Why the Cavs added Chuma Okeke instead of a backup big before the playoffs: Wine and Gold Talk podcast

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Ethan Sands and Chris Fedor delve into the Cavs’ recent roster move to sign Chuma Okeke and the implications for playoff readiness and beyond this season.

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takeaways

• Dean Wade is out against the Spurs on Friday due to an illness to prevent spreading it in the locker room.
• The Cavs are being cautious with Ty Jerome’s knee tendinitis.
• Ty Jerome aims to play a few games before the playoffs.
• The Cavs are focused on health as they approach the playoffs.
• Teams with less motivation at the end of the season may choose to rest players for future development.
• Young players benefit from meaningful game reps when teams are not competing for playoffs.
• Motivation levels vary across teams, affecting injury management decisions.
• Chuma Okeke’s signing is seen as a low-risk, high-reward move for the Cavs.
• The importance of having a deep roster is crucial for playoff success.

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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Ethan Sands

What up, Cavs nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. And we are coming to you ahead of the Cavs next game against the San Antonio Spurs. But Chris obviously made the trek out to San Antonio. We’re not going to start with the Charles Barkley jokes, but to be very fair, Chris made the trip to San Antonio when there are some players on the Cleveland Cavaliers that did not. We know that Dean Wade had been dealing with an illness, and Chris sent his subtext out to our subtexters, our subscribers who get insider information that is not readily available necessarily on Twitter, Facebook. We had this kind of argument the other day. X, formerly Twitter. Nobody really calls it X, so I just call it Twitter. Sorry if you are Elon Musk, lover. Not going to go down that road. Subtext is somewhere where we put things that not necessarily everybody gets. And that’s why it’s a subscription service. So Dean Wade did not make the trip due to an illness. And Chris, I know earlier into the season, probably more so, when it was colder and there was snow on the ground, the Cavs had a little bit of an illness bug going around the locker room with multiple different guys catching that illness. I don’t necessarily think it was Covid. I don’t necessarily think it was the flu. Nothing really came out of that. But we know that that had kind of come to a close. And now Dean Wade is out again with an illness, and all of Dean Wade island supporters are like, here we go again with Dean Wade. He’s not playing. So do you have any updates on him, what that could be? And I know that’s a shot in the dark because illnesses are very tricky, and not a lot of people go into those.

Chris Fedor : The people that I’ve talked to throughout the course of the day about this, people close to Dean believe that he’ll be ready to go on Sunday. He’ll be recovered enough by Sunday. The reason why he’s not on this trip is because Dean and the Cavs both had a conversation and they basically said, hey, like, we don’t want you around the guys.

Chris Fedor : We don’t want this to spread throughout the locker room at this time of year. Coming down the stretch, still technically trying to capture the number one seed, but the playoffs right around the corner, too. Like, let’s just. Let’s just eliminate that possibility that it spreads throughout the team and you join us on the flight and you spend time on the team bus and you spend time in the locker room around these guys. Let’s take that variable up and let’s just have you stay home, do all the recovery that you need to do. And then like I said, the hope, the belief is he’ll be ready to go someday. But you know, Dean has a little one at home and little ones bring things back from daycare or they bring things back from school or they bring things back from just being around other kids. Shoot, I know that. I mean, Elliot gets sick all the time from being sky zone, being at school, being at the place where we take him, which is basically quasi daycare. So I mean, we’re trying to be as diligent as possible when it comes to hand sanitizer with him and be as diligent as possible when it comes to us and taking our Zycam and our immune booster and all these different things. But you know, I think it’s not a coincidence that somebody like Dean, unfortunately, dad of about a one year old at this point in time, continues to deal with these kinds of illnesses. But it’s nothing serious, it’s nothing major. It’s just something that popped up the other day. It obviously prevented him from participating in shoot around, prevented him from playing in the game the other night. He will not play against San Antonio. Like I said, he didn’t make the trip. That was a collective decision. And the hope and the belief is that he’ll be ready to go on Sunday. And it’s not anything that’s going to affect him and it’s not anything that is going to make Kenny monitor his minutes or something along those lines.

(00:02:12 - 00:04:03)

Ethan Sands : Chris, I don’t even think I recognize or realize when you had gotten over the three month cold that you were fighting through. Because there was a point where I got sick and I was dealing like with 100 degree fever, but like it felt like through the road trip. That was when you were sick. And I was like, I don’t know how he’s getting on planes. Every time I go through the to edit the podcast afterwards from the audio version. I know after you and Jimmy get done talking there’s going to be a to take out. How long do you think you were sick and when do you think you finally got over that?

