The basketball fans in Cleveland who continue to promote losing have a new cause celebre. 

Since Byron Scott and his team are killing them by competing and trying to win (heaven forbid!), they have to come up with other ways to try to get a higher pick in the NBA draft lottery.

Kyrie Irving is the new face of the franchise, so they advocate doing the next best thing.  GM Chris Grant should deal the Cavaliers’ second best player, Anderson Varejao.

The Brazilian probably won’t make the Eastern Conference all-star squad, but he definitely merits consideration, averaging 10.8 points and 11.9 rebounds per night, shooting 49% from the field.

Indiana’s Roy Hibbert will probably get the nod as Dwight Howard’s back up on All-Star weekend, but Varejao has received support from around the league.

In the past week, the “Wild Thing” had a 20 point, 20 rebound night against Boston, and later had 17 points and 17 boards against the Mavericks.

The losing mongers will point to Varejao’s contract as being excessive and that the wine and gold would do well to unload the bloated deal.

Except that it isn’t an outlandish deal by NBA standards. 

Varejao’s contract averages only $8.3 million per season, and it will have three years to run after the current campaign.

So why would Grant think of dealing his best big man?

Some will point to Varejao’s departure meaning more playing time for rookie Tristan Thompson, but really the youngster backs up Antawn Jamison, so there shouldn’t be a question of the two being able to play together.

And the big man is only 29 years old.  Big men can play effectively for a longer period of time in the NBA, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he will continue to be a good player throughout the length of his deal.

Look, anybody can be traded, but Grant has to get a tremendous return for Varejao in order to consider an exchange.  If he could get a younger big who is ready to contribute and an unprotected lottery pick, then go ahead and make the deal.

That’s not likely to happen because the teams looking to acquire Varejao would be looking ahead to his help in a championship stretch run.  He’s the type of player who fits in well with a title contender.

Besides, do you honestly think you can get someone in the draft who will put up the same numbers as the Wild Thing? 

He doesn’t need the ball, he rebounds, he defends, and he hustles.  Those traits are perfect for fitting into an excellent team.  That’s why he was such a great fit for Cleveland while LeBron James was here.

However, he’s showed now he can play with a group of younger guys and be a great example of how to compete, night in and night out.

You can argue that he’s the only veteran in a Cavs’ uniform that is contributing.

This isn’t to say he is perfect.  He does have problems handling the bigger centers in the league, guys like Howard, and LA’s Andrew Bynum, but how many teams have true centers anymore?

He’s also not a polished offensive player.  People understandably cringe when he takes an open 15 foot jump shot.  It’s not likely to go in.

Still, there are plenty of teams in the NBA that would love a guy like Anderson Varejao.  And since the object of the game is accumulating talent, why would Grant deal him?

If you can make a great deal, then fine.  Otherwise, the best move is to make is no move at all.

JK

The Indians’ signing of 1B Casey Kotchman is just another “bleh” move made by the front office this off-season.   The best thing you can say about it is that it didn’t cost GM Chris Antonetti that much money.

Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Kotchman is a slap hitter at a position that demands power.  His slugging percentage last season, his best year since 2007, was .422, a figure that is ten points higher than the much maligned Matt LaPorta.

The Indians point out that their new first baseman ranking in the top ten in the AL in batting average and on base percentage, so perhaps he can hit leadoff for the 2012 Tribe.

However, he’s a lifetime .268 hitter and his career OBP is a pedestrian .336.

In other words, it’s not likely he repeat his 2011 numbers this season.

Maybe Manny Acta can hit him in the leadoff spot, a bold move considering he plays first base, but his hitting skill set seems to fit better there than in the middle of the order.

Kotchman is a very good defensive player, so he will be a help there, but remember, Manny Acta likes to keep Carlos Santana’s bat in the lineup when he’s not catching, so the newest Indian will probably sit a couple of days a week.

Antonetti has spent some money this winter, but has he spent wisely?

First of all, they’ve spent $8 million on two free agents who may or may not provide an impact on the ’12 Tribe:  OF Grady Sizemore and Kotchman. 

Both are left-handed hitters as well, despite the fact Cleveland needs a right-handed hitter desperately.

Sizemore has not had a good year since 2008, because of injuries, and Kotchman had mediocre seasons from 2008-2010. 

Does anyone feel warm and fuzzy about both coming through big in the upcoming season?

