We Have Answers…

Thought we’d change it up a little this week and answer some questions posed to us over the last couple of weeks.

Who should the Cavs take with the first overall pick?

Well, our first thought would be to check for the highest bidder for the choice and get a proven player for the selection, but if that can’t happen, we would take Kansas center Joel Embiid.

We have doubts about any one of the three players that are the consensus top guys, mostly because they are one year out of high school, but if the risk is about equal, we’d take our chances on the player with the biggest upside, and that is Embiid.

If you can get a big man who is as good as he is advertised to be, you have to go for it. And yes, we know the NBA has become a league where point guards and wings are kings, but a great defensive presence is still needed.

Are you interested in the World Cup?

No.

Who should start at quarterback for the Browns in the season opener at Pittsburgh?

The answer here is not a cop-out. The correct choice is the player who gives Mike Pettine’s squad the best chance to win. This franchise has been down and out for so long, they can’t play someone because he’s a first round pick or because he will create a buzz around the country.

And that is not a bash on Johnny Manziel. If he shows the coaching staff enough to be the starter at Pittsburgh, then by all means, he should be in there.

We don’t believe that Pettine will be swayed by anything else than performance in making that decision. He strikes us as a coach who doesn’t have any other agenda other than winning. If he thinks Brian Hoyer can get the W, then he should start, if it’s Manziel, then he should get the nod.

That’s the way it should be.

Who do you want to win the NBA Finals?

The obvious answer is San Antonio, although not for the reason you think. We are old school when it comes to basketball and the Spurs play the game the way it is meant to be played. They move the ball, always looking for a player with a better opportunity.

This is in stark contrast to the pick-and-roll based offenses most teams play with players dribbling, dribbling, and more dribbling looking for an opportunity to take their defender to the basket.

Perhaps if the Spurs win, more teams will emulate that style of play. Teams usually copy the champions, and it would be another benefit if more teams played the game the way San Antonio does.

Is there a possibility LeBron James will come back to Cleveland to play for the Cavs?

If the Heat wins, no. If the Heat loses? Probably not. Moreover, the Cavs’ front office has to stop pretending that’s the only way they are going to get back to a title contender level.

If they put all the energy they spend on thinking of ways to impress James into building a competitive roster, they would be much better off.

Gilbert Needs to Build Team, Not Make Headlines.

Until a few years ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were the NBA’s poster child for a horribly run franchise.

They spent a great deal of time participating in the draft lottery, accumulating a bunch of high draft picks, and for the most part made the wrong pick, or the player they selected had injury issues.

They seemed always to be in a state of chaos.

Sound familiar?

Dan Gilbert needs to get his franchise in order, and he needs to do it quickly.

After giving David Griffin the keys to the kingdom in naming his as general manager a few weeks ago, it appears the owner tried to lure Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari to the Cavs with a long-term deal and lots and lots of cash.

Perhaps Griffin was the guy who made the suggestion to hire Calipari, but it doesn’t seem like his style. It looks as though it has the fingerprints of the team’s owner all over it.

It’s time for Gilbert to start building a solid franchise and stop trying to make the quick fix, big splash move.

And as a franchise, the owner, GM, whoever the coach is, and everyone else who works at Quicken Loans Arena has to give up on the notion that if they make one move, then LeBron James will charge back to Cleveland on a white horse and rescue the Cavaliers.

Instead they need to put the pieces together to build a squad that can make the playoffs and start the process of contending for a high seed and eventually a spot in the conference finals. That will come by making the correct personnel decisions, hiring a head coach the players respect and developing an organization that expects to win.

If you look at what has happened since James departed, they spent the first couple of seasons not really trying to win, trying to follow the “Oklahoma City model”, which is basically stinking for a season, being able to draft Kevin Durant, and hitting the jackpot with future first round picks in Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka.

That requires a lot of luck, which the wine and gold have had in getting the top selection three times in four years.

