Things That Worry Us About The Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Wednesday in a close game against Memphis without Donovan Mitchell and then lost at home to Golden State, who didn’t play their starters, on Friday. Both losses really bothered us, but for different reasons.

The first loss was because of their awful final possession, down by one, with 16 seconds left. J.B. Bickerstaff had a timeout remaining, but eschewed using it, choosing to let the players make a play. Bad decision.

Darius Garland just dribbled, waiting for an opportunity to penetrate, and wound up taking a three-pointer that was blocked. To us, it was the perfect time to run some action to get someone open, perhaps an off the ball screen.

To be fair, many teams in the NBA would’ve made the same choice, but that doesn’t make it the right choice.

And Friday night, the Cavs just didn’t show up, apparently deciding before the game that they would win, and then not putting forth the effort to do so. They are outrebounded by 10 in the game. Bickerstaff was correct to be upset afterwards.

We are a bit concerned because this is when the Cavaliers kind of fell apart a year ago, although injuries were a factor. They beat Indiana on February 11th last season to raise their record to 35-21. They went 9-17 the rest of the year.

This season, Cleveland has gone 6-8 over their last 14 contests, and just this past week played two games vs. teams without multiple starters (New Orleans and Golden State) and didn’t get off to good starts. They had a strong fourth quarter to beat the Pelicans.

And although the Grizzlies game wound up close, Memphis did have a 20-0 run in the second quarter.

The Cavaliers have a good team, they probably aren’t ready to win the NBA title, but they could be good enough to get home court advantage in the first round. They might have one of the best starting lineups in the league, starting three players who have made All-Star teams (Mitchell, Garland, and Jarrett Allen) as well as Evan Mobley, a defensive force (so is Allen) in just his second year.

Their bench is somewhat inconsistent, but they still have Caris LeVert, who is a good player, veteran Kevin Love, who although he has been in a shooting slump, is still a very good rebounder, and Cedi Osman has his moments. Lamar Stevens is a solid defender, and Ricky Rubio has just come back from knee surgery.

But they have become very guard reliant, which is odd because of the presence of Allen and Mobley. The teams’ leaders in shot attempts are Mitchell (20.2), Garland (16.7) and LeVert (11.0), all of whom are primarily guards.

Mobley is next at 10.6 followed by Allen at 8.9. The two starting big men, along with reserves Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, and Lamar Stevens take about as many shots combined as the trio of guards.

So, we very much liked last night when Mobley took 27 shots, making 19 in scoring a career-high 38 points. We’d like to see more of this.

This isn’t to minimize how great Mitchell has been this year, but it might open things up more for the guards, if the Cavs worked the ball inside more often for the bigs. After all, Mobley does shoot 55.7% from the floor, and Allen knocks down 63% of his attempts.

Hopefully, the Cavs get things straightened out sooner than later. Bickerstaff likes to talk about the grit of his squad, but they haven’t shown much of it in the past few weeks. It needs to come back before the same swoon that took place last year occurs again.

Schwartz Has The Chops To Fix The Defense

Let’s face it, the best thing about the Browns’ hiring of Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator is that he is not Joe Woods. No doubt, fans had to be tired of the excuses and lack of communication on that side of the ball.

Another positive is the experience factor. It seems the most heralded assistant coach Kevin Stefanski has is offensive line coach Bill Callahan, a former college and pro head coach who has been around a long time. His unit is arguably the strongest on the team.

Why not add another veteran of the coaching wars. Schwartz got his start right here on the heralded Bill Belicheck Browns’ staff which also featured Nick Saban, Eric Mangini, Kirk Ferentz, and Woody Widenhofer. He’s been around the NFL for a long time.

We are not going to judge the hire now, nor are we going to predict how Schwartz is going to coach the defense. Our hope is he will do what good coaches do, that is, look at the personnel he has and develop a plan that maximizes the talent of the players.

In a radio interview, former Titans’ safety Blaine Bishop said Schwartz reinvents himself wherever he goes because he looks at the talent on the roster and adjusts his scheme to suit the strengths of the players. We certainly hope that trend continues.

