Time for Tribe to Honor Albert Belle

Over the last few years, the Cleveland Indians have honored several of the players from their playoff teams of the late 90’s by putting them into the club’s Hall of Fame.

Sandy Alomar Jr. was the first to go in, fitting because he was the first piece of the puzzle when the Tribe traded for him after the 1990 season.

Kenny Lofton and Charles Nagy quickly followed him and last year, Carlos Baerga received the honor.

And there is no doubt that Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez will be inducted some day very soon, but their playing days ended too recently to be considered.

However, there is one name that is missing. The central figure for the first few years of the winning seasons including the strike shortened 1994 season and the American League Championship team of 1995.

It is time for the Indians to put Albert Belle in the franchise’s Hall of Fame.

We realize Belle’s departure from Cleveland as a free agent after the 1996 season was not exactly friendly and he antagonized the fan base when he came back to the lakefront as a member of the White Sox in subsequent visits. But you can’t ignore the fact that he’s one of the best players ever to wear an Indian uniform.

The slugger hit 242 home runs with the Tribe, leaving town as the franchise leader (he was passed by Jim Thome), and hit .295 with a 949 OPS in 913 games as a member of the team.

He led the American League in runs batted in three times with Cleveland, as well as leading the AL once in home runs, doubles, and runs scored once in his tenure here.

And in his last three seasons on the north coast, he finished second twice and third once in the MVP voting.

Of course, baseball historians will wonder years from now why Belle didn’t win the award in 1995 when he batted .317 (8^th in the league) with 50 HR (led league) and 126 RBI (tied for AL lead) on the best team by far in the junior circuit.

He hit at least 34 home runs the last five seasons in Cleveland, and knocked in at least 100 runs in those seasons as well. The significance of that is the 1994 season, the strike season, lasted only 113 games.

Yes, Belle was a controversial figure to be sure. He was suspended early in his career for different issues, and was once sat down because of a corked bat.

However, we also may have been the most studious players in the game when it came to his craft. He studied opposing pitchers and made adjustments.

In game five of the ’95 World Series, Belle went to school on new Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’ pitching him away and homered to right field in the first inning.

There is no question when you went to an Indians’ game in those days; you waited in your seat for Albert Belle to come to the plate. If you were at home, you made sure you were watching when Belle was hitting.

He was a “must see” player.

The Indians haven’t announced their honoree for the 2014 season yet, and the lately the antagonism between the Tribe and Belle has softened, so maybe he will get the nod.

But if they aren’t considering Albert Belle, they should. And we have a feeling when Belle is inducted, the fans will respond with a thunderous ovation.

Cleveland is a forgiving city, and they want to open their arms for the most exciting player to wear a Tribe uniform over the last 50 years.

Cavs Show They Are Going For It, Getting Deng

Over the past few weeks, we have been critical of the way the Cleveland Cavaliers roster has been put together and the inaction of the team’s GM, Chris Grant.

Early this morning, Grant finally did something and also cashed in some of the assets he’s been collecting over the past few seasons.

Grant dealt Andrew Bynum, a player who had worn out his welcome in Cleveland for whatever reason, and three future draft picks to the Chicago Bulls for two-time all-star small forward Luol Deng.

Finally, the wine and gold have a legitimate small forward.

Deng can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, but it is refreshing to see a Cleveland team close to a post-season berth take a chance and try to make the playoffs instead of collecting more tickets for the draft lottery.

Let us remind you that even though the Cavs are 11-23 on the season, they are just three games out of the eighth seed in the weak Eastern Conference.

We have been bemoaning the balance of the roster for a few weeks now, as our feeling is it is made up of point guards and power forwards.

The Duke alum is still just 28 years old (turning 29 in April) and is averaging 19.0 points per game this year, a figure that would put him second on the Cavs. He’s also grabbing seven rebounds a night and is a solid defender (2^nd team all defense in 2011-12), which should make Mike Brown happy.

He’s a career 16.0 point scorer and is a 46% lifetime shooter from the floor. He’s a quality player and quite frankly is the second best player wearing the wine and gold.

And you basically gave up nothing to sign him, because the draft picks are something a young team doesn’t need. Why add more youth, and the players coveted by the people who value the unknown may never be as good as the newest Cavalier.

Bynum was a risk when the Cavs inked him to a two-year deal last summer, having not played at all last season. He showed some flashes of playing well, most notably a 20 point effort against the Bulls ironically. However, Cleveland basically paid him to go home a little over a week ago.

For the Cavs to turn him into an all-star in Deng is unbelievable.

Hopefully, there are still more moves to come because the team is still top-heavy with guards who need the ball and power forwards. For example, where does Mike Brown find minutes for first overall pick Anthony Bennett.

Now the onus for success shifts toward the coach, who needs to shorten his rotation to nine players.

For right now, the starting lineup will have two players who can shoot (Deng and C.J. Miles) to go with Kyrie Irving.

Our proposal is to use Irving, Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack at guards with Miles getting time at both shooting guard and small forward with Deng.

Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Bennett, and Tyler Zeller should divide the big men spots.

That would leave Alonzo Gee and Earl Clark as the odd men out.

What is clear is the Cavs have a better mix of talent today than they did yesterday, and their GM used an asset to improve his basketball team.

Whether or not it translates to success on the floor is now up to the coaching staff.

Hard To Criticize Possible Move for Gasol

The Cleveland Cavaliers rehired Mike Brown as coach because they wanted to re-establish a defensive identity.

Last season, they ranked 25th in the NBA in points allowed per game at 101.2 and were the league’s worst team in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to shoot 47.6% from the floor.

