Browns Need To Get Pay Off On Investment On Watson

When the Cleveland Browns traded a boatload of draft picks and spent a ton of money on QB Deshaun Watson prior to the 2022 season, we are sure they felt their quarterback issues were taken care of for several years.

However, Watson has not been under center since the move was made more often than he has played due to league suspension and injury. And really, when Watson has played, he has not resembled the player who put up 4823 yards through the air in 2020 with the Texans.

Of the five highest yardage games for the Browns in the 2023 season, Watson was at the helm for one of them, the 26-22 loss to Pittsburgh in week two. The Browns moved well that day, and Watson completed 22 of 40 throws for 235 yards, but had an interception on the game’s first play and two fumbles, one of which resulted in another Pittsburgh touchdown.

The other four games which resulted in the most yardage gained with the quarterback who played:

428 yards vs. the Jets (Joe Flacco)
418 yards vs. the Texans (Flacco)
389 yards vs. the Jaguars (Flacco)
385 yards vs. the Seahawks (P.J. Walker)

To be fair, if we extend this to the top ten games, Watson played in three of those–Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Tennessee.

In Watson’s first year, in which he was suspended for the Browns’ first 12 games, the game he moved the ball in the best was a 23-10 loss to the Bengals in week 14, which ranked 9th for the Browns that year.

Watson was 26 of 42 in that one for 276 yards with a TD throw and an interception.

Of the five lowest yardage games for Cleveland, Watson was at the helm for four of them.

That has to be concerning for the organization.

The Browns changes offensive coordinators this season, bringing in Ken Dorsey, who had success working with Cam Newton in Carolina. This was done to “unlock” Watson, to get him back to the player he was in Houston.

They talk about adding more weapons to the offensive, giving Watson more to work with. However, we keep coming back to these facts: Cleveland scored 30 or more points five times last season. Three of those games came with Flacco behind center, one came with Watson, and the other with Walker.

We think there should be a meeting in the middle with the QB. There is no question so far the offense runs better with other quarterbacks than the one the Browns have made a substantial investment in.

So, bringing in a coach more in tune with Watson’s style of play is fine, anything to make him more comfortable is a good thing. However, Watson should also be making an effort to fit with what worked at the end of 2023.

There is no question the Browns moved the football better and scored more points with Joe Flacco at the position. It’s probably the reason the changes were made to the coaching staff, the front office is concerned about the huge investment that was made.

For the Browns to succeed in 2024, they need more consistent play from Deshaun Watson. They’ve invested a lot of draft capital and money in the former Texan, and so far, it hasn’t paid off.

Hopefully, the new coordinator can help Watson, and he can put his ego aside and go ahead and run the offense like it was in the second half of last season.

Maybe Being Slightly Better At Some Spots Will Work For Guards

We have been critical of the inactivity this winter by the Cleveland Guardians. The Guards fell from a division winner in 2022 to last year’s 76-86 record, and really haven’t made any moves to get better.

However, we remembered that when the team gets to the trade deadline, we always remind people that it’s not always a blockbuster move that is needed, sometimes an incremental move works just fine.

So, in that spirit we have cut the front office a bit of slack. We still think going after one or two veterans to have around as a backup plan would have been a smarter play, and of course, we will remind folks of that if what they are doing doesn’t work out.

And that’s not a second guess.

New manager Steven Vogt has talked a few times about newcomer Estevan Florial taking over in centerfield and we have pointed out Florial’s struggles in making contact and his fall from ranking as a top 100 prospect.

Then we remembered he would be replacing Myles Straw at the spot. Last year, Straw was the third worst hitter in the American League with his 597 OPS. The only players who were worse were Javier Baez and Tim Anderson.

If Florial can have a 650 OPS this season (league average is 728), the Guardians’ offense will be better than last year. Heck, overall, Cleveland centerfielders had a 626 OPS, the worst on the team.

The second worst spot was rightfield, where the players manning the spot combined for a 629 OPS. The favorites to play there in 2024 are Will Brennan and Ramon Laureano in a platoon role.

