Overreaction to Browns’ So-Called Mess.

A couple of years ago, the Cleveland media regarded pro football writer Jason La Canfora as a mouthpiece for Browns’ executive Michael Lombardi. These people never liked Lombardi from his days here in the Belichick regime, and so most of what La Canfora wasn’t taken seriously.

However, his column yesterday was treated like it was gospel judging by the conversation on sports talk radio yesterday.

This isn’t to say there isn’t some grain of truth in what he wrote yesterday, but it seems to have exploded throughout the city and fan base, and we think everyone should take a step back and ease up a bit.

First of all, there are no names mentioned, just unnamed sources or people within the organization. This probably means former team president Joe Banner or Lombardi or people who they know that still work there who may be disgruntled.

It is also likely that some stuff came from former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who was referred to as the “lone bright spot on offense” and a “talented assistant” within the article.

The decision to draft Johnny Manziel was also panned, with Brian Hoyer being praised. Remember that Hoyer’s biggest advocate within the organization was Lombardi. We have said this before, Brian Hoyer is a decent NFL passer, no better, no worse, and the Browns should still be working to upgrade at that position.

This isn’t to say that the Browns’ organization is a well oiled machine, nor are we saying that Haslam isn’t making decisions that he shouldn’t be making, which would mostly be on personnel.

However, we are saying people need to consider the source of this blistering review of the entire organization.

On the other hand, it has been reported that Mike Pettine wanted to hire John DiFilippo as offensive coordinator last season, but was overruled because Shanahan had more experienced. If the head coach wanted him in the first place, then what is wrong with getting him now?

His hand-picked defensive coordinator, Jim O’Neil, looks like a keeper. So, let’s give Pettine the benefit of the doubt on DiFilippo.

As for the coach’s film review with Haslam and team president Alec Sheiner, perhaps those two simply want to learn what the coaching staff looks at, and asked Pettine if they could watch with him.

We understand that might be a stretch, but it is a plausible scenario.

La Canfora also referred to the Browns having a huge amount of high draft choices and significantly large salary cap space had they traded Josh Gordon and not signed the free agents brought in, and had a front office who loved Teddy Bridgewater and Odell Beckham Jr. Doesn’t anyone see that is a blatant endorsement of the Banner/Lombardi regime?

He pans Haslam for vetoing a possible Gordon deal. That’s probably because Gordon was one of the team’s best players and you can’t keep going down that road. Most of the fans and media alike were against making that deal at the time.

And Bridgewater’s stock took a huge hit after his terrible pro day, and he wound up being taken with the last pick in the first round.

It’s much easier to judge players after the fact.

Look, we aren’t saying the Browns’ front office is stable and doesn’t make puzzling moves. However, would you believe a story about a restaurant from someone who just got fired? You would have to view the tale with a jaundiced eye.

That’s all we are saying here.

The Delly Dilemma

Cleveland is a working class town and we love when we have an athlete who overcomes the odds and gets to the highest level with limited ability.

Players like Brian Brennan, John McDonald, and even Brian Hoyer quickly become fan favorites, although each of them have critics because they don’t possess the gifts of the true stars of their respective sports have.

The Cavaliers have one of these players now in reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova.

Delly is a grinder, the kind of player that coaches love. Mike Brown loved his grit, determination and fundamentally sound game as a rookie last year, and David Blatt has the same feeling toward the Australian.

Earlier this year, when the Cavs were ravaged with injuries, Dellavedova was forced to play a lot, getting around 30 minutes per game during a period from Christmas through the first week of January.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers’ record during that period was 2-7. That wasn’t the second year player’s fault, but it does point out that if your team is playing him that much, they probably aren’t very good.

For the season, when Delly plays more than 25 minutes in a game this season, the wine and gold’s record is 3-6.

That doesn’t mean he has no place on the roster and should be cut. In fact, if the Cavs were to get rid of him, he would snapped up by several teams immediately.

Why? Because he does the things that most NBA players don’t do.

First, he works hard on defense, and doesn’t cower to anyone in the league. Last season, Brown had him guard Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, who is a seven footer, because Dellavedova is going to bother him and make him work for every point he gets.

Second, he doesn’t need the ball in his hands. Look at the problems the team had with Dion Waiters, who needed touches and shots for him to be engaged.