(00:04:03 - 00:04:41)

Chris Fedor : Two months. I think I was sick for two straight months and I went to three different doctors and I got three different diagnoses. Diagnoses, diagnoses. I was diagnosed three times. How about that? Flip it around, you know, do the writing trick. I was diagnosed three, three different ways by three different people with three different things. And finally the last doctor that I went to prescribed the kind of antibiotic that finally cleared me of whatever it was that was in my system. Because the previous two prescriptions that I received didn’t do anything, quite frankly. Like, I felt the same. I didn’t sense that I was improving in any sort of way. I had the same symptoms in. If anything, things were getting worse. But finally the third doctor prescribed something different. And it worked well enough to get it out of my system, thank God, because that was a long time. Not feeling like myself being run down, not feeling like I was talking normal and blowing my nose constantly. Look, I mean, like, part of it is if you’re in these stuffy hotel rooms, there’s really not a bunch that you can do. Some of these hotel rooms, if they’re nicer hotels, you can open up the window and you can get some fresh air, but for the most part, you know, you’re in this stuffy hotel room where you can’t even open up the window or anything along those lines. So that kind of plays with your sinuses and your respiratory functionality and stuff like that. I’m feeling better now, thank God. Ready to stretch finally.

(00:04:41 - 00:06:15)

Ethan Sands : Amen to that. Right, Getting ready for the playoffs. Ramping up just like the Cavs are. And Chris, another player, player that switch. Time to flip it. Time to get your shots up, Chris. It’s game time. But another player that the Cavs are going to be without against the San Antonio spurs is Ty Jerome. I think this is going to be his fifth game in a row that he’s going to miss with what has been classified as left knee tendonitis. Kenny Atkinson did admit that he wants and Ty Jerome says that he wants to play at least three to four games of the regular season before. How realistic do you think those hopes are? Obviously, there’s six games left in the season, so he would probably have to come back rather soon to be able to make that aspiration a reality.

(00:06:15 - 00:07:01)

Chris Fedor : I think they’re realistic. I think the Cavs right now are being incredibly cautious with everything, and they’ve taken that approach throughout the course of the year. And Kenny Atkinson likes that because there’s a big picture plan in place and everything is about health, everything. Everything is about being in the best physical and mental condition possible. You just don’t want Ty to be in a situation where he doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to move when the playoffs start. He doesn’t know if he can trust his knee when the playoffs start. He doesn’t know how his knee is going to respond from playoff level intensity, playoff level exertion, physicality, things like that. So you know, it’s not a situation where the Cavs are going to force him back. It’s both of them understand the benefit of, okay, come back, find your rhythm again, shake off any kind of rust that you need to understand what you can’t do, what you can do physically with movements and stuff like that, based on how your knee is feeling, test it out, make sure there are cuts that you can make, make sure that you have the same change of direction and all that stuff like learn that, learn that in the final few games of the regular season against Indy, against New York, when we already have the number one seed solidified. Don’t learn that in the first round playoff series, in playoff intensity against whoever it may be in the first round. So I think the Cavs understand the importance of that. I think Ty understands the importance of that. And from the very, very beginning, all the people that I talk to, both that are close to Ty and around the organization, they weren’t concerned about the knee necessarily. I know people started to get a little bit concerned when the injury designation shifted from just soreness to tendonitis. Because tendonitis is something that, you know, Donovan Mitchell dealt with last year. That was his knee issue. It was severe tendonitis for Donovan last year. But, you know, Caris LeVert in the past dealt with that as well. And it’s something that can linger, but it feels like the Cavs caught it quick. We’re able to diagnose it quick and they have this opportunity and they’re taking advantage of this opportunity to give Ty the kind of time that he needs to rest and recover while at the same time, there’s still enough games toward the tail end of this schedule where he can get back and play limited minutes or something along those lines. Anytime you talk about anything like this, you always monitor it because there’s a difference between being able to play and being effective while playing through something. And it’s just going to be something that I’m going to monitor in those few games toward the tail end of this regular season grind. I’m going to watch how effective Ty is and if he can be the guy physically that he has been all season long for the Cavs, because he is. I’m not going to sit here and overblow it, but given the way that this roster is set up like, he is obviously the most reliable player that they have coming off the bench and he is Somebody who has a big responsibility with the offense because of him alleviating the ball handling responsibilities from Darius and Donovan. Him allowing Donovan Darius their minutes not to go too high. Him allowing Donovan Darius to play off the ball as opposed to on the ball. So it is an important role and responsibility. And then on top of that, this is no offense to Craig Porter Jr. But he is just not ready for significant playoff minutes on a team that is chasing a champion.

