Are Cleveland Fans Not Demanding Enough?

The city of Cleveland has three professional sports teams and in the past four seasons (at least), only one of them, the Indians, have had any success, and that was last year.

However, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of outrage about this lack of success. The Browns have pretty much been lousy since returning to the NFL in 1999, and since LeBron James left for Miami, the Cavaliers have been in the draft lottery every season.

The Tribe’s attendance has suffered since the sellout string ended in 2001, and the Browns no longer fill their stadium week after week on Sunday, despite selling all the tickets. The Cavs actually have drawn better than expected despite some dreadful seasons.

Yet, the sports talk stations in town talk nothing but football, so you would have to assume the populace isn’t fed up with the poor record of the Browns, and year after year, when another mediocre season has ended, there is actually optimism regarding the draft.

The Cavs have another season where they lose, or almost lose 50 games and there is a significant amount of supporters who think it is good because they will be able to secure another lottery pick.

If the baseball draft was followed as closely as the other two sports, perhaps the Indians would get more of a pass from people because it would mean another high first round draft choice.

There is no question that the fan base here is ingrained to look toward the future. Sure, we are disappointed with the losing, but if it happens, then it’s okay, we get to choose high in that respective sports’ draft.

When it comes to the Browns, perhaps there is a nagging feeling that if we are too critical of their foibles, the team will leave town again because the owner is angry. After all, Art Modell was just starting to get heat from the fans and media alike when he picked up and moved to Baltimore.

That’s not going to happen again. The NFL isn’t going to allow it as long as the tickets are sold out every week.

Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert has done a lot for the city, including bringing casino gambling to the area, and a lot of jobs from that business and Quicken Loans.

Because of this, fans feel guilty about holding him responsible for the state of the basketball team. While more criticism has been put on him recently, he still gets off pretty lightly considering the record of the wine and gold since James left town.

The team the fans are toughest on is the only one with any recent success, the Indians, but because of the way the sport’s draft is set up and the fact there is no salary cap, it’s also the hardest for a smaller market to compete.

That’s why the Browns and the Cavaliers can sell hope. With the right draft pick or free agent signing, they can be good again. And the fans obviously just lap it up.

But the ticket buyers should be more demanding of success. The Browns continue to be terrible and last year, didn’t even try to improve when injuries hit or trades were made.

That obviously even infuriated the owner, because Jimmy Haslam was fed up enough to sweep out the old front office and hire new people. At least he got angry.

Gilbert is said to be upset with the Cavs showing this season, but will he fly off the handle and make an impetuous decision, or will he take steps to make sure his team wins more games?

As for the Indians, fans were upset that the franchise didn’t build on the success enjoyed last season. After 92 wins last season, supporters wanted to see the front office “go for it”. There is much pressure on them to at least make the post-season again in 2014.

Cleveland fans have become too soft on demanding success from its teams. That needs to end right away.

Forget Last Ten Games, Cavs Need to Examine Organization

With the recent surge of good play over the last week or two, many basketball fans around the area have thrown out the idea that enough progress has been shown by the Cleveland Cavaliers to keep the status quo.

That would mean keeping acting GM David Griffin is his position and bringing back Mike Brown as head coach.

Those people are also ignoring the first 65 games of this NBA season, and focusing instead on the last ten.

That is a dangerous mistake.

Remember where most experts thought the Cavs would be when the season started, and that is the playoffs. Instead, the wine and gold will be watching the post-season again, and will once again be a part of the draft lottery, although not with the probability of getting one of the higher picks.

With the maturation of third year players Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and the experience gained last year by Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller, along with the return of Anderson Varejao and the signing of Andrew Bynum, most people had the Cavaliers ready to make a decided leap in the standings.

Bynum didn’t work out here, but then-GM Chris Grant dealt him to the Bulls for two-time all-star F Luol Deng, and Griffin added another quality big man in Spencer Hawes at the trading deadline. Still, the wine and gold will be on the outside looking in when the playoffs arrive.

And you can’t forget the embarrassing losses to Sacramento and New York on the road, and to the Lakers at home, when Los Angeles had to play with a player who had already fouled out to end the game, and the Cavs still lost.

