Are These Browns Any Different?

The Cleveland Browns appear to be headed to another 10 loss season, their sixth consecutive campaign losing in double figures.

Therefore, the question needs to be asked…what is different with the new regime, headed by Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner, and Michael Lombardi? The results are the same from the last group, headed by Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.

These Browns have three possible Pro Bowl players, which would be their most in several years. OT Joe Thomas is perennial, making the all-star team every year he has been in the league. He could be bound for Canton someday.

CB Joe Haden has been outstanding all season long, highlighted by shutting down Cincinnati WR A. J. Green in both meetings between the teams, and he has started to intercept passes this year as well, with four on the season.

Those two have been the best players on the squad the past few years, but this year they are joined by WR Josh Gordon, who may be the NFL’s best wideout who isn’t named Calvin Johnson. He may be the Browns’ best wideout since Paul Warfield wore the orange and brown.

There are several other players who can be considered building blocks for a playoff team, such as C Alex Mack, TE Jordan Cameron, DT Phil Taylor, DEs Ahtyba Rubin and Billy Winn, OLBs Barkevious Mingo, Jabaal Sheard, and Paul Kruger, and ILB D’Qwell Jackson.

All of those players, save for Mingo, were brought in by the prior regimes.

So while Holmgren and Heckert take a lot of criticism for the first round of the 2012 draft (Richardson and Weeden) and deservedly so, they are responsible for putting together the foundation for the future.

Certainly, the prior president and GM also have to be faulted for the hiring of Pat Shurmur, who was a public relations disaster. Rob Chudzinski doesn’t really say anything in his press conferences either (call this the Belichick method), but fans and media can see he has a passion for the city and the game, and the players play like they respect him.

It would have been easy for the team to give a lackluster effort after the Jacksonville game, but the Browns went to New England and fought, and almost knocked off the Patriots.

Chudzinski and his staff do draw negatives with the handling of the quarterback situation, going with Brandon Weeden to start the season when it’s pretty clear he is the least effective of the trio that were on the Opening Day roster.

The front office should be lauded for the Trent Richardson trade, but at the same time should be questioned for not having another decent running back on the roster to replace him, nor did they get another passer after Brian Hoyer was injured.

That left the coaching staff without a running game, putting more pressure on Weeden, Hoyer, and Jason Campbell.

Think about how many more wins this team would have had Hoyer or Campbell started the year and the Browns had even an average running game.

Ultimately, the Banner/Lombardi group will be judged on this season’s draft, which they have spent time accumulating picks for. The fear is they will force a quarterback pick too high (see, Ponder and Gabbert) and will pass on players who can impact the team in 2014.

If they wait for the passer to come to them, perhaps with the Colts’ pick, and instead upgrade the football team at several spots, they will be remembered as the group that turned this franchise around.

Bill Parcells once said you are what your record says it is. And right now, Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi are just like everyone else who sat in their chairs.

Zebras Help Browns Drop to 4-9.

Usually on Sunday night, we dissect the Browns game played earlier today and talk about the reasons why the team won or loss the contest.

Cleveland lost today a game they had every right to win, dropping a controversial 27-26 decision to the playoff-bound New England Patriots.

Jason Campbell returned to quarterback and played a marvelous game, hitting 29 of 44 throws for 391 yards and three touchdown tosses. Josh Gordon continued his All Pro play by catching seven balls for 151 yards, including an 80-yard catch and run for a touchdown.

TE Jordan Cameron returned to the offense, catching nine throws for 121 yards and a TD that gave Rob Chudzinski’s team a 26-16 lead with 2:39 remaining in the game.

Future Hall of Famer Tom Brady threw for 418 yards, but was picked off by LB D’Qwell Jackson and was sacked four times by a tenacious Cleveland defense.

The Browns drop to 4-9 on the campaign with just three games remaining.

That’s about all we are going to say about the actual play on the field, because the officiating in this football game was the main story.

We have said it before and we will say it again today…NFL officials are the worst in professional sports. We say this because they like to make an impact on games, and sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for the calls they make.