(00:07:01 - 00:10:30)

Ethan Sands : We’ve talked so much about how reputations are built and I think it would be unfair to tie to in his first playoff series ever. You’re not at 100% and it was preventable and it was an opportunity for you to come back. And instead you’re now playing hindered and now these reflections of your game could happen. Obviously this is just projecting into the future what could have happened or what could still happen if his knee isn’t at 100%. Because we know that Ty has a reputation for big game performances dating back to the championship in Virginia. But we also know that you cannot quantify the stakes of the playoffs in the NBA. Right. You have to see how he responds to those things. But also, I think it’s important to talk about this, Chris. There are so many injuries around the league. Like, I make the joke a lot when I’m looking at the injury reports for some of these teams, especially these teams at the bottom of their respective conferences, but they look like CVS receipts. Like, there’s so many names for the San Antonio spurs for tomorrow’s game and that also includes Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox who have both been sidelined for the remainder of the season. And it feels like there have been multiple teams with multiple players that have had that same designation. Whether that’s the Pelicans with Zion Williamson. There’s just so, so many to name to come off the head. What do you think that is like entailing with the NBA is injury is just something that is a part of the game. I just think it’s different. Obviously injuries are a part of the game, but end of season injuries, I feel like that has taken a big step up at least this year when it comes to how different guys have had their seasons ended without being able to complete them.

(00:10:30 - 00:12:18)

Chris Fedor : Well, I think part of it, Ethan, is, you know, every team has a different level of motivation and that plays into your decision making. If you’re chasing something, chances are you’re going to try and get these guys to play through these injuries. These guys are going to want to play through these injuries because they believe that there is a reward attached to that, because they believe that there’s something that they’re playing for. They’re putting their body through the recovery, they’re putting their body through whatever. They’re holding off on recovery and treatment and rehab and all that kind of stuff because it could mean getting to the. It could be the difference between making the playoffs or not making the playoffs. Some of these teams, New Orleans has everybody out right now, but their motivation has not been to win throughout the course of this season. When they started feeling all of the injuries as the season was going on, it was clear that they weren’t going to be a playoff team. It was clear that they weren’t going to be a play in team. So all of a sudden, motivation change. You’re able to sit these guys for the end of the season because you want to take a look at your young guys because losing is beneficial for you, because meaningful game reps for young players who may or may not be part of the future. You start to get more information, you start to get more answers about what can they do, what can’t they do? Are they going to be part of the future? Are they not going to be part of the future? So it’s the same thing that’s happening in Utah, it’s the same thing that’s happening in San Antonio. Going to see it. San Antonio’s playing a bunch of young guys and then when they get into a late game situation, you think Chris Paul’s out there. No, they’re going to put Stefan Cassell out there because Chris Paul has already been in those kinds of situations. He doesn’t need to be in those kinds of situations. It’s more beneficial for Stefan Castle to get those kinds of reps in those kinds of situations. Especially if a game is close at the end, which obviously is harder to keep it close when you’re playing all these young guys who are prone to mistakes, lapses in judgment and stuff like that. But I think, you know, motivation plays a lot and every organization has their own motivation. And you know, we talked about this on a previous podcast when it came to the whole tanking thing. And what can you do about flattening the lottery odds and what can you do about load management and shutting guys down early because of injuries? And I just don’t think there’s anything that you can do because I think these organizations, they owe it to themselves and they owe it to their own fan base to look at their situation and say what’s best for us, we’re going to do what’s best for us and we should have the freedom to be able to do that. Like, nobody should tell us what’s best for us except for us, because we should know that better than anybody else. So once you start as a commissioner dictating how a team functions, how a team operates, who a team plays, no, no, no, that’s over the top. That’s crossing the line. So the truth is, when you have teams like Toronto and Philadelphia and New Orleans and Utah and San Ant Antonio at this point in the season, it’s more beneficial for them to lose and play their young guys. And the easiest way to do that is just to shut down guys like Zion, guys like Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Joel Embiid and look, some of these guys are dealing with injuries because it’s hard for a body to hold up throughout the course of everything that these guys go through. Some of these guys play Olympic type stuff in the summer. Some of these guys play for their national team. Some of these guys were already dealing with some kind of injury coming into the season. And then one injury leads to another because of overcompensation and whatever the case may be. But I think the majority of what you’re seeing with these lengthy injury reports is welcome to April basketball when teams don’t have motivation to compete for a playoff spot.