The Indians had to give hefty raises to several players to avoid arbitration, including 3B Jack Hannahan ($1.1 million) and southpaw relief pitcher Rafael Perez ($2 million).

Both players have lower cost alternatives on the 40 man roster:  Lonnie Chisenhall showed why he is a top prospect last season during his time in the bigs, and lefty Nick Hagadone could have filled Perez’ role. 

Could the Indians have used the $11 million spent here to get a grade A free agent, such as Michael Cuddyer, Josh Willingham, or starter Edwin Jackson? 

Let’s put it another way, would you trade Sizemore, Hannahan, and Perez to get either Cuddyer or Jackson?  And if you did, would the team be better because of it?

It says here yes!

Once again, it seems the Indians’ philosophy is to sign guys they can get, instead of trying to build a team that can win the AL Central Division.

One of the things heard when the Tigers signed Prince Fielder is that Detroit had the run differential of a team that should have won 89 games, not the 95 they accumulated, meaning the Tigers had luck on their side.

But the Indians have the run differential of a team that should have won 75 games, not 80.  They were a little lucky as well.

It appears that Antonetti is putting his eggs in the “everyone will stay healthy” basket.  Certainly, having Shin-Soo Choo return to his 2009-10 form will help the hitting, and Santana will improve as well.

Otherwise, the Tribe is hoping for solid years from guys who haven’t done it in a while (Sizemore and Travis Hafner), haven’t done it frequently (Kotchman), and have never done it (Jason Kipnis and Chisenhall) to score runs.

That doesn’t seem like an air-tight strategy.

There is no question that Antonetti tried to get some big name bats (Carlos Beltran, Willingham, Cuddyer) and took a shot at Jackson as well, but ultimately, they didn’t get any of them.

If the Tribe didn’t guess right on most of their moves this winter, and history shows they won’t, it could be another summer spent looking up to our neighbors in Motown.

KM

Every time the Cleveland Cavaliers win a game, a portion of the northern Ohio fan populace starts to panic.

They claim it is not in the franchise’s best interest to win, they need to get back into the NBA draft lottery and claim another great young player to lead the wine and gold back to the upper echelon of the league.

Of course, they don’t take into account that:
A).  Just because you get into the lottery, it doesn’t mean you will get a great player and
B).  Perhaps the Cavaliers already have their new franchise player in rookie point guard Kyrie Irving, who certainly looks like the real deal.

They are also overlooking some recent NBA history.

In 2008-09, rookie Derrick Rose took the Chicago Bulls, who finished 33-49 the year before, into the first round of the playoffs, where they lost to Boston in seven games.

The following year, they were eliminated by the Cavs in five games. 

After those two first round departures, the Bulls made some roster changes, despite not being in the lottery, and finished last season with the best record in the league.

This year, they are among the squads who are legitimate contenders to bring home an NBA title.

In 2007-08, rookie Kevin Durant joined the Seattle Supersonics, who finished 31-51 the prior season, and the Sonics went 20-62 and left the northwest for Oklahoma City.

Russell Westbrook joined the team the following season and the new Thunder went just 23-59.

The next season, they won 50 games and were eliminated in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Last year, they went to the Conference finals and this year have bolted out to a 16-4 record and are another team favored to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The point is this:  Both teams’ first playoff experience resulting in getting bounced out in the first round, yet they overcame that to become one of the game’s best teams in just a couple of years.

Yes, Chicago signed Carlos Boozer before making the quantum leap, but most felt the former Cavaliers was a disappointment last year.

The Thunder did draft Westbrook after getting Durant, but he was not the first pick in the draft, he was 4th, and after the initial playoff disappointment, they improved the team with trades.

It’s not likely the Cavaliers are going to make the post-season this season, but if they do, it will be because Irving continues to improve, showing he’s on the brink of all-star status. 

Let’s face it though, even if the wine and gold gets into the lottery, they probably won’t be picking in the top five because there are so many bad teams in the league.

Certainly, these teams will all have better odds of getting one of the top five selections than Cleveland:  Charlotte, Washington, Detroit, New Orleans, and Sacramento.

In addition, unless a series of injuries befalls Byron Scott’s squad, it is unlikely they will fall behind all of these teams:  New Jersey, New York, Toronto, Phoenix, and Golden State. 

