If Browns Learn Anything, It Should Be The Current Structure Doesn’t Work

That the Cleveland Browns are 3-9 this season is bad enough for a fan, what might be even more frustrating is that there doesn’t seem to be a singular person to blame.

Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam talk about a “collaborative” effort in running the Browns. Apparently, the decision makers would be the owners, we think their son-in-law, J. W. Johnson is in the group, along with GM Andrew Berry, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, and coach Kevin Stefanski.

Is this a good way to run a football operation or any sports franchise? We would think it isn’t.

We are sure there are many people who are asked for input with both the Guardians and Cavaliers’ organizations, but we know who the final decision is made by. For the baseball team, it is team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff. And with the Cavs, it is president of basketball operations Koby Altman.

If things aren’t going well, they are the people fans and media alike can point the finger at. And at least in the Guardians’ case, when the team isn’t playing well or questions need to be answered, Antonetti faces the media and provides answers.

And although Altman doesn’t conduct a lot of pressers, everyone in the basketball world understands he and GM Mike Gansey are making the basketball decisions.

In both of these cases, we are sure the ownership is aware of what is going on and gives the final okay, but as owners, that’s the way it should be.

With the Cavaliers, it wasn’t always that way. Dan Gilbert went through coaches and general managers on what seemed to be every other year basis, but since his health issues, the basketball operations are more front and center.

This odd structure for the Browns leads to a lot of questions, particularly earlier this season, when there were questions (and rightly so) about who made the decision to trade for Deshaun Watson and why was he continuing to play?

We still don’t know, and that’s a problem for people wanting a fall guy. Let’s face it, whoever was the person in the organization thumping the loudest for the former Texans’ QB should be fired. It was that bad of a mistake.

Instead, Stefanski has to answer questions as to whether or not he, the coach of the team, can make a decision to bench the player. And although Stefanski says he can, we think even his critics know he’s a smart man, and surely, he cannot think Watson was the best option if the Browns wanted to win.

If you want a laugh, type “bad quotes about committees” into your search browser. There are tons of comments from smart people about how the worst way to make a decision is to form a committee to discuss them.

The best thing the Haslams can learn from the Watson situation is they need to have someone in charge of football operations and let that man make the football decisions, including having the coach and GM report to him.

When John Dorsey supposedly in charge here, the head coach at the time, Hue Jackson, supposedly reported to the owner.

All that does is encourage an “it’s not my fault, it’s his fault” scenario.

The Browns need someone to answer the big picture football related questions. And too often, that role falls in Stefanski’s lap, because he’s the only guy who talks to the media (he tries not to say anything) regularly.

The collaboration method hasn’t worked. Hire someone with a vast knowledge of the game and let all football people report to him. And have his voice and only his voice tell ownership what needs to be done.

The wise man knows what he doesn’t know. And a committee didn’t come up with that quote.

A Winston Air Show Gets Grounded Late Monday

The Cleveland Browns put up a lot of points Monday night, but they gave up a lot as well, and yes, they also gave Denver two touchdowns in a 41-32 loss in Colorado to drop their record to a still disappointing 3-9.

Many folks painted the game as the full Jameis Winston experience because he threw two interceptions that resulted in Bronco touchdowns. We get it, his history shows he throws picks.

You know who didn’t throw passes to the other team? Deshaun Watson. He also never threw for 300 yards in a game (heck, not even 200 this year), he couldn’t pick up first downs, he couldn’t keep the offense on the field, and he made the wide receiver positions into glorified blockers.

We would rather have a QB that threatens the defense. Winston does that. Six different Browns’ receivers caught passes that gained 13 yards or more. Jerry Jeudy looked like a terrible deal for Cleveland until Winston was at the helm. Monday night, he caught 9 passes for 235 yards and Elijah Moore had a 100 yard game at well.

Yes, the interceptions are an issue. So is having to put the ball in the air 58 times because the Browns simply don’t have a running game right now. They did run it 23 times but gained just 77 yards.