This is not to say that owner Dan Gilbert should clean house, but he should do an overview of the entire organization to see what the front office should be and should do going forward.

The first step would be to hire a basketball lifer and let him run the operations of the franchise, and it turn let that person decide who should be the GM and the coach. This is something the owner has proven to be too emotional to handle.

Our suggestion would be George Karl, who learned the game from Dean Smith and has spent an eternity in the professional game. But, anyone else with that type of background will do, and preferably no one with Piston ties (there is that emotion again).

That person should pick the GM, maybe Griffin, maybe not and let the GM pick the head coach.

We have been critical of Brown since he was hired, and let’s face it, he’s not an elite NBA head coach. The organization needs to at least look and see if there is someone more qualified to be on the bench guiding this young team.

Let’s face it, outside of Waiters, has any of Cleveland’s young talent thrived under Brown? There is no question that Irving, Thompson, and Zeller aren’t better than a year ago, and at their ages, they should be getting better.

Out of the rookies, only Matthew Dellavedova has seen significant playing time, while first overall pick Anthony Bennett and fellow first round choice Sergey Karasev will really be spending their rookie season in year two. Their development has been delayed by one year.

No matter what happens the rest of this season, the worst thing Gilbert should do is overlook the first half of the season because of the last month. That’s what bad organizations do. They take one good thing and project it over everything else.

Yes, it is difficult to make changes after one year, and Gilbert will set him up to look foolish by making a change. However, if in the end it makes the franchise better, then it will be the right thing.

That’s why you bring in a basketball person (again, not Isiah Thomas or Joe Dumars) to run things. Then, it is their decision to make changes to move the team forward.

That’s the wisest course of action for the Cavaliers.

Brown Not Right Guy to Lead Cavs in Future

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ slim playoff chances seem to be dwindling everyday, meaning soon it will be time to look forward to the 2014-15 season, and another appearance in the draft lottery.

It also means the organization has to look within, examining whether or not they have the correct people in place.

Has acting GM David Griffin done enough to keep the job going forward? His deal for Spencer Hawes looks good, and here’s hoping the wine and gold can keep the big man for the future because he can do one thing desperately needed on this squad, he can shoot.

Whether or not Griffin stays, one thing is clear: The Cavaliers need to find a new head coach next season because Mike Brown isn’t the guy to change things around here.

Brown is a great guy, but he came here with a reputation as a defensive coach, but so far the results aren’t there. Cleveland ranks in the middle of the pack (16th) in field goal percentage against, and 17th in the league in scoring defense.

That hardly speaks to a great defensive mind.

While some will say that this is his first year with this group of players, why have other new coaches have success around the league?

Memphis hired Dave Joerger to replace Lionel Hollins after a successful season last year, and Joerger still has the Grizzlies third in the league in points allowed and 10th in defensive field goal percentage.

Charlotte hired Steve Clifford, an obscure NBA assistant, and he has turned the Bobcats into one of the league’s better defensive squads, ranking 5th in points allowed and 7th in shooting percentage against.

The Cavaliers have played 64 games already this season and they are still trying to figure out how to play effective defense? That doesn’t reflect well on the relationship Mike Brown has with his players, who obviously haven’t bought in to what he is teaching.

The Cavs still give up too many easy shots, allow players to get to the basket with ease, and have lapses at inopportune times on the defensive end.

And as the old saying goes, you can’t fire 15 players, so it’s the coach who has to go.

Besides the lack of progress on the defensive end, Brown’s offensive game plan is highly simplistic and is based pretty much solely on having players takes their man off the dribble. When the defense takes that away, there is no alternative.

And Brown has no history of developing young players either, and the Cleveland roster is full of them.

First overall pick Anthony Bennett hasn’t contributed much this season, but in the team’s recent six game winning streak, he was getting some minutes and averaged eight points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Since, he played more than 15 minutes in a game just twice.

In last night’s loss to the Knicks at home, second leading scorer Dion Waiters played a grand total of 14 minutes. How does that happen?