(00:12:18 - 00:16:12)

Ethan Sands : Chris, I think you make a great point in obviously Charlotte and Lamelo Ball and Brandon Miller are also in that conversation as well. But the last five spots for the Eastern Conference have all already been eliminated from even being able to get into the play in Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Charlotte and the Washington Wizards. So it’s literally a race between who’s going to get the last two spots in the Eastern Conference. Is Milwaukee going to be the fifth seed? Is Detroit going to be the fifth seed? Or the 16? Is Orlando going to be able to come back? Think that has a great chance with how few games are left. But never say never, Chris. Right? That’s. That’s the main mantra that we use, never say never.

(00:16:12 - 00:16:55)

Chris Fedor : These teams are getting smarter too, because, you know, some of them are not just sitting guys entirely. Some of them are making some of their bigger name players available and just not playing them in fourth quarters or playing them, you know, 18 to 24 minutes as opposed to 30 to 34 minutes or 28 to 32 minutes. So I was watching a game the other night. The Pelicans and Kelly Olenek and Bruce Brown, two veteran players, are playing well in the first half and they Play like four minutes in the second half or something like that. You know, that’s one way to do it. Hey, our guys were available. They played 20 something minutes. We didn’t just sit Scotty Barnes completely. We didn’t just sit Jakob Pertle completely. They were available. They played. Manuel Quickley scored 15 points. He dished out five assists. Sorry that he didn’t play in the fourth quarter. We thought it was better for our young guys to be out there in those situations. So teams are getting smarter when it comes to this. Some guys are being made available but like it’s clear that they’re not going to play their normal minutes and it’s clear that, you know, the second half or majority of the second half, they’re just not going to be out there.

(00:16:55 - 00:18:09)

Ethan Sands : The Cleveland Cavaliers and former first round pick Chuma Okeke agreed to a deal filling the Cavs final open roster spot. So they now have 15 roster spots filled. He averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the NBA G League Westchester team this season. He stands at 6 foot 6, 229 pounds according to basketball Reference, and he was drafted by the Orlando Magic in the first round with the 16th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Chris, I have a lot of questions, but my main one is the Cavs depth is already so deep, right? And they have problems or they have trouble getting minutes to end up bench row players anyway. Javante Green, Isaac okoro, Craig Porter Jr. Sam Merrow. Well, Sam’s getting minutes because Kenny Atkinson loves him some Sam Merrow. But why make this move now to go get Chuma and where is he going to play and what minutes do you think he’s going to get for this team?

(00:18:09 - 00:19:13)