Brennan had a 695 OPS vs. right-handed pitching in ’23, while Laureano had a 794 OPS against southpaws. And remember, the latter didn’t join the team until August last season.

If they repeat those numbers, the offensive production out of that position will be improved.

And the third worst spot should be better because it is the catching position and Bo Naylor should get the bulk of the playing time there. Barring the dreaded sophomore slump, that is.

Naylor put up an 809 OPS, belting 11 home runs in the 67 games he played last season. And he’s patient at the plate, drawing 30 walks. That’s nothing new, he had a .348 on base percentage in his minor league career.

We have no question that he can boost the production from that position, after all, the Guards unbelievably gave 149 at bats to Cam Gallagher last season, who put up a woeful 322 OPS.

Baseballprospectus.com listed Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez as the most likely players to have improved numbers at the plate this season. And we agree they will probably be better in 2024.

With the Central Division being what it is, perhaps those things, coupled with the usual solid pitching, can vault the Guardians back to the top of the division standings.

We still would rather have invested some money (we know, we know) into getting a decent hitter or two to improve the roster instead of trying to project how a 20-year-old who has never played higher than AA can make an impact. The front office is back to their Dusty Springfield approach.

For younger people, she was a singer who had a big hit called “Wishin’ and Hopin'”.

Maybe we just have a case of Spring Training Fever. After all, exhibition play started yesterday.

Are The Cavs Limiting Themselves?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good basketball team. They enter the second half of the season (post-All-Star break) with the second-best record in the East and tied for the fourth best record in the Association (with the Clippers).

There is no question they will make the playoffs this season. Basketballreference.com has their playoff probability at 100%. And a look at the balance of the schedule has some challenges such as a pair of home games in early March against the Knicks and Celtics, and a late season west coast trip, but it doesn’t appear to be a gauntlet.

So, they are playing for playoff seeding the rest of the campaign, and the lure of finishing in the top two in the conference is home court advantage in at least the first two playoff series.

One thing that is concerning is a report that the Cavs’ goal as an organization is to win a playoff series. Our problem with this is when you have that as a goal, then you plan that way, and that would seem to be the reason nothing was done at the trade deadline.

The defending champion Nuggets lost in the first round the year prior, lost in the second round the season before that, and last went to the conference finals in 2019-20. And while the previous champs, Golden State, had a championship pedigree, they have missed the playoffs the two years before they won.

And yes, we are aware of the injuries that hampered the team.

The point is there is no step ladder to win titles in the NBA anymore, like there was in the 80’s, when the Pistons had to lost to the Celtics before they could win, and the Bulls had to lose to Detroit before they could get to The Finals.

However, the Cavs still seem to look at things that way. They wanted to contend for a playoff spot two years ago and make a seven-game series last year. They did accomplish those goals, but that was it.

It’s fine after the season ends to take stock of what you accomplished and be happy about it, but putting a limit on expectations often puts a limit on what a team can do.

Our thought is looking at the East, the only team clearly better than the Cavs is Boston, and we would have made a move, a small one, with the Celtics in mind. Perhaps another wing defender with some size to help against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

We would have the mentality that if we can beat the Celtics, the Cavs can get to the NBA Finals. Moreso, making a move to strengthen the team lets everyone know, including a star player who can be a free agent soon, that winning the title is the goal. Every year.

When people talk about the culture of the Miami Heat, that’s what they are talking about. Every member of that team knows what the goal is, to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Maybe holding on the #2 spot in the East or maybe even getting higher (the wine and gold are six games behind Boston) changes the expectation for the front office. We certainly hope so.

Non Money Moves Made Or Not Made By Guardians

We have talked about this a lot since the calendar turned to 2024, but it has been a very, very quiet off-season for the Cleveland Guardians. Outside of a few transactions around the time a team had to offer arbitration to its players, it seems like the construction around Progressive Field has closed the front office too.

We aren’t going to get into the financial stuff here, we have been well informed on the whole broadcast revenue with Bally Sports and how the Guardians have claimed it prevented them for spending this winter.