They did draft an all-star type player in Kyrie Irving, who it remains to be seen if he has the toughness to be a franchise player. They picked Dion Waiters, a player much like Irving, Tristan Thompson, who looks like a journeyman big man, and Anthony Bennett, who was a wasted pick in his first year.

Why? Because when the front office hired the coach after Byron Scott, they hired a guy who has no track record of developing young players, despite having a roster full of them.

So now, they hire a new GM, and it appears the owner undermines him just a month after giving him the gig.

Again, maybe Griffin was part of that decision, but since he is interviewing assistant coaches like Tyrone Lue and Alvin Gentry, it doesn’t seem likely.

Gilbert is approaching joke status among national basketball writers. They can’t wait to see what happens next in Cleveland.

What needs to happen is for him to step back and let David Griffin run the organization. This team has some talent, but they need to get some players who compliment each other in exchange for all of the point guards and power forwards they currently have.

Cleveland basketball fans deserve more from the Cavs’ organization.

Tribe Young Core Looks to Be Good Sign for Future

We have been critical of the management of the Cleveland Indians in the past, particularly for not being able to sustain success.

After a division title in 2007, the Tribe got off to a horrible start in ’08. They finished strong to wind up at .500, but the season was over in July, leading to the trade of C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers.

That was followed by three out of four seasons with less than 70 wins, the only outlier being the 80-82 season put together by Manny Acta in 2011. That team was in the race until Labor Day, providing some excitement, but that was followed up by a 68-94 campaign that cost Acta his job.

The Indians didn’t start strong, but have followed up a playoff season in 2013 by being in the mix so far in 2014, currently sitting at 31-31 on the season, just four games behind Detroit, and very much in the wild card mix.

Now we hesitate to say this because it is Cleveland and it is the Indians, but the Tribe looks well set up for the future, at least the next three to four seasons.

They have a pretty good young veteran core that has been signed to long-term deals to keep them here over the next few seasons.

They have 2B Jason Kipnis, who just turned 27 in April, and is signed here through the 2019 season. Kipnis made the all-star team last season, and although he is off to a bit of a slow start this season, looks to be in the top-tier at his position in the American League.

They have Michael Brantley, who just turned 27 in May and is also locked up through 2017, and seems to have become a star player this season. He added the power missing from his game this season, and is hitting .305 with 9 HR and 42 RBI (857 OPS) at this point in the season. He is poised for his first all-star appearance this summer.

One of the gambles the front office took over the winter was a belief that Yan Gomes could be an everyday catcher, and he has fulfilled that belief. Gomes, who will turn 27 in July, has picked up right where he left off at the end of 2013, batting .271 with 7 HR and 22 RBI (756 OPS) thus far.

After a shaky beginning of the campaign defensively, he has settled down to the level he was at last season.

One player has to be added to the young core this season, and that is 25-year-old Lonnie Chisenhall, who has blossomed this year, hitting .362 to this point with 4 HR and 23 RBI, a mark which is third on the team. His OPS is 950.

That gives GM Chris Antonetti a half of a lineup, more than half if you count uber-prospect Francisco Lindor, that he can count on build the team around every year for the next few seasons.

That’s a good luxury to have and if you put those guys with a solid pitching staff, and that varies year to year, you have a pretty good chance you will be in the playoff hunt every year.

Now, it would be nice to start drafting well on a consistent basis, so that when Kipnis, Brantley, Gomes, and Chisenhall start to show signs of age, there will be people to replace them.

On the pitching side, the Tribe has Trevor Bauer (23) and Danny Salazar (24) on the rise to go with Corey Kluber, who is having a breakout season at 28 years old.

It helps building a roster every year if you have a core in place. Right now, the Indians appear to have that group. Let’s hope that leads to a stretch of good baseball over the next five years.

When Swish and Santana Get Back? Play ‘Em

The Cleveland Indians have won six in a row and have climbed back to the .500 mark for the season. Of course, since they are going on a 10 game trek and they have one of the worst road records in the game, that record may be short-lived.