However, this season the Cavs have actually allowed more points per game at 101.3, but their defensive field goal percentage has dropped to 16th in the Association at 45.1%.

The wine and gold is actually rebounding better defensively as well, ranking last in the NBA in 2012-13, and this year improving to 14th.

So, the case can be made that the Cavaliers do play better defense, which is what Brown was brought in to accomplish.

While we have been critical of Brown’s ability to coach offensive basketball, how does the scoring compare to last season?

Last season, the Cavs scored 96.5 points per night, and shot 43.4% from the floor. This year, the points are down to 95.5 (one point per game) and the shooting percentage has also dropped to 42.2%.

So, Cleveland has improved the frequency with which their opponents make shots, but they are still allowing the same amount of points while they are scoring less than last year.

Therefore, there hasn’t been any improvement in total.

The record hasn’t improved all that much as Byron Scott’s team was 7-25 after 32 games, while this year’s edition of the Cavs is sitting at 11-21.

It’s the lack of dramatic improvement that gets basketball fans in Cleveland antsy. Many people thought the natural progression of young players, the return to health of Anderson Varejao, and the addition of Andrew Bynum could get the Cavaliers over the .500 mark and into the playoffs.

The return to the playoffs is still a possibility as the wine and gold is still just three games out of a post-season spot despite their mediocre record.

That’s why a change is needed and the quicker the better.

With the amount of youth on this basketball team, there isn’t a huge gain to be made by making the draft lottery again. To be sure, the fans and media who believe that everyone in the draft is great will disagree, but really, GM Chris Grant needs to change the culture of losing that has seeped into the franchise since LeBron James departed.

That’s why if Grant can get C/F Pau Gasol from the Lakers for Bynum, he should do so immediately.

If Gasol comes here with the right attitude, and he hasn’t had any character issues in the past, he would provide a player who has been on winning teams and would also provide a legitimate scoring threat, averaging 15.3 points per night this season.

Remember, the Cavs are dealing a player they no longer want in Bynum and perhaps, if the rumors are true, a wing player who has fallen out of the rotation in Alonzo Gee, so it’s hard to be critical of the move.

Plus, Gasol can be a free agent at the end of the year, which helps with salary cap implications.

It still doesn’t address the need of a legitimate #2 guard and/or a small forward, positions the Cavs need to take a leap in the standings and also to balance the roster, but it is getting something for nothing.

However, Grant then needs to make another move to bring in players at other spots besides guards who handle the ball who can score. And he needs to do that as quickly as possible.

The Cavs need to do anything they can to make the playoffs and show young players like Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Tristan Thompson what it’s like to experience playoff basketball.

That’s what the “draft people” don’t get. The franchise needs to take a step forward and the quicker the better.

GM Grant Needs to Add Shooter

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a struggling basketball team.

They’ve had four draft picks in the top four of the draft over the last three years. They’ve hired a new coach. They’ve taken some chance on the free agent market.

Yet, to date, the result is the same. They continue to struggle and right now they are sitting at 10-21 on the season, and are on pace to win 27 games, a mere three more than last season, a record that got their coach, Byron Scott, fired.

That would seem to put the onus squarely on the shoulders of GM Chris Grant.

Grant has brought in some talented players, with the prime example being Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick in 2011, won the NBA Rookie of the Year, and has made an all-star team.

Outside of this year’s first overall pick, Anthony Bennett, the other two players who were selected in the top four of the draft were power forward Tristan Thompson, a solid player in the league and Dion Waiters, who has shown ability since entering the league last year.

So, Grant hasn’t taken any stiffs, with the disclaimer that it is still way too early to make any judgment on Bennett, who’s only 31 games into his rookie season.

Still, it seems that the GM hasn’t put together a basketball “team”, meaning the mix of talent hasn’t been working.

While we have supported Grant’s talent evaluation in the past, we did so thinking he would convert the duplicate talent he has at certain positions and convert them where the team’s weaknesses are.

The wine and gold have a plethora of power forwards in Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Earl Clark, and Bennett and a bounty of point guard types in Irving, Waiters, and Jarrett Jack.

This forces Mike Brown to have to play two power forwards and two point guards for much of the game. That’s not a good mix offensively and defensively.

What the Cavaliers do not have are shooters. Sure, Irving won the three point shooting contest last season, but he’s more of a penetrating guard than a pure shooter.

The odd thing is, these types of guys should be fairly easy to obtain, a lot of them bounce around the league like Kyle Korver and J.J. Redick.

That’s what is lacking with the Cavs right now. They don’t have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket from outside.

So when Irving and Waiters get into the lane with dribble penetration, they don’t have options to kick it out to, which makes the defense protect the basket all the more, making it tougher for those guys to score.

The extra power forwards aren’t as critical because Brown can use them, along with Tyler Zeller at center to alleviate some of the logjam, but the imbalance in the backcourt and at the small forward spot isn’t providing a winning mix.

On New Year’s Eve, the Cavs played the Indiana Pacers even for three quarters, but simply couldn’t make shots in the fourth quarter, being held to eight points for most of the quarter.

When a guard did get into the paint, there was the overwhelming presence of Roy Hibbert, and when the ball got kicked outside, they don’t have a reliable shooter.

If anything is to be salvaged this season, Grant has to act quickly. As it stands, the wine and gold can still make the playoffs despite their mediocre record.

In basketball, pure talent isn’t the only determining factor. You have to have the right mix and the Cavaliers don’t.

It’s on Chris Grant to make the correct moves and balance out his roster. And he needs to do it sooner than later.