Nothing Against Tyson, Cavs Still Need Size

The Cleveland Cavaliers had their first attempt to add some size in the NBA Draft Wednesday night, but chose not to do it, drafting G Jaylon Tyson from California with the 20th overall pick.

We say guard because Tyson is 6’5-1/2″ and we are sorry, but in today’s NBA, that’s a guard. We know Cleveland last season played Max Strus (6’5″) at small forward, but we reiterate, that’s the height of a guard.

This isn’t to denigrate Tyson. We also wanted the Cavaliers to draft more well-rounded players as they have a lot of one-dimensional guys, and Tyson appears to be that. He’s a good shooter, moves well without the ball and is a willing passer, all good traits on the offensive end of the floor.

His scouting report says he’s not fast, nor a leaper, but other players have been able to make themselves decent defensively with less physical attributes.

Cleveland could’ve drafted KyShawn George (6’8″), DaRon Holmes (6’10”), Baylor Scheierman (6’7″), or even Kyle Filipowski (7′) and added needed height.

Instead, Tyson joins the 6’5″/6’6″ collection on the roster, joining Strus, Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill, and the forgotten Ty Jerome.

We understand the off-season has just begun, so there is plenty of time to restructure the roster and clear a few of the players we just mentioned, but again, the first thought we had when the pick was announced was another 6’5″ player.

Starting later today, the free agency period starts in the NBA and so there will be a lot of player movement over the next week. Cavs’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman has said that he would like to keep the “core 4” together and this has been repeated through reports since the season ended.

We will soon find out if this is “GM speak” or not.

We are sure new coach Kenny Atkinson has discussed the roster with his new boss. Does he concur with Altman, that is the big question.

In our humble opinion, and we are not alone, the backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland doesn’t work if Cleveland wants to take another step forward and get to the conference finals next season.

It doesn’t mean they are both talented, it just means they don’t play off of each other. This is hardly news in the NBA. We frequently cite the late 60’s Lakers who had Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. When Baylor was injured, the team took off.

A more recent team would be Milwaukee, where it looks like at least in the first year, that the Bucks were better with Jrue Holiday than with Damian Lillard.

Running it back with the Core 4 (by the way, we hate calling them that) just delays progress another season. Right now, in the East, there is Boston, and then no clear-cut secondary contender.

With the correct moves, Cleveland could become the challenger to the world champion Celtics. We don’t think this can be done without a significant roster change.

We guess what we are really saying is the Cavs need Evan Mobley to take a big jump, and we doubt that can happen with two ball dominant small guards playing 35 minutes per night.

We should find out soon what Altman thinks. And of course, there is still the need for more size.

Let the off-season begin!

30 Years Of Pretty Darn Good Baseball In Cleveland

Readers of this site should be familiar with the fact that our first sports memories occurred in 1965. Yes, we missed the Browns’ title. But the first 30 years of baseball remembrances were filled with mediocrity.

From ’65 to 1993, the most games won by the then-Indians was the 87 victories they achieved in that first season. Just a few years later, in 1968, they came in third in the American League with 86 wins.

Those seasons were followed by what can best be described as crap. There were four seasons where the Tribe finished over .500, and they were barely over the break-even mark with a high of 84 wins in 1986.

The reason for the trip down memory lane was the Mark Shapiro-led Toronto Blue Jays’ visit to Cleveland last weekend, and we realized that since 1994 and the opening of Progressive Field, the Indians/Guardians have largely been contenders for a playoff spot or have played in the post-season.

Starting in 1995 (because ’94 was strike shortened), Cleveland has made the playoffs 13 times and have been under the .500 mark just 10 times.

The reason for the Shapiro connection was the only real “down period” since 1994 occurred when he was running the show here.

That’s kind of unfair because he took over when the teams that opened the new ballpark were aging and he had to do a rebuild, and it was pointed out to us that it was a real fear the franchise would go through another 20-30 year drought, but after three sub .500 seasons from 2002-2004, the Indians were contenders in ’05 and won the division and made it to the AL Championship Series in 2007.

