Should Be Optimism Only For The Browns.

We understand what defense mechanisms are and how they work. Even if we hadn’t learned them in our school days, we would know by how football fans in Cleveland behave.

Listening to sports talk radio in town (and yes, we also know that’s a dicey proposition), we are surprised by the number of Browns’ fans who have talked themselves out of expecting the playoffs, or at least a playoff contender in 2020.

Cleveland won five of its last seven games in 2018 to finish 7-8-1 and had a small chance to make the playoffs had it won their last game against Baltimore. Baker Mayfield set an NFL record for most touchdown passes by a rookie.

At this time a year ago, fans were jacked up about the upcoming season, especially after the trade that brought All Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland.

Nothing could stop the Browns.

Except they had tons of dysfunction behind the scenes. Their general manager hired an offensive coordinator that brought in a system that clashed with what worked the year prior.

The addition of Beckham seems to have made everyone in the organization, including Mayfield, think the ball should be thrown to him every play, including those where he was tightly covered.

Basically, John Dorsey seemed to do everything to make sure everyone was NOT on the same page as the team was when they had a very good second half of the season in 2018.

He also ignored the offensive line, in fact, he traded one of the best on the team, if not the league, when he moved Kevin Zeitler to New York for Beckham.

And in typical Browns fashion, everyone paid for it by losing their jobs after the ’19 season.

So, the Browns have a new head coach, a new GM, a new offensive coordinator, and yet people still think they will operate the same as they did a year ago?

To us, here is where Paul DePodesta comes in. He was here for the teardown of the franchise by Sashi Brown, and saw the conflict between Brown and Hue Jackson. Then Dorsey came in and he clashed with Jackson too, and then tried to accelerate the plan by bringing in “stars” instead of people who fit.

DePodesta saw the conflict between Dorsey, the head coach he picked in Freddie Kitchens, and the offensive coordinator who wasn’t a good fit with Kitchens, and the chaos that ensued.

That’s why he emphasized a singular direction for the Cleveland Browns. He liked Kevin Stefanski when he interviewed him the year prior, and saw Andrew Berry and Stefanski got along at that time.

He saw the Browns have success as a running team in the second half of ’18, and the new head coach likes to run the football too. He will emphasize the team’s best offensive player, Nick Chubb, and a former NFL rushing champ in Kareem Hunt.

Could it all go to hell? It’s the NFL and anything can happen. But it appears that none of the upheaval surrounding last year’s circus should occur in 2020.

The Browns had talent, particularly on the offensive side of the football a year ago, and they still have it. It looks like this year, the coaching staff will use it properly and efficiently.

We understand the recent history of the Browns and get why people are pessimistic. But if they feel Kitchens was the problem last season, then that obstacle has been removed.

A winning team should be expected, and with some luck, so should the playoffs. Fans need to stop inventing reasons why the Browns can’t win.

In Praise Of Cookie Carrasco

Virtually every major league baseball team has one. That player who is identified with the franchise. They played in that town for their entire career, and they are that franchise’s Mr. ________.

And it’s not just restricted to large market cities. Kansas City has George Brett. Milwaukee has Robin Yount. Cincinnati has Johnny Bench and likely Joey Votto as well.

Minnesota has Joe Mauer and Kirby Puckett. Baltimore has Cal Ripken Jr. Atlanta? Chipper Jones.

Some cities have had these type of players, but unfortunately, they have passed away. We mentioned Puckett, and the Pirates had Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Cubs had Ernie Banks.

Currently, St. Louis has Yadier Molina and Washington has Ryan Zimmerman.

The Indians had Bob Feller, arguably the best Tribesman ever. However, what did those other players do that Feller didn’t? The all played within the last 50 years.

Feller retired in 1956. That’s 64 years ago.

Could the Indians have such a player on their roster right now? Well, as a matter of fact, they may. He may not be a superstar or a Hall of Famer, but they have a player who may play his entire career in northeast Ohio. It’s Carlos Carrasco.