It’s not just Nick Chubb coming off an injury either. We are 12 games into the season and Cleveland’s leading rusher is Jerome Ford with a paltry 339 yards. Ford has the longest run this year (36 yards) and the second longest run is by backup QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson with a 34-yard scamper.

The third longest? D’Onta Foreman, who can’t even get on the field anymore with a 25-yard carry.

Whether or not the Browns stay with Winston in 2025 or not, what the last five games has shown is that Watson was the problem, something that many people (including us) thought after the first couple of games this season, and some of those folks had their doubts before that.

You have to think if Winston had replaced Watson earlier, the Browns may not be 3-9 right now, and throw in the incredible decision to have Thompson-Robinson be the backup against Cincinnati, the game Watson got hurt, and could the team have a 5-7 record right now?

We don’t think that would be a reach.

And while Winston does throw picks (his interception % is 7th in the league, FYI Jordan Love of Green Bay is 3rd), he also 10th in the NFL in average yards per pass attempt, which is an important statistic.

The leader in this category is Detroit’s Jared Goff, and others in the top ten are Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, but Winston ranks ahead of Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and C.J. Stroud.

Those guys are pretty good.

Besides the turnovers, the defense was problematic as well, allowing 28 points and 400 yards of offense to a team led by a rookie quarterback. It was the third time Jim Schwartz’ group has allowed at least 400 yards, all of them in the last eight games.

In the season’s first four contests, the most yards allowed was 340 by the Giants of all teams.

The loss of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Za’Darius Smith have hurt, but outside of Denzel Ward, who is having a tremendous season, the secondary has been shaky as well.

What is frustrating is there are periods when they absolutely shut teams down, and other possessions it is just big play after big play.

Oh, and Dustin Hopkins missed another field goal, his seventh miss of the year. He ranks second last in field goal percentage after being 11th a year ago.

The Browns should probably add kicker to the list of needs in 2025.

We would keep Jameis Winston as the starter going forward and if people really want to see Thompson-Robinson, start him in the last two games, at home vs. Miami and on the road against the Ravens.

Our guess is you will see he is nothing more than a backup.

Despite Baseball’s System, Guardians Need To Spend More

The first defection from the Cleveland Guardians occurred early Monday morning when it was announced that Matthew Boyd signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Cubs.

Since there are still two and a half months until spring training starts, we aren’t going to start hammering the front office and ownership about not improving a roster that got to the American League Championship Series in 2024.

Look, we get the playing field isn’t level for all teams in Major League Baseball. Bigger markets get more local broadcast revenue, and unlike the National Football League, these incomes aren’t pooled together and distributed evenly to all 30 teams.

And we still don’t understand how the Dodgers can use deferred money in some huge contracts in order to avoid the total deal counting towards the Competitive Balance tax.

It’s also true that every ownership of an MLB team is unbelievably rich and can probably afford to pay players more than they do. According to Baseballreference.com, the Guardians’ payroll is $20 million less than Milwaukee, $28 million less than Kansas City, and $44 million under what Tampa Bay pays.

No doubt, the Dolan family can spend more than they have.

Remember, they spent a significant amount of money on a campaign to get someone in the family in the US Senate. So, it’s not as though they will be visiting soup kitchens during the holidays.

While there are defenders of the Guardians’ ownership throughout the fandom, the reason for the critics is the lack of effort to go “all in” to win a title when the opportunity is there.

Yes, they did it in 2017 after the painful World Series loss to the Cubs, signing free agent Edwin Encarnacion, but that’s been the exception rather than the rule. After the surprising run to the playoffs in 2022 with the youngest team in baseball, they did sign Josh Bell as a free agent, but that wasn’t a huge splash.

There is no question the current Guardians need starting pitching and that’s why the news about Boyd going elsewhere was disappointing. Fans have to be wondering if Shane Bieber, who won’t be available until the middle of the season, is the next to go. We are guessing he will be in demand even though he won’t be ready on Opening Day 2025.