However, there are things we would have liked the organization to do this off-season which would not have caused a financial burden. Here are some things we wish they’d have taken care of:

Ease The Middle Infield Glut. If you have five shortstops do you have one? Once the exhibition games start, new skipper Steven Vogt will have to decide who will get the majority of the playing time in the middle infield, particularly at short.

We say that because the Guards seem loathe to move Andres Gimenez, who played 400 games in the minor leagues at shortstop to that spot in the big leagues. So, the primary candidates are Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio, with Tyler Freeman and Jose Tena on the outside.

They gave Arias a full shot at the job a year ago after Amed Rosario was traded, and he had a 643 OPS in the second half, batting .227. Rocchio had an outstanding winter league season, and frankly, we have felt he was regarded as the heir apparent to the spot by the organization.

We would give Rocchio the spot to start and see if the winter league carries over. The back up plan for us would be moving Gimenez to SS and seeing if Freeman can hit like he did in the minors with regular at bats.

Catching Reserve. Last season, the Guardians employed Cam Gallagher as the backup catcher all year, first behind Mike Zunino and then Bo Naylor. He received 143 at bats and hit .125 (322 OPS).

We dare you to find anyone worse with a bat in their hand. Early in the off-season, they claimed Christian Bethancourt from Tampa. He hit .225 but banged 11 homers and had a 635 OPS. Not Babe Ruth production but better than what Gallagher provided.

But then they let Bethancourt go and re-signed veteran Austin Hedges for a second go round with the Guards. Hedges is an excellent defensive catcher, but he can’t hit.

In 199 games with Cleveland, he has a .169 batting average and 502 OPS. We get he is a great clubhouse presence, but he can’t hit.

Have we mentioned the Guardians need hitting?

Find A Taker For Straw. Vogt and Chris Antonetti have both talked about giving the Guardians’ young outfielders an opportunity this year, but that may prove difficult because Myles Straw is still on the roster.

The problem for the Guards is Straw still has two years on his deal, worth an estimated $13.8 million. A second problem is as we said before, the Guardians need offense and Straw has been one of baseball’s worst hitters over the last two seasons.

We get that no one wants to take that contract unless it is included in a bigger deal, as many proposed in possible trades involving Shane Bieber. But the Guardians usual move is to play Straw because they owe him the cash. That’s the real problem.

And based on the Guardians’ history, if he is on the roster, they will feel obligated to put him in the lineup.

What Is Plan B To Help Guardians Score Runs?

The first clue came at Guardians’ Fest when owner Paul Dolan said the reason for not signing any free agent outfielders is they wanted to give the young players in the farm system a chance.

Then in the past few days, manager Steven Vogt and president Chris Antonetti mentioned the same thing.

To us, this is a pretty risky plan especially if the organization has designs on making the playoffs. Remember, this shouldn’t be a “rebuild”, they won the division title just two years ago with the youngest roster in the sport.

It is universally known that the Guardians have a problem scoring runs, ranking 12th in the American League a year ago. We believe to have a solid major league lineup, a team needs to have six, maybe even seven solid bats in the batting order.

In our opinion, right now, the Guards have four: Jose Ramirez of course, Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan, and Andres Gimenez. Bo Naylor showed promise a year ago, but he has less than 250 big league at bats, and can’t be counted as of yet.

And we are pressing the definition of “solid” with Kwan (710 OPS) and Gimenez (712 OPS), each would be the 6th or 7th best hitters on very good hitting teams.

The front office could have signed a veteran free agent to a one-year contract (there are no such things as bad one-year deals) to add a proven stick to the order. Players like J.D. Martinez (career 874 OPS) and Tommy Pham (786 OPS) are still on the market.

Cleveland acquired Estevan Florial from New York over the winter and he had a big year in AAA last season and was a former top 100 prospect. George Valera has also been on this list, but he’s never been in the big leagues and has battled injuries the last two seasons.