But for the time being, things are looking good in Tribe Town, and naturally casual baseball fans are quick to infer that the team’s hot streak coincided with Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher going on the disabled list.

That leads, of course, to the conclusion that when both players are healthy, Terry Francona should keep them on the bench and leave the status quo.

Upon further review, that’s a dumb argument.

First, because Lonnie Chisenhall is hitting .361 and is currently tied for fifth on the team in RBIs and is hitting left-handers, he’s staying in the lineup everyday even when the two switch-hitters return to the active roster.

The two players who have gained time because of the injuries are Jason Giambi and Ryan Raburn who are sharing the DH spot, and Mike Aviles, who has been filling in at third base with Chisenhall playing 1B.

Neither Giambi nor Raburn have been particularly productive at DH, with Giambi just 5 for 35 on the season, albeit with 2 HR, and Raburn is still in a season long funk at .207 with just 1 HR.

While Santana is hitting only .159 on the season, he does have a .327 on base percentage, compared to Giambi (.250) and Raburn (.262). That means Santana is making outs 6-7% less times than do the men currently replacing them.

Giambi can be productive if his starts can be limited to once or twice per week. His production seems to ebb when he is playing every other day, which has been the case over the past week.

Raburn hasn’t been productive at all to this point in the season.

On the other hand, Aviles has been very productive in 2014, ranking third on the Indians in runs batted in right now, and he’s batting .274 on the year, although he doesn’t walk much, and doesn’t have much power. His OPS is just 673.

That’s only 42 points behind Swisher, who by most accounts is off to a terrible start, hitting just .211. Still, his on base percentage is at .311 meaning he also makes less outs than Aviles, who sits at .297.

Francona will find time periodically for the veteran who can play 2B, SS, 3B, and LF, and most of that time will come against southpaws because the Indians lack right-handed hitting.

While the Indians have been hitting well and winning with two regulars on the shelf, there is no question they would be much better off with a productive Santana and Swisher, and you can make a very good case that even with tough starts for the pair, they have been slightly better on offense than the players who have replaced them.

Now, no one is saying Francona should put either player back into the middle of the batting order, it wouldn’t hurt if he put them in the lower half of the order until they get going again, and for Santana, he could stop the experiment at the hot corner and use him at 1B when he’s not catching, with Chisenhall going back to third.

Don’t confuse the winning as meaning Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher aren’t important to the success of the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe has been winning with solid starting pitching, excellent relief by the overworked Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen, and some timely hitting from Michael Bourn.

Getting two switch-hitters with the track record of Santana and Swisher back will only help the Tribe attack.

Tito’s Bullpen Usage is Troublesome

Indians’ manager Terry Francona likes to have a lot of options in his bullpen.

Because of the versatility of players like Mike Aviles, Ryan Raburn, and now, Lonnie Chisenhall, Francona likes to carry 13 pitchers on the roster, including eight relievers.

That’s fine, because the skipper would rather bring in a fresh arm at the end of games, than use a starter who is running out of gas after throwing around 100 pitches.

But there is a growing problem in the relief corps, because it is fairly obvious that Tito doesn’t trust three members of his bullpen crew, and that lack of trust is causing fatigue and possible ineffectiveness down the road for the guys he does trust.

Since we are just a little over 1/3 through the long baseball schedule, this has the potential for disaster.

Currently, there are four Cleveland relievers in the top four of the American League leaders in games pitched: lefty Mark Rzepczynski and Bryan Shaw are tied for the league lead, while Cody Allen is tied for third in the AL.

Recently deposed closer John Axford had been in the top ten for most of the season, but has recently dropped out, mostly because he is one of the pitchers who has left Francona’s “circle of trust”.

As a matter of comparison, Kansas City, Detroit, and Boston all have two pitchers in the top ten in appearances.

Rzepczynski isn’t a real big deal, because he’s a LOOGY (left-handed one out guy) and many of his appearances are to face one or two batters, like last night when he came in to get David Ortiz out.