Tristan Thompson hasn’t improved, Luol Deng, a two-time all-star in the NBA looks lost on the court, and even the Cavs’ franchise player, Kyrie Irving’s numbers are down across the board from last season.

One of last year’s first round draft picks, Tyler Zeller, has his minutes fluctuate on a nightly basis.

Mike Brown has had success in the NBA as a head coach, but in every year but this one, he has coached one of the sport’s best players, be it either LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. Without one of them on the team, he looks like just another guy.

The 2014-15 version of the Cavaliers needs a head coach who will demand and command the respect of the young players on this roster. If Dan Gilbert wants this team to move forward, he needs to find that man.

It won’t happen with Mike Brown.

This Off-Season, It’s Time for Cavs to Deal Andy

The Cleveland Cavaliers probably won’t make the playoffs this season because they have too much of a deficit behind Charlotte and Atlanta and a tough March schedule to maneuver.

Still, it was the right move to try to get in the post-season, and the trades obtaining Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes were worth making, and an effort should be made to keep both for next season.

After all, the Cavs are still a very young team with Kyrie Irving just turning 22 years old, Dion Waiters just reach that age in December, and Tristan Thompson will hit 23 years of age later this month.

All three players have plenty of improvement which will be made by experience and getting stronger with age.

Even Hawes won’t turn 26 until just after the season ends, and he has played well in a Cavs’ uniform thus far, averaging almost 14 points and nine rebounds since coming over from Philadelphia at the trade deadline.

Keeping the free agent would give the wine and gold depth so they can finally make the move they should have made the season after LeBron James left town for Miami.

It’s time to deal Anderson Varejao.

Every year, the Cavaliers trick themselves into thinking “Wild Thing” will be healthy, because when he is, he is a quality NBA big man, averaging almost 8 points and 8 rebounds per game, mostly due to a highly active style of play.

He takes charges, dives for loose balls, and keeps plays alive and does so with relentless effort.

Because he’s been the best big man on the team since James left, he has often been overexposed, playing too many minutes. When that happens, the Brazilian gets hurt, thus having no impact on the team.

This has been a trademark of Varejao’s career. He misses a lot of games, playing 75 games or more just three times (’06-’07, ’08-’09, and ’09-’10) in his ten-year NBA career.

Yes, injuries are a part of sports, but when it happens to the same players year in and year out, it is not a coincidence. They are injury prone, thus no longer reliable to the team they play for.

The same thing happened with Courtney Brown for the Browns, and Grady Sizemore for the Indians. They simply couldn’t stay on the field long enough to make a contribution.

In those four years since he appeared in 76 games in 2009-2010, Varejao has missed 162 out of a possible 291 games, that’s more than half of the contests played by the wine and gold.

He has currently missed the team’s last 10 games with a back injury.

Assuming he will be back soon, the acquisition of Hawes means Mike Brown can play Varejao less minutes, meaning he will have a better opportunity to stay in the lineup, and off of the training table.

The Cavs need to establish Varejao’s health for the rest of the season so they can use him as a trade chip this summer in an effort to help the organization. The last few years, his injuries were season ending, so nobody was willing to deal for him until he showed he could get back on an NBA floor.

His skill set would be very important to a team trying to make a push toward a title, so however the GM is this summer, should be able to make a favorable deal for Cleveland.

It will be a bittersweet day, because Varejao is the last link to the glory teams in Cleveland, including the one that made the NBA Finals in 2007. But the time has come to make the move.

What is needed is for Varejao to get back on the floor this season.

Cavs Continue to Push for Playoffs By Getting Hawes

If you are one of those fans in Cleveland that is always looking toward next year, it was a bad day for you yesterday.

Acting Cavaliers’ GM David Griffin decided to continue the team’s pursuit of a playoff spot by acquiring 7’1” center Spencer Hawes from Philadelphia. The price wasn’t extravagant either, as the wine and gold parted with two second round draft picks and two players who aren’t currently in Mike Brown’s rotation: C Henry Sims and F Earl Clark.

Why would anyone complain about that price?