However, in 14 years as defensive coordinator with Tennessee (2001-08), Buffalo (2014), and Philadelphia (2016-20), his defenses have finished in the top half of the league eight times, and six of those seasons ranked in the top ten in yards allowed.

In points allowed Schwartz’ defense finished in the top 16 nine times, four of those in the top ten.

He seems to put an emphasis on stopping the run, finishing in the top ten eight times in allowing rushing yards. That should be a relief to Cleveland football fans who watched opposing teams punish the Browns’ defense running the ball. The Browns probably would have been worse than 7-10 had some teams not forgotten the brown and orange couldn’t contain the running game.

We understand there will be an adjustment to a new coordinator next year, so it is unlikely the defense will be dominant to start the season, but really, is that any different from the last two seasons? In each of those years, Woods’ defense was below average in the first eight games.

We also get there will be some personnel changes too. But those would have been made anyway because it is doubtful the Browns would be able to effectively stop the ground game with the current roster. However, this team still has some top end players in Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Greg Newsome, and rookie Martin Emerson.

Our guess is Schwartz will look at those cornerbacks and will play more man-to-man than his predecessor, and we fully support that. He will also likely look at the defensive front and ask for help so the defense can be stouter against the run.

You know how we feel about that. You can’t win in the NFL unless you can stop the run.

Bringing in a veteran coach with a track record of success most likely isn’t a bad thing. The defense was the reason the Browns went 7-10 this season, not playcalling or lack of yelling by the head coach.

That’s why we should all be happy about the hire.

The On-Going Okoro Discussion

There is probably no more debated player on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ roster than Isaac Okoro. The “media influencers” who work for the Cavs are consistently telling us whenever he performs well.

It reminds us of when Danny Ferry was here, and the franchise’s PR department was fully invested in telling everyone they did not make a colossal mistake.

We are not putting Okoro in that class, but the fact remains the organization overdrafted him when he was selected fifth overall in the 2020 draft. He was a defensive player, and not a shot blocker or rim protector, and those players tend not to be picked that high.

Why? Because wings have to be able to produce offensively, and Okoro may get to be that player at some point, but his rookie contract will likely be up before that happens, and the Cavs’ front office will have to make a decision on whether or not to give him an extension, one that would be tough to justify committing big dollars.

The hype surrounding the third-year player now is his three-point shooting, which since the calendar changed to 2023, has been good, as he has made 11 of 20 from distance. However, that’s what is called a small sample size, as it includes just eight games.

Overall, for the season, Okoro is making 31.5% of his threes, which is fourth worst on the roster, ahead of only Lamar Stevens (who has taken 50, compared to 89 for Okoro), and big men Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

And in this recent stretch, the former Auburn Tiger has made more than one long distance shot in a game just twice, making four of six in the blowout win over the Suns and two of three in Saturday’s loss to Minnesota.

We would all like Okoro to become Cleveland’s version of P.J. Tucker, a very good defender who is lethal with the corner three. Tucker, though, knocks down 38% of his long-distance shots. And for the mathematically challenged, 38% is much better than 30.6%.

Plus, it still seems to us like Okoro is a reluctant shooter, meaning he doesn’t have much confidence in his shot. That’s why defenses still have decided to ignore him when he is standing beyond the arc.

It wouldn’t be so bad if Okoro developed a reliable mid-range game, but from three to ten feet, he’s made just 9 of 27 shots from the floor, and from 16 feet to the three-point line, he’s taken just one shot.

Overall, he’s taken 103 jump shots on the season, making just 32 (31.1%). Let us ask this question…if you were the opposing team, wouldn’t you leave him open?

This is not to say Okoro doesn’t have ability. He is a very good defender, and that is valuable in today’s NBA. But it is tough to put him out there for long stretches because he becomes a burden offensively. What we mean is because opponents don’t need to guard him, they can help on Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and the big guys inside.

The way to combat that is good ball movement because a passed ball moves faster than a dribbled ball. Unfortunately, the Cavs seem to forget that sometimes.

It’s also why the wine and gold could use another shooter at the trade deadline if they can get one. And it would not be a shock if Okoro was included in the deal.