Carrasco is beginning his 11th season with the organization, coming over in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Philadelphia.

The other players who came with him were infielder Jason Donald, who was moved in the deal that brought Trevor Bauer to Cleveland after the 2012 season, Lou Marson, who left as a free agent in 2013, and never played in the bigs again, and Jason Knapp, who developed arm trouble.

Carrasco came up to the Tribe late in ’09 for five starts, and spent most of ’10 in the minors as well, making seven starts and finishing with a 3.83 ERA in 45 innings.

Cookie opened with the big club in 2011, and was a mainstay in the rotation, making 21 starts before he injured his elbow, necessitating Tommy John surgery, which kept him out through the 2012 season.

He made one April start in ’13, but spent much of the first half of that season in AAA, before coming up in July. He struggled in six starts after coming back and finished the year in the bullpen.

In 2014, he again struggled opening the year as a starter, allowing 17 runs in 19 innings in four starts, and was again moved to relief.

It was in the bullpen that he revitalized his career.

The right-hander made 26 appearances out of the bullpen, going 3-1 with a save and a 2.30 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 43 innings.

On August 10th of that year, the Indians needed a starter in a game at Yankee Stadium, and Terry Francona and then pitching coach Mickey Callaway went with Carrasco, telling him to use the same aggressiveness he used in the ‘pen.

Carrasco allowed two hits over five shutout innings, striking out four. He made nine more starts the rest of the season, pitching to a 1.30 ERA, and fanning 78 hitters. Included was a two hit shutout against Houston.

From there, Carrasco became one of the American League’s most reliable starting pitchers, going 60-36 with a 3.40 ERA from 2015 to 2019.

Last year, as everyone knows, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and missed three months before coming back to pitch in relief in September.

This season, he will be back in the starting rotation, and should be back to being one of the premier starters in the American League.

He’s also under contract with a club option through 2023, meaning he likely will finish his career here, and likely will wear just one team’s uniform, the Cleveland Indians.

He’s been underrated by fans here, mostly because he’s pitched on the same staff as Corey Kluber, but people around baseball know how good of a pitcher Carlos Carrasco is.

That’s one of the best in the game.

Cavs Plans This Summer Should Include The Sorting Of The Guards.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a problem at the guard position, and we aren’t criticizing the 2018 first round draft pick Collin Sexton, who has been a whipping post for many both locally and nationally.

Sexton’s play over the last month or so, have given us optimism for the 6’1″ second year guard who, by the way, still hasn’t reached his 22nd birthday.

In the 11 games played after the All Star Game, Sexton is averaging 25.5 points and 4.2 assists a night, on 53% shooting from the floor, including 43.1% from three point range.

Even better, the Cavaliers have gone 4-6 in that period. Of course, the wine and gold also changed their head coach, replacing John Beilein with J.B. Bickerstaff.

No, the problem is there seems to be too many guards on the current roster, and with the Cavs perhaps having one of the top picks in the NBA Draft, whenever it occurs, several of the highest ranked players also play guard.

In the past two seasons, GM Koby Altman has adopted the draft the best player available mentality, so what happens if that is all that’s left when Cleveland’s turn comes up in the selection process.

It would seem to trigger some sort of move or at least a change in philosophy.

One reason for the overload at the position is Altman’s gamble at the end of last year’s first round, trading for Kevin Porter Jr.

Porter has improved as the season as gone on, and has earned more playing time as a result. He started the season playing about 18 minutes, and in each month has earned more court time, going from 21 minutes in November, to 23 in January, and then to a little less than 27 in February/March.

The Cavaliers need some size in the backcourt after using top ten picks on two guards under 6’2″ the past two drafts, and Porter at 6’4″ gives them just that. Beilein used him at small forward, where he was undersized, to get him on the floor, but in reality, he’s a #2 guard, where he can be paired with Sexton or Darius Garland, last year’s first pick.