Second round picks in the NBA are like lottery tickets. Sometimes one will pay off, but most times, you throw them away because they are useless.

On the other hand, Hawes is just 25 years old, and averages 13 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and he definitely can be used as a stretch big man, hitting almost 40% of his shots from outside the arc.

As the owner’s son has been known to say, “What’s not to like?”

Yes, Hawes can be a free agent at the end of this season, so he could be a rental player for the rest of the season. But, neither Sims nor Clark was probably going to be on the roster next season, so really, what did Griffin give up?

Besides, maybe the Cavaliers continue to play well and Hawes wants to stay with the Cavs. We realize the doomsayers can’t fathom that, but it is possible.

Our first thought when the deal was rumored is that Anderson Varejao must be hurt worse than the team is letting on. The newcomer gives Brown another solid big man to go with Tyler Zeller, Tristan Thompson, and Anthony Bennett.

If Varejao can return soon, it means that the coaching staff can cut down on his minutes to around 25 per night, which may just keep him healthier, and should have been the plan for him all along.

And Hawes outside shot should open things up for those guys and Varejao, when he comes back to operate near the basket. Too often, both bigs are in the paint clogging things up so it is difficult for Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters to go to the basket.

Hawes should help immediately, and also provides another veteran who has been around the league for years, like Luol Deng.

Speaking of Deng, there were plenty of rumors about the Cavs shopping him, but no deal was made, which is also a good thing. Mainly because Cleveland still doesn’t have an alternative at the small forward spot.

Yes, we understand Deng is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and has made comments, which appear to show he is unhappy here, but if Griffin has a chance to sign him this summer, they have a better shot with Deng spending the balance of the season in Cleveland.

Besides, if the wine and gold can stay hot and make the playoffs in let’s say, the 6^th seed, maybe the former Bull looks at a pretty good future here with a lot of young talent, and stable leadership.

Deng would have looked crazy if he would have said he liked it here among all the chaos when he first arrived.

Things change in team sports.

Just a few weeks ago, Irving and Waiters couldn’t stand to play together. Chris Grant gets fired and Dan Gilbert and Griffin have a “come to Jesus” moment with the players, and they look like they actually like each other.

A lot can change by the end of the playoffs, and here’s hoping the young Cavaliers can get their first experience in the post-season.

Cavs’ Woes Rooted in Several Areas

Proof that the Cleveland Cavaliers have become out-and-out dysfunctional is that you can make a case that the problems lie with GM Chris Grant, coach Mike Brown, and the players.

If it were just a matter of not having talent, then you can blame the GM. However, there is talent, but it is duplicated at certain positions. For the Cavs, it seems to be centered at the point guard and power forward spots.

While Grant may have picked the most talented players that were available at the slots they were taken, and you can make that argument at the time of the draft, he didn’t follow through on dealing the excess of talent at one spot to fix a hole at another position.

There is no question that Kyrie Irving, Luol Deng, Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters, and Tristan Thompson can play in this league. Unfortunately, they clearly do not fit together on the court, and dealing one of them for a shooter would be in the best interests of the wine and gold.

When Byron Scott was fired as Cleveland’s head coach after last season, Grant brought back his friend, Mike Brown to handle the reins.

Brown got the job despite having no real track record of developing young talent. The teams he coached in Cleveland and Los Angeles were veteran laden squads.

He returned to the north coast based on his reputation as a defensive minded coach. His offensive schemes were poor in his first go-round here and there is no evidence that anything has changed.

So, predictably, none of the Cavalier young players, most of the roster is made up of second and third year players, have shown any progress from last season. Even Irving, rookie of the year and an all-star in his second season, has seemed to have plateaued this year.

And remember, the Cavs had the first overall pick in last summer’s draft. Brown has never showed any inclination to play rookies, so Anthony Bennett has been anchored to the bench for much of the season.

Brown’s offensive set is for players to take their man off the dribble and force the opposing defense to help. That worked when the best player on the team is LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, both of whom are significantly bigger than Irving.

There is little screening away from the ball and virtually no movement away from the ball on many possessions.