Otherwise, the candidates the team is depending aren’t on the list of the top prospects in the game, nor are they on the Guardians’ top 10 list, at least among the outfielders.

So, our question is this: What is Plan B if none of the young players the brass is talking about come through in 2024?

In 2022, Will Brennan slashed 371/479/850 in the minor leagues, at both the AA and AAA levels. Last year, in the big leagues, Brennan had a 655 OPS, with both the on base and pop he showed in the minors in ’22 having disappeared.

This isn’t to say Brennan is a bust, for right now, we simply will call it growing pains, but the fact remains he didn’t provide much offense for the Guardians last season.

In three seasons at AAA, Florial has slashed 358/490/848, similar numbers to Brennan. And although he has only 134 plate appearances in the big leagues, he has a 609 OPS, striking out 41 times.

Another hopeful is Johnathan Rodriguez, who in 47 games at Columbus last season was outstanding 376/560/936. With 476 plate appearances in AA, his numbers are 334/497/831. Solid, but not overwhelming.

Jhonkensy Noel, a minor league slugger, is also in the mix, but in a full season at Columbus last year put up these numbers: 303/420/723.

Kyle Manzardo is a Guardians’ top 10 prospect, and it seems like the organization wants him to start in AAA. Perhaps, it’s because he’s not already on the 40-man roster. In AAA last season, he had an 802 OPS.

And no, we don’t consider a player with a 676 OPS a year ago to be a solid bat. We are talking about Ramon Laureano, claimed on waivers from Oakland last season in August. His last season with an OPS over 750 was 2021.

Could things fall into place and Brennan bounces back, Bo Naylor continues to hit like he did in the second half last season, and Brayan Rocchio hits like he has in winter ball? Of course, and if that happens, the offensive woes could be solved.

We like having a backup plan, though. Of course, that costs money. Hence the problem for the front office.

The NBA MVP “Ladder” And Should Mitchell Be On It

One of the dumber things we see in sports is the “MVP Ladder” listed weekly by one of the NBA’s sponsors. It starts in the second week of the season, for goodness sakes. Why not wait until say, the All-Star break to start talking about the award.

We feel like in the NBA the media tries to give the award early and then spend the rest of the season justifying it. And usually, it’s because it is a specific player’s “turn”. For example, Jayson Tatum’s name always comes up early in seasons, but by the end of the year, others have passed him up.

What’s worse is other sports have started the same nonsense. But we digress.

We bring it up because the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell has started to come up in conversations about the league MVP. Charles Barkley even said Mitchell should be discussed for the honor.

Mitchell is having an incredible year. In scoring, he is even with last year’s career high of 28.3 points per game, but it’s the other numbers that are more impressive.

He’s dishing out assists at a career high pace, with 6.3 per contest, beating his previous best by one assist. His turnovers are consistent with the rest of his career.

His rebounding has also increased over his career best, as he is grabbing 5.4 boards per night. And his shooting percentage has increased since arriving in Cleveland, as he shot 44.1% with Utah, and in his two years here, that is up to 48.4% last year and 47.5% this season.

Most importantly, when Darius Garland was injured, and J.B. Bickerstaff essentially put the ball in Mitchell’s hands, the Cavs have won 22 of 27 games, roaring to the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference standings.

He has boosted his numbers since the day Garland went out to 29 points and 7.3 assists per contest. And it is not like he has been on the floor too much. After the first two games in this stretch, he’s played over 40 minutes just once, partially because of all the blowouts the team has played.

There have been games were he flat out carried the wine and gold. He had 45 points and 12 rebounds in the Paris game against the Nets. We woke the team out of a malaise against Detroit on January 31st, scoring 45 with 8 assists and 6 rebounds.

He’s likely also headed for his second all-NBA appearance in two years with Cleveland, which would make him only the third Cavalier to receive that honor more than once. The other two are LeBron James, who was named ten times (8 first team, 2 second team) and Mark Price, who received the honors four times (1 first team, 3 third team)

Mitchell made the second team last season.