Chris Fedor : Well, I don’t think he’s going to play unless things go completely off the rails or it’s a specific situation where the Cavs feel like he can better let me rephrase. He’s not going to play as part of the usual rotation. You know, if they sit a bunch of guys for the same game or if they sit like everybody for fan appreciation night or something like that. Obviously the opportunity changes, changes and there’s an actual opportunity, but it’s just another option for Kenny Atkinson. Maybe there’s a situation that calls for the cavs to need 6 foot 6, 6 foot 7 guy who’s known for his defense, make him guard the inbounder. I’ve brought up this comparison a lot. Dante Jones. Dante Jones was signed on like the last day of the regular season for the championship Cavs and did he have a huge role? No. Did he have a consistent role? No. Were his minutes solidified? Absolutely not. But there was a specific situation in a specific game where Ty Lue felt like they needed what Dante Jones brought, so he went with it. Maybe there’s a specific situation in a specific game where Kenny Atkinson believes that Chuma Okiki’s skill set is something that would benefit this team. That’s the first thing that I would say. The other thing is, you know, he is not known as a shooter in any sort of way, but he shot the ball well this year in the G League and that certainly caught the Cavs attention and it turned him into more of a guy with a statistical profile of a 3 and D type. You can never have enough of those guys on your roster just to have that option. What if Javante Green doesn’t work out? What if Dean Wade is injured or sick? What if, you know, Isaac Hakoro is not making shots? You know, obviously things would have to go a certain kind of way for the Cavs to say, hey, let’s go to Chuma here in a playoff series. But maybe that situation arises and just having that in your back pocket, having that insurance policy, having that added depth is something that the Cavs felt like they could benefit from and they didn’t have to lose anybody and it didn’t cost them anything. I’ll also say this, this is a two year deal, but there’s a team option, I’m told, for the second year. So it obviously gives the Cavs the control of the situation. I don’t want people to go overboard when it comes to this, but the Cavs are in a situation with their salary cap and if F. Mobley wins Defensive Player of the year, the parameters of his extension change. It’s not why the Cavs did this specifically, but when you’re a team like the Cavs and you’re staring at a situation where you’re going to be an apron team, it’s just a matter of first apron, second apron. You have to find cheap help. You have to find cheap, playable help. I don’t know if Tuma can play at the NBA level. I don’t know. But I do know that he is very, very cheap and he has the kind of profile, the kind of body, the kind of skill set that can be beneficial. So if you’re a team like the Cavs, you’re looking at all the different options that you have offseason and all the different priorities that you have. If he can be an NBA player, if you can get him for this kind of salary and feel like he can give you some minutes throughout the course of the regular season. That is extremely beneficial. You know, that’s the beauty of Sam Merrill. Sam Merrill’s making $2 million and he’s playing what, 18 to 22 minutes a night depending on it. Like that’s a huge advantage. But Sam Merrill is going to be a free agent and it might cost more than that. So I think the fact that it is a two year deal with a team option, it obviously gives the Cavs control of the situation and it gives them the option to take a look at him behind the scenes. Is he a fit both on the court and off the court? Does he have a playable NBA level skill set? Learn those things about him behind the scenes and then make a decision on if he’s going to be part of this roster or not next year at a cheap number that helps you fill out the roster. The other thing that I would say is again, don’t go overboard with this. It’s Chuma Okey and he has very little NBA experience. The majority of his experience professionally is with the G League. So I think we all understand that. But like he’s a little Isaac y in terms of the style of player that he is, in terms of the reputation that he has, in terms of the reputation that he had coming out of Auburn when he was a first round pick. What if the Cavs find this diamond in the rough that can give them enough similar stuff that Isaac gives them for $8 million cheaper? What if I don’t think at the time that the Cavs signed Sam Merrill a couple of years ago, toward the very end of the season and they gave him a rest of season deal and then it turned this four year, $7 million contract, what was known as the Brock Aller, the former executive for the Cavs, the Brock Aller special. I don’t think anybody was looking at Sam Merrill as he was going to be a fixture of their rotation, but he became that. So what if this former first round pick finds the right situation, finds the right system, finds the right coaching staff, finds the right player development staff and becomes an NBA caliber player, a playable player. And he can do a lot of the things that Isaac Okoro can do that you like from Isaac Okoro for $8 million less. That just gives you freedom and it gives you an opportunity to start exploring some other pathways. Now I’m not saying that that’s what the Cavs are thinking and I’m not saying that that’s what the Cavs are doing, but those are the options that are going to be available to them with this kind of signing. And maybe it just doesn’t work. Maybe he’s not playable. Maybe he’s not an NBA level guy. If it doesn’t work, then you just don’t pick up his team option and you say, all right, we’ll fill out the roster with somebody a little bit different. But I know this is somebody that the Cavs have liked for a while, and he’s the type of player who theoretically is an asset to a basketball team because a lot of players that look like him are valuable around the NBA. In theory. In theory, right.

(00:19:13 - 00:25:34)

Ethan Sands : So let me tell you guys a little bit more about Mr. Okeke, right? Because I feel like he’s a guy that’s flown well under the radar. And I mentioned that he was drafted in 2019, but he did not play in that 20192020 season because he was recovering from a torn ACL from his last season in Auburn. And when he did get back, he was on part of the Orlando Magic in 2020. 2021, he played in 45 games in his rookie season. He started in 19, 2021, 2022. Still on the Magic. He played in 70 games. He started in 2020 22, 2023. He played in 27 games and started in eight. Obviously this is when they’re starting to get their star players and he’s not as needed. 2023, 202447 games, eight starts this season as part of the Philadelphia 76ers. 2024, 2025, he’s played in just seven NBA games and he started in three of those contests. So yes, I think it is fair to say that there are questions on his viability as an NBA player, especially after not playing a whole lot in this last couple of seasons. Also, these statistical metrics are coming from Basketball Reference. Over his career, he’s averaged 6.3 points per game, 3.8 total rebounds per game, 1.5 assists per game, 38.8 field goal percentage. But I do want to point this out because Chris mentioned it. When schuma entered the 2024, 2025 season, there was clearly a difference. The best three point field goal percentage he had before this year was 34.8% from deep, which was in his rookie season. On 3.1 attempts per game this year, he’s shooting 45.5%. Obviously a much smaller sample size, but that’s in the NBA. In the G League, it’s also been Pretty good as well. So even though these are spot minutes, even though these are small opportunities, he’s been able to showcase that he can make threes. And that’s going back to what Chris was saying. But Chris, I want to rebuttal with this, right, because we know that the Cavs two way players are not available in the playoffs. I think it’s interesting that the Cavs decided to use their 15th roster spot on another wing rather than getting another big, even though their three main bigs, well, let’s say four, including Dean Wade, are Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, Tristan Thompson and Dean Wade. And sure you don’t necessarily want to predict an injury, but if something does happen, they do have to rely more heavily on 34 year old Tristan Thompson and Dean Wade, who is much out of position as a five man in a majority of these series that the Cavs could play in. What do you think about them deciding to go this route instead of going to get a backup pick?