Can Bickerstaff juggle playing time for three young guards, because they all need playing time to develop, and what happens if when the Cavs turn comes up in the draft, the best players remaining are Anthony Edwards of Georgia, LaMelo Ball, and Cole Anthony of North Carolina.

The “best player available” theory has to go out the window.

If the NBA does not resume the regular season and goes right to the playoffs (which we believe will be the plan), Cleveland misses 17 games to see if or how the three young guards can coexist together, especially with the changes Sexton has made in his game.

So, what does Altman do? Does he move either Sexton or Garland prior to the draft in an effort to get either a young player with some size or another first round pick?

Or does he trade down in the draft and pick either a small forward to compete with Cedi Osman or another big man because Tristan Thompson is a free agent at the end of the year, Andre Drummond can be a free agent next summer, and you never know when Kevin Love could be traded.

The point is the Cavs have plenty of holes, but maybe the backcourt isn’t one of them. It will be interesting to see what Altman and his crew does this summer.

Municipal Memories Of The Tribe

Hopefully, the owners and players can come together soon on an agreement to get baseball back on the field sooner than later, and we will have some sort of season this summer.

Until then, we thought we’d write about some Municipal Stadium memories. Games played at the old ballpark that don’t really carry any special historic significance but when friends get together, they always come up.

Here are two of them:

May 17, 1978 vs. the Yankees: The Tribe came into this one at 15-16, six games behind the Tigers and Red Sox who were tied for 1st in the American League East. The Yankees were 19-12, two behind.

Lefty Rick Waits started for the Indians, and he would pitch a much more important game vs. New York later in the season, defeating the Yankees on the last day of the year to force a one game playoff vs. Boston.

Ed Figueroa started for New York and the Yanks got to Waits early, opening with three straight hits, the third, a double by Thurman Munson, plated a run, and a groundout by Reggie Jackson plated a second.

Cleveland scored a run in the second to cut the lead in half, but NY scored two more in the third, a single by Roy White and an error to make it 4-1. And when Waits got in trouble in the fourth, Tribe manager Jeff Torborg went for another southpaw, Sid Monge.

Monge came over from the Angels the year before with Bruce Bochte with Cleveland sending Dave LaRoche to California. Monge was terrible for the rest of 1977, with a 6.23 ERA in 33 games, but he was back for the ’78 season, and had only been in two games, allowing four runs in five innings.

The Tribe drew closer with two in the bottom of the 4th on a two run single by Rick Manning. Meanwhile, Monge was mowing down New York hitters, weirdly, based on his track record. He allowed a lead off hit to Munson in the top of the fifth, but retired the next seven hitters.

The Tribe tied it in the bottom of the seventh on a Buddy Bell single, and Monge kept getting hitters out. Not allowing a hit after the Munson single in the fifth.

Cleveland won it in the 10th on a triple by Paul Dade and a single by Manning.

Monge would up pitching 6-1/3 innings allowing one run and two walks. He made two starts shortly after, but as a reliever, he went 4-2 with six saves and a 2.34 ERA.

September 28, 1984: The Indians weren’t on NBC’s Game of the Week very often in these days, but they were to be the next day because Kansas City and Minnesota were neck and neck in the AL West standings, and the Tribe was playing the Twins.

We were sitting a couple of rows in front of NBC’s Tony Kubek for the Friday night game, and Minnesota took a 10-0 lead after two and a half innings of starter Jerry Ujdur and relievers Jeff Barkley and Jamie Easterly.

Our group yelled back to Kubek jokingly that the Tribe was coming back, but several guys in our group decided to spend the rest of the night in The Flats.

Frank Viola was on the hill for the Twins, his last start in a year where he went 18-12 with a 3.21 ERA.

The Indians got two in the bottom of the third, but erupted for seven in the bottom of the sixth to get back in the game. Andre Thornton homered, Jerry Willard had a two run single, a Brett Butler double, an error, and a two run single by Thornton made it 10-9.