However, the heavy use of Shaw and Allen will come with a price. Francona admitted after last night’s win over the Red Sox that he shouldn’t have used Shaw, who was in his third consecutive game, and has thrown close to 100 pitches over the last seven days.

To be fair, none of the three are averaging over an inning per appearance, but you have to figure in warming up as well. All of that takes a toll on a reliever’s arm.

The only other bullpen guys Francona seems to feel confident with are veteran right-hander Scott Atchison and another LOOGY, Josh Outman.

The former started the year as a kind of mop up man, but his effectiveness in that role has earned himself opportunities with the game on the line.

That leaves Axford, who has had difficulty throwing strikes (17 walks in 21-2/3 innings), Carlos Carrasco, sent to the ‘pen after struggling as a starter, and the revolving door guy (Mark Lowe, Nick Hagadone) sitting around collecting dust if the Indians are winning.

Granted many managers deploy the relief personnel the same way, using certain guys with a lead, the rest get used when losing, but Francona has used Allen and Shaw in close games with the Tribe losing, trying to keep them in the game.

Also, the length the starters are giving the skipper is not helping the situation. It would be one thing if the starting pitcher went into the seventh, so Tito could use Shaw one day and Allen the next, but many times he has to use both to put the contest in the victory column.

That’s why GM Chris Antonetti needs to get the manager more arms he can trust, or another starter who can pitch deep into games.

If it doesn’t happen soon, the bullpen, which has been a mainstay for the Indians over the past few years, will simply run out of gas, and the house of cards which is the Tribe pitching staff will completely implode.

While Season Has Been Shaky, Tribe Finds Chisenhall Has Value

While the Cleveland Indians have been an up and down team so far this season, there have been some things that have worked out for them so far.

Many people (including us) seem to focus on the negative when it comes to this year’s Tribe, but there have been some positives to discuss as well.

First, would be the emerge of Lonnie Chisenhall as a major league player. The team’s former first round draft pick, Chisenhall hadn’t demonstrated the consistency needed to be a regular at the big league level. To be fair, he hadn’t really received a full chance.

Former manager Manny Acta was infatuated with marginal major leaguer Jack Hannahan’s glove, so the youngster, then 23 years old, didn’t get a full opportunity, despite hitting .268 with five home runs in just 43 games in 2012.

After two years as a semi-regular in Cleveland, Hannahan was a utility man for the Reds last season and is no longer playing professionally in the United States.

Last season, Terry Francona give him a share of the job in spring training, platooning him with Mike Aviles early, but when he didn’t hit in April and May, he found himself back in the minor leagues by the end of May.

While no one is saying that Chisenhall will end the season hitting at the .369 clip he’s currently at, he’s showed that the promise showed in the minors can translate to the bigs.

He’s made tremendous progress vs. lefties too, going 9 for 16 in a small sample size thus far, but his new approach at the plate has him spraying line drives all over the field. He’s not trying to pull everything anymore.

This is a surprise for many who wanted to deal Chisenhall last season, or were critical of his earning a spot on the Opening Day roster this season. By the way, even though right-hander Sonny Gray started the season lidlifter for Oakland, Chisenhall was not in the starting lineup, with Francona opting for Ryan Raburn as the DH.

We remember a radio interview conducted last season with former Tribe skipper Mike Hargrove, who was asked what players on the Indians’ roster had the potential to be perennial all-stars, like the ones he piloted in the 90’s. Hargrove mentioned Chisenhall as one of those players. That confirmed our belief that the left-handed hitter with the sweet swing could be a very good player.

So far this season, he’s demonstrating just that.

Now just 25 years old, he leads the Indians in doubles with 15, and has an on base percentage of .424 and a slugging average of .554, leading to a .977 OPS, an outstanding figure.

Yes, his average on balls put in play is extraordinarily high and it will come down, he still has all the look of a very good major league hitter, and a mainstay, along with Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, and Yan Gomes, with the Indians for many years to come.