So, it looks like Cleveland will fall to around picks #6-10 this season.  It is a deep draft, so GM Chris Grant, who seems to have a good eye when it comes to identifying talent, should be able to get another piece to the puzzle. 

However, the people who want the Cavs to lose are looking for a top five selection and that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

This basketball team should continue to try to win games, because winning is a learned skill.  If you don’t think so, watch the Wizards play. 

So relax, Cavs’ fans.  Hoping the team wins is alright.  Adding another solid piece will help continue the process of building back to a strong playoff team. 

Finishing in the seventh or eighth spot several years in a row is being stagnant.  Getting that spot and using it as a springboard is what Scott and his guys are trying to accomplish.

JK

 

Tony Grossi has been the beat writer at The Plain Dealer for the Browns for 25 years and is kind of  a polarizing figure for some reason.

It seems older readers like him, while younger people find him to be a tad on the negative side. 

That maybe because Grossi remembers when the Cleveland Browns were a hallmark franchise in the NFL, and now they have been largely irrelevant for the past 20 years.

In fact, outside of a five-year span in the late 1980’s, the brown and orange have been mediocre for the most part since 1970.

Last week, Grossi was removed by the paper after he tweeted about Browns’ owner Randy Lerner, called him a “pathetic figure” and an irrelevant billionaire. 

Whether or not Grossi is correct in his assessment is besides the point, the paper is its infinite wisdom decided that the beat reporter for the paper having this opinion was detrimental to his objectivity and re-assigned him.

Many people have the belief that the Browns organization orchestrated the move with a phone call to someone in the PD’s hierarchy.  There is no proof of this, but the city’s football franchise has always sought to control the media.

For years, Art Modell had the local television sports anchors as his radio play-by-play team.  In the 60’s, it was Channel 3’s Jim Graner and Channel 5’s Gib Shanley.  When Graner passed away, he was replaced by Channel 8’s Jim Mueller.

Shanley’s spot was taken over by his successor at WEWS, Nev Chandler, who was replaced by Casey Coleman, and now the current voice of the Browns is WKYC’s Jim Donovan.

Is that merely a coincidence?  That’s doubtful. 

Several years ago, WOIO was the “your home for the Browns” until they aired a sensitive story about the Lerner family. 

Whether or not the story should have been aired is up for debate, but what is true is that WOIO soon lost their partnership with the Browns.

At the very least, Modell wanted to make sure when you tuned in to local sportscast, the odds were pretty good you were hearing “the voice of the Browns”.

As for Grossi, his opinion of how Lerner runs his franchise colors his writing whether he states that opinion publicly or not. 

The guess here is that the people who like the veteran reporter do so because he is critical of the front office, and the those that don’t care for his writing are fans who think he is too harsh.

So no credibility is lost for the newspaper.  Tony Grossi just stated what has been hinted in his stories for years.

This situation also brings to light how teams now want to control the media content.  They do not like tough questions at press conferences, and many coaches/managers bristle at reporters asking for responses to things anyone watching games would inquire about.

Isn’t a coincidence that Lerner had a radio interview with WTAM’s Mike Trivisonno the day before it was reported that Browns wanted the city of Cleveland to give them several year’s worth of the money the team receives annually for stadium upkeep?

Browns’ coaches and front office people have gone the way of politicians in talking around what is being asked instead of providing an answer. 

They think fans are stupid and they can’t be trusted to digest what they’ve seen on the field.

Gone are the days when a coach like Blanton Collier would meet with newspaper men privately and review game films and tell them why he made the decisions he made.

The media is now the enemy for not just the Browns, but other professional sports franchises, and if that “enemy” says something you don’t like, let’s get him out of his job.

What’s worse is The Plain Dealer allowed it to happen.  Fair journalism goes out the window.

MW

The news that free agent 1B Prince Fielder signed with the Detroit Tigers was a punch to the gut of many Cleveland Indians’ fans. 

After staying in contention for most of the season, the Indians wound up fading last year while the Tigers got hot, finishing 15 games out of first place.  However, it was the team already on top of the division that fired the biggest shot of the off-season, signing a 27-year-old slugger to add to their lineup.

It doesn’t mean that Detroit is assured the AL Central Division title in 2012.  Sure, they have Miguel Cabrera and Fielder, a powerful 3-4 punch in the middle of their batting order, but the rest of their batting order can be considered suspect, depending on who you talk to.

