Now, On to The Cavs’ Mess

Two weeks ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded a suspended Andrew Bynum for two-time all-star Luol Deng and basketball fans on the north coast were optimistic.

Deng started playing with the wine and gold at the beginning of a five game trip to the west coast, and although they took a horrible blowout loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings, they went 3-2 on the road (despite going into the trek with just two wins away from The Q), and basketball fans here were optimistic.

Then the Cavs came home for a five game homestand, and promptly lost the first two games, both with disappointing efforts.

That slapped fans of the wine and gold back into reality.

Why this basketball feels it can just show up and win games despite the fact they are 15-27 on the season is baffling. Yet, night after night, they appear to be lackadaisical, fall behind, and then lose to teams they should beat, especially at home.

Something needs to change and quickly, because the season is more than halfway complete.

If the Browns are considered a mess, the Cavs aren’t very far behind.

The playoffs can still be attained, but it is very clear at this point that the roster GM Chris Grant put together and the coach Grant hired do not mix well.

And since the Cavs had the same problems last year under Byron Scott, it looks to be a more player related issue. Although we didn’t like the Brown rehire when it was made, and his offensive concepts are deplorable, it doesn’t seem to be on the coach.

The ridiculous notion that it would be more beneficial to miss the playoffs and re-enter the draft lottery makes you shake your head. It is typical of the “we’ll be good in the future” attitude that surrounds the Browns and permeates the city.

What you will get in the lottery is another player who will need time to develop his game. Yes, it’s a deeper draft, but how many players projected to come out can be expected to start on an NBA team, particularly the Cavaliers, next season?

There will be a couple for sure, so you could make the comment that unless you get a top three pick, you will get another project. And isn’t the Cleveland roster full of guys who need to develop and play better?

That’s another reason Grant should have considered another coach, because Brown has no track record of developing and finishing off players. Have any of the young Cavs improved over last season?

You can’t make a case for any of them.

And the young players don’t seem to be showing a great deal of respect for Brown either, because they clearly aren’t working hard, particularly on the defensive end, which is the coach’s forte.

Look at the way Cleveland’s opponent last night, the Bulls, played. Granted, their roster isn’t filled with young players like the Cavs, but they went out and played hard, played defense, and won even though they were without two starters, and had traded Deng here two weeks ago.

Grant and Brown need to take a good look at the roster and see who fits what they are trying to do, and who doesn’t.

The players who don’t should be moved elsewhere for players who will fit the system. And this needs to be done quickly.

The Cavs aren’t playing any rookies this season. Everyone has been in the league now for at least a year and a half, so the front office should be able to identify whom they can build with.

We understand that with young teams comes inconsistency. But that shouldn’t pertain to effort and defense.

That message isn’t getting through to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Something has to change to make sure it does.

Difficulty in Finding Coach Should Scare Haslam

It is no secret to Cleveland football fans that the Browns’ coaching search has taken on its own life.

What is crazy is that there are only 32 head coaching jobs in the NFL, yet several assistant coaches do not want to take one of them, if it happens to be in Cleveland, that is.

First, New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel removed his name from consideration. Now Denver offensive coach, Adam Gase, just 35 years old, told the Browns he was not interested in taking the big step to head coaching in Cleveland.

You would think making a move from assistant to running your own show would be enough to entice an ambitious person to take the job. Obviously, there is something wrong in Berea.

At least Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi got the chance to talk to McDaniel. You could say that may the reason he turned down the gig. But Gase declined to be considered without talking to anyone currently in the organization.

It wouldn’t be hard to connect the dots and assume Gase did talk to former Browns’ GM Tom Heckert, who now works for the Broncos.

In a vacuum, coaching the Browns should be a great opportunity. After all, what is the downside?

If you don’t turn it around, you are just another coach in a long line of other guys who have failed to win in Cleveland since the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999. Many media people call the Browns’ organization dysfunctional anyway so there is no problem if you can’t win here.

On the other hand, if you do make the Browns a winner and return them to a position where playoff appearances are the norm, you will be heralded the same way coaches like Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs are.

And if you perform the thought to be impossible and win a couple of Super Bowls with Cleveland, then you can get your acceptance speech ready for the day you are enshrined in Canton.

Instead, the Browns are having difficulty getting anyone who wants to interview for the job, let alone take it.

From afar, you would have to think someone should be checking on the interview technique used by Banner or whoever is involved in the process, to see why candidates seem to be turned off.

Besides that, owner Jimmy Haslam needs to examine why his franchise has such a negative vibe around the league. If it is because of the men he hired to run things here, then perhaps a change needs to be made sooner than later.

Or maybe Haslam should be more involved in the process and make it clear that the new coach reports to him directly. The counterpoint to that is perhaps it is Haslam’s impetuousness that cost Rob Chudzinski his job.