His emergence may also lead to Carlos Santana moving to a 1B/DH role for the balance of the season. While Chisenhall isn’t Brooks Robinson or Mike Schmidt defensively, we feel that playing every day, he will provide a better glove than the converted catcher.

For a team with a recently struggling farm system, discovering a 25-year-old regular that they drafted is a great thing. With Francisco Lindor on the horizon, the Indians may have found the left side of their infield for many years.

Through hard work and determination, the emergence of Lonnie Chisenhall is one reason the struggles of the first third of the season have been a little easier to take.

Three Thoughts on the Cavs

Over the past couple of weeks, since they won the NBA draft lottery, there has been much discussion about the future of the local professional basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Some of the discussion has come from national sources and some from the Cleveland media. Here are our thoughts on a few issues regarding the wine and gold…

Kyrie Irving’s contract. Should GM David Griffin offer the former Rookie of the Year a maximum contract extension or not, that is the question?

The problem here is the monumentally horrible decision to bring back Mike Brown as head coach last season. It is almost as if you have to treat last season as a throw away for Irving and several other young Cavaliers.

We don’t know what to think about the MVP of last season’s All-Star Game. Is he selfish? Is he willing to play defense? Can he co-exist with Dion Waiters?

Brown didn’t do anything to help any young players on the Cleveland roster, so we think we need to see how Irving plays under a new coach, one that can put the players in an offensive system where he can thrive.

However, if he doesn’t have any inclination to sign here long-term, then Griffin should look to get what he can for the former first overall pick.

Getting Kevin Love. Love wants out in Minnesota, and the Cavs certainly have the assets to get the all-star forward. However, fans should temper the idea of getting the power forward.

Why? First, because unless Griffin can get Love to agree to a contract extension, it doesn’t make sense to deal a whole bunch of assets for one year of Love, even as good as he is. And we don’t think Love will do that for a couple of reasons.

One, he can probably get more money by going out on the open market as a free agent. Second, this isn’t a basketball decision for Love, it’s a “brand” thing. Love wants to be famous and be someone who can get huge money in endorsements.

He can’t maximize that earning potential in Minnesota, nor can he do it in Cleveland.

If it was strictly a basketball move, why would he be talking about going to the Lakers, a team currently in shambles?

This is the new NBA, which is starting to resemble the WWE. It’s more about other things than basketball.

The Search of a New Coach. It appears Griffin is talking to a lot of people, which is good. The disturbing thing is that their are reports that the GM and owner Dan Gilbert want to be “involved”. That will probably restrict who will accept the job.

George Karl would seem to be a great candidate, with proven success and a great basketball mind, but it is doubtful with that track record that he would want to have the GM and owner quizzing him daily.

The same is likely true for any high-profile coach, and we are putting Lionel Hollins in that category as well.

That means the Cavs are probably looking a current assistants and others who can’t wait to get back in the head coaching gigs in the NBA, like Alvin Gentry and Vinny Del Negro. Do either of those people excite you?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have talent, it just doesn’t fit together. Bringing in the right coach, and trading some talent and/or draft picks that don’t fit for ones that do, and they should be in the playoffs next season.

After a few seasons of moves that don’t make much sense, it’s time to start a new streak of decisions that will work.

Current Tribe Roster Won’t Get it Done

Yesterday, we heard a radio personality talking about the players on the Cleveland Indians having to show management whether or not they should be buyers or sellers at the trading deadline that occurs on July 31st.

That kind of talk is way too premature to be sure.

While there is no doubt Terry Francona’s ballclub is struggling with consistency, the fact of the matter is the Indians are sitting just four games out of the second wild card spot, despite their 24-28 record to date.

We have said this a few times before, but the American League is a jumbled mess right now and it is likely to stay that way through July, meaning teams should be trying to improve themselves.

Houston doesn’t look like a contender and the next two months should drop a couple of other teams into the also ran class, but it appears there could be as many as 10 teams in the AL vying for the five playoff spots.