Hard To Gauge What Guardians’ Young Players Will Do

The Cleveland Guardians surprised everyone in northeast Ohio and frankly in baseball as well by winning 92 games and the AL Central Division title last season.

That has their fans very excited for the 2023 season because, after all, with a young core of position players and pitching staff that had the 4th best ERA in the American League, why wouldn’t they?

They also seemed to take care of their weak spots in their lineup. The DH spot was a huge hole because Franmil Reyes collapsed, and the catching spot was completely devoid of any offense, as they signed 1B/DH Josh Bell and C Mike Zunino as free agents.

However, there is an old saying in the game that a player’s statistics will match those on the back of their baseball card, meaning players have track records, and usually they will produce close to what they’ve done in the past.

Unfortunately, very few Guardians’ have a history of performance because they are so young. Of course, we know Jose Ramirez, if healthy, will be in the mix for the AL MVP. He has finished in top five in the voting four times in the last six years.

And you know what you are going to get from Amed Rosario too. He going to hit around .280 with a 700 OPS, and he’s going to not walk much.

Even Josh Naylor has only one season with more than 250 at bats at the big-league level.

The newcomers have been around for a while, so you can figure Bell is going to hit 20+ home runs, knock in around 80 or so, and have an OPS around 800. Zunino will hit the long ball more often than the Guardians’ catchers last season, but he will strike out. A lot.

We would all like to be optimistic about the young players who had marvelous seasons in 2022, but the truth is, we don’t know what Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, and even Andres Gimenez is going to do in 2023 for sure.

That doesn’t mean they will not be productive in 2023, but it’s difficult to count on each player to meet or exceed what they did in 2022.

Because we are a big believer that future success is based on knowledge of the strike zone, obviously we think Kwan has the best chance for improvement. We think he learned as the season progressed to pick his spots in driving the ball, so we think his slugging percentage will improve and he could approach or surpass 10 homers. Still, that’s not his game, so it needs to occur naturally.

Gonzalez is the opposite of Kwan, not walking much, but as we have suggested before, maybe Gonzalez is the Cleveland version of White Sox’ Tim Anderson, a hitter who succeeds with a poor strikeout to walk ratio. Still, he’s a player to watch.

Gimenez was spectacular last season, starting the All-Star Game and winning a Gold Glove, but it was also his first season with more that 210 plate appearances. His strikeout to walk ratio isn’t good (112:34) and his on base percentage (.371) was high because he was hit by a league high 25 pitches.

As proof it can happen, look at Myles Straw. In his first full year in the big leagues, 2021, Straw hit .271 with a .349 on base percentage. Last year, his second season, he hit .221 with a .291 OPS.

We aren’t saying everyone will regress, and quite frankly, we think Straw will rebound and be much better next year.

We are saying it is hard to judge players without a firm track record. For the most part, the pitching staff has that. It’s the offense that is more of a concern.

Talking About Mitchell’s Amazing Performance

In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first season, Walt Wesley scored 50 points in a game against the Cincinnati Royals on February 19, 1971. That record held for 34 years, until LeBron James put up 56 vs. Toronto in March 2005.

The 50 point barrier has only been accomplished 15 times in franchise history and only five players have done it. James did it 10 times, Kyrie Irving did it twice, and the 57 points he put up on March 12, 2015 established the club record, which was tied by James two years later.

Earlier this season, Darius Garland became the fourth player in Cleveland history to hit the 50 mark when he put in 51 against Minnesota.

It doesn’t happen often for a player wearing wine and gold.

And then we have what happened on Monday night.

Donovan Mitchell had a night for the ages, shattering the team record with a 71 point effort, tied with David Robinson for the eighth most in any game by an individual. There are only three players in NBA history to have recorded more points in a single game, and their names are Wilt Chamberlain (of course), Kobe Bryant, and David Thompson.

Yes, the game went into overtime, but Mitchell had 58 at the end of regulation, which would have broken the Cavalier team record anyway.

The Cavs were without two starters, Garland and Evan Mobley, so they needed someone to step up and provide scoring. Garland is after all, a 20 point per game scorer. In the first half, no one stepped up and the wine and gold were down by 18 at halftime, 65-47.