Whoever the Browns eventually hire, no one can judge him fairly until the team takes the field and plays a few games. After all, two coaches in the AFC North didn’t have overwhelming resumes when they were hired: Mike Tomlin with the Steelers and John Harbaugh with the Ravens.

Still, if Haslam needs to look at his organization after this process is completed because the Browns are considered toxic. And whether it is or not, perception is reality.

All three of the people running this team are to blame. No one should be escaping unscathed. The real problem is that the people who are suffering the most are the fans. They just keep watching losing football.

Time for Tribe to Honor Albert Belle

Over the last few years, the Cleveland Indians have honored several of the players from their playoff teams of the late 90’s by putting them into the club’s Hall of Fame.

Sandy Alomar Jr. was the first to go in, fitting because he was the first piece of the puzzle when the Tribe traded for him after the 1990 season.

Kenny Lofton and Charles Nagy quickly followed him and last year, Carlos Baerga received the honor.

And there is no doubt that Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez will be inducted some day very soon, but their playing days ended too recently to be considered.

However, there is one name that is missing. The central figure for the first few years of the winning seasons including the strike shortened 1994 season and the American League Championship team of 1995.

It is time for the Indians to put Albert Belle in the franchise’s Hall of Fame.

We realize Belle’s departure from Cleveland as a free agent after the 1996 season was not exactly friendly and he antagonized the fan base when he came back to the lakefront as a member of the White Sox in subsequent visits. But you can’t ignore the fact that he’s one of the best players ever to wear an Indian uniform.

The slugger hit 242 home runs with the Tribe, leaving town as the franchise leader (he was passed by Jim Thome), and hit .295 with a 949 OPS in 913 games as a member of the team.

He led the American League in runs batted in three times with Cleveland, as well as leading the AL once in home runs, doubles, and runs scored once in his tenure here.

And in his last three seasons on the north coast, he finished second twice and third once in the MVP voting.

Of course, baseball historians will wonder years from now why Belle didn’t win the award in 1995 when he batted .317 (8^th in the league) with 50 HR (led league) and 126 RBI (tied for AL lead) on the best team by far in the junior circuit.

He hit at least 34 home runs the last five seasons in Cleveland, and knocked in at least 100 runs in those seasons as well. The significance of that is the 1994 season, the strike season, lasted only 113 games.

Yes, Belle was a controversial figure to be sure. He was suspended early in his career for different issues, and was once sat down because of a corked bat.

However, we also may have been the most studious players in the game when it came to his craft. He studied opposing pitchers and made adjustments.

In game five of the ’95 World Series, Belle went to school on new Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’ pitching him away and homered to right field in the first inning.

There is no question when you went to an Indians’ game in those days; you waited in your seat for Albert Belle to come to the plate. If you were at home, you made sure you were watching when Belle was hitting.

He was a “must see” player.

The Indians haven’t announced their honoree for the 2014 season yet, and the lately the antagonism between the Tribe and Belle has softened, so maybe he will get the nod.

But if they aren’t considering Albert Belle, they should. And we have a feeling when Belle is inducted, the fans will respond with a thunderous ovation.

Cleveland is a forgiving city, and they want to open their arms for the most exciting player to wear a Tribe uniform over the last 50 years.

Kershaw’s Deal Brings Up Old Debate on Smaller Markets

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed their ace pitcher, Clayton Kershaw to a seven-year deal for an estimated $215 million, an average of over $30 million per year.

The Dodgers were lauded for tying up arguably the game’s best pitcher up contractually for his prime years, ages 25-32. They weren’t paying outrageous cash to a player currently in his 30’s, like the Angels’ deal with Albert Pujols and the Yankees’ second contract with Alex Rodriguez.

However, the signing once again highlights baseball’s biggest problem: The disparity between big market teams and the middle and small markets.

Yes, the talking heads will point to the Twins’ deal with Joe Mauer (8 years, $184 million) and the Reds’ contract with Joey Votto (13 years, $263 million) as proof that mid market teams can keep star players for a long period of time.

But can those teams put a competitive team around those stars over a long-term if they are paying one player that large of a percentage of money spent on salaries?

There is no question the sport is flush with cash, despite what the Indians claim, and salaries continue to climb and climb.

Could teams like Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh have signed Kershaw to that same contract? The answer is probably not.

Baseball has put luxury taxes in place to be able to keep smaller markets in the mix, all you have to do is look at Tampa’s situation with former Cy Young winner David Price as an alternative.

Price may not be as accomplished as Kershaw, but he is close.

The Rays signed a one year deal with Price for $14 million this season, but the expectation throughout the game is that Tampa will deal Price sometime before the 2015 rather than let him walk away because they can’t afford to pay one player the $25 million per season that the lefty will get on the open market.

There just isn’t a reward for non large market ballclubs to be able to develop and keep the talent they have developed.

