it.
10:22You can get new coaches.
10:23It's hard to get rid of those contracts when it comes to players.
10:25Oh, you can't.
10:25I mean, the James Harden contract, nobody is taking right now.
10:29And Donovan Mitchell, this is going to be making $70 million a year.
10:35And what teams are signing up for that right now?
10:37Are you watching his effort?
10:39Because we're all talking about James Harden's effort.
10:40Are you watching Donovan Mitchell's effort?
10:42Like, it's very come and go.
10:44It was great against Philly when I was there,
10:46and then I saw them the next night against the Knicks up until the final 10 minutes.
10:51Like, it was bad.
10:53Honestly, they should be happy that today's the trade deadline
10:56and we have a quarterback conversation to have
10:58because we'd be hammering them for four hours right now.
11:01And I think every show after us would be hammering them for four hours
11:04and five hours and four hours after them.
11:06We got a trade deadline.
11:07We got a quarterback conversation.
11:09I don't want to call it a controversy, not just yet.
11:12Maybe Jason Lloyd will make me switch up that conversation
11:15as he joins us in five minutes.
11:17Also, the Hall of Famer, three-time National Sports Riot of the Year,
11:20the author, the legend, Peter King, 8 a.m.
11:23on the fan.