Mitchell started getting in going late in the second quarter. He had five points until he hit a three with 6:53 remaining in the second quarter and scored eight more before the end of the half.

Again, for the entire game, no one outside of Jarrett Allen, who was nine of ten from the floor, and Raul Neto, who took just three shots, hit more than half their attempts for Cleveland.

So, Mitchell took over, which is what stars do. He basically willed the Cavs to a win. And it wasn’t as though he was playing selfishly either. He dished out 11 assists. He also took just 34 shots to get the 71 points, as he went to the foul line 25 times, making 20. That helped.

He scored 24 points in the third quarter to cut the Cavs’ deficit to five heading into the 4th quarter. He added 18 more to force overtime. He needed to score that many points to get a win for Cleveland. That’s what made it even more special.

He took only two more shots in the same game as Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan, who scored 44 points taking 32 shots. And on the same night, Golden State’s Klay Thompson hoisted 39 shots, scoring 54 points and doled out just three helpers.

We were in attendance on March 28, 1990 when Michael Jordan scored 69 points against the Cavs, and he took 37 shots in that one, and he went to the line 23 times. After the game, Lenny Wilkens remarked that since Jordan fired the ball 37 times, he should’ve scored 69.

That game also went overtime.

By the way, in Bryant’s 81 point night in 2006? He shot 46 times in 42 minutes. Mitchell played 50 minutes in his history making night.

What an incredible game. They don’t come about that often. It was almost 17 years since Bryant’s outburst. We are sure everyone will remember it for years to come.

Browns Play Hard, Hurt Commanders Chances

Well, it’s going to be a bad week for those folks who want the Cleveland Browns to fire everyone in the front office and start fresh in 2023.

That’s how it works doesn’t it? We mean, when the Browns lose, the coach should be fired usually because a play call doesn’t work. These people do understand there is another team on the field and they can execute as well, right?

Anyway, the Browns went out on Sunday and beat a team with playoff aspirations on the road, defeating the Washington Commanders 24-10, thus raising their record to 7-9 and next week they have a chance to do the same thing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And if they win, they will have the same record as last season. It’s not progress, but it’s not regression either.

What the game re-emphasized to us is this team has not quit on its head coach, and for that reason alone, Kevin Stefanski should continue with his current gig.

We will say again, this doesn’t mean Stefanski doesn’t need to improve some things, and we would also say we are sure even the great Bill Belichick learns something every season.

We wish Stefanski had kept the field goal in the first half which would have given the Browns a 6-0 lead. We understand the analytics people would say the field goal didn’t mean much because a touchdown would allow Washington to take the lead, but much as we say in basketball about long twos vs. threes, taking three points is better than getting none, which is what happened.

The stars came out offensively for Cleveland. Nick Chubb ran for 104 yards on 14 carries. Amari Cooper caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and Deshaun Watson threw three TD passes.

Watson was sacked four times in the first half. His receivers couldn’t get open and his offensive line was having a problem with the Commanders rush. Adjustments were made and the second half was dominated by Cleveland, whose defense forced three turnovers.

After forcing just eight turnovers in the first 11 games, the defense has come up with 11 in the last five. That’s a weird statistic.

Also odd was Watson’s passer rating of 122, his highest of the season. We have always said QBs will have a good passing efficiency rating if they stay away from interceptions, and have a very good yards per attempt ratio.

Watson completed only half of his 18 passes but had a great 9.4 yards per throw. The league leader for the season is Tua Tagovailoa at 8.9. Watson’s best average as a Brown was 6.6 in the loss to Cincinnati.

Slowly, week by week, he is shaking the rust off.

However, back to the coach. We have said previously we would only consider a change if the team quit playing for this staff, and based on Sunday, that’s simply not the case.

It does not mean change aren’t needed on the staff. We understand this group doesn’t give out a lot of information to the media, but when they do talk, it makes you shake your head.

Joe Woods said last week the defensive tackles weren’t the problem in stopping the run. Our first thought was if it isn’t them, then do you know what the problem is, and if so, why not fix it?