In the bottom of the eighth against Twins’ closer Ron Davis, Joe Carter hit a mammoth home run deep in the lower deck in left to tie it up.

Davis walked two of the first three hitters in the ninth, before being relieved. Mel Hall singled to load the bases and Butler won it with another hit.

The loss knocked the Twins out of the division race, and the guys who went to The Flats? They couldn’t believe it.

Personal List: Our Top Ten NBA Players

Since we are without live sports and we are reduced to watching old games in each of our favorite sports these days, we have seen a lot of lists, trying to generate some conversations.

We recently wrote a piece about the way players seem to be evaluated in basketball these days, and whether or not you regarded that as “old man ranting” or not, we think many of the ways used by younger fans isn’t correct.

All that said, we decided to put together our list of the best ten players in NBA history.

1. Michael Jordan. For much of our life, we regarding Wilt Chamberlain as the best ever, but watching Jordan win six titles in eight years won us over. We know this isn’t a popular opinion, but Scottie Pippen was a very good player, but he isn’t a Top 50 All Time player without being on the same team as Jordan.

Remember, in the second season Jordan was away playing baseball, the Bulls were slightly over .500. They won three more titles when MJ returned.

2. LeBron James. First, it is not a disgrace to be the second best player of all time, and we can understand people thinking getting to nine NBA Finals is a greater feat than winning six championships.

James is probably the greatest athlete to play in the league, and he certainly has dragged his share of poor supporting casts to The Finals (2007, 2018). And remember, he may wind up as the all time scoring leader, and still is regarded as a playmaker, first and foremost.

3. Wilt Chamberlain. The most dominant force ever. Averaged 50 points per game in a season, 44 per night in another, and over 35 a game in three more. And led the league in assists in 1967-68.

As for comments that he played against plumbers? Take a look at the careers of players like Walt Bellamy and Nate Thurmond. And he more than held his own when he was in his mid-30’s vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The all time leading scorer and played effectively in the league into his 40’s. His sky hook might have been the most unstoppable weapon in league history. However, didn’t average over 10 rebounds per game after the ’80-’81 season.

5. Bill Russell. Greatest winner in NBA history winning 11 titles in 13 seasons. But, let’s not forget he had a lot of great teammates: Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn, John Havlicek. He changed the game though, by showing defense and shot blocking can be as important as scoring.

6. Oscar Robertson. The “Big O” had five seasons in his career where he scored 30 points and dished out 10 assists per game. And at age 35, still scored 14 points a game and dished out 9 assists for a Milwaukee team (with Abdul-Jabbar) that lost in the NBA Finals.

Of course, had the first “triple double” season his second year in the league.

7. Larry Bird and 8. Magic Johnson. We put these two together because they ushered in an era where it was cool to pass again. We put Bird slightly ahead because he was the better scorer (four seasons over 25 per game).

Johnson was the first big guy (6’9″) to play the point, and he controlled the game for the Showtime Lakers. Bird averaged 10 boards and 6 assists, Johnson 11 assists and 7 boards. And they were the greatest rivalry in the NBA over a half dozen years.

9. Tim Duncan. The greatest power forward ever, and the best player on four of the Spurs’ five championship teams. Averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds a game in the playoffs at age 37 for championship #5. Did it in just under 33 minutes per game.

10. Jerry West. The guy is the freakin’ logo for the NBA. Four seasons of over 30 points per game, three seasons over 8 helpers. At 33-years-old, led the Lakers to a 69-13 record (then the best ever), scoring 25.8 points and passing out 9.7 assists.

The next ten in no particular order would include Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit, Kevin Garnett, and Julius Erving, Karl Malone, and Rick Barry.

Being an experienced NBA fan, we’ve seen all of these players in action. It has been a great league for a long time, not just the last 20 years.

Can Tito Afford To Be Patient In A Short Season?

One of the greatest attributes Terry Francona has as a manager is his patience. Sometimes, we feel that patience can become stubbornness, and although it irritates the fan in us at times, it works out more often than not.

