Browns Just Don’t Have It. A Culture That Is

We definitely believe that winning is a learned skill. Yes, it comes through experience, but it is also a mindset. It’s a lot like waking up in the morning and deciding if you are going to have a good day or a bad day.

Or you are an optimist or a pessimist.

We do complain about the money the Cleveland Guardians spend, but there is no question in our mind that there still is an attitude of we are going to win throughout the organization.

We all saw it this past season, when the Guards fell 15 games out of first place, and lost their closer to a suspension and still wound up winning the American League Central Division. Of course, that comes from over a decade of success, but their manager, the front office, and the players didn’t let negatives creep into their mindset.

Since Terry Francona was hired by the team in 2013, the Indians/Guardians have only missed the post-season five times and the worst season they had was a year where they lost 86 games.

There has been no tanking, no deliberate losing.

The same holds true for the Cavaliers, who won the city’s only professional sports title since 1964 in 2016. Yes, they had some down years when LeBron James left via free agency, but we would guess that everyone involved with the Cavs knows owner Dan Gilbert wants to win, and they take steps to get back to that each year.

Just five seasons after James departed, the Cavaliers won 51 regular season games. Yes, the LeBron years set a foundation and expectation to win, and it continues today.

Which brings us to the Browns. From our perspective, it doesn’t appear there is a culture of winning. Now what is that? We don’t know exactly, but you can tell who has it and who doesn’t.

We have said this many times on this site, but the Browns are like the sign in the bar proclaiming free beer tomorrow. One of the area’s sports writers (Jason Lloyd) has written the Browns are great at talking about different plans to win, but they rarely are able to execute them.

The front office is stuck on having one way to be able to win, getting a franchise quarterback, and they think there is only one way to do that, and that is to get a very high draft pick.

We have detailed in past posts that there is simply no evidence to suggest that a path to success. When you look around the league, yes, you probably need to have a QB drafted in the first round to be able to win, but it’s more about recognizing talent.

We all know the Browns did have the first pick overall and drafted a QB just eight years ago in Baker Mayfield and after a few years, they convinced themselves he wasn’t the guy. How is that working out?

They saw a shiny object in the corner in Deshaun Watson and decided to move on from Mayfield and trade for him? Why, because it makes the process easier and quicker.

There isn’t an easy way to establish culture. It’s hard and sometimes painful.

We laugh at times at the “tanking crowd” because they will look at some quarterback with disdain. They want the first overall pick in the draft, but only when and if guys like Joe Burrow, Andrew Luck, or Peyton Manning are at the top.

So, the strategy is luck of the draw? If so, that’s a poor method.

Heck, the owner told everyone the hope is to find the “franchise quarterback” in 2026. What do the players think about that? It’s hard to set a winning culture when the team owner is talking about next season.

Free beer tomorrow.

That’s why new leadership is needed. Not new ownership, because no one is selling a cash cow. But someone who will set a standard of winning football games, no matter who the QB is or what else surrounds the team.

All you have to do is look two hours to the east and the rival Steelers. They have a winning culture. And guess what, they are always in the mix.

Stop making plans, stop making excuses. That’s the first step to building a culture.

Does Guardians’ Front Office Have A “Hate To Lose” Mindset?

In our coaching days, we used to say there was a difference between wanting to win and hating to lose. Our favorite players were the latter.

Some people might think that is the same thing, but they are not. Everyone likes to win. It’s more fun, your peers love it, everybody is happy. But if you hate to lose, that means you will do everything you can to avoid having that feeling.

That means putting in extra work, studying the game, recognizing something your opponent does that you can take advantage of. It’s taking the extra step, so you don’t have the feeling you have after a loss.

We bring this up because recently there have been conversations on the sports talk shows around town about the ownership of the city’s three professional sports teams.

Some fans of the Cleveland Guardians have been upset because it has been suggested that the owners of the franchise don’t have the same attitudes as the Haslam family and the Gilbert family.

The first thing to point out is this has nothing to do with the success of the franchise. We know of the three teams, the Guardians have been the most consistent winners, making the playoffs seven times in the last 12 completed seasons.

The Cavaliers have won the only title northeast Ohio has seen in the last 61 years, hanging a banner after the 2015-16 season. They have been wildly successful since drafting LeBron James in 2003, and even without James, they have made the post-season the past three years and had the best record in the Eastern Conference this past year.

We all know about the woeful history of the Browns since they returned to the league in 1999. They have had three playoff seasons, but also 18 double digit loss years, including the infamous 0-16 in 2017.

The argument isn’t who has had the most success though, it’s what group would do the most to get a championship for the franchise and city?