One more game remains, and the Browns should have the same goal: Win and spoil another team’s playoff hopes in front of their fans. In a bitterly disappointing season, that would add some sweetness.

Bickerstaff Has Set The Culture, Is That Enough?

J.B. Bickerstaff took over the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020 and coached the last 11 games of that shortened season. He took over for John Beilein, the longtime college coach who came to the NBA and didn’t enjoy the experience.

The Cavs went 5-6 for Bickerstaff after going 14-40 under the former Michigan coach, so there was a definite improvement under J.B., who had previous head coach stints in Houston and Memphis, both of which he had taken over after the season started.

Cleveland went 22-50 in Bickerstaff’s first full season which was also shortened due to the pandemic. During that season, James Harden was traded from Houston to Brooklyn. What did that have to do with the Cavs? GM Koby Altman helped facilitate the moves with draft picks and got Jarrett Allen for his trouble.

Allen back the wine and gold a rim protector, and a quality big man to go with guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, both high first round picks after LeBron James departed via free agency.

The following season marked a quantum leap in the Cavs’ performance. They drafted Evan Mobley and Bickerstaff went with a big lineup featuring Allen, Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen, something unusual for the NBA, playing three seven footers across the frontline.

Even though Sexton was hurt eight games into the season, Cleveland went 44-38, but lost both games in the “play-in” tournament, thus not qualifying for a best-of-seven series. The Cavaliers were the surprise of the league heading into the All-Star Game in Cleveland, but injuries to Allen and Ricky Rubio, in particular, took its toll on the record.

Bickerstaff brings a defensive mindset, he loves talking about the “bringing the grit”, making sure his team set a style of play that can impose on opponents. Making them play the way the Cavs want to play, which is at a slower pace. Because two of their four best players are big men (Allen and Mobley), they want to make sure those guys are involved in the action.

The Cavaliers are off to a 23-14 record thus far in the 2022-23 campaign, ranking 4th in Eastern Conference, behind Boston, Milwaukee, and Brooklyn. That spot would get them a homecourt playoff series if the season ended today, which it does not.

The coach has shown the ability to adapt. Cleveland traded Markkanen and Sexton to get Donovan Mitchell, one of the best scorers in the NBA, so the offense has shifted from the three big men up front to one where the guards (Garland and Mitchell) take about 40% of the shots.

Bickerstaff has been great at setting a defensive culture, but he could use some improvement as well. His offensive sets seem to be the same as a lot of NBA teams, reliant solely on isolation plays and/or pick-and-rolls, which isn’t totally bad because the new thing in the NBA is to simply switch, so you can get favorable matchups doing it.

Down the stretch of close games though, that can be problematic. The intensity picks up and opposing defenses, particularly on good teams gets better, so being dependent on good players beating their men off the dribble doesn’t work as well.

Mitchell’s good start means teams are going to put a lot of focus on him, so the coaching staff has to design ways for him to shake defenders. This is also the type of action that is needed late in close games. The Cavs almost lost last night’s game in Chicago because the offense late in the game was simply to clear out for Mitchell.

It didn’t work.

Hopefully, Bickerstaff understands where he needs to get better as well. That willingness to adapt, and he has demonstrated the last two seasons he can change to fit his talent, might be the most important thing the Cavs need to finish high in the Eastern Conference standings.

Cavs Need Help For Mitchell & Garland. Maybe It’s On The Roster

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished a six-game homestand at 4-2, and now face a stretch where they play eight of their next 11 away from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. They enter this stretch 6-9 on the road.

They won the first four games at home in this stretch before losing the last two to Toronto and Brooklyn, both of whom shot over 50% from three-point range. That’s hard for a team to do in an empty gym. The Nets lead the NBA in long distance shooting, but the Raptors are second from the bottom.

Once again, the Cavs problem is not enough guys contributing offensively consistently. J.B. Bickerstaff has a core four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, but he needs more players picking up the slack offensively, especially against better defensive teams.

Cleveland is averaging a little over 84 shots per game, and of those, the combination of Mitchell and Garland are taking 37, slightly less than half. We have seen in the two losses at home, opposing teams are focusing their defense on Mitchell, making it as hard as possible for him to get going.