He finished sixth in the MVP voting last season after leading the Cavs to a 50 win season, and they are on pace to surpass that mark in 2023-24.

Mitchell isn’t likely to win the award. Since the turn of the century, the only guards under 6’5″ to win it are Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Steph Curry, and Russell Westbrook. But if the Cavs can finish second in the East, perhaps he can get to the top five.

Either way, he’s having a heck of a season. People who know the game know it, even if the national love isn’t there.

Cavs Didn’t Add, But Should They Have?

The Cleveland Cavaliers roared into the NBA trade deadline on a roll and have extended their winning streak to nine games and 17 wins in the last 19 contests with wins over Brooklyn and Toronto after the deadline.

We can understand not wanting to upset the proverbial apple cart by making a trade, after all, the Cavs are not just winning, they are blowing teams out.

Over the past couple of seasons, we have felt the Cavs’ organization wants to take incremental steps toward a title. They were satisfied with making the play-in tournament in 2021-22.

They wanted to get to a seven-game series the following year (2022-23) and they did just that but lost in five games to the Knicks. This year, our guess is the goal is a playoff series win. If they get further, that’s great, but winning a series is most important.

We think that is short sighted.

In our view, the Cavaliers should be looking at the rest of the Eastern Conference and be thinking the only obstacle in our way is the team on top of standings, the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics didn’t let their gaudy record get in the way of improving their roster, trading for big man, Xavier Tillman, from Memphis.

The other contenders at the top of the East, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York also added to their rosters. Yes, Cleveland is hot, but that doesn’t mean they should have stood pat. And you have to add insurance if nothing else.

Look, the Cavs are playing beautiful basketball. We watch the games and think some of these teams have no chance because either they aren’t talented enough or aren’t experienced enough.

This isn’t a criticism of the wine and gold, because we certainly don’t want them to lose to inferior teams, but we will say it again, they haven’t beaten many juggernauts in this stretch.

Beating the Clippers, the hottest team in the West, was a very good win, and so was the second game in Milwaukee against the Bucks.

When Darius Garland broke his jaw, it was during the second loss in three nights to Boston. Evan Mobley didn’t play in either of those games. In this 27-game stretch, in which Cleveland has gone 22-5, they have only played four games against the top four seeds in either conference.

Three of those against the Bucks, and one of those was without Giannis Antetokounmpo.

We would have liked the front office to add another big man. We bring this up all the time, but the Cavs simply don’t have enough players in their rotation that are over 6’8″.

Maybe they sign one from the buyout market, but to get to the NBA Finals, which should be the goal, they will have to go through some bigger great players.

Hall of Famer Becky Hammon ruffled some feathers recently when she said it is tough to win in basketball if your best player is the smallest player on the court. She was referring to the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, but she could’ve been talking about the Cavs.

Donovan Mitchell is no doubt the Cavs’ best player, and he’s listed at 6’3″. Boston’s best players are 6’8″ Jayson Tatum, 6’6″ Jaylen Brown, 7’2″ Kristaps Porzingis, and 6’4″ Jrue Holiday.

Milwaukee has Antetokounmpo at 7′, and if Joel Embiid is ready to go in the playoffs for the Sixers, he’s seven foot as well.

The Cavs have Jarrett Allen and Mobley both at 6’11”, but we just feel they could use a little more length to combat the Celtics, who are probably the only team in the East with an edge over Cleveland.

As for the remaining schedule, there are some measuring sticks. There are home games against the Knicks and Celtics on March 3rd and 5th. Phoenix will provide a solid challenge and the Cavs have home and road games with them.

And of course, there is a west coast trip the first week in April, where besides the Suns, the Cavs get the defending champion Nuggets, the Lakers, and the Clippers.

Here’s hoping the organization doesn’t put limits on what this team can accomplish and seriously looks at getting bigger if players become available.

Can Guardians Manage Their Glut At Certain Spots?

The Cleveland Guardians have had problems making decisions on players, particularly their prospects. For example, before the 2022 season, Cleveland had four shortstops listed in their top 10 prospects: Tyler Freeman (#2), Brayan Rocchio (#4), Gabriel Arias (#5), and Angel Martinez (#10).