This morning, The Plain Dealer’s Bud Shaw opined that the front office needs to show Brown is in charge. While that’s true, it would also help if Brown showed he was in charge.

We wrote earlier in the season, that with the coach being fired twice, he should have come in with a “doing it my way” approach. He seems too nice of a man to be the hammer the young Cavs need.

Which brings us to the players. Yes, they are young and inexperienced for the most part, but it doesn’t appear they are all that upset with all of the losing. It has come to light that this upsets newcomer Deng, who must be shaking his head at the lack of interest his teammates show from night-to-night.

The players are feuding in the locker room, and there seems to be an individualistic approach to the game for many of the young players.

Shouldn’t that have been thought of when they were drafted?

That brings us back to Grant, the beginning point of this vicious circle.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this edition of the Cleveland Cavaliers. How it gets fixed will be very important for the future of this franchise.

There will probably be changes in all three phases of the organization.

In Retrospect, Cavs’ Problems Started in Summer

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not only a mess on the court; their front office is now sticking its collective head in the sand.

Yesterday, GM Chris Grant met with the media (a noble thing because it’s easy to meet with them when things are going well) to talk about his basketball team, who came off a 3-2 west coast trip for a five game home stand, and went just 1-4.

However, Grant identified the five game trek away from Quicken Loans Arena as the real Cavaliers, not the 13-27 record they have in all games outside of that trip.

Here’s hoping the GM was just doing media lip service with that comment because right now this season has been a comedy of errors.

First, after firing Byron Scott, presumably because the Cavs blew several huge leads and had a problem defensively, Grant hired his old friend and former Cleveland coach Mike Brown, a guy with a strong defensive reputation.

The fact of the matter is the wine and gold still aren’t playing any better on the defensive end, and Brown’s trouble on the offensive end are once again rearing their ugly head.

Second, Grant used three picks in last summer’s draft on players who aren’t helping the team, including the first overall pick, Anthony Bennett.

Bennett was out of shape in training camp due to off-season shoulder surgery, struggled early, and then fell out of Brown’s rotation.

Sergey Karasev, who has the reputation as a good shooter, is simply too young and inexperienced to play yet at the NBA level, and Carrick Felix, who came with a good reputation as a defender in college, were the other two picks.

For a team who finished in the lottery last season to get nothing out of the draft is a crime, even if it was a weak draft.

Bennett has some ability, but the pressure the coaching staff felt to win right away put him on the bench, or perhaps it is Brown’s inclination to not ever give rookies playing time.

Based on his history, he tends to leave inexperienced players on the bench.

Wasn’t that taken into consideration when he was hired?

The next moves were to bring in some veteran free agents, G Jarrett Jack, F Earl Clark, and C Andrew Bynum. The former’s primary position is point guard, which is manned by the Cavs’ best player, Kyrie Irving.

Jack can play the shooting guard spot too, meaning he does the same things as last year’s first round pick, Dion Waiters.

You can make the conclusion that this acquisition didn’t fill a need it just added a body.

The same is true of Clark, a power forward by trade who plays the same spot as two of the Cavs’ better players: Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao.

Bynum did fill a need, a quality NBA center, but he was coming off a knee injury that caused him to miss all of last season. It was a gamble, so it’s difficult to be critical of this move, particularly because Grant moved the big man to get a quality player in Luol Deng.

It’s been a sad, slow trip through the off-season to get to this point in what has been a horrible basketball season.

Pretty much every move Grant made has blown up in his face.

Yes, we agreed with some when they were made (signing Jack) and disagreed with others (hiring Brown).

When you look back, none of them have worked. Now, Grant is faced with fixing the mess he created in order to save his job.

Now, On to The Cavs’ Mess

Two weeks ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded a suspended Andrew Bynum for two-time all-star Luol Deng and basketball fans on the north coast were optimistic.

Deng started playing with the wine and gold at the beginning of a five game trip to the west coast, and although they took a horrible blowout loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings, they went 3-2 on the road (despite going into the trek with just two wins away from The Q), and basketball fans here were optimistic.