With Major League Baseball discussing an 81 (or so) game schedule for the 2020 season, the question is, how will Francona’s fabled patience play out with a shortened slate?

In each of the seasons that Francona has been the Tribe’s skipper, a player has received an extreme benefit of the doubt. In a half-season, it would seem Tito would have to have a shorter hook.

Going back to 2013, Francona’s first year with the Tribe, it was Mark Reynolds. The slugger and frequent whiffer got off to a great start for the Indians, hitting .301 with 8 HR and a 1.019 OPS in April.

May wasn’t too bad, with Reynolds adding five more dingers, but he batted just .218 and the OPS went down to 696.

In June, Cleveland played 28 games. Reynolds started 25 of them and batted .187 with a 541 OPS, and then out of 25 games in July, the slugger started 15 and hit .098 with a 331 OPS.

From May 1st through the end of July, Reynolds batted .181 with 7 HR, 25 RBI, and somehow stayed in the lineup. That’s three months of terrible production.

In 2014, Nick Swisher received 401 plate appearances contributing just 8 homers and 42 RBI (608 OPS). Swisher was a veteran who had a solid year with the Tribe in ’13 and was battling injuries, but maybe Jesus Aguilar, who posted a 905 OPS in AAA Columbus, could’ve received a shot at seeing what he could contribute.

And not to pick on Swisher, but that club had two other players (Jason Kipnis and Michael Bourn) who played a lot but had OPS under 700.

Bourn received the benefit of the doubt the following year until he (along with Swisher) was dealt to Atlanta in early August. The centerfielder hit just .249 without a home run, and even worse, stole only 13 bases in 18 attempts.

To be fair to Francona, he didn’t really have many alternatives, although Abraham Almonte did provide a spark (776 OPS) when given an opportunity.

In 2016, it was Juan Uribe (591 OPS in 238 at bats) before Jose Ramirez took over the hot corner. Uribe was released in early August.

You see the pattern. Over a 162 game season, you are more likely to overcome a bad month or two at a position, but will the same be true in a short season?

Certainly, the proven players will and should get the benefit of the doubt. No skipper in his right mind is going to bench Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana because they had a bad week.

But the Tribe is transitioning at a lot of positions. Let’s say Oscar Mercado gets off to a slow start over the first three weeks, can Francona afford to keep him in there if the ballclub is struggling to score runs?

Tito’s instinct might be to let the young guy work things out, and many times, it works out the right way in the long run. However, it doesn’t appear there will be a long run in 2020.

It’s also a moot point if the Indians are winning. You can afford to have some struggling players figure it out while they are playing if the team is successful. But if the Indians are scuffling, the pressure will be there to make changes before the season is lost.

No matter what, it will be a period of adjustment for every manager in the bigs, not just Terry Francona. Who adjusts best will have a leg up on the competition in what figures to be a weird baseball season.

Mayfield’s Problems In ’19 Based In Browns’ Dysfunction?

It is amazing to us that so many people have soured on Browns’ QB Baker Mayfield. At this time last year, he was the toast of the town in Cleveland, setting the record for touchdown passes by a rookie.

He was brash, cocky, and he won games. Cleveland went 6-7 in his starts, and while that’s not even above .500, when the team won a single game in the previous two seasons, you appreciate it.

Many of the fans who now want to replace Mayfield at the position also are highly critical of Freddie Kitchens, which doesn’t make sense to us.

If you think Kitchens was a terrible head coach, then doesn’t it follow he adversely affected the quarterback as well?

We said early in the 2019 campaign that it did not appear the Browns were running the same offense that was so successful in 2018 after Kitchens became the offensive coordinator.

Cleveland ranked 15th in the NFL in rushing attempts during the 2018 season, they ranked 22nd last year. In ’18, the Browns ranked 11th in yards per attempt at 4.6, and last year, they were even better at 4.8, ranking fifth in the NFL.