Two years later, what do we know about these four young players? The one with the most at-bats is Arias, who has 362 in his career. Martinez is still considered a prospect, ranking #6 in the 2024 rankings, but now is considered a second baseman.

We understand the philosophy of drafting shortstops. They are generally the best athletes on the field, and therefore you can move them to other positions. For example, Mickey Mantle was signed as a shortstop. Current Guardian broadcaster Rick Manning was drafted #2 overall as one.

Both eventually became outfielders.

On the other hand, in today’s baseball, top prospects are like currency, that is to say, they can lose value over time. Freeman as we noted was the club’s #2 prospect just two years ago. We doubt he would bring back much in a trade right now.

He’s become stale. He’s not putting up gaudy numbers in the minors, he spent all of 2023 in Cleveland, getting just 168 plate appearances.

By the way, we have said many times over the past couple of years is we believe ultimately, Rocchio will wind up being the everyday shortstop and his play this winter season (.377 batting average, 998 OPS) hopefully caught the eye of the decision makers in the front office.

Now, it looks like the same thing is happening in the outfield, where the team is collecting CF and RFs. New manager Steven Vogt has hinted the Guards would like to take a good luck at former Yankee prospect Estevan Florial, but where?

Myles Straw, who was arguably the worst offensive player in the game last season, is still on the roster, and they resigned Ramon Laureano, who had a 724 OPS with Cleveland after being claimed on waivers in August.

And they still have Will Brennan, as well as rookies Johnathan Rodriguez and seemingly perpetual prospect George Valera on the 40-man roster.

Also, their #5 prospect, Juan Brito is listed as a second baseman, but doesn’t profile well there defensively, and last season, we suggested a shift to the outfield.

Freeman has also been working in the outfield this winter, in an effort to get more at bats with the big club in 2024.

Remember the football adage if you have two quarterbacks, then you don’t really have one? The same is true for the Guardians. If you have four shortstops, do you really have one? If you have five CF/RF, do you have those positions covered?

Once again, it seems like the organization doesn’t want to make a mistake, so in their cautiousness, they also don’t make a decision. A sort of “paralysis by analysis” thing.

Frankly, any decision they make should be based on hitting first. That’s the area of need for the 2024 Guardians. Their offense bordered on woeful a year ago.

We say all the time, if you can’t hit, you can’t play. Over the past few years, there seems to be an overemphasis on the glove. We aren’t saying put a bunch of terrible defenders on the field, but you also don’t need a Gold Glove at every spot.

Hopefully, decisions will finally be made early this year, meaning spring training or early in the regular season. And even better, it would be nice if whatever is decided is the right move.

Here Is Something To Cause Worry For Browns’ Fans

It was reported late last week that the driving force for the changes in the Cleveland Browns’ coaching staff, particularly offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, came from on top, meaning owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, and chief strategy office Paul DePodesta.

Of all the things Browns’ fans worry about, and believe us, there are many, this should be the one most concerning.

We realize that NFL owners are very successful people or come from very successful families, but that doesn’t mean they understand football.

Of course, that’s what DePodesta is for, right?

We get there is frustration and nervousness from the top of the organization over the failure of their huge investment, Deshaun Watson to make an impact over his first two years with the Browns.

Our belief is that those two were the driving force behind making the deal. And that’s not assigning blame. We felt Watson was one of the top five quarterbacks in the league in his last season in Houston, and if you can get someone that good at that position, you have to give it a shot.

However, we aren’t sure the problem with Watson was the offensive coaching staff. It’s more about his availability, he’s only played 11 of the 34 games he has been on the roster due to suspension or injury. Van Pelt and coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t create that situation.

On the other hand, in only three of those 11 contests has Watson had a passer rating of over 100. In 2022, it was attributed to rust. Last season? He seemed to turn a corner in week three vs. the Titans but was injured in that game on a designed run.

