This podcast starts with some devastating news we received Saturday afternoon. Our friend, podcaster, and contributor Ryan Yankee passed away Friday night from heart failure. We will share more news when I have it, and a more fitting tribute to Ryan in the coming days. I'm still raw from the loss. Ryan is someone who'd contributed to the CtB community pretty regularly in the past couple years with recaps, comments, and an effervescent personality on podcasts. He always enjoyed going by the the moniker, "Jude Elysium."

This podcast kicks off with the late Michael Stanley's team theme song from the 80's, "Let's Go Cavs," and plays out with Ryan playing guitar on 2012's "Everything I Wanted," by the band Good Touch, Bad Touch. Ryan played in many Cleveland bands in his decades long adventure in the Cleveland music scene, and we hope to share more about his life in the coming days.

The Euro classically trained musical CtB contingent, Adam Cathcart and Ben Werth joined Nate in the podcast booth, and we think this podcast is what Ryan would've wanted, an in depth review of the first half of the Cavs' "corkscrew season." We kicked it off with the ridiculous Larry Nance Jr. trade rumors, whether the Cavs could get anything for Andrew Drummond, and a breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first half. Then we got into the players: Nance, Drummond, Allen, Garland, Okoro, Windler, Stevens, and Collin Sexton. Ryan, who always pitched the silver linings in everything, would've loved the glimmers of hope and excellence we've seen from them all.

Finally, we looked at the NBA at large, with reverence for the professionalism that the players have shown in this meat grinder of a season, and picked out some of the highlights. We hope we did you proud, Ryan. We miss you.