What is frustrating for Indians’ supporters is once again another team makes a bold move, not a team who for most of the 2011 season was in contention for a playoff spot.

And it wasn’t the big market Yankees, Red Sox, or Phillies that made the move, it was the Tigers, with an owner that wants to win!

People can debate about the sanity of the pact for weeks and years, but what was striking was that Mike Ilitch feels he has a chance to bring the first World Series championship to Detroit since 1984 and he is going for it.

When the Indians came within a win of the Fall Classic in 2007, they did virtually nothing. 

It was funny that after the Fielder signing, Twitter was filled with fans reciting their opinion of  the canned and predictable responses from the Tribe front office on the contract.  The buzz words referring to “market size”, “long-term financial committment”, and “doesn’t fit into the way we do business” were most often used.

That’s why Indians fans get frustrated.  It is tiring to hear these worn out platitudes as to why they can’t compete.  No one is suggesting that the Dolan’s shell out the same amount of cash on major league salaries as the Red Sox or Angels.  The people who buy tickets know that’s not possible. 

But it’s the lack of willingness to raise the payroll that upsets people.  That, and the ownership telling its fan base that the best anyone here can hope for is to contend every five years or so.

And they wonder why they can’t sell tickets?  Tribe PR guru Bob DiBiasio should get an award every year for trying to spin the organization’s tale of woe.

Think about a relationship with a member of the opposite sex that you are trying to woo.  Does anyone think they will have a chance if they keep babbling on and on about their not so desirable traits?  Of course not.  Yet, that’s what the Indians do under the guise of “telling us the truth”.

We get it.  The Dolan family cannot compete with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels, and now apparently the Tigers and Rangers as well. 

You know what?  Then sell the ballclub to someone who can.  When Larry Dolan bought the team more than 10 years ago, he proclaimed he was a fan of the Indians.  If he is, then he should know it would be in the best interest of the franchise he loves to sell it. 

Admit that he can’t compete and sell it to someone who wants to win.

It’s frustrating to be an Indians fan these days.  And nothing seems to be on the horizon to change those feelings.

MW

 

Last weekend, the optimism generated by a better than expected start by the Cleveland Cavaliers was brought to a sudden halt after the wine and gold was blown out in consecutive nights by the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.

Granted, both teams are among the Eastern Conference elite, and the Bulls may just be the best team in the league, but the effort put out by Byron Scott’s team wasn’t up to his standards.

Everyone is aware the Cavs are a very young team.  Their best player is just 19 years old in Kyrie Irving.  The bulk of their roster is made up of players under 25 years old.

They need the few veterans they have, guys like Antawn Jamison, Anthony Parker, and Anderson Varejao to step up when they play the better teams in the NBA. 

Unfortunately, two of those players, Jamison and Parker, haven’t been up to the task.

They may be showing great leadership in the locker room, but they haven’t performed on the court.

In the seven games that Cleveland has played against the better teams in the league (Indiana, Portland, Utah, the Lakers, Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami), Jamison is averaging just 9.3 points per game on 28% shooting.

For the season, the veteran is scoring 15 points per night on 41% marksmanship. 

Granted, the competition is better, but Scott needs more production from his second leading scorer, and he’s just not getting it. 

And Jamison needs to score to justify his playing time because he’s not exactly a force on the defensive end of the floor.  Use the Miami game for instance, Chris Bosh torched the wine and gold for 35 points.

As for Parker, he is supposed to provide three-point shooting out of the #2 guard spot, and for the season, he is hitting on 30% of his attempts from long distance. 

Against those seven teams listed earlier, Parker has made just 5 of 29 shots from behind the arc, a paltry 17.2%.  He’s contributed more than five points in a game just twice, the third game of the year vs. Indiana (12) and against Utah (8). 

Thank goodness for Varejao, who has remained consistent no matter who the opponent has been. 

Overall, the “Wild Thing” has scored 9.8 ppg and grabbed almost 11 boards per night, and shot 47% from the floor.

Against those seven teams, he’s scoring 10.4 points, garnering 10.7 rebounds and is shooting 49%. 

He’s the only veteran playing well against the better teams that the Cavs have faced.  Thank goodness for that.

What is galling is that Jamison was vocal after the two blowouts about how the offense is moving the ball enough. 