The success couldn’t be sustained and from 2008 until Terry Francona took the helm in 2013, Cleveland broke even the first season and won 80 games in 2011. Otherwise, there were three 90-loss seasons.

Since 2013 though, under the leadership of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, the Indians/Guardians have been contenders pretty much every single season, winning 92 games in Francona’s first season, and just two losing seasons, one of them an 80-82 campaign in 2021.

In our early years as a baseball fan, the annual baseball magazines would always have a composite World Series’ results standings and Cleveland was always at two wins and one loss. Three appearances, none from 1954 to 1995.

Since then, Cleveland has doubled that total. Unfortunately, the win column has remained the same as all fans of the team are painfully aware. However, if we revert back to our thoughts in 1984, it would have been a dream to see that franchise in one Fall Classic, let alone three of them.

Based on the Guardians’ great start this year, it looks like another playoff spot will happen in 2024, although we take nothing for granted until the magic number is zero.

However, since 1995, the longest stretch for Cleveland baseball without a post-season appearance is five years (2002-2006 and 2008-2012). That’s a far cry from the 41-year absence we dealt with in our youth.

And when you think about it, should all of the city’s professional sports teams aim for that kind of consistency?

Cavs Hire Kenny Atkinson. Our Thoughts

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a new head coach, hiring Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson to replace J.B. Bickerstaff. We also say we cannot judge a coaching hire until the person actually coaches games, but we like the hire.

Atkinson first got our attention when the Cavs acquired the Nets’ first round pick in the Kyrie Irving deal. The Nets were coming off a 20-62 season under Atkinson in 2016-17, so the Nets’ pick looked to have potential to have a very good chance to finish high in the lottery.

This was a Nets’ team led by DeMarre Carroll, Allen Crabbe, Spencer Dinwiddie. And yes, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen were on that squad as well. Brooklyn finished 12th in the Eastern Conference at 28-54 and as we all know by now, Cleveland got the 8th pick in the draft, not the top five selection that was hoped for.

The following season, he guided the Nets to the playoffs with a 42-40 record, losing in a five-game series to Philadelphia, who were led by Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, and Ben Simmons (ironically, new Laker coach J.J. Redick was also on the Sixers’ roster).

Brooklyn stole game one on the road behind D’Angelo Russell’s 26 points and LeVert chipped in with 23.

The following season, the Nets and Atkinson parted ways during the truncated pandemic season after he guided Brooklyn to a 28-34 record. Jacque Vaughn finished the year 7-3 and was swept in the first round of the playoffs by Toronto.

We went through this history because from afar Atkinson always seemed to get the most out of his roster, a good trait for any coach.

Atkinson was offered the Charlotte head coaching position following the 2022 season, and he took it, but then had second thoughts and settled for an assistants’ job with Golden State. Based on the mess the Hornets’ organization is, we thought he took the Warriors’ job as the heir apparent to Steve Kerr. Obviously, Kerr is still there.

There have been attempts on other sites to quantify Atkinson’s coaching style and philosophy, but we will not attempt that. The essence of coaching is looking at the talent at hand and getting the most out of the players. So, we will trust that his coaching philosophy with the Cavs will be based on having players do what they do best.

We also like that Atkinson has been a head coach before and then went and worked with another organization, especially a successful one like Golden State (like it or not, they are successful). Good coaches also learn and absorb things by working with players and also observation.

Many successful people learn from doing a job and as they do it more, they get better at doing it.

The new coach likes ball movement on offense, and we would hope he isn’t as dependent on the pick and roll as Bickerstaff was. As far as anything else goes, we will wait until we see the results.

And hopefully, the front office has discussions with Atkinson and what kind of team he wants, and is not saying here’s the roster, win with it. As we have been saying, the Cavs’ problem wasn’t just the coach. The make-up of the roster isn’t that of other contending teams.

We guess we will know more about the next edition of the Cavs in a few weeks.