Still, the radio guy has it all wrong. It’s up to the front office to make a move to make it a moot point. They need to do something to insure the Tribe is in the mix after the all-star break.

They don’t have to do anything right now. There is still a little time for the players currently on the roster to show some improvement.

But the starting rotation is springing leaks like a sun-baked hose, and the bullpen is starting to show some wear and tear because the rotation has struggled.

Offensively, the Indians are very inconsistent; scoring three runs or less in half of the team’s games in 2014. That’s not going to lead to a lot of victories, nor does it enable the Tribe to get on the winning streak it needs.

If GM Chris Antonetti would be forced into being a seller at the deadline, what does he have to attract talent?

Asdrubal Cabrera, a good trade candidate because of the presence in the organization of SS Francisco Lindor, is a free agent at the end of the year, lessening his market value.

Justin Masterson is also a free agent when the season ends, but he is not pitching well at this point. It is doubtful you could get a top prospect in return.

The players who are performing well, Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, and Jason Kipnis (assuming he plays to his usual standards) were just signed to long-term deals. The Indians’ management wants them in a Cleveland uniform for a long time.

One player who could draw some interest is Carlos Santana, but first he needs to get his hitting back to normal levels.

As a catcher, he was an elite type hitter. As a corner infielder, hitting 25 HR and knocking in 80 runs with a lot of walks isn’t really special.

He’s tried to convert to the hot corner, but with Lonnie Chisenhall’s emergence, he is forcing his way into the lineup at that spot.

At first base, the Indians have high priced Nick Swisher and the one right-handed power hitter they have in the minor leagues, Jesus Aguilar, also plays the position.

You would think Santana could fetch a right-handed hitter or a middle of the rotation starting pitcher in return, and perhaps the Tribe would be a better club.

If the front office wants to improve the current version of the Cleveland Indians, they need to be proactive, and not sit back and wait.

It’s the position change, not his start of the season slump, which has rendered Santana tradeable. The Indians should be looking if dealing the switch-hitter can get them what they need to make the post-season once again.

Indians Have Rotation Woes

There is an old saying in baseball that when you think you have enough starting pitching, you go out and get more.

The Cleveland Indians didn’t heed that advice this off-season.

After last season, when the Tribe’s starting pitching was more than solid, Cleveland lost two starters to free agency: Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir. They really didn’t replace either last winter.

When the 2013 season started, GM Chris Antonetti had several alternatives for manager Terry Francona after signing Brett Myers as a free agent and getting Trevor Bauer in the Shin-Soo Choo deal.

The rotation to start the year was Justin Masterson, Jimenez, Myers, Zack McAllister and Kazmir. When the latter had a set back to start the season, they had Corey Kluber and Bauer in reserve at Columbus.

By the end of April, both had made starts in the majors as Myers injured his arm.

Later that season, Danny Salazar emerged as a factor based on his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and started the wild card game for the Indians.

This season, that depth hasn’t been there.

Salazar and Carlos Carrasco replaced the two free agents in the rotation, and the organization had Bauer and Josh Tomlin, also coming back from elbow surgery, in reserve.

Unfortunately, the two replacements (Salazar and Carrasco), both with little experience, haven’t done the job, and with Masterson and McAllister struggling, the rotation is in a state of chaos.

Thankfully, Tomlin has provided his usual performances, he’ll give you five or six good innings, and Bauer has done well in each of his two big league starts.

Salazar is back at AAA and was roughed up in his first start there, and Carrasco seems anchored to the bullpen as a long reliever/mop up man, so there aren’t any more alternatives for Francona unless some sort of trade is made.

Friday night, lefty T. J. House made his first major league start in an 8-4 loss to the Orioles. House did the best he could, but nobody in the organization had him making a start in the big leagues this season, we would bet.

It looks like the southpaw is in the rotation for the unforeseen future, as Cleveland has him listed as the starter Wednesday in Chicago. We would give that start to Carrasco, as crazy as we thought that seemed a couple of weeks ago.