We know Dan Gilbert did everything he could to win a title when James was here both times, and he spent all he could after the superstar returned, trading draft picks to put together a roster to achieve the title in ’16, and he has said he has no problem paying a tax to win again.

You have to know he would love to get a second title and one without James.

The Browns have made many ill-fated moves in order to get to the franchise’s first Super Bowl since the Haslam family bought the team. But you can’t say they aren’t passionate about getting to the championship game.

And we have every confidence that if the Browns were in that “one piece away” situation, the ownership would step up and do what it takes to get there.

We are sorry but we do not feel the same way about the Dolan ownership of the Guardians. There is a feeling they are in the class of being happy when they win, but if they don’t, well they don’t like it, but they don’t hate it.

With all the success the Indians/Guardians have had since 2013, the only time the franchise really “went for it” was in ’16 when they traded for Andrew Miller and don’t forget they had another deal in place for catcher Jonathan Lucroy that he vetoed.

Also remember, that team went to the World Series.

If they do have a burning desire to win a championship, they don’t communicate it to their fans very well. The attitude that surrounds the franchise is that of we hope we can get in the playoffs, and we’ll see what happens then.

We understand baseball has the flukiest post-season of the major sports, but the most recent example of last off-season echos. The Guardians were three wins away from getting back to the Fall Classic and decided to allocate less money to the front office than they did the year before.

We have said it before, and we will say it again. 1948 should ring throughout the bowels on the offices on Ontario and Carnegie.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Do The Browns Get Most Of Our Sports Love?

We have said many times that our favorite sports are baseball and basketball, making us a minority in a city that presents itself as a football city.

That doesn’t mean we don’t follow and root for the Browns, we certainly do, and find it crazy that there are people in town who are die-hard followers of the brown and orange, but pay no attention to the Guardians or Cavaliers.

We are lucky to live in a city with three major league professional franchises and we don’t take that for granted.

Our question though is why do the Browns get so much love and loyalty in northeast Ohio, and do they deserve it?

For older fans like us, it could be because the Browns were the only winning team in our youth, that being the late 60’s. The Cleveland Browns were one of the premier franchises in the NFL from the time they entered in 1950 until basically 1970.

At that time, there were no Cavaliers (started in 1970-71) and the Indians were just starting a malaise that lasted from 1960 through 1993.

After pretty much a dormant period in the 70’s and early 80’s (excluding the Kardiac Kids season of 1980), the Browns reemerged as Super Bowl contenders in the late 80’s, led by Bernie Kosar, Hanford Dixon, Frank Minnifield, etc., coming up just short in some of the most excruciating ending to seasons you could imagine.

However, if you were growing up in the 90’s, the Guardians and Cavaliers have been far more successful than the Browns have since returning to the league in 1999.

And maybe that’s it. Perhaps the loss of the team for a few seasons has created a fear that if people aren’t zealous in their support of the Browns, they will move again.

Or maybe we are just grasping at straws.

Since 1995, the Indians/Guardians have made 12 post-season appearances (likely to become 13 with this season) and have played in the World Series three times, losing twice in heartbreaking circumstances.

That shouldn’t be held against them, see our earlier comments about the Browns of the late 1980’s.

The Cavaliers have played for the championship of their sport five times in this span, and cashed in 2016, the only professional title in a major sport the city has seen in the last 58 years.

The Browns? They made the playoffs twice since 1999.

That’s why we don’t understand the undying loyalty of sports fans in this area.

What about ownership? We understand baseball fans here don’t like the Dolan family because they rarely go “all in”, but it’s not like the Haslams or Gilberts are on the same par as Bill Veeck.

Haslam has had business issues and is very impulsive. How many regime changes have the Browns gone through since he bought the franchise? Gilbert inherited LeBron James, but he did everything he could to bring a championship to the city.

We understand the midwest is by and large a football haven. The NFL has it’s roots right in Canton, which is why the Hall of Fame is there. High school football is a big deal in Ohio, so the leaning toward the pro football team is understandable.

Again, we aren’t saying to not root for the Cleveland Browns. We would love nothing more than a Super Bowl berth for them. But, they certainly don’t give fans here a great deal to be proud of, instead they have given us a tremendous amount of anguish.

We guess the heart wants what the heart wants, even if it doesn’t make a great deal of sense.

Love Is Back And Helping Cavs Win.

When LeBron James decided to leave the Cavaliers and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers following the 2018-19 season, Kevin Love became remaining member of the franchise’s “Big Three”.

We know Kyrie Irving, the other player in the trio that led the Cavs to their only NBA title was dealt prior to that season, but the wine and gold made it back to The Finals for a 4th consecutive year anyway.

