Mid Summer Musings

As America celebrates its birthday, here are some things we are thinking about in terms of local sports.  However, I also wonder what ESPN will do when LeBron James signs and the World Cup is over.  Will they actually start covering sports?  There are probably some Yankee-Red Sox series on the horizon.

• With Shin-Soo Choo going on the disabled list today, will any Indian be in Anaheim to play in the All Star Game?  Choo could be named, but ruled out because of injury.  AL skipper Joe Girardi could then pick someone else to go, and the Tribe will be shut out.
• What will Tribe manager Manny Acta do with Michael Brantley?  Will Brantley lead off and play CF?  And if so, what happens to Trevor Crowe?  Brantley should get the gig immediately with Shelley Duncan getting the bulk of the time in LF and Crowe being a 4th outfielder, the role he is probably best suited for.
• When Asdrubal Cabrera is back after the All Star break, does Jason Donald move to 2B?  And if so, what happens with Jayson Nix?  This is assuming Anderson Hernandez stays because he’s a switch hitter and more versatile than Nix.  Is that when Andy Marte is DFA’d?
• Will the Cavalier front office make a big splash in dealing for Chris Paul and/or Chris Bosh if James stays in a wine and gold uniform?  A deal involving Paul and Emeka Okafor’s bad contract would give the Cavs a big and the pure point guard the team needs.  It doesn’t hurt that Paul is one of LBJ’s closest friends.
• Also, the Cavs will need to add a couple more big men to replace Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who don’t appear to be coming back.
• And if James re-ups with Cleveland, does the franchise retire #23 since The King will be switching to #6 for the 2010-11 season?

Also, Byron Scott has a history of winning as a coach and seems to be willing to not just be happy to get to coach LeBron James.  However, you have to wonder why he was let go after success in both places.  Perhaps, it’s just a matter of the player or the front office getting tired of Scott’s message, but maybe it is something else.

Still, the biggest key for Scott will be how he run the half court offense.  Yes, he likes to run, but there will be times this team will have to execute in the half court to win games, it says here that was the biggest failure for the previous coach.