If You Want To Complain About The Guardians, Have A Legit Beef

We are often asked if it is easier to write about a team when they are playing well or struggling, and it’s a simple answer really, when a team is not playing well, you are always able to write about things they can do to improve.

Currently, the Cleveland Guardians sit at 480-26 and have a seven game lead in the AL Central over Minnesota and 7.5 games over Kansas City. They have a nine game lead in the loss column.

Yet, we continue to read from folks how players currently at Columbus could help them. Offensively, there are two things a player can do, get on base and move runners who are already on base (i.e. on base percentage and slugging percentage).

The current average on base average in the American League is .309. Of the players who get the most at bats on the Guardians, there is one player who falls well below that threshold, Bo Naylor, currently at .253.

The average slugging percentage is .393. There are many Guardians who fall below the league average in this department, but as a team, Cleveland sits at .401, most due to the efforts of Jose Ramirez (.521), Josh Naylor (.502) and Steven Kwan (.545).

One thing people do is look at minor league statistics and equate them to the big leagues. That, of course, is ridiculous. The minor leagues are the minor leagues for a reason, the best players in the sport aren’t there. So, if you look at what a player is doing in Columbus, you have to figure those numbers will come down when they get to the big club.

We’ve seen it already. Kyle Manzardo was raking in AAA and then struggled with the Guardians. He was walking at a very high rate in the minors, and then had a 23:3 strikeout to walk ratio in the bigs.

We are guilty of it too, but we try to look at the biggest weakness of the team compared to the rest of the league. Right now, the Cleveland starting rotation has the worst WAR in the AL. That’s why the front office should be trying to upgrade that spot.

For the record, the other spots where the Guardians are below average are at catcher and in right field. Everywhere else, including the two spots most people seem to refer to, shortstop and centerfield, they are better or at league average.

The organization has done a great job promoting Daniel Schneemann, who was red hot at AAA, and so far, his offensive success has carried over to the big-league level. It helps that he is versatile enough to play all over the diamond.

If you are a contending team, and no doubt the Guardians are that sure you might catch lightning in a bottle with a minor league prospect, but the reality says you need to get someone who has had major league success.

We like developing players like everyone else, but if we are going to give up a higher tier prospect, we want to fill the biggest hole on the current roster. And right now, that’s the rotation.

Yes, Gavin Williams should be back soon, but really, we hope he pitches like he did a year ago, but it wouldn’t be prudent for the organization to put all their eggs in that basket.

If you want to give up a top five or even top ten player in your organization, you go get a proven big-league starter. One that can pitch in a playoff series.

You don’t bank on prospects.

The Continued Struggles Of The Guardians’ Starters

Last night was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Cleveland Guardians in terms of starting pitching. Tanner Bibee gave Steven Vogt six scoreless innings, great effectiveness and some decent length.

We know the rotation has been the weakness of the 2024 Guardians thus far. It is the only position on the squad where Cleveland ranks last in the American League in WAR (wins above replacement).

The last pitcher who went six frames in a game was Logan Allen on June 7th vs. Miami. Previous to Allen, it was Bibee, who went 6.1 innings on May 31st.

So, in the month of June, the Guardians have had exactly two outings where the starting pitcher completed six innings. Now, we understand the game has changed recently, but having your bullpen have to cover more than 12 outs on a nightly basis is not something usually equated with success throughout a six month season.

There were a few outings where Vogt yanked his starter in the sixth and perhaps, he didn’t have to. The starter could have got the last out of the inning.

We get it. When your bullpen has been as great as the Guardians’ have this season, it is tempting to get them in the game and have a guy like Sam Hentges, Tim Herrin, or Cade Smith overmatch the next hitter to end the inning.

We know the front office is aware of the problem, and we are also it is difficult to make a deal for a starter at this point. We also know there are a lot of teams looking for starting pitching, so it won’t be easy for Cleveland to pull off a deal.

Everyone is waiting for Gavin Williams to be back, but in his last outing in AAA, he threw 53 pitches, making over 30 in the second inning where he only recorded two outs before being removed.