Here’s the one thing about basketball, you can execute the play perfectly, but someone can miss a good shot.  Or, you can be terribly disorganized and have somebody make a tough shot.

The offense isn’t as precise as Scott would like, but it would help if his veteran, second leading scorer would MAKE A SHOT!

It would be better if Jamison would pick his game up and be a player who can get some points when his team needed them. 

It would also helped if the former Tar Heel All-American played better against good teams because then he may create a market for himself, and perhaps a team looking for a veteran scorer to help get them over the top.  You can’t imagine a playoff team wanting Jamison like he’s played recently.

The schedule remains tough for the next ten games or so.  If the Cavs’ vets don’t pick up the pace, games like last weekend may just be the norm.

JK

Over the weekend, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that the Indians could take the $7 million they owed to Roberto Hernandez/Fausto Carmona and go out and get another starter to fill out the rotation in 2012.

The two pitchers mentioned by Heyman were Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson, both currently free agents.  Both guys are established big league starting pitchers and the asking price for both should be dropping since spring training opens in less than a month.

The first thought here was there is no way the Tribe would make such a move, even if it only cost them an extra million or two, because they could void Hernandez/Carmona’s deal.

One reason is because Cleveland would probably have to sign either hurler to a multi-year contract, and they currently have club options on the now 31-year-old right hander.  The long-term commitment would be not be appealing, especially in Oswalt’s case since he’s 34 years old.

The other reason is the Tribe generally likes to be known as player friendly.  Even though the organization said it was very surprised to find out Carmona is not who he said he was, nor was he 28 years old, there was no talk at all about voiding the agreement, at least publicly.

Who knows, maybe behind the scenes, GM Chris Antonetti and president Mark Shapiro are figuring out how to cancel the contract, thereby freeing up additional cash to improve the ballclub for the coming season. 

However, that’s not the Indians style.

Oswalt has a far better resume than Hernandez/Carmona.  Although he missed some time last season with lower back problems, the righty still was 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA with Philadelphia.  He has two 20 win seasons and another year with 19 victories in his career.  His lifetime record is 159-93 with a 3.21 ERA.

Jackson, who spent time with the White Sox in 201o and 2011 before getting traded to St. Louis, is only 28 (same age Carmona was supposed to be) and is a workhorse, throwing more than 180 innings in each of the last four seasons.

In his big league career, he’s 60-60 with a 4.46 ERA, but since 2008, he has been under 4.50 each year, and he has fanned twice as many hitters as he has walked in each of the last three seasons.

Contrast those numbers with those put up by Hernandez/Carmona since his tremendous 2007 season, which by the way is the Indians most recent trip to the post-season.

In three of those years, he has had an ERA of over 5.00.  Only in 2010, did the righty pitch well, with an ERA of 3.77. 

His won-loss record in that period is just 33-48.  That’s why picking up his option was debated by the management.  He simply has been more awful than effective over the last four seasons.

Whether or not the Indians can get either Oswalt or Jackson is doubtful, because the organization will claim they don’t have the money to spend, and also because they don’t want to agree to more than one year.

However, it’s not like Antonetti is trying to replace Sandy Koufax.

If the Indians can use the mistaken identity of one of their starting pitchers to bolster the rotation, why not take a look at it. 

And certainly replacing Hernandez/Carmona with either Oswalt or Jackson would be a plus for the Tribe.

However, they are probably too nice, too loyal to their players to make it happen.

KM

 

 

Last week, the Cleveland Indians organization were celebrating the end of Snow Days at Progressive Field with an outdoor hockey game between Ohio State and Michigan. 

Little did they know it was just the beginning of a very eventful seven days.

The biggest news was the revelation that one of their starting pitchers, the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona, was not who he said he was.  It turns out that Carmona’s real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia, and he is 31 years old, not 28 as previously thought.

Despite a lot of opinions that the Indians should void the pitcher’s contract, they won’t, and what’s more they shouldn’t.  We advocated dealing the righty over the winter, since at this point of his career, he should be more consistent.  Still, his legal problem isn’t reason enough to release him.

Carmona/Heredia’s deal is only good for this year, with club options for both the 2013 and 2014 seasons.  So, if he doesn’t pitch well (assuming he pitches at all), the Tribe management can walk away after this season anyway.

The bigger question is the one just stated.  Will the right-hander be able to get out of the Dominican Republic at all this year? 