The coaching staff has to do some things beside the pick-and-roll to get the wine and gold’s leading scorer at 28.5 points per game going. There doesn’t seem to be much action running Mitchell or Garland off screens to get them open looks. We’d like to see some of that.

We would also like to see Mobley and Allen get the ball in the paint more often. Toronto plays a very physical style of defense (they’ve adopted the Pat Riley Knicks and Golden State style of fouling most times down the floor, and the referees can’t call them all), but they don’t really have a true rim protecting big man.

Why not give the two seven-footers on the roster the ball. The Cavs’ starting big men average just under 20 shots per game, and that’s way too low for us. Especially with Mobley shooting almost 56% and Allen converting 62% of his shots.

Plus, if you establish an inside game, it makes it easier for Mitchell and Garland on the perimeter.

What does make it tougher for these four on the offensive end is the total lack of respect defenses have for whomever is playing the #3 spot. Bickerstaff reiterated his “they have to make shots” mantra after Monday’s loss to the Nets, but it goes against the coaching credo of putting people in positions where they can succeed.

Isaac Okoro is hitting 25% of his three-point shots. Lamar Stephens is 13 for 39. Dean Wade is making 41% from behind the line, but is hurt, and when he plays, he has periods where it doesn’t appear he wants to shoot.

As a result, defenders are ignoring them and helping on Mitchell and Garland. Maybe Kevin Love should start there, but still keeping him around 20 minutes per game. We’ve heard people say Cedi Osman should start at small forward, but he’s inconsistent shooting as well.

Maybe the answer is not putting these guys in the corner behind the three-point line where they are rendered ineffective? We understand this is an analytical advancement, but we always ask, what’s better: A made two or a missed three?

Either way, hoping Stevens, Osman, or Okoro become better three-point shooters doesn’t seem like much of a plan. The coaching staff has to come up with an alternative.

Or make a trade…

If We Were Kevin Stefanski This Off-Season

After the Browns’ loss at Cincinnati, we put out on social media that someday the team would lose a game and no one would blame the coach, but that wasn’t the day. That day wasn’t after Saturday’s loss to the Saints either.

It was an embarrassing loss, probably the second worst of the season, as nothing can top the debacle in week two against the Jets.

We aren’t saying Kevin Stefanski doesn’t have flaws, and he didn’t call a perfect game on Christmas Eve to be sure, but in watching the game unfold, after the Browns took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, we thought to ourselves, get the next score and New Orleans might be done.

Instead, the Saints remembered what some teams have taken a quarter or two to recall: Cleveland can’t stop the run. Using a platoon of Andy Dalton and pretty much non-thrower Taysom Hill at QB and mixing in direct snaps to Alvin Kamara, New Orleans hammered the Browns’ defense for 152 yards on the ground on a bitter cold day.

It is the seventh game this year Cleveland has allowed 150 or more yards in running game. Yes, Stefanski’s play calling has been an issue at times, but if you want to really know why the Browns are 6-9 right now? The defense cannot stop the run.

Stefanski is a smart man and hopefully knows he can be better. So, if we were him, here’s what we would do when the season ends…

…fire Joe Woods as defensive coordinator and find someone who runs a defense that gives offenses something to think about. Woods’ plans are usually vanilla. He has games where he moves Myles Garrett around, and others where he lines up in the same spot every play. Some games blitzes are part of the plan, others they rush four, constantly. When you are in Stefanski’s position, you have to put friendships aside.

…tell Andrew Berry they need a wide receiver who rack up yards after the catch. The offense doesn’t have a threat to go the distance on every play, meaning every drive has to be multiple plays and converting first downs. The longest touchdown play of the year from scrimmage was Nick Chubb’s 41-yard run vs. the Chargers.

…utilize Chubb in the passing game more. Chubb is 4th in the NFL in rushing attempts at 276, but he’s only caught 21 passes and usually comes off the field in passing situations. By contrast, Derrick Henry (TEN) leads the league in attempts with 319 AND he’s caught 32 passes. Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs is next at 306 carries and he’s caught 47 passes.