Then the Cavs came home for a five game homestand, and promptly lost the first two games, both with disappointing efforts.

That slapped fans of the wine and gold back into reality.

Why this basketball feels it can just show up and win games despite the fact they are 15-27 on the season is baffling. Yet, night after night, they appear to be lackadaisical, fall behind, and then lose to teams they should beat, especially at home.

Something needs to change and quickly, because the season is more than halfway complete.

If the Browns are considered a mess, the Cavs aren’t very far behind.

The playoffs can still be attained, but it is very clear at this point that the roster GM Chris Grant put together and the coach Grant hired do not mix well.

And since the Cavs had the same problems last year under Byron Scott, it looks to be a more player related issue. Although we didn’t like the Brown rehire when it was made, and his offensive concepts are deplorable, it doesn’t seem to be on the coach.

The ridiculous notion that it would be more beneficial to miss the playoffs and re-enter the draft lottery makes you shake your head. It is typical of the “we’ll be good in the future” attitude that surrounds the Browns and permeates the city.

What you will get in the lottery is another player who will need time to develop his game. Yes, it’s a deeper draft, but how many players projected to come out can be expected to start on an NBA team, particularly the Cavaliers, next season?

There will be a couple for sure, so you could make the comment that unless you get a top three pick, you will get another project. And isn’t the Cleveland roster full of guys who need to develop and play better?

That’s another reason Grant should have considered another coach, because Brown has no track record of developing and finishing off players. Have any of the young Cavs improved over last season?

You can’t make a case for any of them.

And the young players don’t seem to be showing a great deal of respect for Brown either, because they clearly aren’t working hard, particularly on the defensive end, which is the coach’s forte.

Look at the way Cleveland’s opponent last night, the Bulls, played. Granted, their roster isn’t filled with young players like the Cavs, but they went out and played hard, played defense, and won even though they were without two starters, and had traded Deng here two weeks ago.

Grant and Brown need to take a good look at the roster and see who fits what they are trying to do, and who doesn’t.

The players who don’t should be moved elsewhere for players who will fit the system. And this needs to be done quickly.

The Cavs aren’t playing any rookies this season. Everyone has been in the league now for at least a year and a half, so the front office should be able to identify whom they can build with.

We understand that with young teams comes inconsistency. But that shouldn’t pertain to effort and defense.

That message isn’t getting through to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Something has to change to make sure it does.

Young Cavs Need to Toughen Up, Get Some Grit

The Cleveland Cavaliers opened their trip out west with good feelings. They started their new acquisition, two-time all-star Luol Deng, and defeated the Utah Jazz.

However, things took a sharp turn south as the Sacramento Kings, a team with a similar record as Cleveland’s, hammered the wine and gold. The 44 point loss was the largest margin of defeat in the NBA this season.

During the game, the Cavs’ young guards, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters seemed upset at being taken out of the game by head coach Mike Brown. Whether they were dismayed by the fact their team was getting shredded or because they were losing playing time is up for debate. Whatever the reason, it seems like there is a problem behind the scenes.

Yes, the Cavaliers are a relatively young basketball team, but the only rookie getting regular playing time is free agent Matthew Dellavedova, a gritty, energy type of player.

The rest of the team is in their second or third years in the league, so they’ve been around long enough to know the NBA. And they do have veterans like Anderson Varejao, Jarrett Jack, and now Deng, along with a veteran coaching staff to tell them the work that is needed on a daily basis to win in the league.

So, why isn’t it taking?

The Cavs look disinterested in too many games, and they get blown out far too frequently for a team that has four top five picks in the draft on the roster.

It doesn’t seem like the players are learning from the experience. A loss like the one to the Kings shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone in the organization.

When Jack signed with the Cavs last summer, he made a statement about how there are two types of players, those who love the lifestyle and those who love the game.

Right now, it looks like the young players with the Cavaliers are more about the former, and it spells trouble for the franchise unless that changes.

Look, every player likes to win. The crowds are with you and it makes it easy to show up at the gym every day to practice.