If he doesn’t, Cleveland doesn’t give him the money, and sources say there is only a 10% chance Fausto/Roberto will take the mound for the Indians in 2012. 

That’s why GM Chris Antonetti got on the phone with one of his favorite trading partners, the Colorado Rockies, and pried RHP Kevin Slowey from them in return for relief pitcher Zach Putnam, who had a cup of coffee with the Tribe last season.

Slowey suffered through a terrible season in ’11 with Minnesota, who dealt him to the Rockies earlier this off-season.  He went 0-8 with a 6.67 ERA and gave up a whopping 78 hits in 59 innings.  He does have good control, walking just five batters.

His best season was his first full year in the bigs, 2008, when he went 12-11 with a 3.99 ERA.  Since then, his ERA is in the mid fours, and his hits to innings pitched ration has steadily risen, and his strikeouts per nine innings was just 5.2 last year, compared to a career mark of 6.7.

The question is whether Slowey is a better alternative than David Huff, Jeanmar Gomez, or Zach McAllister, the other contenders for the now vacant fifth spot in the rotation behind Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Derek Lowe, and Josh Tomlin. 

Antonetti may have been better served giving his farm system the first shot at filling the opening, but Slowey is a low-cost option, and Cleveland got $1.25 million in the transaction to help pay the veteran righty.

The rest of the week was more mundane, with the Indians signing several more players to minor league contracts to build up organizational depth.

They inked right-handed hitting OF Ryan Spilborghs, who played with the Rockies last year and hit .210 with 3 HR and 22 RBI.  He is 32, and has a history of success against lefties (.273 BA and 799 OPS).  However, he has a poor record outside of Coors Field (.239 BA and 679 OPS). 

They also signed veteran left-handed hitting OF Fred Lewis, 31, who spent last season in Cincinnati.  Lewis is a lifetime .267 hitter with a 751 OPS.  He hit .230 with a 638 OPS in 2011 playing in a hitter’s paradise in the Queen City.

Also signing was minor league infielder Gregorio Petit, who played 25 games in the majors in 2008-09 with Oakland, and RH reliever Jeremy Accardo, pitched in 31 games with Baltimore in ’11 (3-3, 5.73 ERA) and saved 31 games for Toronto in 2007.

You can never have enough pitching depth, but it is curious that Antonetti has brought in so many outfielders.  Besides his projected starting trio of Shin-Soo Choo, Grady Sizemore, and Michael Brantley, and Shelley Duncan, who had a solid year last season, the Indians have brought in Aaron Cunningham, Felix Pie, Spilborghs, and Lewis. 

Granted, Cleveland doesn’t have a lot of depth in the upper minors right now (they still have Thomas Neal, Tim Fedroff, and Ezequiel Carrera), but right now the OF looks very crowded. 

One has to wonder if Antonetti is working on a deal and using an OF as bait.

With spring training less than a month away, and the Indians still needing another proven hitter, it will be interesting to see if there is a greater plan in place here.

KM

With the Cavaliers getting off to a better than expected start this season, the people who want the wine and gold to lose are back out again. 

These people insist that the only way to build a championship team is to get in the draft lottery for several years and maybe, just maybe, you will accumulate enough talent to win a professional sports title.

FIrst of all, it is way to early to speculate that Byron Scott’s crew will make the playoffs.  But, one thing is for sure.  If the Cavs can make the playoffs, Scott will be all for it.

That’s the way coaches are.  They want to win.

Sure, Scott took a bullet for the organization last season, enduring a 26 game losing streak, and finishing with just 19 victories for the season.  He doesn’t want that to happen again.

Professional athletes do not want to lose.  They may not know how to win, but they don’t want to lose.  Take, for example,  the Washington Wizards.  As bad as they are currently, don’t believe for a minute that any one of those players do not want to win each and every game they play.

You can make the argument that they don’t sacrifice on the practice floor, that they don’t play the game in a way to gain more wins, but when the opening tap occurs, they are trying to win the game at hand.

To suggest otherwise to them would likely get you a punch to the head.

The same is true for coaches.  They want to win every night.  If the season is out of hand, they may play younger players to get them ready to contribute the following season, but they coach each game to outscore the opponent. 

And here is something else that is true, if they put players who shouldn’t be out there come crunch time, the other players see that and they lose confidence in the leadership. 