So, it appears it will be a while before he can join the rotation.

Meanwhile, Carlos Carrasco and Triston McKenzie have to be a concern. Carrasco missed a couple of starts with a spasm in his neck, and since his return, his longest outing was five innings last Saturday, and he only went five because the Guards were trailing 5-0 and Vogt didn’t want to overexpose his relief corps.

He’s made just two starts where he went at least six innings, one against the Angels and the other vs. the White Sox. He has a 5.80 ERA for the year, and last year, it was 6.80 for the Mets.

McKenzie has had issues with the two things pitchers cannot do and still be effective, and that is walk people and give up home runs. When we were young, we used to hear about guys who gave up the long ball, but since they didn’t walk people, most of the dingers were solo shots.

McKenzie leads the AL in walks and is second in the Junior Circuit in giving up homers with 15. Thankfully, he doesn’t give up a lot of hits besides the home runs.

Perhaps Pedro Avila should get a shot. He started in San Diego last year and has been okay so far for the Guardians (2.60 ERA, 31 K’s in 26.2 innings). Or why not see what Connor Gillispie can do?

He has a 4.55 ERA at AAA, allowing 62 hits in 63.1 innings with 64 strikeouts. His last few outings have been much better than that. Maybe he can get into or complete six innings of a Major League game?

McKenzie and Carrasco’s struggles put more pressure on Bibee, Allen, and Ben Lively to pitch deeper into games.

The Guardians have a great thing going, sitting at 45-26 on the season. That doesn’t mean they are complacent. However, the more that duo struggles, the more of a burden they put on the relievers.

Some Changes Looming For Guards After a .500 Trip?

The Cleveland Guardians are coming off a solid trip. It seems like their early season success have some fans panicking when they lose a series, but they came off the eight game sojourn to three cities at .500, and that is just fine.

By the way, a quick look at the schedule shows Cleveland will play 40 of their last 60 games after the All-Star break at home. That’s a lot.

On a break-even trip, a couple of warts have shown up. The Guards are struggling a bit vs. left-handed pitching, partially due to David Fry returning to normal human being status (he’s “down” to a .356 batting average against them) and lately, Steven Vogt has taken to playing both Gabriel Arias and Austin Hedges against them, and that’s leaving the lineup two hitters short.

We may also be seeing the beginning of the end as a starting pitcher for veteran Carlos Carrasco. Since returning from his neck spasms, he has made three starts, totaling 13.2 innings, allowing 12 earned runs on 17 hits.

We understand there aren’t many alternatives for the organization until Gavin Williams is ready to go (he threw just 53 pitches in his last rehab start), but we don’t know how you can give Carrasco another start. Perhaps you swap roles with Pedro Avila, who did throw 43 pitches in an outing on June 8th.

Or try Xzavion Curry again, although he has an ERA over 7.00 at AAA. There is no question starting pitching is the Guardians’ biggest need, and it’s a need that will be very difficult to correct. But sending Carrasco out for another start seems to be a wish on the organization’s part.

We also wonder if Kyle Manzardo might get sent back to Columbus to get every day at bats. Daniel Schneemann has been a hitting machine since getting called up, collecting nine hits in 24 at bats, including four extra base hits, and has walked five times.

Manzardo hasn’t been bad but has gone 3 for 20 over the last two weeks, since Schneemann has usurped some of his at bats. This is not writing Manzardo off. Plenty of players get called up and sent down once or even twice before sticking at the big-league level.

However, clearly playing once or twice a week isn’t helping the rookie find a rhythm at the plate.

If Manzardo goes back to the minors, it would mean Johnathan Rodriguez would likely stay as a right-handed outfield bat. He could platoon with Will Brennan in RF or be the DH vs. lefties, where Gabriel Arias has been recently.

Here’s something to keep an eye on: Juan Brito has started to play 1B at Columbus, increasing his versatility. Brito is 22 for 64 vs. lefties (.344 average, 1018 OPS) with 3 HR and 10 walks.