Certainly, the pass interference call which set the Patriots up for the winning touchdown was terrible and even the national media and a former supervisor of officials said so.

While Brady may have led New England to a touchdown anyway, the call put the ball on the Cleveland 1 yard line, basically giving the Pats a victory.

The professional game needs to adopt the college rule, making defensive pass interference a maximum 15 yard penalty only. In most cases, the contact involved is so incidental and/or being initiated by the offensive player to penalize a team more than 15 yards for the infraction.

However, that was only the last horrible call made by this crew.

They bungled the intention grounding rule twice, once allowing Brady to throw a ball away inside the tackle box while being pressured without a call, and then when Campbell escaped from the pocket, scrambled outside the hash marks, and threw a pass while being hit that bounced perhaps five yards away from Chris Ogbonnaya, he was flagged for 10 yards and a loss of down.

To prove this is not sour grapes, the Browns converted the first down on the next play anyway with Campbell hitting Gordon for a first down.

Another missed call was on Julian Edelman’s 2-yard TD catch with 1:01 remaining. Jordan Poyer was flagged for the hit on a defenseless receiver when he clearly (according to replays) hit Edelman in the shoulder with his shoulder. It was a hit designed to jar the ball loose, and he did not lead with his helmet, nor did he hit Edelman in the helmet.

The flag allowed the Patriots to try their onside kick attempt from the 50-yard line instead of the 35.

New England was on the short end of officials deciding the game earlier in the year, when officials cited the rarely called helping a teammate by pushing them forward penalty. That call resulted in the Jets getting another attempt for a field goal after a miss. The kicker made the second try and won the game.

The NFL is football on the highest level, and the players have a great deal riding on every game, since there are only 16 of them. The league needs to let the players decide the outcome.

The officiating is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Don’t Panic About Tribe’s Inactivity Thus Far

This week the hot stove season in baseball went crazy early. Heck, the winter meetings, usually the hub of off-season activity doesn’t start until tomorrow.

Tuesday saw a large number of trades, mostly involving the Oakland A’s, and the high-profile signing of OF Jacoby Ellsbury by the Yankees.

Yesterday, Robinson Cano inked a ten-year pact with the Mariners, and the Yankees feeling a need to keep paying players ridiculous amounts of cash, signed OF Carlos Beltran.

Of course, Indians’ fans are filled with angst because so far, GM Chris Antonetti has really only made one move, getting free agent OF David Murphy from Texas to platoon in the outfield.

In that time, Cleveland has lost two starting pitchers in Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir, and several bullpen pieces, most notably Joe Smith and Chris Perez.

We are telling fans to relax, take a deep breath. The Tribe will make some moves to improve this club soon.

You see, most baseball experts will tell you that the players who have already signed are being overpaid. Hasn’t Seattle learned from the Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols deals that paying huge amounts of money to a 41-year old player isn’t a good idea?

Kazmir received two years at $11 million per season. With his recent past of pitching in the independent league, would you feel comfortable paying him that kind of money?

As for Smith, we’ve heard several people on MLB Network saying there are many relievers on the same level as the former Tribesman that will be paid far less in 2014.

There are still some quality starting pitchers on the market and our guess is the Tribe is interested in them. The two most interesting names are former Indian Bartolo Colon, who will turn 41 next season, but he won 18 games for Oakland in ’13 and threw 190 innings. His arm is still good because he throws mostly fastballs.

Another veteran arm Cleveland could have interest in is Bronson Arroyo, who pitched for Terry Francona in Boston. Arroyo will turn 37 in a few months, but has thrown 199 innings or more for nine consecutive seasons, and has a career ERA of 4.19. He did very well in Cincinnati despite pitching in a home stadium known for offense.

Antonetti could also work the trade market. Since last winter, SS Asdrubal Cabrera’s name has been bandied about as bait, and it may be time to pull the trigger with top prospect Francisco Lindor nearing ready status.

Stephan Drew is still available and could be intriguing as a one year bridge to Lindor if Cabrera is indeed dealt.