Ever wonder why players quit on their coaches?  Usually, it’s because they don’t trust the guy in charge.

That’s what fans and media people who think teams should lose to better their chances in a draft lottery, or help their position in the draft do not understand. 

Besides, it doesn’t work much of the time.

These “losers” do not even have long memories.  Last season, the Cavaliers got the first pick in the NBA draft, but not because they lost often, it was due to the Los Angeles Clippers losing a lot.  Remember, Cavs’ GM Chris Grant received the pick as part of the Mo Williams-Baron Davis trade.

So, it wasn’t losing that brought Kyrie Irving to Cleveland, it was shrewd management. 

Besides, the wine and gold are a very young team.  Only Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao are over 25 years old among the key players, so you would have to figure all the rest of the squad will be improving over the next few years, including Irving, who looks right now to be the real deal.

Some claim the draft is the only way to get better because no free agent will come to the Cavs.  That’s probably true, but with Jamison and his large contract off the books next season, Grant’s team will be well under the cap.

That means they will be a team that can take on salary to pick up a good player in a trade where another team wants to dump some salary. 

When teams are ready to win, they will start winning.  As much as others may want to delay or speed up the process, players learn how to win at the professional level, and then begin to triumph.

Wishing a team to lose is okay for fans, although it’s a tough way to follow your favorite club.  However, players and coaches do not and will not ever think this way.  If they do, they won’t be around very long.

JK

In Colt McCoy’s rookie season (2010), he was thrust into action before then-coach Eric Mangini or anyone in the organization wanted because of injuries to both Jake Delhomme and his backup, Seneca Wallace.

His first start was against Pittsburgh, and the rook didn’t embarrass himself, hitting on 23 of 33 passes for 287 yards.  He did throw two interceptions, but overall had everyone encouraged by his performance.

His next three starts fueled the optimism, as the Browns knocked off the defending Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints, and followed that up by beating New England, and losing in overtime to the Jets, who went to the AFC title game last season.

In those games, he completed 41 of 66 throws for 453 yards and no interceptions. 

He was injured himself in the next game, a loss to Jacksonville, but he still was 17 of 28 for 241 yards, with a TD and an interception.

The question is simple:  What happened to that guy?

McCoy came back from his high ankle sprain to play the last three games, the first of which might have been his best game of the year, completing 19 for 25 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.  So, it’s safe to say he was healthy again.

The last two games were against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, and the rookie from Texas struggled in those starts, completing only 35 of 70 throws for 358 yards, with a TD toss, but a whopping six interceptions.

Did McCoy lose his confidence in these two starts?

In 2010, McCoy made eight starts.  He had a quarterback rating of over 80, a modest total, in five of them.  All of those occurred in his first six games.

Last season, he started 13 games and had a passer rating of over 80, just three times:  A win over Indianapolis in week two, a week seven loss to San Francisco, a loss to St. Louis in week nine, and a win over Jacksonville in week 10.

So, here is the question that no one has asked Pat Shurmur and Mike Holmgren.  What happened to McCoy that caused a regression in his performance?

Did he lose his confidence after the two bad outings at the end of his rookie season?

Did the league make adjustments to him after reviewing game films from 2010?

Why did his yards per attempt drop from 7.1 in ’10 to 5.9 last season?

Why did his completion percentage drop from 60.8% in 2010 to 57.2% in 2011, despite going to an offense that features short passing?

Has anyone heard explanations as to what happened to the guy who many people were so excited about just a year ago?

The short, quick answer is that McCoy just doesn’t have the talent to be an elite quarterback in the NFL.  He doesn’t have a big arm, nor does he have the size many would like at the position.

Still, he seemed to be very unsure of himself in the pocket this season, something that wasn’t there in his first year. 

Was this due to learning a new offense?  Was McCoy thinking about every move he made, rather that just playing the game instinctively?

There seems to be a lot of unanswered questions about Colt McCoy.  That’s why there is a lot of support for him from Browns’ fans. 

That’s why there is hesitation from many about drafting a quarterback in the first round of this spring’s draft. 

If you watched Browns’ games this season, you wondered what happened to the guy who played so confidently and for the most part, effectively in 2010. 

Can that guy re-appear in 2012?

If GM Tom Heckert picks Robert Griffin III with the fourth pick in April, then you have your answer.  If they don’t, perhaps the front office feels he can get back to being the player he was in 2010.

JD