Peyton Watson Is EXACTLY What Cleveland Needed

But that being said, let's just jump right into it because this off season, after seeing target after target being snatched up left and right by different teams around the league, especially in the Eastern Conference, where there's been a ton of, uh, alignment along the way.

And for the Cavs in particular, it just felt like, man, this, this guy's gone, this guy's gone, this guy's gone.

What are we going to do? What are they waiting for? What are they planning? And lo and behold, they've been working the phones, trying to put together some type of deal behind the scene this entire time, which is why you saw this trade for Peyton Watson linking together five teams, which required the movement of Dennis Schroder for flexibility.

It required Max Strus to be that final piece.

Uh, and we'll get to Max here in just a second, just because I don't want to downplay everything that he brought to the table.

But this had been cooking for what feels like forever at this point.

And now that the Cavaliers finally have Peyton Watson, I just want to know, what are you initially, uh, what are you initially looking forward to in getting Watson alongside James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and company?

A lot.

Peyton Watson's a good basketball player, Mac, and he's only getting better.

You could see his growth from his freshman year at UCLA to playing sparingly as a rookie in Denver to this season in his fourth year with the Nuggets, taking on a much bigger offensive role, and particularly when Jokic was out, showing off his ability to create, which people didn't really know if he had inside of him.

Yeah.

Granted, small sample size, I think it was only 14 games, but you'd rather have a small sample size of a good outcome than no sample size and make it a complete question mark.

His three-point volume went up.

He still needs to take more threes to maximize himself as a three and D wing, but from the corner, which is where he's gonna get a lot of his three-point attempts playing alongside James and Donovan.

He was in the 97th percentile, shot 52.1% from the corner last season, which is one of the best marks in the entire NBA.

Sure.

The fifth starter with the Cavs current lineup with Allen, Mobley, Mitchell, and Harden.

They're gonna get stuck in the corner on a lot of offensive possessions, so you need to be able to make threes to be a nice fit alongside those guys, and he does.

He's also their best defensive player outside of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, their best perimeter defender today.

I don't think it's a question, Mac.

[laughs] Not at all.

And he's 22, 23 years old and getting better.

He's trending upward, and they got him at $22 million a year, which I understand feels like a steep price to pay, and you had to give up a bunch of other things to acquire Peyton Watson.

But isn't this what the Cavs and Cavs fans have been begging for for a while? A wing with legitimate size and athleticism who's young, who can grow with the rest of the guys on the team.

I think he's a perfect fit.

But that being said, let's just jump right into it because this off season, after seeing target after target being snatched up left and right by different teams around the league, especially in the Eastern Conference, where there's been a ton of, uh, alignment along the way.

And for the Cavs in particular, it just felt like, man, this, this guy's gone, this guy's gone, this guy's gone.

What are we going to do? What are they waiting for? What are they planning? And lo and behold, they've been working the phones, trying to put together some type of deal behind the scene this entire time, which is why you saw this trade for Peyton Watson linking together five teams, which required the movement of Dennis Schroder for flexibility.

It required Max Strus to be that final piece.

Uh, and we'll get to Max here in just a second, just because I don't want to downplay everything that he brought to the table.

But this had been cooking for what feels like forever at this point.

And now that the Cavaliers finally have Peyton Watson, I just want to know, what are you initially, uh, what are you initially looking forward to in getting Watson alongside James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and company?

A lot.

Peyton Watson's a good basketball player, Mac, and he's only getting better.

You could see his growth from his freshman year at UCLA to playing sparingly as a rookie in Denver to this season in his fourth year with the Nuggets, taking on a much bigger offensive role, and particularly when Jokic was out, showing off his ability to create, which people didn't really know if he had inside of him.

Yeah.

Granted, small sample size, I think it was only 14 games, but you'd rather have a small sample size of a good outcome than no sample size and make it a complete question mark.

His three-point volume went up.

He still needs to take more threes to maximize himself as a three and D wing, but from the corner, which is where he's gonna get a lot of his three-point attempts playing alongside James and Donovan.

He was in the 97th percentile, shot 52.1% from the corner last season, which is one of the best marks in the entire NBA.

Sure.

The fifth starter with the Cavs current lineup with Allen, Mobley, Mitchell, and Harden.

They're gonna get stuck in the corner on a lot of offensive possessions, so you need to be able to make threes to be a nice fit alongside those guys, and he does.

He's also their best defensive player outside of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, their best perimeter defender today.

I don't think it's a question, Mac.

[laughs] Not at all.

And he's 22, 23 years old and getting better.

He's trending upward, and they got him at $22 million a year, which I understand feels like a steep price to pay, and you had to give up a bunch of other things to acquire Peyton Watson.

But isn't this what the Cavs and Cavs fans have been begging for for a while? A wing with legitimate size and athleticism who's young, who can grow with the rest of the guys on the team.

I think he's a perfect fit.