The Aussie knows his role and isn’t out there looking to score. He’s had one game this season, a loss to Dallas at The Q, where he has taken as many as 10 shots.

However, if his minutes are kept in the 10-15 range, he can be a very effective player. In the Cavs’ current 11 game winning streak, Dellavedova has had a positive +/- rating in seven of them.

He is becoming a better shooter as well. Most of his opportunities come from spotting up from behind the three-point line, and he’s improved from last season’s 36.8% mark to a very good 42.4% in 2014-15, which by the way in tops on the Cavaliers.

He does need work at the free throw line, as his 64% shooting from there makes him a liability if Blatt is going to have him out there at crunch time.

We would rather see Iman Shumpert out there if Blatt wants defense or J.R. Smith if the Cavs need scoring in the fourth quarter, but Blatt has shown a tendency to stay with the hot guy, so if Delly has it going, he is going to get the opportunity.

Matthew Dellavedova is a guy who can get minutes on a good NBA team, but his coaches have to be aware that he is best served with limited minutes. It’s a talent based league, and players like him can be exposed if they play too much.

Hopefully, David Blatt will grow to understand that. Grit and determination only go so far in the professional basketball.

But fans who think he shouldn’t get minutes are wrong. He’s fine if he plays around 10-15 minutes per night.

Why Is Tribe So Bad at Selling Themselves?

Last weekend, the Cleveland Indians held their annual fanfest, bringing in former and current players, along with manager Terry Francona to meet and mingle with the fans.

Once again, it was a very crowded place to be, indicating once again that there is plenty of interest in the Tribe, but unfortunately it doesn’t translate into larger crowds filling Progressive Field.

Let’s face it, for all of success on the field the Indians have had over the last two seasons with Francona at the helm, they are a boring franchise in terms of making news.

With all of the wheeling and dealing that occurred within major league baseball this winter, the Indians made one trade, bringing Brandon Moss from Oakland for minor league infielder Joe Wendle.

And while watching MLB Network last week, they showed a list of least money spent on free agents during the off-season, and there were the Indians sitting in the top five, with only Gavin Floyd’s $4 million deal as of right now.

That really isn’t moving the fan base to dig into their pockets and buy tickets, which by the way, aren’t even for sale yet in terms of single game purchases.

So, even if there were a reason to buy tickets, you can’t unless you are interested in a season ticket program.

And the biggest thing the front office has been promoting this winter is the renovations to the ballpark, which will not seat approximately 10-15% fewer fans come April.

So we can add not very good at promoting itself to being boring in terms of making news.

We asked the people at the website, MLB Trade Rumors, if they even had someone monitoring the Indians since not only do they not make any moves, they also aren’t really involved in any rumors either.

By the way, they laughed at our question, and said in their opinion, Cleveland can look forward to a very good season.

We agree, that’s why it’s a shame more people can’t see that, and why the organization has such a hard time promoting itself.

We wrote an article a few weeks ago that gave nine things about the team that the front office should be pointing out, instead of saying how the team has limited money to spend, and talking about market size.

That lack of self-promotion is probably the biggest problem with the Cleveland Indians.

Because there is interest in this team. We know that because the local ratings for the games is very high. If you are on Twitter during a game, there is plenty of comments, both pro and con during the contest, the same as there is for a Browns’ or Cavaliers’ game.

And some of the players, particularly the young core of talent, are starting to be recognized by the fan base. You can see allegiances being formed with Michael Brantley, Corey Kluber, and Yan Gomes.

Many people are looking forward to this season so they can finally see one of the sports’ top prospects in SS Francisco Lindor.

We don’t know why the Indians are so bad about this aspect of the game, and along with the appraisals they do in regards to the men who are playing, they should examine why they cannot connect with the people who buy tickets.

They are like the terrible sales person who has a great product to sell, but because their spiel is so poor, they can’t get folks to try it.

That makes it a priority for the team to get off to a fast start so people will sit up and take notice. It will be especially difficult this spring because it is likely the Cavaliers will be in the midst of a playoff run, and that will consume the fan’s interest.

Here’s hoping the message can be received some how, because it appears the Cleveland Indians will be in the middle of a playoff race again in 2015.