As for the bullpen, Antonetti could sign a veteran arm, but he has several options on the roster to look at as well. The Tribe kept Blake Wood, who they signed last year after Tommy John surgery, and the former Royal was throwing in the high 90’s in his September call up. They also will have Frank Herrmann back too.

And they have youngsters like C.C. Lee, who got some big league time in 2013, and another hard thrower in Austin Adams, who had elbow surgery in 2012.

Just because the Indians didn’t spend money like crazy so far doesn’t mean they won’t improve this ballclub. Hopefully, Antonetti remembers 2007 when the Tribe made the post-season, and followed it up by doing nothing in the off-season.

Buckeyes Just Taking Advantage of Flawed System

With Ohio State in control of one of the top two spots in the BCS standings, the national media is apparently stunned that a team from the Southeastern Conference may not be part of the BCS title game.

Therefore, we are hearing from multiple sources about how Ohio State isn’t worthy to play for a championship if they indeed defeat Michigan State in the Big 10 title game this weekend.

Right now, there are two teams from major conferences who are unbeaten: Florida State from the ACC and the Buckeyes.

Why wouldn’t those two squads play for the title if they both emerge victorious this weekend? It makes total sense.

The problem people have is with the BCS system, and they are taking out their venom on Ohio State.

The system rewards teams for going undefeated. Proof of that is Alabama, who lost on the last play against a one loss Auburn team and now they are seemingly out of the picture. If it were about putting together the top two teams, then the Crimson Tide would still be alive.

So, why should any team, including Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, etc., take any unnecessary risks by scheduling tough out of conference foes?

Auburn’s games outside of the SEC were against Washington State, Arkansas State, Western Carolina, and Florida Atlantic. No national powers there, right?

Alabama played Virginia Tech, a quality foe, but they also played Colorado State, Georgia State, and Chattanooga.

Yes, the SEC is filled with good teams, but both schools have to play them, they aren’t taking any risks with the non-conference opponents either.

Certainly, LSU is a quality team, and Auburn will have to play another top five team in the SEC Championship Game in Missouri.

Of course, Missouri has the same record as the Spartans, the Buckeyes opponent on Saturday.

There is no question that college football needs a playoff system, and the automatic qualifiers should be the five major conference champions: Big 10, Big 12, SEC, ACC, and PAC 12. The other three teams in the eight team tournament would be the three best teams who do not get automatic bids.

If the champions get in, it eliminates the scheduling issue.

A school like Ohio State could play, let’s say Tennessee, Miami (FL), and Stanford in non-conference play and not have to worry about the National Championship because if they win the Big 10, they will get a shot at the title.

And of course, that goes for all conferences.

We would get early season key matchups once again like Ohio State playing Oklahoma, or Alabama playing USC, etc.

The risk of suffering an early season loss would be minimized because teams would still have a chance at the national title.

It would be better for the sport as well.

Another problem is somehow Ohio State has become the poster boy for this horrible system. According to some rating systems, Florida State’s strength of schedule is less than OSU’s, but no one is complaining about the Seminoles being in line for a shot at the crown.

And this weekend Florida State plays Duke while the Buckeyes take on a one loss Michigan State team.

The problem isn’t Ohio State, it’s with the system. People complaining about the strength of schedule should blame a formula that rewards teams who don’t lose.

The Buckeyes are just working the system.

Browns Find New Way to Lose

You would think that with all the losing the Cleveland Browns have done in the last 15 years that they would have exhausted every possible way to be defeated.

And then you would watch today’s game and think about how they’ve invented a new way to do it.

With almost 12 minutes to go in the game, the Browns led 21-20 and just received the ball back after a Jacksonville punt. The Jaguars were doing nothing, repeat, NOTHING on offense after intermission. It was an opportunity to run clock and move the ball down the field for another score and take control of the contest.

Except that Alex Mack, one of the Browns’ better players, a solid center, snapped the ball over Brandon Weeden’s head and when the quarterback kicked the ball out of the end zone (the right play), the Jags had the lead 22-21.

