Hardwood Knocks

Dan is joined by Justin Rowan (@cavsanada) of The Chase Down Podcast to break down the 2026-27 Cleveland Cavaliers. FOLLOW THE CHASE DOWN POD ON YOUTUBE. TIMESTAMPS⤵️0:00 - INTRO1:22 - Lessons learned from last season4:56 - The Peyton Watson trade and fit25:07 - Donovan Mitchell’s contract and future32:13 - James Harden’s fit37:36 - Evan Mobley’s improvement42:14 - Jaylen Tyson’s next frontier44:05 - Importance of Sam Merrill45:19 - Early impressions of Meleek Thomas50:24 - The secondary guard rotation51:45 - Do the Cavs have something in Nae’Qwan Tomlin?53:04 - Mario Hezonja role54:38 - Cleveland’s depth57:35 - What is this team’s identity59:42 - Biggest needs1:00:03 - What is this team’s identity?1:00:36 - Top-10 rotation1:01:09 - Go-to crunch-time lineup1:01:38 - Weirdo lineups we want to see1:02:28 - SHOUT-OUT JARRETT ALLEN1:03:18 - PREDICTIONSSUPPORT US ON PATREON