Usually, a position charge means the front office is trying to see if a player can fit on the big-league roster. Overall, Brito, a switch-hitter (adding more versatility) is hitting .249 with an 801 OPS after a slow start.

He also fits in with his strikeout to walk ratio for the season, which is 49 Ks and 49 BBs.

The Guardians are sitting at 44-25, but the organization isn’t going to be complacent with this team. Just wondering if some roster tweaks are coming.

Cavs Running It Back? Bad Idea

With the NBA Finals soon to be over, the NBA crazy time will start very quickly. The draft will occur at the end of the month, followed by the free agency period where trades will occur.

In his post-season press conference, Cavs’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman made comments alluding to the wine and gold’s “Core 4”, and his desire to keep them together.

After all, his supporters will say, the Cavaliers have made progress in each of the last three seasons, going from making the “play-in” tournament and losing to getting into a seven game series to winning a first-round match up.

While all that is true, it can also be true to realize that might be the ceiling for this group. And really, isn’t that what Altman is paid to determine.

The first thing for Altman to decide is who will be the new head coach. It seems like it is down to three candidates: James Borrego, Kenny Atkinson, and Chris Quinn. We would have no issue with either of them.

Our only issue with Quinn would be he is the first lieutenant to Erik Spoelstra, the league’s best coach. Sometimes, these guys try to be their mentor, and since they aren’t that guy, it doesn’t work.

The people who think staying the course with the Cavs led by Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, usually are thinking about it from (surprise!) the offensive end of the floor. However, we say it all the time, basketball isn’t just about scoring points.

Our feeling continues to be Cleveland cannot continue with the small backcourt because Mitchell and Garland do not complement each other, but also because it is not effective from a defensive standpoint. So many contending teams have size at the guard position, and the Cavaliers don’t.

That puts them at a disadvantage.

The other thing that bothers us is the constant talk of having to move Jarrett Allen. We get it, “you can’t win with two non-shooting bigs”, that’s the argument, correct? But what we find difficult to fathom is how you get better by trading your second-best player, and that’s what Allen was this past season.

He averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 boards per night, shooting 63.4% from the floor. If you could trade Allen for a player who has a chance at being your best player, then yes, you can trade him. We doubt that would be the case.

And yesterday, it was reported that Mitchell doesn’t want Allen moved, and that will have weight within the organization.

As for Mobley’s “dominant” series vs. Boston in the second round, need we remind everyone he didn’t do this against Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, or even Kristaps Porzingis, he did it against 37-year-old Al Horford, a solid pro, but not a player who should be giving a player like Mobley fits.

Also, trading Allen (or Mobley for that matter) would be removing one of the few players with size on the roster. We understand a big man would come back in any deal, but that player likely wouldn’t be as skilled.

And Cleveland needs to add size, not get smaller. That’s for sure.

If Altman can add a slew of wings in the 6’7″ to 6’9″ range and add another big man to back up Allen and Mobley without giving up one of his core players, then great. We just don’t think that’s possible.

Can Kwan Do Something That Hasn’t Happened in 70 Years?

We understand that batting average as a statistic has been devalued in today’s game and that on base percentage is more meaningful, after all baseball is about getting on base (thus avoiding outs) and moving once you are on, which slugging percentage measures.

However, back in the day, when we were growing up, it was a big deal, the man who led their respective league in average was considered the “batting champ”, and it is still considered part of the traditional “triple crown”, a player who leads the league in average, home runs, and runs batted in.

We bring this up because in our lifetime, Cleveland has never had a batting champion. The last Indian/Guardian to lead the American League in average was Bobby Avila, and that occurred way back in 1954.

No, we aren’t that old!

A few players have come close. In the 1994 strike season, Paul O’Neill of the Yankees was awarded the batting title with a .359 average. Albert Belle was second at .357 and Kenny Lofton was fourth at .349.

Belle also hit 36 homers and knocked in 101 runs in just 106 games. No doubt it is among the things fans were robbed of by the players’ strike/lockout.