The resulting free kick was returned 31 yards to the Browns’ 43. A face mask penalty on NT Phil Taylor and one first down later, Josh Scobee kicked a 25 yard field goal and it was a four point advantage, 25-21.

On the Browns’ next offensive play, they regained the lead with a 95-yard completion from Weeden to Josh Gordon, who had another magnificent game, with 3:54 left to give Cleveland a 28-25 lead.

It seemed Rob Chudzinski’s squad might overcome the myriad of mistakes they made and win their fifth game of the year.

However, the Jaguars hit a big play on a 25-yard strike from Chad Henne to Ace Sanders to put them back in business and in Cleveland territory.

The defense stiffened at the 20-yard line and forced a third and nine after Henne was pressured and threw a flat pass over the head of Sanders.

But Joe Haden, the team’s best player, was burned on a double move by former Collinwood High School and Mount Union star Cecil Shorts III for a 20-yard TD catch and the Jags took a 32-28 lead with less than a minute remaining.

The Browns dropped to 4-8 with the loss and yet another 10 loss season appears very likely.

It’s one thing when mediocre, replaceable players are making mistakes to cost a team football games, but now it’s players like Mack, who has made a Pro Bowl, and Haden, who likely will make one this year, making bad plays an inopportune times to cause defeat.

Of course, it may not have come down to those plays if it weren’t for a horrible three-minute stretch at the end of the first half by their quarterback.

With the Browns leading 14-7 at that point, Weeden threw interceptions on consecutive plays, and then fumbled on the penultimate play of the half handing Jacksonville 13 points and a 20-14 advantage at intermission.

Those three turnovers, plus the safety (which is essentially a turnover) cost Cleveland 15 points. These problems are an extension of what occurred the last two games against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

The Browns’ defense caused just one turnover, and therein is the difference in the game. In the NFL, you simply can’t turn the ball over that many times and win.

As for the season, the names on the front office keep changing, but the record remains the same. Unless something unforeseen happens, another 1o loss season, the sixth consecutive one for the franchise, will happen.

Why should anyone have any confidence in the latest people to sit in the front office.

Three weeks ago, after a win over Baltimore, the future looked bright. Three weeks of turnover and mistake filled football changes everything.

The month of December will feel like an eternity to Browns’ fans all over the country.

Cavs’ Need to Stop Expirimenting

A little over a week ago, on November 20th, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost a home game to the Washington Wizards 98-91 to drop their record to 4-8. After beating the Wizards on the road in the previous game, this was a tough pill to swallow.

Following the contest, Mike Brown told the media that only one player played hard the entire night, rookie G Matthew Dellavedova. When the Cavs took the floor for the next game in New Orleans, the coach wanting to send a message to his team, started Dellavedova.

The wine and gold blew a 12 point lead late in the fourth quarter that night and they haven’t one a game since, getting blown out in their two road games (San Antonio and Boston) and dropping a home game to the Miami Heat.

In both the road games, the contest was basically over in the first quarter. Could that be because Cleveland doesn’t start their best players?

It is time for the coaching staff to go back to basics and start the games with veteran players to keep them in the game right from the get go.

Mike Brown needs to settle on a regular rotation to settle down the mess that the Cavs are becoming.

Let’s start at center. We get that the staff wants to start Andrew Bynum because he can get loose before the first and second halves, and there is no problem with that. The big man isn’t killing the team with his play and he needs the time to get his game back.

At power forward, Tristan Thompson needs to play more. The third year man from Texas is averaging 32 minutes per night, but in the last five games, all losses, he hasn’t played more than 26 per night, and has only scored in double figures once, and also only has one game with more than 10 rebounds.

He needs to play at least 30 minutes per night, and probably should get 33-35 minutes.

The small forward spot is a mess, but Earl Clark has to be shaking his head after last night. On Wednesday vs. Miami, Clark shot 5 of 11 from the floor scoring 13 points. Against Boston on Friday, he received 12 minutes.