(00:25:34 - 00:28:27)

Chris Fedor : Well, I think it comes down to theoretical value and I think guys that look and play like Chuma are always going to be more valuable than a third or fourth big, especially on a team where two of your four best and most important players occupy every single minute at one of those positions. At least that’s the belief and that’s the hope going into the playoffs. So I just think they’re taking a flyer. I think they’re taking a flyer that somebody with a first round pedigree might have something else to give in this kind of situation with this player development. And it’s like the idea of Chuma is logical because like you said, he shot it well in the G League this season and he’s looked at as a three and D type player. He can guard multiple positions, he has a high basketball IQ and he has a first round pedigree. So length, size, athleticism on the wing, you can’t have enough of that on your roster. You just can’t in today’s NBA. And if you’re going to take a flyer on somebody, this is the type of player, maybe not him specifically, but this is the type of player that it is worth taking a flyer on. And I just think the fan base and you and maybe some other people are a little bit more concerned about the center spot than the Cavs have been throughout the course of this, this entire season. They just don’t value that position. They don’t. Not the way that they would need to value it in order to round out their roster with that type of guy. Think they value wings. I think they value versatility, I think they value multi positional players, I think they value perceived upside. And I just think when you have Evan Mobley and you have Jared Allen and you have Dean Wade who’s capable of playing the five and by the way, DeAndre Hunter, who is capable of playing the five in small ball lineups, I just don’t think the Cavs feel like there is any situation that would present itself in a playoff series where they play anybody or need to play anybody other than those four plus Tristan Thompson if a situation calls for it. So it would just be to them possibly wasting a roster spot. Whereas Chuma I don’t know the situation and I don’t know that it’s going to happen. I’m not going to sit here and predict that it’s going to happen. But against a wing heavy Boston team, against a wing heavy Orlando team, maybe there’s an actual real potential pathway for some minutes in a way that there just isn’t for another big on this roster. To me anyway, I think that makes.

(00:28:27 - 00:31:10)

Ethan Sands : A lot of sense and obviously you mentioned the contract implications as well and I think that’s a good point because there isn’t a real need when you have Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. You’re not going to go away from those contracts even though they might be hefty. You understand that you got into those with the thought process of you’re going to have to pay them because they are so crucial to this team. And I was just quickly pulling up Chuma Okey’s matchup data on NBA.com as a defensive player and obviously there’s not a whole lot to go off of because he hasn’t played that many games. But I’m just looking at the players that he’s gone up against, right? Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olenek, who I know everybody in Cleveland hates, Zachary Ricochet, Adam Flagler, Jabari Smith Jr. Onyeko Kongwu, George Niang, Chet Holmgren, Max Christie. The versatility is there, right? Even though these matchups could be for five minutes, they could be for three minutes, they could be for two minutes. But the fact that he has been on these guys shows a level of trust and a level of necessity that the Philadelphia 76ers this season might have felt when it comes to putting him on them. And I think that should give a little bit more hope or reassurance to the Cavs faithful who again are asking, who is this guy? Because I think that’s a very fair point.

(00:31:10 - 00:32:32)

Chris Fedor : I mean, put a bow on it like this, it is a flyer. That’s how it should be viewed. And he is the 15th guy on the roster. He’s the 15th guy on a team that has championship aspirations. The likelihood of him having a big role or any role is very, very slim.

(00:32:32 - 00:32:49)

Ethan Sands : But Chris, how was your trip over there and how does it feel to again be in another time zone?

(00:32:49 - 00:32:56)

Chris Fedor : Well, the trip couldn’t have been worse. It was delayed twice getting out of Cleveland. First of all, you can’t get to, you can’t get to San Antonio direct from Cleveland. So you got to pick where you’re going to fly through. Are you going to fly United through Houston? You’re going to fly American through Dallas, Fort Worth? You want to fly United through Chicago, you could probably do that as well and get your way to San Antonio. You might be able to do Delta through Atlanta, Atlanta to San Antonio, but it’s just not easy to get to San Antonio. So I knew that it was going to be a full day of travel. I mean a full day of travel. So the flight leaving Cleveland, Ethan, had two different delays. Two. The first one was for a mechanical issue. Those things happen all the time on planes. Then we were finally able to board probably about 45 minutes later than we were supposed to. And my connection, my layover for my connection was hour 15 minutes, I think. So that’s already tight. I’m already cutting it close because we boarded 45 minutes late. So now I’ve got a 30 minute buffer instead of an hour 15. So we get on the plane about to take off, they had to defuel. I don’t know what that means. I’ve never heard of that. I’ve heard of refueling, but I don’t know if they put too much fuel in and there was like a weight.

