Brown Needs to Play Brown

 

The season opens for the Cleveland Cavaliers this evening as they take on the Washington Wizards in a rematch of last year’s first round playoff series.  The Cavs’ roster has not changed greatly from last season, and the hope is that injury free seasons from Larry Hughes and Anderson Varajao will boost the team to a division title.  The early word is that tonight’s non-active players will be rookie Daniel Gibson, recently acquired Dwayne Jones, and first round draft pick Shannon Brown.  That’s my first second guess of the NBA season.

 

No one gets better watching basketball.  If they did, I would be an all pro.  The wine and gold needs another big physical guard who can defend.  Right now, they have Eric Snow and that’s about it.  Hughes and LeBron James play the passing lanes well and come up with a lot of steals, but the Cavs need someone to stop guards from penetrating.  That’s where the pick of Shannon Brown made sense.  At 6’4" and 205 pounds and young legs, he has the physical skills.  Brown was also touted as being a good defender in college under the coaching of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.  Mike Brown and the Cavs need the rookie to contribute.

 

The coach gave his nine man rotation a week ago, and Shannon Brown was not a part of it.  Instead, both David Wesley and Damon Jones were in line for playing time.  Jones and Wesley are both undersized shooting guard, and although Wesley has a better defensive reputation, he still has lost a step and could have a problem with bigger off guards.  Jones couldn’t guard a phone booth, as we learned last season.  Both players should not be getting court time.

 

Mike Brown needs to start getting the former Spartan ready to contribute in the playoffs.  That won’t happen by not playing him.  He needs to get on the court, and that needs to happen starting in game 1.  The coach shouldn’t have to be concerned about making the playoffs this year, that’s a given.  He does need to advance further for this season to be considered a success.  The Cavs need Shannon Brown to be a contributor for that to occur. 

 

That’s also the reason Mike Brown must limit James’ minutes in the regular season.  Yes, #23 is only 21 years old, but playing more than 40 minutes wears on anyone.  Getting 38-40 minutes per night would seem to be the correct number to keep the King fresh.  It would also make his teammates adjust to not having him on the floor. 

 

There is an old coaches saying that if you don’t use your bench, you won’t have one.  The Cavaliers coach has to take that into consideration.  Give the bench guys time from the first game, and make Shannon Brown a part of that bench.  The benefits will pay off in the long run, which translated means next spring.

 

JK