Clark may have problems guarding small forwards, but he is a better shooter than Alonzo Gee. If Cleveland has the lead, Brown can give more time to Gee, a good defender to protect the lead.

In the backcourt, most people thought the idea would be that Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Jarrett Jack would split the time. We would start Irving and Jack, another veteran who can help the team get off to a good start, and use Waiters as the key offensive player on the second unit.

Irving should be out there for at least 36 minutes with Jack and Waiters splitting the other 60 at the guard spot.

The second unit should be Waiters and Gee, with Anderson Varejao backing up Thompson and Bynum. Brown needs to also work Tyler Zeller and Anthony Bennett in the rotation, and he should let them know when they are going to get into each game and give them time. As young players, they need that type of stability.

That is, of course until GM Chris Grant can deal Varejao to a contending team. The Brazilian has had a fine career in Cleveland, but with Thompson, Zeller, and Bennett needing minutes, it is time to cash in on the asset.

Brown’s statement about playing hard has the Cavs spinning out of control. It’s time to go back to basics and tonight’s game against the Bulls would be the perfect time to do it.

Ultimately, Cavs’ Offensive Woes are on Brown

Many coaches who get their second job will say the one thing they learned from their first opportunity is that they should be true to themselves. That way, when they ultimately get canned, they have only themselves to blame.

Mike Brown has now been fired twice from NBA coaching gigs, so you would have to assume that he has learned his lesson and is guiding his young team the way he wants to.

If he’s not, and he is placating his star player, which he was accused of in his previous tenure here, that is on the coach. At this point in Brown’s career, he should have learned to please himself.

That’s why the media people who were hammering Kyrie Irving for the last four minutes of the Cavs loss on Friday night, when they blew a 12 point lead with four minutes remaining, can’t have it both ways.

The criticism came from Irving taking every single shot for the wine and gold for a three and a half-minute period.

The simplistic Cavalier offense went back to the spread the floor and hope Irving can penetrate attack that was used when LeBron James was here and Brown was running things.

Is Kyrie a ball hog? Does he have confidence in his teammates? Has he bought into the hype that he’s one of the sports’ next superstars?

There is no question that Irving likes to show off his handle, and he may figure he’s the best option to take a shot in crunch time. It sometimes takes a long time to develop trust when you are an all-star type player.

And he wouldn’t be a great player if he didn’t have some sort of ego.

However, if the coach isn’t down with the way his point guard is playing at crunch time, he can take some action. He can sit the player next to him on the bench.

Now, we understand this will bring out the feelings of “Oh no, if we hurt Kyrie’s feelings, he will leave when he can”.

But Brown can’t feel that way. His job is to win games and make Kyrie Irving and his teammates better players.

The coach’s attitude has to be something to the effect of if I’m going to go down, I’m going to go on my terms. That, of course, is if he disagrees with the way Irving is taking over down the stretch of close games.

The feeling here is that if the coach doesn’t take Irving off the floor, then the Cavs’ offense in crunch time is exactly what Mike Brown wants.

Which also shifts the blame from the player to the coach.

Bobby Knight used to say that nothing gets the message to the brain quicker than when it is sent through the butt, meaning if a player loses playing time, he will correct the behavior.

We understand that Knight is old school and many of his methods don’t work today, but if Irving isn’t doing what the coaching staff wants, then Brown has no choice but to take him out.

So, what we are saying is that the media can’t have it both ways.

If they want to blame Irving for stagnating the wine and gold offense, then the coach should share the blame for allowing it.

If it’s not on Kyrie Irving and it’s the offensive plan, then that’s on Brown for having a simplistic offensive plan.

The point is the coach is responsible for why the Cavaliers’ offense is anemic at best. Yes, they’ve improved defensively, but that’s only half the game.

Steelers Drive Nail Into Browns’ Season

Some things are inevitable. The winter is cold, water is wet, and the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers are struggling through a disappointing season, but they still managed to come to First Energy Stadium and paste the Browns, 27-11, ending the home team’s playoffs chances in more way than one.