But going into next season with a rotation of Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Ben Lively, and Triston McKenzie doesn’t scream contender. Especially when you can make a very good case the latter three are big question marks.

The organization is either going to have to spend some money or make some good old fashioned baseball trades in order to have a solid rotation heading into the season.

Nobody is saying the Guardians should be in the market for Juan Soto or even Blake Snell for that matter. They don’t have the same revenue stream (again, local broadcast revenue) as Los Angeles or New York.

However, the fans have showed up. The Guardians’ teams of the last three years are very fun groups and also likeable. Now, the ownership needs to step up and thank those fans.

There is still time, but let’s hope it’s not another off-season where nothing is done.

Cavs’ Recent Losses Indicate A Roster Weakness

While there shouldn’t be any real concern over the Cleveland Cavaliers first losing streak of the season, it can be true that some of the concerns we had about the roster showed up in the two straight losses to the Atlanta Hawks, a squad with a 9-11 record to date.

We have been pointing out for we guess a couple of years about the lack of height on Cleveland’s roster. We talked about it before the playoffs last year anticipating a match up with Boston.

While the wine and gold have two smaller guards in Donovan Mitchell (6’3″) and Darius Garland (6’2″), Boston goes with a pair of 6’4″ guards in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

The Cavs start 6’5″ Isaac Okoro at forward, while the Celts have 6’6″ Jaylen Brown and 6’8″ Jayson Tatum. And they have Kristaps Porzingis (7’2″) at center, meaning the Cavaliers have a size advantage at only one spot in Evan Mobley.

Atlanta is built similarly although they have Trae Young (6’1″) at the point. The rest of the starting five is 6’8″ Dyson Daniels, 6’8″ Zaccharie Risacher, 6’9″ Jalen Johnson, and 6’10” Clint Capela.

And they use 6’8″ De’Andre Hunter off the bench as well.

Coincidentally, the Celtics and Hawks have dealt Kenny Atkinson’s crew their only three defeats this season and of course, the Cavs and Celtics play tonight at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

It is difficult to point out weaknesses when a team is 15-0 or even 17-1 (still a little weird doing it at 17-3, frankly) but Cleveland needs more size and athleticism at the wing spots and definitely they need another inside player.

We liked the Ty Jerome signing a year ago because at 6’5″ he gives the backcourt more size. But Cleveland is still full of wings that go 6’5″ or 6’6″ when many teams in the league go 6’7″ or 6’8″ at those positions.

And getting Max Strus (6’5″) back doesn’t solve that issue.

Dean Wade is a valuable defender and is 6’9″, and he can defend on the perimeter. However, there are two problems with the fifth-year player out of Kansas State: He’s very streaky with his shot and he’s injury prone.

Wade has only played more than 60 games once in his career in 2020-21, and since his high was 54 games last season. Availability is an ability.

Besides even if Wade is available, the Cavs still need another big man. If something would happen to Mobley and Allen long term, who picks up the slack? If there is a move to be made at the trade deadline, it should be to get a veteran big man who can defend the rim.

And yes, we know Tristan Thompson is on the roster, but he’s there for his veteran leadership and knowledge. If he has to start playing 20 minutes per night, it’s a problem for Atkinson.

Look, the Cavs weren’t going to go 82-0 or even 81-1 this season. They were going to lose some games. Also, they aren’t a perfectly constructed NBA team, there isn’t one, not even the defending champion Celtics.

They came into the season with some flaws on the roster, but the shooting and execution of the players covered some of that up.

We aren’t concerned by the two losses this past week, but watching how Atlanta plays should give everyone, including Atkinson and the coaching staff, an idea of why they are a tough match up.

That’s just the nature of the sport.

Being Thankful…for Kenny Atkinson

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the readers and followers of Cleveland Sports Perspective! Hope you enjoy the most overlooked (in our opinion) of the major holidays.

We have sports thankfulness for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who besides playing outstanding basketball to start the season, also keep sports fans in the area from obsessing on the terrible season the Browns are having.