…get David Njoku the ball more. Yes, we know he dropped a certain TD pass on Saturday, but he’s probably the second biggest threat to go the distance on any play, behind Chubb.

…stop zagging when the other team zigs. Yes, when teams are trying to take any your best offensive player, figure out a way to get him the ball any way. You don’t have to ignore him, that’s what the defense wants.

…don’t change how you deal with the media. That’s not who Stefanski is and really, for the media to expect more at this point, is ridiculous.

We believe the coach deserves the opportunity to make adjustments, particularly with Watson at quarterback. And by the way, you can see Watson is an excellent player. If you look at numbers, you will think he didn’t play well in the win over the Ravens, but if you watched the game, he played very well.

Truly, the most disturbing news out of Berea was the report Sunday that owner Jimmy Haslam is enamored with the offense used by the University of Tennessee. Any reports of Haslam trying to influence the football people is terrifying.

It has been said before, the smartest people know what they don’t know. The Browns’ owner should consider that.

Why Guards Aren’t Dealing Prospects

The Cleveland Guardians won the American League Central Division title last season, winning 92 games. The Cleveland Guardians also have one of the top five farm systems in baseball. Outside of trading Nolan Jones, who probably was no longer one of the system’s top ten prospects, and moving Owen Miller, who spent the entire season on the big-league roster, the Guards haven’t addressed the seeming glut of prospects about to hit Cleveland. It seems that many teams when in the situation the Guardians are in, like to package a number of prospects to get proven big-league talent. Think about what San Diego has done over the past few years. Unfortunately for the Padres, their excessive prospects are having success, but here in Cleveland. Let’s examine the top five prospects in the Guards’ system: pitchers Daniel Espino and Gavin Williams, catcher Bo Naylor, OF George Valera, and SS Brayan Rocchio. Espino, a right-hander and Cleveland’s first round pick in 2019, was injured much of last season throwing only 19 innings, albeit dominating one, fanning 35 hitters. Williams, another righty and also a first rounder in 2021, appears to be the definition of a horse at 6’6″ and 240 pounds. He pitched 115 innings at Lake County and Akron, with a 1.96 ERA and 149 punchouts. Now, the big-league situation comes into play. Shane Bieber, the ace of the staff, is scheduled to be a free agent after the 2024 season. After winning the division, the Guardians aren’t trading him this off-season, but with the dollars spent this winter, it isn’t a reach to see Bieber being moved next winter. It would seem Espino and Williams would be ready then. If Bieber agreed to an extension with the Guardians, maybe the front office would entertain a deal for their top two prospects. We wouldn’t unless the return was substantial. We would be surprised if Naylor opened the season on the big club, but we won’t be shocked if he’s getting regular playing time by the beginning of June. He is the catcher of the future. We feel the same about Rocchio being the shortstop of the future, the heir apparent to Amed Rosario. We believe the organization likes him better than Gabriel Arias or Tyler Freeman, who will likely battle in spring to see who is the reserve infielder. We have been hearing about Valera for years. A left-handed hitter, he has plus power, and has always shown patience at the plate. However, in 2021 between Lake County and Akron, he fanned 88 times with 66 walks. In ’22, with more at bats between Akron and Columbus, he whiffed 145 times with 74 walks. Not bad, but the ratio is much worse. That would make him the most likely candidate to be moved in a trade for big-league talent. The front office is gambling he will make adjustments and take some of the swing-and-miss out of his game, because if the ratio gets worse, so will his ranking as a prospect. Prospects #6 through #10 are: Pitchers Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, SS Angel Martinez, OF Chase DeLauter, and OF Will Brennan. It’s more likely the Guards would trade someone from this list, but DeLauter hasn’t even played a professional game yet, and Brennan would seem to be insurance for the big club in the outfield. We are firmly NOT in the mindset that all prospects will turn out to be the next Mike Trout. We are just trying to explain what we think is the front office’s reasoning for not packaging a couple of these guys. How many players on the division winners have proven track records? It’s fewer than you think. Perhaps that’s why no deals as of yet.