His next complete games were against Arizona where he had a 107.5 passer rating, followed by the win over the Ravens in which he was tremendous in the second half, but also suffered a season ending injury.

To be fair, teams change coordinators all the time and as we wrote a little over a week ago, a new voice, a different perspective isn’t necessarily bad. Maybe new coordinator Ken Dorsey can bring some new elements to make Watson more like the player he was in Houston.

On the other hand, Watson will be 29 when the 2024 season starts, and perhaps Dorsey should be more judicious in how many designed runs are called for him. After all, Cleveland has a lot invested in him and needs him to be on the field.

The pressure from the top though is certainly concerning. Powerful people own NFL teams and they have large egos. Our theory about no one hiring Bill Belichick for 2024 is that some of these owners would rather have control and lose than give up some of that control and win.

That doesn’t mean Belichick is perfect, but he has proven to be a very good football coach, and if he has talent he will win. We think coaching means more in football than in any other sport. Look at what Jim Schwartz did with the Browns’ defense in 2023.

Maybe Belichick doesn’t deserve control of picking the players anymore, but he should be able to have a comfort level with the person who does.

We have to think the only reason he isn’t coaching is because an owner wants his hands on the operation.

And to that, we come back to the old saying: A wise man knows what he doesn’t know.

Garland & Mitchell Are Good Together. Could The Cavs Be Great Moving One?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good basketball team. Barring a monumental collapse, they are going to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year. They are currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference and are seven games ahead of the 7th seed in the loss column.

They accomplished this record without Darius Garland for 24 games and Evan Mobley for 23 games. Heck, Donovan Mitchell has missed nine contests, and Jarrett Allen missed the first five games of the season.

Through all those injuries, they have a 32-16 record, three games ahead of last year’s pace.

We say all of this because recently there seems to be a discussion about Garland and whether he can play with Mitchell. We know the pairing has worked, last season’s 51 victories proves this, as well as this season’s record.

One of the things that is different about the NBA is some styles of play work in the regular season, but don’t in the playoffs. For example, before Golden State made its run of titles, Charles Barkley commented that no jump shooting team had won, and he was correct.

Teams had to be able to get hoops inside and through fast breaks, because that was more reliable than long range shooting.

With last season’s success in the regular schedule, the Cavaliers now have to win in the playoffs to take the next step as a franchise. The front office felt they needed to add shooting, but the Cavs shot 44.8% from the floor and 32.7& from three in the series loss to the Knicks last season.

New York shot 42.9% in total, and 28% from three in the series. And you read that correctly, the Cavs actually out shot the Knicks.

If you remember correctly, Cleveland was beaten up pretty badly on the boards, in part because the guards could not stop the penetration, particularly from Jalen Brunson, and when Allen and Mobley went to help, the Knicks’ big men slid into position for easy offensive rebounds.

New York had 75 offensive rebounds in the five games. Cleveland had 46.

And that’s what Koby Altman and the brass have to think about, can a backcourt of Garland and Mitchell be strong enough defensively to win in the playoffs.

Basketball is a different sport because sometimes it’s not about talent, it’s about fit. Look at the Milwaukee Bucks. They acquired Damian Lillard in the off-season, and no question he is a superstar, but at the same time, they miss Jrue Holiday who was traded to get Lillard, and ultimately wound up in Boston.

And we have said before, what complicates things for Altman and the Cavaliers is Mitchell’s contract status, as he can be a free agent after next season.

No one should be saying Garland and Mitchell cannot play together. The Cavs have succeeded with that backcourt. But can they win in the playoffs and ultimately win a title?

Or would they be better off in the long run moving Garland for say, an upgrade at the small forward spot? That’s the question the Cavs’ front office needs to consider.

We get it. The Cavs are rolling. But the front office has to take a detached, independent view of the roster.

And that’s why the people like Altman get paid what they get paid. Sometimes they have to make tough decisions, especially with home grown players, in order to win championships.

The Cavs are a playoff team with Garland and Mitchell in the backcourt. The bigger question is could they be a title team by moving one of them?