The 17-2 start is a total surprise of us, and we still think the true test for this basketball team will be the playoffs. We hate saying that because it seems like we are downplaying an amazing first month of hoops, but we know the Cavs are a strong regular season team, will their new style and new coaching pay off next spring.

We liked Kenny Atkinson as a head coach when we had the Brooklyn Nets overachieving during his time there, and when he was dismissed there, he did what basketball lifers do, learning more about the game as an assistant under two men who won NBA titles in Steve Kerr and Ty Lue.

The prevailing thought around the NBA media folks was the wine and gold needed to trade either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley, because their view of the game is skewed by how most teams in the NBA play today, with one big man inside and four shooters around the perimeter.

And neither Allen nor Mobley are particularly prolific three-point shooters.

Since basketball is a sport where height matters, we always felt the two big man lineup could succeed, and with the offense described above, you have a lot of players standing around, ready to shoot, while another player tries to get dribble penetration and force the defense to help.

Atkinson figured having Allen and Mobley moving and not being stationary would be a device to make it work.

Mobley is actually making less three pointers than a year ago by percentage (35.3% compared to last year’s 37.3%) and is only taking less than one more shot per contest. He also has the ball in his hands more, and his scoring is up two points per game.

An overlooked reason is his free throw percentage which is up to 82.4% from last year’s career high of 71.9%.

We love how Atkinson isn’t afraid to talk basketball philosophy after games. J.B. Bickerstaff used to talk more about effort, and “the grit” of the players, but Atkinson talks about how the players move on the court, who influences the game without scoring, etc.

Another subtle thing occurred Sunday night. After rookie Jaylon Tyson, usually not in the rotation had to play against New Orleans because of injuries and had a big game, the coach made sure he got minutes in the next contest.

Players need rewards for playing well.

There is also an old hoops adage that says if you don’t play your bench, you will never have one. Last season, the Cavs had five players who averaged more than 30 minutes per night and generally played eight or nine most games.

This season, only three players play 30 minutes, led by Donovan Mitchell’s 31.5 (he played more than 35 last season) and they play 10 or 11 most games.

That develops depth.

Look, Bickerstaff inherited a mess when he took over the job and he restored order, leaning on defense to give the younger Cavs an identity.

He’s doing the same thing in Detroit, where he has the Pistons sitting at 8-11 after winning just 14 games all of last year.

But Kenny Atkinson seems to be putting the finishing touches on this group. They’ve embraced the defensive concepts the former coach taught but now have a more diverse offense to go with it.

That is a reason to be thankful.

Will Guards Be Active This Winter? History Says No

The hot stove league is under way in baseball and the Cleveland Guardians had to do some tweaking to the roster to prepare for the winter meetings, which will take place in two weeks.

The most notable moves were the trade of Eli Morgan to the Cubs and that the DFA’d former top prospect George Valera. Valera suffered a ruptured patella tendon near the end of the season and probably won’t be playing baseball until well into the 2025 season, and we were not surprised to see the Guardians sign him to a minor league contract yesterday.

The Morgan deal was a bit of a surprise, but the team did deal from strength. The relief corps is strong and will hopefully be getting Trevor Stephan back from elbow surgery.

And they added Franco Aleman (1.99 ERA in 22.2 innings at AAA) and Nic Enright (1.06 ERA and 31 Ks in 17 IP at Columbus) to the 40-man roster.

For Morgan, the Guardians dealt for a lottery ticket, a Class A outfielder with some pop in Alfonsin Rosario. The downside of Rosario is there is a lot of swing and miss, as he fanned 32% of his at bats at the low A level. He did hit 16 homers and is only 20 years old. But we aren’t as excited about the return as some of the prospect enjoyers.

What will the Guardians do this winter? Despite the crazy rumors on other sites, mostly figments of someone’s imagination (i.e. it would be a shock if the Guardians’ signed Max Scherzer as a free agent), based on past experience, it won’t be an active winter for the front office.