The black and yellow squad also knocked out QB Jason Campbell with a head injury, meaning it’s back to Brandon Weeden, which is just another reason Rob Chudzinski’s team will once again not advance past 16 games.

At the bye week, several media people (and we agreed) said the Browns’ front office needed to bring in a running back and another quarterback seeing the alternative if something did happen to Campbell was Weeden. They failed to do either move, and now will watch Weeden once again prove to everyone he is not an NFL starting quarterback, probably for the next couple of games.

Pittsburgh had one of the league’s worst rushing defenses, yet the Browns could not exploit it, gaining only 55 yards rushing in 16 attempts.

The coaching staff will say the score dictated the passing game, but Cleveland came out and ran only five times in the first quarter (gaining 17 yards) on a cold and blustery day downtown.

When Chris Ogbonnaya ran for 10 yards on his first carry of the second quarter (the Browns’ first play of the quarter), it gave him two carries for 15 yards. He was given the ball just twice the rest of the game.

Of course, it didn’t help that on his next carry, he gained eight yards and moved into Steelers’ territory, but coughed up the ball for the second consecutive week. Pittsburgh turned the turnover into three points and a 13-3 lead going into the half.

Starting the second half, the Browns’ held on the 4th and 1, and starting marching into Pittsburgh territory to get back in the game, but that’s when Campbell was knocked out with a blow to the head (no penalty, either thanks to the great NFL officiating crew), resulting in a fumble and a return to the Browns’ four yard line, where the visitors promptly scored and ended the game for all intent and purposes.

From then on, it was a Chudzinski/Turner passing show, with Weeden throwing 29 times in the last quarter and a half, completing only 13 and throwing in a pick six by William Gay to top off another dismal performance.

The game story going in was the pressure the Browns’ defense had been putting on quarterbacks, but they registered no sack on Ben Roethlisberger today, while Cleveland passers were sacked five times and one was knocked out of the game.

Still, with 17 of the Steelers’ points coming as a result of turnovers by the offense, it is tough to blame Ray Horton’s unit. They actually pitched a shutout in the second half.

The defeat wasted a record-setting performance by WR Josh Gordon, who caught 14 throws for a team record 237 yards and a touchdown. Gordon continues to impress, despite people who want to constantly bring up any negative they can find about the second year wideout.

Over the years, we have maintained to be successful in the NFL, you have to run the ball, and you have to stop the run. The Cleveland Browns have mastered the latter, but they will continue to struggle until to do the former. And to do that, they must make a commitment to the running game, even though it’s a passing league.

Today’s defeat means it is time to start looking at 2014. However, if Brandon Weeden has to start most of the games remaining. Even the evaluation process will be difficult.

Signing Murphy Another Solid Move

The Cleveland Indians made a wise decision to sign former Texas Rangers OF David Murphy to a two year contract the other day.

Yes, Murphy is coming off a bad season in which he hit .220 with 13 HR and 45 RBI with a 646 OPS in 2013, but if he hit like he has for the rest of his career, his asking price would have been much higher.

Prior to last season, his lowest OPS in any season in which he played 100 or more games was 729. This happened in 2011, when he still hit .275 with 11 home runs.

For his career, he’s a .275 hitter with an OPS of 778. Now, since he played in Texas, an extreme hitter’s ballpark, his numbers could have been inflated, but he hit .284 in Arlington and .266 on the road, not a drastic difference.

To be fair, he did show more power in the Texas ballpark.

We know that Terry Francona likes to platoon if he has two players where it works and he seems to have that with Ryan Raburn and Murphy in right field.

Against right-handers, Murphy is a .280 hitter with a .347 on base percentage and a .469 slugging percentage. That makes him an outstanding offensive player against those pitchers.

Another thing we like about Murphy is that he puts the bat on the ball, striking out around 70-80 times per season every year since 2009. And as an added bonus, in 21 career games at Progressive Field, he hit .365 with 3 homers.