(00:32:56 - 00:34:26)

Ethan Sands : Balance issue or something like that.

(00:34:26 - 00:34:28)

Chris Fedor : I, I don’t know. They made an announcement that they were defueling. And I turned to the lady next to me and I said, did they say refueling or defeating? Like, I swear they said defueling. She’s like, no, they said defueling. So that was another 15 minutes. So now all of a sudden I go from an hour and 15 minute layover to I’ve got 15 minutes by the time I land in San, in Houston to get to San Antonio. So the flight landed in Houston, I’d say about 5:55. And my flight was scheduled to take off from Houston to San Antonio at 6:10. So we’re approaching the gate and then all of a sudden we stop and I’m like, oh, Jesus, are you serious? Another thing, okay? Universe not happy with me for something that I did. So we stop, they make an announcement. They say, there is no ground crew. We have to wait for the ground crew. Probably gonna be about five minutes. And I’m like, oh, my God, now I’m down to 10 minutes. And like, at this point, the gate is supposed to close at this point, 6:00. Now, I think in some cases, don’t quote me on this, but I think in some cases they kind of let the gate agents know, hey, like, look, some of these flights have come in, some of these connections are really, really tight. Don’t close the door when you’re supposed to close the door. Like, keep it open just a little bit longer if you can. So, you know, then they make this announcement saying, hey, there’s a lot of people with tight connections. And if you’re not one of them that is scheduled to board between now and 6:45, let all the other people go. Well, nobody does that. Everybody just wants to get off the plane. So even though, like, I’m kind of midway there on the plane, and I probably had the tightest connection of anybody, everybody just stood up, they tried to get their stuff, and they’re packed right in the aisle way. And I said, okay, well, that’s great. So the lady turns next to me and she says, hey, what time is your flight supposed to take off? And I said, eight minutes from now. And she was like, well, I think the door might be closed. And I said, okay, well, you know, I’m just gonna try it, see what happens. So, you know, I put the backpack on, I grab my carry on and I start huffing it. I find the gate agent right outside, like, where we landed. And I said, hey, can you tell me what gate is the one to San Antonio? And she said, a number. It was wrong. Long story short, it was wrong. She sent me to the wrong gate. She sent me to the old gate where it was supposed to be about seven gates away, which, you know, that’s logical and that’s doable. So I get there, and at the very, very top, it says, wherever it was supposed to go, somewhere in Mexico. I said, well, that’s not right. I’m not going from Houston to Mexico. I’m trying to get to San Antonio. So I stop and I talk to the lady. At this point, I think it’s 6:07. So I stop and I talk to the lady and I say, hey, like, this was the gate for San Antonio. Where is the new gate for San Antonio. Guess where it is. Basically right where we landed. So, like, oh, my God, I was right there, and I probably would have had no problem and I would have had no stress or whatever. Said, I think we landed at C40 and it was C37. I was like, oh, my God. Right now I’m at gate C31, and Houston Airport’s really weird with a couple of different wings, so it’s not like, just next door. So I say, all right, I got three minutes maybe. So I run my ass off again. I get to the door, barely make it on the plane. But I did make it on the plane. Thank God I made it on the plane. So I barely make it on the plane. I’m the last one to board. I’m the guy where everybody’s staring at me like, why are you taking so long? Like, why did we have to wait for you? Did we hold the gate for you? We just want to take off and get to San Antonio at this point in time because of all of the delays that. That they were experiencing in the area because it was really, really hot and windy. There was a front coming in that made it really, really windy and turbulent and hard for planes to take off and stuff like that. So everyone was just annoyed with me, and they were just giving me the evil eye. But I was able to make was a nightmare. It was chaotic, it was stressful. I was soaked in sweat again. By the time I got to my seat, I felt really, really bad for the lady sitting next to me. Like, I’m reaching over and I’m trying to get this fan working. Then they make another announcement, and they say that the AC is not working properly. So I’m on this plane. I’m soaked in sweat. I just ran what feels like a marathon. So much stress. I’m just taking all my clothes off right. Right at the seat. I mean, I’m taking my hoodie off. I’m rolling my joggers up. I’m, like, so hot at this point. And of all the times where I just need the AC to work and the fan to work, it’s an oven in this airplane. And they made an announcement saying, like, well, it’s going to take until we get to a certain kind of. Certain kind of place in the sky, however many miles above, for us to actually, you know, be able to get this working properly. I don’t know how that works. I. I don’t know the logic behind it. It sounds like a bunch of BS to me. Sounds like they were just trying to, you know, Workshop the issue and troubleshoot it as best they could. But in the meantime, like, everybody is sweating and I was already sweating. So it was a very uncomfortable 35 minute flight from Houston to San Antonio, but I made it and I’m here and I was able to go to my favorite restaurant for dinner. So that, that kind of capped a terrible travel day. And now here I am podcasting with you.