We still see a need to add an impact bat in the outfield, and the starting rotation is also short at least one starter, maybe two. Will the Guardians be willing to get involved in the free agent market? Unlikely, unless there are some bargains out there as spring training gets closer.

Should Cleveland increase their payroll? Of course, they rank in the bottom five of the sport with the Tigers, Reds, Pirates, and A’s. On the other hand, the Guardians and the Pirates rank as in the top five youngest teams in the game, and Detroit 7th youngest.

Cleveland is 20th in attendance this past season, right behind the Orioles, who spend $23 million more in payroll. And they outdraw the Royals by about a half million fans, and KC spends almost $30 million more.

But reality says something different, so we don’t expect any big deals.

However, we would still like to see the front office clean up the glut of middle infielders still on the 40-man roster. The keystone starters will likely be Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio, but you still have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Angel Martinez, and Juan Brito on the roster.

The Guards have used their versatility to make them useful, such as using Freeman and Martinez in the OF, and Brito started playing the outfield and first base at AAA this season.

Brito should be bidding for a big league gig this season, so you would think a couple of others need to be moved to make room for him.

And don’t forget the overall first pick in the ’24 draft, Travis Bazzana, will be involved in this mix sooner than later.

The winter meetings used to be exciting because of the wheeling and dealing, but it hasn’t been that way for years. In our opinion, that excitement is needed. It’s sad that some agents hold up the off-season process.

Browns Turned Back The Clock To 2023 Thursday Night

The Cleveland Browns turned back the clock to 2023 for at least one night in their 24-19 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in a winter wonderland on Thursday night.

Kevin Stefanski’s crew seemed to be embarrassed by a real or perceived lack of effort in the loss to the Saints in which Taysom Hill ran, threw, and caught all over the Cleveland defense, leading New Orleans to three fourth quarter touchdowns.

There were no major glitches in the operation, showing the Browns can win football games if they eliminated silly mistakes.

Myles Garrett spoke to the team before the game and then went out and backed it up on the field with his second three sack game in the last three, and one of the sacks caused a fumble which Cleveland recovered.

Jameis Winston gave the Browns solid quarterbacking play completing 18 of 27 passes for 217 yards. It was the kind of performance that Cleveland has received since Stefanski became the head coach, except for when P.J. Walker was at the helm.

Oh, and that other guy. Deshaun Watson.

It was Winston’s fourth straight game with more than 200 yards passing and we mention this because in the seven games Watson started, he never reached that figure.

We wondered after the game, playing the great “what if” game, what would have happened if the Browns replaced Watson at QB after the third game of the season, a loss to the equally woeful Giants, when Cleveland gained just 212 yards in total offense.

Or the following week after a loss to Las Vegas, or the following week after a terrible non-competitive loss to the Commanders.

Would they have two or maybe three more wins right now? Heck, we believe if Winston would have been the back up against Cincinnati instead of the bizarre decision to have it be Dorian Thompson-Robinson, they may have defeated the Bengals.

And despite an analysis of the game which asked why Cleveland threw the ball so much in the snowy conditions, it was about a fifty-fifty split, with 27 running plays, although one of them was a scramble by Winston (which resulted in a TD).

Nick Chubb’s numbers were up to his stats in 2020-2022, but he carried 20 times for 59 yards and two touchdowns, his most carries of the season. He still hasn’t busted one for 25-30 yards, but the flashes are there.

One group of people who probably weren’t happy with the win were the people expecting a coaching change perhaps after a loss to the Steelers, and definitely after the season.

Several national football writers have said that is not imminent, but although we would not fire Kevin Stefanski, who by the way, seems to have the Browns competitive within the division, but we would not run it back with the same group in 2025.

We would definitely consider a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. And you have to question why the organization has ignored looking for a replacement/back up for Chubb, and why they can’t find a pass rusher opposite Garrett.

The remaining schedule is tough, without a doubt, but there are winnable games remaining, and the Browns need to continue to show the effort and mistake free football they played with Thursday night.

Do Browns Get The Most Coverage Because There Is More To Complain About?