It’s funny when baseball writers talk about the four World Series won by the Yankees from 1996 through 2000, and they talk about how the cornerstones of the team were homegrown: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera.

The point they are missing is could any non-large market team have been able to keep four players in the organization for most of their careers?

All you have to do is look to Cleveland for that answer…no!

In the early 90’s, the Tribe drafted Albert Belle, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez, and traded for Sandy Alomar, Carlos Baerga, and Kenny Lofton before they spent any significant time in the major leagues.

Then GM John Hart took the then revolutionary step of offering long-term deals to young players to keep them under Cleveland’s control for an extra year or two beyond the free agency service time, but one by one, they left the organization, with Alomar staying the longest–11 years.

The Tribe made a legitimate huge offer to keep Ramirez, but he turned them down to head for Boston after the 2000 season.

Belle and Thome left as free agents, while the others were traded before they reached that point.

We see similar story lines every year in the majors, when will the small market team pull the trigger on a deal which will send a player becoming a free agent for younger, more controllable players.

Someone is going to say that the Yankees lost Robinson Cano to Seattle this winter, but when was the last time something like that happened? Usually, New York just keeps Cano.

To us, we still think paying a pitcher $30 million a year isn’t the most sound idea, not matter what their age. They are simply too volatile in terms of performance.

Hart once said the difference between the Yankees and other teams is that New York can afford to make mistakes. If Kershaw gets hurt (which we hope he doesn’t), it’s not that big of a deal for Los Angeles.

It would be crippling if it happened to the Royals, Brewers, Indians, or Reds.

Deng’s Professionalism Makes Him Best Cav

When the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for two-time all star Luol Deng a little over a week ago, we proclaimed our love for the trade and said Deng steps in as the second best player on the team immediately.

We were wrong.

Deng is the best player wearing the wine and gold uniform right now.

You are probably reading this saying we are out of our mind, surely Kyrie Irving, the much-publicized young point guard is the best player. After all, he is the face of the franchise.

After watching four games with Deng in uniform, it is clear he is the alpha dog.

Why? Not to be too simplistic, but he’s a basketball player.

He makes open jump shots, he moves without the basketball, he plays solid defense. Isn’t that what you want out of a basketball player?

We have been campaigning for some sort of veteran presence on the Cavaliers, and getting the all-star small forward from the Bulls, is the first step in the right direction.

Instantly, Deng has developed a chemistry with fellow vet Anderson Varejao, communicating with him on defense and moving without the ball to get good looks at the hoop when the “Wild Thing” has the ball at the elbow.

This is because they know how to play professional basketball, something the younger Cavs like Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters have yet to grasp.

However, these two players and the rest of the players who are new to the league should be watching Deng and Varejao with an eye toward being the professional both of these players are.

It’s why it is clear, if you know basketball, that Luol Deng is now the Cavaliers’ best player.

It appears to have surprised the newcomer when his new teammates didn’t communicate on the floor. To be sure, the Bulls must do it quite a bit, and talking makes teams better particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

The younger players have ability, but they seem to have “SportsCenter” games, meaning they do things that show up on highlight reels, but don’t necessarily contribute to winning basketball games.

Irving, in particular, seems to be struggling since the arrival of Deng, shooting just 37.5% from the floor and his assists are down as well in the four games Deng has played. Perhaps, Irving is having difficulty converting from being in total control of the offense to Deng’s more disciplined approach.

And Deng’s contribution on the defensive end definitely tips the scales in his favor. He may not be on the all-defensive team, but he gets in his man’s way consistently.

Watch the younger players on the defensive end, opponents flash to the basket all the time and you will see the Cavalier defender trailing his man quite a bit.

This isn’t to say Luol Deng is a special player, but he appears to be the epitome of a professional basketball player. He plays the game the correct way.

GM Chris Grant would be well served to obtain another veteran player to go with Deng and Varejao to help the Cavaliers move forward.

The more players guys like Irving, Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller can learn the game from the better off the future of the Cavaliers will be.

Young Cavs Need to Toughen Up, Get Some Grit

The Cleveland Cavaliers opened their trip out west with good feelings. They started their new acquisition, two-time all-star Luol Deng, and defeated the Utah Jazz.

However, things took a sharp turn south as the Sacramento Kings, a team with a similar record as Cleveland’s, hammered the wine and gold. The 44 point loss was the largest margin of defeat in the NBA this season.

During the game, the Cavs’ young guards, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters seemed upset at being taken out of the game by head coach Mike Brown. Whether they were dismayed by the fact their team was getting shredded or because they were losing playing time is up for debate. Whatever the reason, it seems like there is a problem behind the scenes.

Yes, the Cavaliers are a relatively young basketball team, but the only rookie getting regular playing time is free agent Matthew Dellavedova, a gritty, energy type of player.

