The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to a bit of a slow start, splitting their first six games.  Their coach, Mike Brown, has a lot of new personnel to work with, and he is searching for combinations that work.  That accounts for the .500 record thus far.  There is no question this team will be a lot better in March and April than it is right now.

 

There is one combination that needs to be shelved right now, and that would be playing Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas at the same time.  Having the two big men on the court at the same time makes the Cavs slow and unathletic, the two things that hurt the wine and gold in the playoffs against Orlando a year ago.

 

GM Danny Ferry set out to rectify this situation in the off-season signing Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.  They would have the Cavaliers both offensively and defensively, Parker being a good catch and shoot guy, and Moon is a slasher, who can also stick the three.  Defensively, both guys are long and athletic enough to the tall wing players who hurt Cleveland last season.

 

While Parker is starting, Moon has seen less than ten minutes of playing time per game over the last three contests.  That is puzzling, particularly since Brown is always emphasizing defense. 

 

There are times when playing the two centers together make sense, such as when they are playing a team like Boston with Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett.  However, when you are playing a team like Chicago, with no true center, the move backfires.  O’Neal and Ilgauskas simply aren’t athletic enough to be on the floor together covering guys like Joakim Noah.

 

Offensively, the Cavs need to establish O’Neal as early in the game as they can.  Going to the big man right away will force the defense to double him, leaving open shooters.  If they choose to guard Shaq straight up, then you keep feeding him because even at 37, there are very few men who can stop him near the basket. 

 

And since O’Neal is an older player, why not play him 26-28 minutes a night, with Ilgauskas getting the rest.  It just makes too much sense. 

 

What the coach needs to do is get more time for Moon and another athletic player in J.J. Hickson.  The Cavaliers are going to need those guys when the playoffs come around.  Mike Brown is trying to see what works, but six games in, I can tell him that having two slow big guys on the floor at the same time isn’t working.

 

JK

 

 

Is it really change when you get rid of someone who really didn’t do anything?  It is if you are the Cleveland Browns, as GM George Kokinis was let go yesterday with the team floundering at 1-7.  Was Kokinis a sacrificial lamb, offered up by Eric Mangini?  

 

Although Kokinis had the title, most people believe that all aspects of the football operations have Mangini’s fingerprints on them.  Can we really blame the general manager for last April’s draft, which right now looks questionable at best?  Or did Kokinis point out some things the coach did that he wasn’t happy with, and he paid for it with his job.

 

There have been reports that the GM and the coach clashed on some issues from the moment Kokinis was hired, so Mangini took this opportunity to get rid of him.

 

If the move came down from owner Randy Lerner, then Mangini cannot feel very secure today.  Obviously, Kokinis’ dismissal is a forerunner to a new head of football operations being hired, a person who will want his own man to be the head coach.

 

This is a similar situation to the Dolphins during the 2007 season.  They hired Bill Parcells to be in charge of football, and he fired Cam Cameron after one year in which Miami finished 1-15.  Parcells brought in Tony Sparano to be the new coach.  The Dolphins went 11-5 last year and are playoff contenders this season.  And they show imagination on offense. 

 

This move shows once again, what a mess this franchise is in.  Apparently, Lerner sees that he made a mistake with the hiring of Mangini.  However, he didn’t seem to do the due diligence involved when he was hired.  Most football people would have hired the guy that Lerner is looking for now, someone to be in charge of the football operations.  Had Lerner done that in January, instead of getting all googly eyed for Mangini, perhaps the team wouldn’t be 1-7 right now.

 

The owner is supposedly seeking the counsel of former Browns’ GM Ernie Accorsi as to what to do with this team.  Apparently, Lerner is now willing to listen to Accorsi, because it has been reported he was against the hiring of Kokinis from the get go.  Reports also have Accorsi grooming former Browns’ quarterback Bernie Kosar to be the man in charge at some point in the near future.

 

Whether or not Kosar is going to be the man, it appears that Lerner is set on putting together an organization with a strong football man at the top.  This means that Mangini will either have to decide he is willing to work with that guy, or be out on the streets looking for work. 

 

Either way, the head coach’s power with the Cleveland Browns will be drastically reduced.  As someone who doesn’t think the coach should be in charge of personnel, this is a good move. 

 

Many people are criticizing the owner for this move, preaching patience.  However, if a disaster is starting to happen, why not make changes sooner rather than later.  The huge step backwards taken this season forced Lerner to rethink his decision.

 

Eric Mangini may not be a bad NFL head coach, but he may have been given a job that he is incapable of in running an entire franchise.  To paraphrase Paul Brown, you can’t blame Mangini, the blame rests with the man who hired him.

 

JD

 

Last season, the Cleveland Browns failed to score an offensive touchdown in their last six games.  However, at that point in the season, they were playing the third and fourth string quarterbacks in Ken Dorsey and Bruce Gradkowski.  What’s their excuse this season?

 

The Browns did score an offensive touchdown today, but the philosophy and results when they have the football continues to be an out and out joke.  Their passing game is a total embarassment for an NFL team as once again, Derek Anderson had a horrible game.  After completing just two passes in the first half, Anderson was not replaced for the third quarter as the coaching staff apparently was watching a different game than the rest of us.

 

Anderson wound up hitting on just 6 of 17 throws for 76 yards and two interceptions before being mercifully removed in the fourth quarter after having his last pass returned for a Chicago touchdown by Charles Tillman. 

 

Yes, there were dropped passes and fumbles, but Anderson’s second throw was a short pass (maybe about 5 yards) that was behind Lawrence Vickers and that set the tone for his day.  His passer rating was 0.0 at halftime and improved to 10.2 by the end of the game.  Is it possible that this guy went to the Pro Bowl just two years ago?  He should have started his last game as quarterback of the Browns barring some sort of injury.

 

It should be noted that the touchdown scored yesterday was put on the board without the aid of the passing game.  They took over the ball on the Bears’ 30-yard line and used all running plays to move it into the end zone. 

 

After the game, owner Randy Lerner said he was dissatisfied with the performance of the team, and hinted changes will be made over the bye week.  The first change should be to have a new person calling the plays two weeks from tonight against the Baltimore Ravens.  Brian Daboll has been terrible in this area, and needs to be replaced. 

 

What will be done?  There have been hints that Lerner would like to bring in someone to run the football operations right away.  Whether that person is Bernie Kosar or someone else, bringing in a football man would seem to mean than Mangini doesn’t have a lot of job security right now.

 

One good thing about the game was the performance of the defense, which was aggressive before running out of gas due to the poor performance of the offense.  They were on the field for over 37 minutes yesterday.  They put pressure on Jay Cutler most of the day giving him different looks, and held the Bears to three field goals despite great field position for Chicago.

 

Rob Ryan’s unit continues to work hard, and his feisty demeanor is refreshing.  He jawed at Cutler when the Bears couldn’t score on a 1st and goal situation from the one in the fourth quarter.  Cutler is one of those guys who isn’t as good as he thinks he is, and Ryan was probably telling him that. 

 

Thankfully, there will be no action on the field next week, and hopefully there will be some action off it.  Jamal Lewis said he’s had enough after the season, which is more problems for the coaching staff since he is a captain.  Perhaps, this dreadful season finally makes the owner admit he needs someone to run the football operations, and let that man hire a coach.  It hasn’t worked with Butch Davis, Romeo Crennel, and Mangini. 

 

Browns fans deserve a good product, and movement forward.  There was no reason to take a step backward after last year’s 4-12 fiasco, but this year looks like it could be a tough time hitting that mark in 2009.

 

JD