With the Cleveland Browns going through another difficult season (and that’s putting it mildly), it brings to mind how sports are covered in northeast Ohio.

The best part of the Browns’ organization is probably the public relations department and whoever makes the decision on the broadcast rights. There are two sports talk stations in the city and the team decided to partner up with both of them, so both the AM and FM entities can claim to be “Home of the Browns”!

It is difficult to find a radio station on a Sunday morning that doesn’t have some sort of football programming on air. And because both stations are tied to the team, they dedicate airtime every day to the Browns, at least when Kevin Stefanski conducts his daily press conferences, in which he says pretty much nothing.

The question is why does the franchise with the least success in the area get talked about the most?

The Cleveland sports fan hasn’t had a lot of reason to puff out their collective chests over the last 60 years. The 2016 Cavaliers have the only league championship since the Browns won in 1964.

That’s a long time without a title parade in downtown Cleveland.

Because the basketball team had the best player in the sport in this century, the Cavs have played for the league championship five times in the last 18 seasons. They lost in the conference finals twice more, meaning they’ve been in their sports’ final four seven times since 2006-07.

And after James left, the organization has rebuilt and put themselves in a position to compete for another shot at a title in a relatively short amount of time.

As for baseball, the Indians/Guardians have been to three World Series in the last 30 years, getting to a seventh game twice in 1997 and 2016.

In a sport that is the toughest to get to the post-season (12 of 30 teams make the playoffs in MLB-40%, compared to 44% in the NFL and depending if you count the “play-in round”, two-thirds of NBA teams make it), the team on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario has made it to the playoffs 14 times since 1995.

They’ve reached the post-season six times in the last nine seasons.

As for the Browns, we understand the attachment for the team because it was ripped away from the city in 1995, but the team has never played in the Super Bowl, one of four teams that have never been there, and two of them (Jacksonville and Houston) weren’t in existence 30 years ago.

The other franchise, the Detroit Lions, may reduce that number to three after this season.

The Browns haven’t played for an NFL championship since before the merger in 1970, and that occurred in 1965. Since their three AFC title appearances in four years (1986-89), they’ve won two playoff games.

However, those two playoff wins are more games that they won in the 2016 and 2017 seasons combined, when they famously went 1-31 and 4-44 over a three year period.

Someone asked me once if it is easier to write about a team when it is winning or losing. Without a doubt it’s a losing team. More things to complain about.

Perhaps that’s why the Browns dominate the sports media in northeast Ohio. Based on the recent past, there are umpteen things to be dissatisfied with.

The Creative Browns Find Another Way To Lose

There are years where teams are destined to do well. They get every break. Players come out of nowhere to make positive contributions.

Conversely, there are years when everything goes wrong for a team. And that’s the only way we think you can explain the Cleveland Browns right now.

Some of it was self-fabricated, no doubt. When you finish 11-6 and make the playoffs and then replace most of your offensive coaching staff, you kind of deserve what happens to you.

It is utterly amazing to have a starting quarterback throw for 395 yards, two touchdowns, and not turn the ball over and still score just 14 points. It should have been 20 points if not for two missed field goals by Dustin Hopkins, who was 18 of 21 from beyond 40 yards a year ago, and this season has missed six kicks.

Hopkins missed a 32-yard attempt which was nullified by penalty and then missed a 27 yarder right before halftime.

There have been too many games this season where the defense played well enough to win for Cleveland, but yesterday wasn’t one of them. They were atrocious. They allowed 200 rushing yards for the second time this season, and a season high of 473 yards.

If you can’t stop the run, you can’t win. And the Browns’ defense has held opponents under 100 just twice all year.

Taysom Hill, a 34-year-old QB/TE/RB looked like someone bound for Canton. When he’s in the game, you have to figure the ball is going to him, yet Cleveland allowed him to rush for 138 yards and three touchdowns, catch eight passes for 50 yards and complete a pass for 18 more.

And he turned it over twice!