What this move means going forward is that Drew Stubbs will likely not be on the roster after December 2^nd, when teams have to offer players arbitration for next season.

Stubbs, acquired last season in the Shin-Soo Choo three-way deal, gave the Tribe plus defense and speed, but struggled at the plate.

It is doubtful the front office will want to pay him the $3-4 million he would likely get next season to be a part-time player/defensive replacement.

The Indians could also move Stubbs to centerfield and see what interest there is in Michael Bourn on the trade market. While this is unlikely, if GM Chris Antonetti wants to make a big splash in a trade or on a free agent, he would probably have to move a big contract.

Bourn was bothered by injuries, but he also didn’t have a good season, hitting just .263 on the season with an on-base percentage of .316, poor for a leadoff hitter. His OPS also dropped to 676, meaning he was a below average offensive player.

He’ll play next season at age 31, and his game is predicated on his speed, management may take a chance on moving him before his value decreases more.

Again, if Bourn is dealt it means the Tribe is freeing up money for a big time move. Otherwise, look for the veteran to be back in Cleveland in 2014 and leading off hoping to rebound from an off-season.

The next move for Antonetti will likely involve the pitching staff because the Indians have holes to fill in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. You have to believe Terry Francona wants a couple of veterans in those areas to replace guys like Ubaldo Jimenez and Joe Smith.

This isn’t going to be like last winter, when the Tribe signed Nick Swisher and Bourn. But if they keep making solid moves like the Murphy signing, it will be a good hot stove season on the North Coast.

Cavs’ Parts May Not Fit

Since the holiday season is upon on, it seems appropriate to refer to the roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers as the island of misfit toys.

This isn’t to denigrate the talent of some of the players, and really, it is not to rip on GM Chris Grant for his selections in the draft.

Grant’s job is to draft the most talented player available when it is his turn to pick. So, if he thought Anthony Bennett was the best player last summer (and it is way too early to judge otherwise) then you have to take him.

The problem with the roster is it is too heavy in some areas and it needs help in others. Our thought was that Grant could deal from strength to shore up the weaknesses, and he may do that in time, but he can’t wait much longer.

Let’s look at the power forward position. Currently, the wine and gold have four players that are primarily “fours”: Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Earl Clark, and Bennett.

Mike Brown tries to alleviate the problem by playing Varejao at center and Clark at small forward, but they give up a lot (Varejao—size, Clark-quickness) at those spots.

Most NBA teams use two power forwards on the roster, so right now, there is an overload there.

At the small forward, the Cavs have Alonzo Gee, a defensive specialist, and they can play swingman C. J. Miles there as well, although in limited minutes.

Gee doesn’t shoot well enough to be considered a problem for the player assigned to guard him, and Miles doesn’t have the size to be able to guard the elite small forwards of the league, although he is the one Cleveland player who has knocked down open shots thus far.

In the backcourt, the Cavaliers have the centerpiece of the current roster, point guard Kyrie Irving. Irving can score and set up teammates, and if he has a weakness, it’s that he loves his dribble.

It would be one thing if he were moving with the dribble, but more often than not, he’s at the top of the key bouncing the ball and going nowhere.

That could be because of the simplistic offense the coaching staff runs.

The other players who get time in the backcourt (along with Miles) are Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack, both combo guards rather than true off guards. This means both are more effective with the ball in their hands.

However, the coaching staff probably wants the ball in Irving’s hands.

You could have plays where the ball starts in Waiters or Jack’s hands and they set up Irving, but you would have to have something set up for that, and right now that doesn’t look to be the case.

So, the three-headed backcourt doesn’t seem to fit well together right now.

So, the pressure is on Grant to convert his superfluous parts into ones that can help this basketball team win and win now, because although there is talent on the roster, it doesn’t fit together.

There are too many players who have similar games, which is fine if they play at different times, but when you have to play Waiters and Jack at the same time or have Thompson and Varejao on the floor at the same time, it’s a problem.

If this team is going to start winning, this roster may have to be fixed. Grant has to make some moves to get this team to start putting games in the win column.