We bet most people won’t remember the previous high finish in the batting race, but it belongs to Miguel Dilone, who hit .341 in 1980 to finish third behind George Brett’s epic season of hitting .390 and Cecil Cooper who hit .352.

Dilone was a speedster who wound up with a lifetime .265 average, but for that season, he was a catalyst, with a .375 on base percentage and 61 steals, which at that time was a club record, topping the 52 swiped by Ray Chapman in 1917.

Could the string be broken this season? We don’t want to jinx the incredible Steven Kwan, but it sure looks like a possibility.

Kwan is currently second in the AL batting race, but that comes with an asterisk. The official leader is Bobby Witt of Kansas City at .326, and Kwan is second only because right now he doesn’t have enough at bats to qualify for the lead. If you add the necessary at bats in, Kwan ranks second at .318, just three points behind Witt.

However, Kwan’s real batting average is .380, 54 points better than the Royals’s shortstop and as soon as the Guardians’ leftfielder has enough at bats, he will have a sizeable advantage in the race.

The Guardians have played 66 games, and a qualifier has the have 3.1 plate appearances per contest, meaning Kwan would need 205 times at the dish. He currently has 183. Keep in mind, he is a leadoff hitter, so he often gets five at bats per night, so he should close that gap very soon.

Kwan is also putting up great numbers in how the game is viewed now. His on base percentage is .445 which would also lead the league with enough at bats, and he is slugging .534. His previous career best in that category was his rookie season, when he slugged .400.

Can it continue? If you mean hit .380, that might be a bit much to ask, but could he become Cleveland’s first batting champion since 1954? Let’s judge it when he finally qualifies for the top spot and see what kind of edge he has then.

We’ve been watching baseball in Cleveland a long time and we don’t remember a hitter like Steven Kwan. And even though batting average isn’t as important as it once was, doing something that hasn’t been done for 70 years is very much an accomplishment.

Remembering When Starting Pitching Brought Confidence To Guardians’ Fans

As recently as 2018, fans of the Cleveland baseball team were spoiled by their starting pitching. The rotation consisted of Corey Kluber (who won 20 games that year), Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer, and a rookie fifth starter named Shane Bieber.

At the time, we thought going into every game, the Indians had a legitimate chance to win because they had the edge between the two starting pitchers.

Even into the pandemic season of 2020, Terry Francona’s starters were at the top of the sport. Bieber emerged as a Cy Young winner that season, and he was backed up by Carrasco, Clevinger (before he was traded), Aaron Civale, and rookie Triston McKenzie.

Baseball people started to refer to the “Cleveland Pitching Factory”, with the organization seemingly able to crank out starter after starter. Heck, it happened last season when McKenzie went down in spring training, Zach Plesac proved ineffective, and Cal Quantrill was hurt, the Guardians simply went to the farm and called up Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Gavin Williams.

Apparently, this season the factory has been shut down for repairs or something, because the organization is scrambling to put an effective starting pitcher on the mound each and every night.

It was certainly curious when the organization released Quantrill after the season rather than pay him through arbitration, where he figured to make about $6 million, not a lot of money for a guy who can give you innings.

The right-hander has pitched to a 3.58 ERA in Colorado this season logging a staff high 73 innings. By the way, those innings would also lead the Guardians’ staff.

The only pitcher signed over the winter was Reds’ castoff Ben Lively, who has been a savior for this year’s staff.

Bieber was lost to elbow surgery after two starts, leaving a huge void in the rotation, which coming into the season consisted of him, the three rookies, and McKenzie, who missed most of last year with an elbow issue.

Of the trio of first year arms called up last year and thought to provide the backbone of the rotation going forward, only Bibee has been close to his ’23 form, with a 3.73 ERA in 70 innings with 76 strikeouts and 19 walks.

Williams has missed all year with an elbow issue, but hopefully can return soon. Allen has made his 13 starts but has a 5.57 ERA.