(00:34:28 - 00:41:14)

Ethan Sands : I’m glad you got there. Yep, it’s always something. I’m glad you got there safely. But that does sound like a hellish travel day. And Chris, I don’t know if it’s just you, but like, it always feels like the travel stories are never, oh, yeah, I just got to like, got to get on the plane, got to get off the plane. I got to do my thing. Like, it’s never felt like that from you when it comes to your stories. And that’s unfortunate for you. But it’s great for our listeners because some of them love your stories about your trips and your travels. Did you pack everything this time? That’s my main question.

(00:41:15 - 00:41:55)

Chris Fedor : I guess we’ll find out. I haven’t unpacked at this point in time. I got to my hotel, I changed my clothes because they were still soaked in sweat and it’s 90 degrees here in San Antonio. It’s a heat wave here. So I got to my hotel, I changed my clothes and I went straight to dinner and I had to get there before the restaurant closed. So I don’t know, I don’t know if I packed everything. I might open up my suitcase and might not have underwear. Might open up my suitcase. It might not have socks. It’ll be a one sock trip. Really, really gross. But, you know, might just have to be because the other thing is, as you know, things are popping here in San Antonio. San Antonio is a vibe right now. All right. They got a lot going on. The Valero Texas Open, the PGA Tour is here in town in San Antonio. Day one was today. So they’ve got three more days of that golf tournament going on here. And of course, the final four is here starting on Saturday. So there are no hotels. None. The Cavs had a hard time getting a hotel, by the way. They are not staying where they usually are and they are not staying at a hotel. That is usually the standard for the NBA because they were having a hard time getting a hotel. Even though I booked in November, December, somewhere around there. I’m at the airport. I’m at the airport. I’m not even in downtown San Antonio. I’m not even at the Riverwalk, unfortunately. So it’s not like, you know, if I’m at the Riverwalk, there’s a CVS right on the corner, basically. So if I need socks, just go there. If I forget toothpaste, just go there. If I forget a toothbrush, just go there. No, no, no, no. I’m like in the middle of nowhere here by the airport, by a bunch of parking structures and stuff like that where people want to off site park, because that’s the hotel that was available during this trip. So if, if I forgot something, it’s not easily accessible for me. And it’s just, I don’t know, turn the underwear inside out, rock the same socks that I wore to travel. So I’m crossing my fingers at this point in time that I remembered everything that I needed and I packed everything that I needed for this quick two day in and out trip. I guess I’ll find out in about 35, 40 minutes or something like that if that’s the case.

(00:41:56 - 00:44:29)

Ethan Sands : Chris, we’re past the point of turning underwear inside out. I’m sorry, I would rather you wear like go commando, wear shorts and then wear another pair of pants on top of them. So there’s no problem at all with that. So you still have the secureness of the shorts underneath, but you got to wear something on top of.

(00:44:29 - 00:44:53)

Chris Fedor : But anyway, I did bring a pair of. I did, I did bring a pair of swim trunks because I knew that there was a pool inside this hotel. So I guess theoretically, and I remember packing them, I remember rolling them into a ball and stuffing them into the corner. So I guess theoretically, if I have to, those could. I could just turn those into underwear. Or I guess like theoretically, maybe I could get really fancy with it, really MacGyver with it and like cut the lining out and turn it into like tighty whitey, speedo style underwear. If I forgot underwear, I guess I could do that.

(00:44:53 - 00:45:34)

Ethan Sands : These are worst case scenarios for anybody who’s still listening to the podcast at this point. All right, Chris, I don’t want to keep you up too late. I know it’s only an hour behind there in San Antonio. So with all that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to Subtext. This is where, as I mentioned earlier on in the podcast, you can get exclusive information directly to your phone. It’s a community that we have created so that you guys can feel like you are in touch with this team as they go forward into the playoffs. So to get this access and to be able to have your voice heard, sign up for a 14 day free trial or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavalry from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast, it’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’all be safe. We out.