Don’t forget, besides the two missed field goals, the special teams allowed a 53-yard punt return and returned three kickoffs for an average of 18.5 yards. Cleveland hasn’t had a viable kick returner since Josh Cribbs and it shouldn’t be that difficult to find a decent one, let alone someone as dynamic as Cribbs.

The one thing we feared was a seeming lack of effort from some of the players, which could cost Kevin Stefanski his job. The optics weren’t good in New Orleans where it appeared players were going through the motions at times.

What can be done at this point in the season?

Perhaps some accountability is in order. It will be tough because of the short week before Thursday’s game vs. Pittsburgh, but the Browns will then have some time off before a Monday night game at Denver.

If players aren’t putting forth maximum effort, then they should lose playing time or a roster spot. After all, with the playoffs out of the question, shouldn’t the coaching staff and front office be looking towards next season and who can help then?

Hopefully, the players themselves will get together and put up more of a fight at home in a rivalry game in a couple of days. The thought of getting embarrassed in front of a national audience should be enough for some players.

As for the organization? It’s hard to trust them to make the correct decision heading into next season based on their actions surrounding the coaching staff and casting their lot with Deshaun Watson.

It’s a shame for the long time Browns such as Joel Bitonio, Myles Garrett, Nick Chubb, David Njoku, and Denzel Ward that what should have been a promising season has turned to garbage.

Don’t Overlook LeVert In Cavs’ Winning Streak.

The streak continues. The Cleveland Cavaliers still have not lost under new coach Kenny Atkinson, running their record to 14-0 on the year with another win over Chicago Friday night.

Cleveland goes for #15 tonight against Charlotte at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Atkinson’s squad has captured the fans of northeast Ohio much like the Indians’ 22-game winning streak did in 2017. Fans were chanting “14-0” behind the desk of the Cavaliers’ post-game show after the win against the Bulls.

The wine and gold lead the league in field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, and points scored. And despite all of the offensive numbers, they still rank 6th in defensive efficiency.

It’s a team effort too. Ten players average over 10 minutes per game with only four being on the floor for 30 minutes, and none of those getting more than Donovan Mitchell’s 31.1.

The Cavs have won close games and blowouts. They’ve led wire-to-wire and made come from behind victories.

They are winning, and as usual, that’s a good thing.

Have they taken advantage of a soft Eastern Conference? Yes, there only two other teams in the East above .500 and the Cavs play one of them Tuesday in the defending champion Celtics.

Cleveland beat the other team over the breakeven mark, Orlando, early in the season. However, they have also knocked off the 10-2 Warriors and the 8-4 Lakers in this early season run.

You can only play who is one your schedule.

Ty Jerome has received a lot of love from fans and basketball folks around the league, but another unsung player has been Caris LeVert.

Because LeVert has not been a great three-point shooter in his career (34.4%), he sometimes draws the ire of the look only at the scoring column fans. We remember some poor shooting nights last year and the reaction on social media being that he’s not a good player.

But LeVert is what the basketball world calls “a player”. He plays and usually make a positive impact on the game no matter what his numbers say.

If his shot isn’t falling, he plays solid defense, gets some steals and rebounds. And at 6’6″, he can play either guard spot because he’s a good passer and has the size to play small forward as well.

So far this season, he’s fifth on the team in scoring at 12.4 per game, second in assists at 4.7, while shooting 55% from the floor, and an incredible 48.9% from three. Now we don’t expect the long-range shooting to continue at that pace, but his attempts are down, so perhaps the quality of the shots are much better.

He’s also a player who can create his own shot, which under the old regime was a needed skill, as only two other players (Mitchell and Darius Garland) had that skill, so if the shot clock was running down, he was a player to look for.

It is funny to us that Jerome and LeVert have played so well, because we have been saying Cleveland needed size in the backcourt for some time now, and both of them are exactly that, with Jerome being 6’5″.

The Cavs’ four best players get a lot of credit for how well they have played this season, but don’t overlook the play of Caris LeVert. He does a bit of everything and that is something coaches love.