McKenzie has not pitched like the guy who put up a 2.96 ERA in 2022. He has allowed a league leading 14 dingers (tied with his teammate Logan Allen) and also leads the league in walks with 36 in 62.2 innings of work.

Right now, the rotation has more holes than an old guy’s socks. And there were no solutions at hand.

Xzavion Curry has made three spot starts, one very good, the other two being “meh”. The ERA of the pitching staff at Columbus is 5.46 and the best starter down there is journeyman Connor Gillispie, who has a 5.02 ERA, although he has 60 strikeouts in 57.1 innings. He’s 26 years old.

The bullpen has taken on a heavy burden for the big club to get off to this 42-22 start. How long can they sustain the success pitching all of these innings? Could they do it all year? Sure, but based on the past, eventually it is going to catch up with them unless the starters start carrying their weight.

As we said, Lively has been a savior and Bibee has been solid. Carlos Carrasco has been a nice story in his return to the franchise, but he can’t be trusted to get through a lineup a third time.

McKenzie needs to throw strikes and he and Allen need to keep the ball in the yard.

More likely is the front office is going to have to overpay to bring in an arm. With the Cleveland bullpen, they may be able to get a guy who can soak up innings and keep the team in the game.

The rest of the team is doing too well for the rotation to be a burden.

Thoughts On Hoops And Cavs…

Some basketball thoughts and how they pertain to the Cleveland Cavaliers as the NBA Finals are in full swing.

**This has been a theme for us all year, but both the Celtics and Mavericks are significantly bigger all around the court than the Cavs. Boston goes with two 6’4″ guards, their forwards are 6’6″ and 6’7″ and with Al Horford at center they are still taller at three spots than the Cavs.

If Kristaps Porzingis is at center, they are taller at four spots with only Evan Mobley having a size advantage.

Dallas goes 6’10” at center, 6’7″ and 6’5″ at the forwards, and 6’7″ and 6’2″ in the backcourt. But they have two bigs they bring off the bench in Maxi Kleber and Dereck Lively, both of whom are 6’10”.

The Cavs simply have to get more size, particularly in the backcourt and small forward and running it back with the same crew simply doesn’t get that done.

Last year’s champs, Denver, goes 6’11”, 6’10”, 6’8″ up front with guards who are 6’4″ and 6’5″. The 2021 title holders, Milwaukee, started a 7 foot center, a 6’11” and 6’7″ pair at forwards and a backcourt of 6’4″ and 6’5″ players.

**Hall of Famer Becky Hammon, coach of the WNBA Las Vegas Aces, a great player and longtime assistant coach for the Spurs took some heat during the NBA season for suggesting it is difficult to win with a smaller player as your best player.

We agree with her. Think about it, how many small players were the best players on championship teams? We can think about only Isiah Thomas, who at 6’1″ led the Pistons to back-to-back titles.

It isn’t impossible. But that’s what the Cavaliers have to think about when building around Donovan Mitchell, should he agree to a contract extension.

And remember those Pistons’ teams had three big men, 6’11” or bigger among the top eight on their team in minutes, and one of the best wing defenders ever coming off the bench and getting starter minutes.

We aren’t saying they should abandon the Mitchell led team, but we are saying they need to put some size around him.

**Don’t forget the Cavs do have the 20th overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and there should be some size and experience there when they make their selection.

By experience, we mean players who have played a couple of years in college and because of that should be able to contribute right away. A couple of our favorites are 6’9″ Tristan da Silva, a four year college player at Colorado out of Germany and 6’10” Bobi Klintman, who played one year at Wake Forest, but is 21 years old.

We did see one mock draft with Cleveland taking a 6’5″ combo player and if that happens, we will lose any shred of confidence we have with the current front office.

It has been a while since the draft has been a thought in Cleveland. The Cavs did draft Ochai Agbaji in the first round in 2022, but he was quickly dealt to Utah in the Mitchell transaction.

Hopefully, whoever the Cavs select later this month will be around longer than Agbaji.