When Gregg Williams took over for Hue Jackson, and Kitchens inherited the OC job from the dismissed Todd Haley, the Browns became a running team, and they were successful. Mayfield benefited from this and played off the success of the running game.

But when Kitchens took over, and GM John Dorsey hired Todd Monken as offensive coordinator, the Browns got away from what allowed them to win in the second half of the 2018 season.

It didn’t help that Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr. which influenced both the head coach and the OC to emphasize the passing game even more.

When you talk about the dysfunction of the Browns’ franchise, this should be presented as Exhibit A. Stop doing something that worked because the GM wanted to make a big splash, and the head coach and offensive coordinator felt obligated to the GM.

As stated previously, you could see it early in the season last year. Receivers were running downfield patterns with no outlet for Mayfield, and the offensive line wasn’t strong enough to block for those longer routes.

Mayfield ranked 13th in the NFL last year in intended air yards per pass attempt, while Kirk Cousins, running Kevin Stefanski’s offense in Minnesota, ranked 25th.

Although Mayfield ranked 5th in this category in ’18, his completed pass yards per attempt dropped from the year before, and the number of times he was sacked increased from 25 in 2018 (in 14 games) to 40 last season.

To us, it’s because the offensive line couldn’t hold up for the longer routes without the play action. And the play action worked better because the Browns became a running team when Williams and Kitchens took over.

Last season, teams knew Cleveland was going to try to throw first, and run second.

Enter new head coach Kevin Stefanski, and a front office which right now seems like they want to maximize the things this team can do best.

Under Stefanski, Kirk Cousins had his highest passer rating of his career and the lowest interception rate of his career.

He also threw the least passes per game since he became a starter in 2019.

That’s because the Vikings were 4th in rushing attempts (behind Baltimore, San Francisco, and Seattle) and 6th in rushing yards (adding to those teams Dallas and Tennessee).

Coincidentally, the Browns have the second leading rusher in the league in Nick Chubb, and a former NFL rushing champion in Kareem Hunt.

Guess what the Browns are going to do this year?

If Mayfield can’t be at top efficiency this season, then the Browns may need to be on the lookout for a new QB come next year’s draft. It’s all set up for him to succeed.

Doing Everything To Keep Lindor Is Still Tribe’s Best Move

Even though baseball is on hiatus due to the pandemic, it still made news in Cleveland yesterday, when The Athletic’s Keith Law said on a local radio show that Francisco Lindor and his agent won’t entertain the Indians long term contract offer.

First, we will disclose that we are of the opinion the Indians should do everything they can to keep Lindor in a Cleveland uniform, and we understand the financial aspects of that thought process.

Lindor and his agent know he will be the prime free agent on the market following the 2021 season, and they also understand he will command one of the highest salaries ever given to a major league baseball player.

Our guess is the Indians haven’t talked to their star shortstop about a deal anywhere near the money or the amount of years he will command in free agency, and that’s why serious negotiations haven’t taken place.

On the other hand, Tribe president Chris Antonetti said prior to spring training that the parties have talked, and Lindor said shortly after camp started that he did not want to talk about his contract status during the season, and the talks were done until the end of this season.

Perhaps the delay in the sport hasn’t affected Lindor’s thinking and he wants to stay focused on the season, whenever it starts, and he is just being true to his word.

Let us also say that Lindor has the right to be a free agent, and go through that process.

It’s also possible that Law spoke to someone who doesn’t know what is going on, although we are confident that he trusts his source.

Why would we keep Lindor? Because it is hard for us to fathom that a contending team, and the Indians are certainly that, improve their ballclub by dealing a great player.

If the Tribe was in decline, and finished around .500 this season, a considerable dip from three consecutive division titles and 93 win team a year ago, and they were an aging squad as well, there is no doubt it would be advisable to move the shortstop and start the rebuilding process.

But that’s not the case.