Until Salazar can throw strikes consistently and keep the ball down in the zone (he’s allowed eight in 40 innings pitched this year), Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway don’t have a lot of alternatives. No one is going to trade you a proven starting pitcher.

If the Indians did have to get another starter from Columbus, it would likely be RHP Travis Banwart, a minor league free agent who was in the Oakland system in 2013. He’s 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA in AAA, allowing 40 walks in 50+ innings, striking out 38 hitters and walking 18.

The other starters at Columbus are RHP Tyler Cloyd, who has allowed 65 hits in 47-1/3 frames (yikes!), and major league washout Kyle Davies.

So, the only real alternative for the Tribe is to get Masterson and McAllister straightened out and get them pitching like they did in 2013. And Masterson’s drop in velocity is no doubt alarming for the front office.

If they improve, the Indians will have some starting depth back. Until then, Francona and Callaway are scrambling to find starters who can give them solid outings.

Not exactly a recipe for success if you want to make the post-season.

Lottery Win Gives Griffin Another Asset

At least the Cleveland Cavaliers have one arena where they are victorious, unfortunately, it is not on the court.

Instead, it happens in the NBA Draft Lottery, where the wine and gold came up with the first overall pick for the third time in the last four seasons.

To this point, those first overall picks haven’t translated into success in the regular season, which is why the Cavs continue to be in the lottery. They haven’t been able to make the playoffs.

The first overall selection does give Cleveland GM David Griffin a valuable commodity, it remains to be seen though, who will make the first pick next month.

Why? Because the Cavs have already been through this before. Is it really best for the team to take another player who will take two, three, or maybe even four years to be able to make a difference in the NBA?

Next year will be the fifth season since LeBron James left for Miami, causing the Cavs to start a rebuilding process. The time for developing players is over, it’s time to start winning games. Will the first overall pick help them get over the hump in 2014-15?

We are all aware of last year’s draft in which the Cavs selected Anthony Bennett with the first choice. The rookie of the year turned out to be Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams, who was the 11th pick. Out of the top ten, only Victor Oladipo (Orlando), Cody Zeller (Charlotte), and Trey Burke (Utah) could be said to be big contributors to their teams as rookies.

The year before, the Cavs selected Dion Waiters with the 4th overall choice. That draft looks to be pretty solid with only Thomas Robinson and Austin Rivers not getting big minutes with their respective teams. Still, only four players, Damian Lillard (Portland), Terence Ross (Toronto), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Charlotte), and Bradley Beal (Washington) are playing a significant role of playoff teams.

In 2011, Cleveland selected Kyrie Irving first and Tristan Thompson fourth. Only two players taken in the top ten of that draft, Jonas Valenciunas (Toronto) and Kemba Walker (Charlotte) are getting significant minutes on teams that made the playoffs.

The point is there haven’t been more than a handful of rookies who have made a significant difference in their first couple of years in the league. It is almost like the major league baseball draft, where you are picking players who can help you down the road.

The Cavaliers can’t wait any longer to start winning.

We have said this before, players who can make an immediate impact in the NBA generally play well in the NCAA tournament. They don’t disappear.

Many have Cleveland selecting Anthony Wiggins of Kansas as their choice. His last college game was dreadful, scoring less than 10 points. He also weighs under 200 pounds. Can you see him playing against guys like Paul George, Paul Pierce, and other small forwards who are 6’7″ and weigh 220 pounds?

This isn’t to say Wiggins won’t ever be good, in fact, he may turn into an all-star player. Irving did, but his success hasn’t translated into wins on the floor.

The point is there isn’t a player in this draft who can turn a franchise next season, so if Griffin can turn this pick into a young veteran who is already a quality player, that would be better for the wine and gold.

As for young, we mean mid 20’s, not a player who only has a few years remaining in their career.

To be sure, it was great for the Cavaliers to get the first overall pick. However, they need to look at it as another asset they’ve accumulated to get back to winning. There isn’t a franchise turning player in this draft.