After the departure of both James and Irving, Dan Gilbert offered Love a boatload of money on a contract extension, and our guess would be the promise of continuing to compete here in Cleveland. After all, Tyronn Lue was still at the helm, and the franchise still had Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, etc.

Our comment about continuing to compete is speculation, because he don’t know for sure, and we have never met Kevin Love.

We are sure the organization thought rookie Collin Sexton, the 8th overall pick in the NBA Draft would be able to help the veterans as well.

But Love injured his big toe and missed most of the season, playing in just 21 games, scoring 17 points and grabbing almost 11 rebounds per night.

By the time training camp started in 2019-20, the Cavaliers had a new coach, longtime college headman John Beilein, and added another smaller young guard in Darius Garland, and the rebuilding phase of the team was in full bloom.

For an all star player who played six years in various rebuilding programs in Minnesota before being traded to Cleveland, coinciding with James returning to the franchise, we are sure it was a bitter pill.

It wasn’t what he signed (or re-signed in his case) up for.

We aren’t saying Love handled the frustration well. He had temper tantrums. He called out his coach, who had never coached at the NBA level before, and he was frustrated with his teammates, particularly the younger guys.

He still averaged 17.6 points and almost 10 rebounds per night, and many times was playing center, a position he was no longer big enough to play on a night in, night out basis.

We also believe Love was frustrated by the lack of accountability the younger players were held to. It was as if they were allowed to not pay attention to detail without consequences.

Last year was another injury riddled year, as the veteran missed all but 25 games with a calf issue, and only averaged 24 minutes a night when he did take the floor.

The drop in availability, temperament, and production made his contract an albatross on the franchise. No team wanted to make a move for Kevin Love.

This season, the Cavs are winning for the first time since James departed and Love is rejuvenated. Embracing a bench role, averaging just 20 minutes per contest, Love is scoring 12 points and grabbing 7 boards per game.

He can still rebound with the best and he’s back to looking for that long outlet pass that was his trademark. He’s more of a sniper offensively, looking for the three point shot, and knocking down 40% in the young season.

And his defensive effort is better with the reduced playing time. J.B. Bickerstaff has made playing the right way a mandate and Love no longer has to compete with bigger centers because of the presence of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

The man can still play. We aren’t condoning the attitude issues he showed the past few seasons, just saying we understand. Once you experience winning, it’s tough to not have it.

It’s funny how things look better to everyone when winning is in the equation.

Where, Oh Where Is The Cavs’ Front Office?

It is kind of a tradition for the point man for professional sports teams to be the general manager, and normally that person speaks to the media when a major event happens or when the season ends.

That’s why it is peculiar at best that Cavs’ GM Koby Altman has not been neither seen or heard from since he completed the Jarrett Allen trade on January 13th.

Look, we get it. It’s not a pleasant task to discuss what went wrong after a losing season, especially one that ended as dismally as the Cavaliers did, losing 13 of their last 14 contests.

On the other hand, as we tell our children, would you like a list of things we have to do that are part of our job that we don’t particularly care for? It’s part of the gig to stand up and talk to the media about both the good things and bad things that occurred during the season, and to answer questions about the future.

The underlying question must be is Dan Gilbert contemplating a restructuring of the front office. Will Altman emerge from the restructuring with his job or just a new boss? That has to be the only option, because otherwise not having availability with the media after the season concludes is either a bad look, or just plain fear.

We have said before we believe someone else needs to be involved in the future planning of this basketball team and that person cannot and should not have the last name of Gilbert. It needs to be someone who has played or coached in the league, and should be someone not that far removed from doing those things.

And in our opinion, it needs to be someone from outside the organization, meaning someone with a fresh viewpoint on the players on the team. For example, the Cavs have put a lot of stock in Collin Sexton, but what do others not in the Cleveland organization think of him? Who does that person think should be the building blocks of the next winning team wearing wine and gold?

We understand Sexton is a lightning rod among Cavs’ followers, so we can pick out another example. Can Dean Wade be a key piece for a playoff team? He averaged 6 points and 3.4 rebounds playing 19 minutes per game, playing in 63 of them. He’s a stretch four, shooting almost 37% from beyond the arc in 2020-21.

However, to us, he’s a 10th-12th man on a good team. We watch the NBA playoffs and we can’t see him getting meaningful minutes. We don’t think he’s a good enough defender to play at that level.

We think it’s time for a second set of eyes at this point. Perhaps someone new will come in and think Altman is 100% correct with his assessment of things, and if that happens, it will still give another basketball person a chance to evaluate players.

But if that person thinks the future of the franchise is best served by going in another direction, say, building around Jarrett Allen, then that should be the course taken going forward.

