Lately, there has been a great deal of conversation about possible trades for the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer and also about the roster makeup of the Cleveland Guardians.
This led us to think about the front offices of both teams.
Both of those teams are very successful, at least by Cleveland terms. The Cavs won a title nine years ago, and basically rebuilt the team following the 2017-18 season, LeBron James’ last season in wine and gold, to a point where they had the best record during the regular season in the Eastern Conference this past year.
They’ve been to the NBA Finals five times during the 21st century.
As for the Guardians, they have made the playoffs six times in the last nine years and of course went to the World Series in 2016 and played in the League Championship Series a year ago.
All of that success said, both groups can fall prey to perhaps the biggest weakness any organization can make, and that is overrating the talent they have.
It’s easy to do, we get that. When you draft a player, you do a crazy amount of research on them and in your mind, project what they can be when they mature and gain experience. When the progress is either slower than expected or simply cannot happen, coaches even talk them into scenarios where the player can flourish.
Isaac Okoro is the manifestation of that currently. Okoro was the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft. He was over drafted in our opinion because you shouldn’t take a defensive minded wing that high (and yes, we said that at the time).
Okoro scored 9.6 points per game as a rookie and that remains his career high. For his five years in the league, he’s at 8.1 per contest. He’s become a respectable three-point shooter during the regular season, making 36.3%, 39.1% and 37.1% the last three seasons.
In the playoffs, it’s another matter. In three playoff years, he’s scoring 5.3 points and shooting 29.7% from distance. Those kinds of numbers keep you off the floor in the post-season.
Cleveland signed him to a three-year extension after his rookie deal ended and now would like to move him to free up space under the cap. But the cold reality comes from other teams, who don’t value the player at that salary. It has been reported the Cavs might have to throw in a draft pick or player for another team to make a deal.
The Guardians have the same problem at times. They keep hoping players will finally “figure it out” at the big-league level. We were asked a couple of days ago what we like in certain hitters coming through the farm system and we replied knowledge of the strike zone.
We understand the organization is trying the develop hitters, outside of Steven Kwan, who is last good hitter that came through their system? Obviously, Jose Ramirez, but no one else except for Francisco Lindor, who they traded when he was approaching free agency.
In their search for power, they are taking long looks at guys who have extreme strikeout rates, and those guys usually don’t have long careers. Pitchers figure them out.
We understand it is tough at times to admit a mistake has been made. That’s human nature. But it can hold a business or a sports team back if that can’t be done.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 