The rest of the team is in their second or third years in the league, so they’ve been around long enough to know the NBA. And they do have veterans like Anderson Varejao, Jarrett Jack, and now Deng, along with a veteran coaching staff to tell them the work that is needed on a daily basis to win in the league.

So, why isn’t it taking?

The Cavs look disinterested in too many games, and they get blown out far too frequently for a team that has four top five picks in the draft on the roster.

It doesn’t seem like the players are learning from the experience. A loss like the one to the Kings shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone in the organization.

When Jack signed with the Cavs last summer, he made a statement about how there are two types of players, those who love the lifestyle and those who love the game.

Right now, it looks like the young players with the Cavaliers are more about the former, and it spells trouble for the franchise unless that changes.

Look, every player likes to win. The crowds are with you and it makes it easy to show up at the gym every day to practice.

What are needed for this organization to move forward are players who hate to lose. Those men are stung by every loss, and they will do anything to prevent defeat.

Our contention is that Michael Jordan’s greatest attribute as a player was his competitive streak. The man simply hated to lose at anything. Most of the great players in any sport have the same trait.

It doesn’t appear that the Cavaliers have many players who have the “competitiveness” gene. They are happy to be professional basketball players, but they don’t want to do whatever it takes to win basketball games.

You would like to think the veterans on the team could communicate this to Irving, Waiters, and the rest, but it hasn’t taken yet and the season is almost halfway through. GM Chris Grant added another veteran voice in bringing Deng over.

Hopefully, bringing a guy who has been on playoff teams the past few years makes a difference.

That’s the risk of having a team made up of a majority of young players. Sometimes, they learn to win together like the Cavs of the 80’s with Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, and Mark Price.

These Cavs need to develop some toughness and grit. If winning doesn’t start soon then Grant will need to make changes with the roster to bring in players who are sick of losing.

The time to make the playoffs is now and the time to start demanding victories is also now. The players need to get on board or move elsewhere.

No Matter Who’s Making Decision, Browns Need to Get It Right

Most people’s assessment of Browns’ CEO Joe Banner and GM Michael Lombardi is they think of themselves as the smartest people in the room.

The team’s search for a new coach isn’t really supporting that argument.

It is clear at this point that when the Browns (most likely owner Jimmy Haslam) decided to fire Rob Chudzinski, they didn’t have a plan to hire his successor. It appears to be a knee-jerk reaction by someone, probably Haslam, after a seven game losing streak to end the season.

Sounds a little bit like what goes on in Washington and their owner Daniel Snyder, a man who is the butt of jokes by people who work in and cover the National Football League.

That’s not what we thought we were getting when Haslam bought the team from the reclusive Randy Lerner.

So, the view here is now Banner and Lombardi have to clean up that mess, which isn’t a great job, but one they are paid pretty handsomely to do.

There isn’t anyone out there that is going to create a buzz with the Cleveland football fan, although that really shouldn’t be a consideration. It’s more important to hire the right man for the job. Remember, no one had really heard of Mike Tomlin when the Steelers chose him, and as Banner would put out, Andy Reid wasn’t greeted with fanfare when he got the job with the Eagles, either.

The front office asked for permission to hire Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase early in the process, but Gase decided to not interview for any job until the Broncos are eliminated from the playoffs. Maybe Gase takes the job and the Browns can say they got their man, but supposedly Minnesota wants him too.

The problem that Chudzinski’s firing after one year has caused is it makes other candidates leery of taking the job because of security. Yes, head coaches are highly paid in the professional football, but they are still human beings and they want to have some assurance that they will get more than a year to produce results.

Haslam’s decision isn’t helping attract candidates.

Neither are the rumors that Banner and Lombardi want to limit the new coach’s authority in terms of the roster. We have been advocates in the past of not giving coach’s total control because they favor the players they brought in, even if they aren’t cutting it.

However, the coach needs to feel like he’s part of the process, not that it’s Banner and Lombardi’s show and the coach is a replaceable part.

There is going to be negativity about this ownership/front office until winning starts taking place on Sunday. The main problem with Haslam and his crew is that the Browns went 5-11 in 2012, and finished with a worse record in 2013.

While the roster may be more talented (they are quick to point out five Pro Bowlers), until the progress shows up in the win column, fans are going to be skeptical.

They don’t want to hear about “the process” anymore. Other teams in the NFL turn around on the yearly basis. This year it was the Chiefs, last year it was the Colts.

It’s never the Browns.

There seems to be uncertainty in Berea regarding who is in charge now. Is it Haslam calling the shots on the new coach? Is it Banner?

Fans want to see an open search. Why isn’t Mike Munchak (22-26 with no QB in Tennessee) interviewed? How about Jack Del Rio (68-71 with two playoff appearance in Jacksonville)?

Regardless, fans really can’t judge any hire until the games start in September. That being said, the Browns need to get this hire right.