The Indians’ oldest regular player is Carlos Santana at age 34, followed by Roberto Perez (31) and Cesar Hernandez (30). Cleveland can be out of Santana’s and Hernandez’ deal following the 2020 campaign.

On the pitching side, only Carlos Carrasco (33), Oliver Perez (37), and Brad Hand (30) would be considered past their prime (assuming prime is 27-29).

We understand the Indians’ claims of financial constraints, but we feel dealing Lindor will bring you–1). A top prospect who likely will not ever be as good as Lindor. 2). Another mid range prospect who will have a solid major league career, and 3). some low level prospects who would be wild cards.

Keep in mind, Cleveland’s farm system is very strong at the lower levels, so they have a bunch of wild cards.

We would make it worth Francisco Lindor’s while to want to stay right here. However, he wants to win, and he’s been here for five years and has seen the front office/ownership not making a commitment to win a World Series.

In the last 12 months, he has watched the front office trim a whole lot of payroll money, with not a lot reinvested in the team. That concerns us, and no doubt it concerns him.

He said over the winter that he would want assurances the franchise will remain competitive.

If the alternative for the Tribe is losing Lindor and getting nothing, then a trade is better than that, but we would do everything we can to keep Lindor an Indian long term.

That’s the best case scenario.

Cavs’ Team That Lost By “The Shot” Were No Doubt Good Enough To Win Title

With “The Last Dance” documentary currently airing on ESPN, those Cleveland Cavaliers teams of the late 1980’s have come under scrutiny. After all, it was the 1988-89 version of the team that fell victim to “The Shot”, Michael Jordan’s first playoff success (as a team).

When examining those teams, you have to remember there were really two iterations of that group. The first team featured the three rookies from the class of 1986-87: Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, Mark Price, and John “Hot Rod” Williams, who was drafted the year before, but sat out due to a legal issue.

That quartet’s rookie season led to a 31-51 record as Harper, Williams, and Daugherty ranked one-two-three in minutes played, and were also the top three scorers. Price was a reserve to John Bagley, playing only 18 minutes.

It was only a two game improvement on the previous season.

The next year saw the Cavs improve to 42-40 and a first round playoff loss to the Bulls in five games (best of five). By the way, Jordan averaged 45.2 points per game in that series.

Larry Nance came to the team that year in a deal for Kevin Johnson, who was drafted in the first round over the summer. Price emerged as a player, making Johnson superfluous.

Think about this. The Cavs guards starting that season were Price, Harper, Johnson, Dell Curry, and Craig Ehlo. Pretty good, eh?

The following season, the Cavaliers were rolling right from the start. They won 24 of their first 29 games, and on February 28th, Cleveland whipped the defending Eastern Conference champion Pistons, 115-99, to raise their record to 42-12, five games ahead of Detroit in the Central Division.

That was also the game that Rick Mahorn elbowed Price in the head at midcourt, a terrible cheap shot. Price missed just two games, but the Cavs went just 15-13 the rest of the season.

Price also missed the first game of the playoffs vs. the Bulls with a hamstring injury, a game the Cavs lost 95-88.

Until Price was elbowed, which was out of frustration from the Cavs beat the Pistons for the third time in as many chances that season, Cleveland, not Detroit and certainly not the Bulls looked like the team coming out of the Eastern Conference.

In fact, as Jordan said during “The Last Dance”, the Cavaliers swept Chicago six games to none in the season series between the two teams.

The Price/Harper backcourt was a joy to watch, they played off each other beautifully, and the front court of Daugherty, Nance, and Williams was long and the latter two were capable of guarding small forwards.

Even though Hot Rod didn’t start, he was in there in the fourth quarter along with Nance.

That’s the group which was capable of winning a title, and we feel they would have had not something else gotten in the way the following season.

That little thing would be the worst trade in NBA history (in our opinion) when Cleveland dealt Harper AND two first round picks to the Clippers for the rights to Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams.