What are needed for this organization to move forward are players who hate to lose. Those men are stung by every loss, and they will do anything to prevent defeat.

Our contention is that Michael Jordan’s greatest attribute as a player was his competitive streak. The man simply hated to lose at anything. Most of the great players in any sport have the same trait.

It doesn’t appear that the Cavaliers have many players who have the “competitiveness” gene. They are happy to be professional basketball players, but they don’t want to do whatever it takes to win basketball games.

You would like to think the veterans on the team could communicate this to Irving, Waiters, and the rest, but it hasn’t taken yet and the season is almost halfway through. GM Chris Grant added another veteran voice in bringing Deng over.

Hopefully, bringing a guy who has been on playoff teams the past few years makes a difference.

That’s the risk of having a team made up of a majority of young players. Sometimes, they learn to win together like the Cavs of the 80’s with Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, and Mark Price.

These Cavs need to develop some toughness and grit. If winning doesn’t start soon then Grant will need to make changes with the roster to bring in players who are sick of losing.

The time to make the playoffs is now and the time to start demanding victories is also now. The players need to get on board or move elsewhere.

Hard To Criticize Possible Move for Gasol

The Cleveland Cavaliers rehired Mike Brown as coach because they wanted to re-establish a defensive identity.

Last season, they ranked 25th in the NBA in points allowed per game at 101.2 and were the league’s worst team in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to shoot 47.6% from the floor.

However, this season the Cavs have actually allowed more points per game at 101.3, but their defensive field goal percentage has dropped to 16th in the Association at 45.1%.

The wine and gold is actually rebounding better defensively as well, ranking last in the NBA in 2012-13, and this year improving to 14th.

So, the case can be made that the Cavaliers do play better defense, which is what Brown was brought in to accomplish.

While we have been critical of Brown’s ability to coach offensive basketball, how does the scoring compare to last season?

Last season, the Cavs scored 96.5 points per night, and shot 43.4% from the floor. This year, the points are down to 95.5 (one point per game) and the shooting percentage has also dropped to 42.2%.

So, Cleveland has improved the frequency with which their opponents make shots, but they are still allowing the same amount of points while they are scoring less than last year.

Therefore, there hasn’t been any improvement in total.

The record hasn’t improved all that much as Byron Scott’s team was 7-25 after 32 games, while this year’s edition of the Cavs is sitting at 11-21.

It’s the lack of dramatic improvement that gets basketball fans in Cleveland antsy. Many people thought the natural progression of young players, the return to health of Anderson Varejao, and the addition of Andrew Bynum could get the Cavaliers over the .500 mark and into the playoffs.

The return to the playoffs is still a possibility as the wine and gold is still just three games out of a post-season spot despite their mediocre record.

That’s why a change is needed and the quicker the better.

With the amount of youth on this basketball team, there isn’t a huge gain to be made by making the draft lottery again. To be sure, the fans and media who believe that everyone in the draft is great will disagree, but really, GM Chris Grant needs to change the culture of losing that has seeped into the franchise since LeBron James departed.

That’s why if Grant can get C/F Pau Gasol from the Lakers for Bynum, he should do so immediately.

If Gasol comes here with the right attitude, and he hasn’t had any character issues in the past, he would provide a player who has been on winning teams and would also provide a legitimate scoring threat, averaging 15.3 points per night this season.

Remember, the Cavs are dealing a player they no longer want in Bynum and perhaps, if the rumors are true, a wing player who has fallen out of the rotation in Alonzo Gee, so it’s hard to be critical of the move.

Plus, Gasol can be a free agent at the end of the year, which helps with salary cap implications.

It still doesn’t address the need of a legitimate #2 guard and/or a small forward, positions the Cavs need to take a leap in the standings and also to balance the roster, but it is getting something for nothing.

However, Grant then needs to make another move to bring in players at other spots besides guards who handle the ball who can score. And he needs to do that as quickly as possible.

The Cavs need to do anything they can to make the playoffs and show young players like Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Tristan Thompson what it’s like to experience playoff basketball.

That’s what the “draft people” don’t get. The franchise needs to take a step forward and the quicker the better.