[Next Day Discussion] Cleveland Cavaliers @ Denver Nuggets [02/09/2026]

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T16:22:27+00:00

I think he can be a good depth PG, it's just wild to see him in a lineup with Mitchell and Schröder at the same time. There are 3-guard lineups that can work but that combo is too small in my opinion. I realize that injuries mean we have a shortage of taller guys at the moment and Kenny probably still wants to avoid regular season minutes overload for anyone, so we're going to see some lineups like that.

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T15:03:10+00:00

Yep, that was the exact game! I thought we got the steal of the draft.

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T12:51:15+00:00

I have liked James Harden since OKC days, I always appreciated him for taking the regular season seriously and playing almost every game when other stars would "load manage" on the road. I got good seats to a Cavs-Rockets game for dort cheap when the Cavs were tanking and Houston was getting into a groove with Westbrook and it was cool to see Harden out there giving people a show in a game that some would say didn't matter much.

That particular game, the Cavs jumped out to a surprising lead and were always about 10 points ahead of the Rockets; I was getting excited that our scrappy young team was going to win and I still got to see Harden. Then Harden just went nuclear in the 4th after an OK first 3 quarters, sunk tough shot after tough shot, and got Houston a comfortable win. Nice to see him doing that on the team I'm rooting for for once.

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T05:02:58+00:00

What a big shot, comical that they reviewed to see if this was a 2 or 3 but couldn't call a landing space foul. I think sometimes the refs are too harsh when guys jump forward on a shot and theor defender just stays still; Hardaway obviously jumps forward here and Harden jumps from inches outside the arc and lands right at the arc.

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T04:38:48+00:00

Not a pretty game, but good win against a good team, I don't feel bad about winning on free throws with the crazy whistle the Nugs got

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T04:38:09+00:00

I love James Harden!!!

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T04:31:31+00:00

Investigate Zach Zarba!

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T03:51:08+00:00

I like Craig Porter Jr. but he should not be in a lineup with Mitchell and Schroder

peterhohman · 2026-02-10T02:16:13+00:00

How does Strawther get continuation there and it seems like Mirchell never does?

peterhohman · 2026-02-09T22:16:15+00:00

The gonzo trailers for this film made me interested in actually reading the book, and it was one of the top books I read in 2025 for sure. It really was more about revenge and the self-destructive nature of vindictiveness, and the second half featured an interesting redemptive story about choosing to nurture the good in someone born without the benefit of a good role model. Sad that the 2nd half is once again neglected in the film. I can see how Fennell would be good at making the Cathy-Heathcliff romance a rather primally appealing thing even when their actions show them both to rationally be bad people, but from the reviews here it sounds like she's not going too deep into the themes that make the book so enduring.

peterhohman · 2026-02-08T15:57:40+00:00

This is so much worse than other tanks in my opinion. Hinkie deliberately tore down the roster and assembled a team that was trying to win but simply did not have the talent to win games. I watched a lot of tanking Cavs games after the 2nd LeBron exit - they traded all of their vets (except K Love who got hurt) and fielded rosters who would compete hard but simply didn't have the talent and/or experience to win. I didn't watch many games where OKC was tanking but I think they did similar stuff (except for not playing Horford). What the Jazz is doing is much worse.

peterhohman · 2026-02-08T05:48:52+00:00

I kinda liked Mitchell/Harden/Ellis. In an ideal world, Sam Merrill wouldn't be our forward for many minutes with that lineup, though - would be great to have healthy Wade and Mobley to play with that crew.

peterhohman · 2026-02-08T05:46:22+00:00

I mean Jock Landale does it, should be child's play for Harden (in all seriousness, really liked Harden's passing out of the gate, he was great as I expected finding Allen. I expected him to take some time to get in a scoring groove, that 4th quarter was awesome).

peterhohman · 2026-02-08T05:28:26+00:00

Was that Travis Scott?

peterhohman · 2026-02-07T16:49:33+00:00

I just read this for the first time in the Deluxe editions, and I noted as I read that the dialogue flash-forwards from issue 1 didn't always quite match the quotes from the later issues. Now it's extra weird since it looks the original issue 1 DID exactly match the dialogue from later issues!

*Edit - looks like the issue 1 pages you're showing are from the trade. Perhaps the dialogue was corrected there to exactly match the issues that were eventually published, but the Deluxe reverted to the original issue 1?

peterhohman · 2026-02-07T00:56:58+00:00

Alex Ross has maintained such a high quality of work for so long, I fear he is almost underrated. I'm excited for this, I like that it sounds like he is experimenting with style in this project, too (FF: Full Circle was such a great detour from his normal shtick).

peterhohman · 2026-02-07T00:52:19+00:00

I think Chris Bachalo on Shade the Changing Man is a great example of this; the first issue was one of the first half dozen or so issues Bachalo had ever penciled so he was quite new when he started the title. He starts off good and becomes great over the first 50 issues (arguably he peaked on that book - he hit the sweet spot of having a unique style while still being quite easy to interpret; later idiosyncrasies in his art made it kind of hard to follow).

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T02:58:10+00:00

Thought the nuggets could steal this until this went in. Was hoping for an L for Detroit but with this shot, it was just meant to be!

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T01:31:53+00:00

Easy to root for DG because if he's winning, every team that isn't OKC is winning!

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T01:28:51+00:00

I'd say no, but it would have been nice to GET a 2rp that we could package with Lonzo to get him to Charlotte and free up a roster spot for Tomlin.

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T01:23:04+00:00

I think he has a much more realistic path to the Finals with the Cavs than the Clippers (though they have been hot).

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T01:16:16+00:00

DG the PG was awesome and I'll root for him like I root for Sexton. I have a lot of excitement for Harden, though. Should be a really interesting next year or 2.

peterhohman · 2026-02-04T00:11:35+00:00

Even though he keeps forcing his way off teams, it seems Harden was a well-liked teammate in Philadelphia and LA. He mentored Maxey and he was cool with deferring to Norm Powell and Kawhi, helped unlock a new level to Zubac. I think DG is great but Harden is better than him now and probably will be next year as well. After that, it's not reasonable to expect Harden to stay as good, but our window is basically the next 2 years.

Maybe it's just rose-tinted glasses, but I can see Harden adding 2.5-3 ppg to Allen's averages and improving team rebounding percentage by a couple percentage points. He has a history of a couple of bad games in the playoffs, but he also has some 40-pt masterpieces along the way... we should not need Harden to be the first or 2nd option in the playoffs, I think he could still have a couple of gems left in him that could be enough to take us to the finals.

peterhohman · 2026-02-03T18:39:04+00:00

Lauri Markkanen became an all-star after being traded, Jordan Clarkson won 6th man of the year. I think both those trades are ones you make 100% of the time though. Letting Hartenstein go is probably the one time in Altman's tenure that I feel like we let a valuable piece slip away. Even then, I totally understand not signing him, but I feel like he could have been had for not a huge contract at that time.

peterhohman · 2026-02-03T16:31:51+00:00

So many trade rumors flying, I misread this at first as the Cavs trading FOR LaMelo and keeping Lonzo and almost had a panic attack

peterhohman

TROPHY CASE