Trading one of your best players is one thing, but including two draft picks which could have been used as assets to improve the team was another. And that Ferry became at best a role player in the NBA was the death knoll.

Ironically, Harper blew out his knee after going to the Clippers.

The Cavs did get to the Eastern Conference finals in 1991-92 with the same group, sans Harper. It was Terrell Brandon’s rookie season. But Nance was 32 years old, and Williams was 29. They lost in six games to the Bulls.

The following season, the Cavaliers went 54-28 and lost in the Eastern semis to, you guessed it, Chicago in a four game sweep. Lenny Wilkens resigned after that season, and by the way, is still not happy about the Harper trade.

Mike Fratello took over and guided an injury plagued team (Daugherty played just 50 games, Nance 33 and neither played in the post-season) to the playoffs where they were swept again by Chicago.

By the next season, Daugherty and Nance were gone, and Price played only 48 games.

If the Harper trade would have never been made, would that group have been able to win an NBA title? We say yes. They were that could, and never really got a second chance.

Tribe’s Window Still Tied To Lindor.

There are rumblings that Major League Baseball could get underway in late June/early July with a new three ten team division set up and a truncated season.

That would be music to the ears of all baseball fans and provide at least some sense of normality this summer.

Matt Loede asked if any Cleveland sports team was close to winning a championship, and our reply was the Indians were closest, but the Browns had a bigger window.

The Tribe’s immediate opening is tied to their shortstop Francisco Lindor, in our opinion.

With Lindor here this season, and perhaps next, the Indians have a chance to win. Along with Jose Ramirez, Cleveland has a pair of the top position players in the game, along with a solid young starting pitching staff.

Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger should form a top of the rotation that is the envy of most teams in the majors, and if Carlos Carrasco is healthy, we already know he is capable of being one of the top ten starting pitchers in the game.

That’s a pretty good base to start with.

Among the position players, Franmil Reyes seems poised to have a monster season at the plate providing big time power in the middle of the lineup, and Carlos Santana is coming off his best season, but has turned 34 years old.

Cleveland values defense behind the plate, and they have that in Roberto Perez and Sandy Leon.

However, without Lindor, and Santana aging, you can see holes popping up in the everyday lineup.

Yes, you would still have Ramirez and Reyes, but then what?

The farm system is loaded, but that strength is located in the lower rungs of the system. Top prospect Nolan Jones would have seen some time at Columbus this season, and #2 prospect Tyler Freeman would have been at Akron, but the rest of the top ten position players, save for DH Bobby Bradley, haven’t played above the low Class A level, meaning they are a few years away.

As for the pitching, Carrasco would be 34 when 2022 (the year Lindor is a free agent) hits. While fans like the potential of young starters Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale, the reality is both have pitched less than one year in the big leagues.

They also have Logan Allen and Scott Moss (acquired in the Trevor Bauer deal last July), who will likely have started in AAA in 2020.

We also know that pitching is very volatile, and outside of Bieber, Clevinger, and Carrasco, none of the youngsters have any kind of track record.

As for the bullpen, we’ve seen how shaky that can be with Emmanuel Clase being suspended for 80 games whenever baseball resumes play.

With Lindor, the Indians have a solid base and can fill in at other spots in the lineup with players like Oscar Mercado, Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, and Tyler Naquin.

However, let’s look at where the Tribe will be in ’22. Lindor could be gone (yes, we are taking a foolishly optimistic view), and Santana can’t be counted on at age 36.

Can you have a contending team with two proven bats, Ramirez and Reyes? Perhaps one of the aforementioned players can step up to join them, or maybe Jones and Tyler Freeman becomes the next great rookie talents.

Same with the pitching staff, can Plesac and Civale follow the success of Bieber and Clevinger?

If baseball is played this season, perhaps by the end of that season, we will have a better idea as to how long the Indians’ window of contention can remain open.

Until then, the window is tied to Lindor. We would love to see all of the prospects emerge as stars, but the reality says that is unlikely to happen.