We maintain the problem isn’t talent, nor is it coaching, it’s fit. And we are right, then Dan Gilbert and his family have to do the right thing.

People have always taught us that the smartest people know what they don’t know.

Cavs Need A Large Step In The Winning Direction

People’s views on the just finished Cleveland Cavaliers’ season probably depend on what their definition of progress is.

Yes, the Cavs have improved in each of the last three years since LeBron James departed for a second time via free agency. In the first season, they were 19-63, a .232 winning percentage.

The following season, the win total stayed the same, but due to the COVID pandemic, the season was shortened to 65 games, so they won at a 29.2% rate. That was followed by an increase in the win column, from 19 to 22, again in a non-traditional 72 game slate, so the winning percentage increased to .306.

The last two seasons came with a draft pick selected in the top five.

If you like a slow rebuilding process, these Cavaliers are for you. But at this pace, the wine and gold will make the playoffs around when this decade ends.

That may not be fair, but this franchise hasn’t made the NBA playoffs without James since the 1997-98 season, so pardon everyone if they are skeptical about the future of this team.

It has been reported that owner Dan Gilbert is contemplating making some changes to the front office, so we guess that would put the man at the top in the not so patient class.

If Cleveland had approach the 30 win mark this season, a figure that should have been attainable, we doubt anyone would be calling for a review of how things have been done over the past three seasons. As Bill Parcells famously said, you are what your record says you are.

However, there is more to putting together a basketball team than collecting talent. And we don’t know if Altman and the current front office understands this. You need players that can play off each other, amplify the strengths of their teammates and minimize the weaknesses.

In short, you need players who play for the rest of the men on the roster.

You also need someone with a vision. Can they see the team winning with Darius Garland and Collin Sexton getting the most minutes at the guard position? And if you go forward with them as a backcourt duo, what do you have to do around them to lead to victories.

And what to do with Isaac Okoro, who played well as a rookie and took the task of defending the opposition’s best scorer pretty much on a nightly basis. Okoro can play in the NBA, but his size screams that he’s a two guard. Can he provide the offense that position requires?

The point is all three of those players have talent. In a vacuum, you would say Altman made solid choices on each player. But can you win with them playing point guard, #2 guard, and small forward? We wouldn’t bet our career on it.

We have said this before, but improvement in the win column has to be a priority. No matter what happens with the draft lottery this season, it should be made clear the franchise doesn’t want to be involved in it again following the 2021-22 season.

We believe winning is a learned skill, and it hasn’t been taught around this franchise since James left. That has to change right now, and that starts with ownership and Altman, or whoever is in charge of the basketball part of the operation.

The Cavs don’t need to be a playoff team at this time next year, but they need to take a significant step in that direction.

Time For A Change In Philosophy For Cavs

We know we are late to the party, but the Cleveland Cavaliers really are a depressing franchise unless it includes LeBron James on the roster.

The last time the Cavs won a playoff series without #23 in the wine and gold was 1992-1993, which is 28 years ago, and right now, it looks as though that streak could very well extend to 30 years before it concludes.

We are grateful for James’ time here, including that title in 2016, the only professional sports championship for the city since 1964. But the next time he will be part of a celebration in northeast Ohio will likely be his jersey retirement ceremony.

So, for the Gilbert ownership group, it’s seven seasons without James in a Cleveland uniform, and the most wins by any of those teams would be the 33 in 2013-14, the year before LBJ came back to town.

We suggest it is time for the ownership to re-examine the way they run the franchise, but quite frankly, it’s been mediocre at best under their guidance.

We understand that Gilbert spent and spent big when James was here in an effort to end the city’s title drought and we are grateful that he did. He should be commended in a big way for that.

However, the basketball decisions made outside of spending big could be described as a mess. His unwillingness to give any of his general managers second contracts, outside of Koby Altman, is well publicized, and really, none of the rebuilding movements after each of James’ departures has taken hold.

And Altman doesn’t really want to address it. He seems reticent to answer questions about what is going on with the franchise.

The time to change this is now.

After this season, it’s time to clean out the front office of this basketball team and provide a clear direction for the operations of the franchise going forward. Step one should be to stop hoping for lottery luck and the next great player in the NBA to fall in their lap like James did.

Actually, Gilbert didn’t even own the team when the Cavaliers won the lottery to beat all lotteries, getting James in 2003.

Bring in an experienced basketball executive that has playing experience if possible. It doesn’t have to be a former GM, but should be someone who has been around the game and has talent evaluation in his background. Find someone like James Jones, the current Phoenix GM, who played on the title team in 2016.

And then, stop meddling and give them time to build something.

The playing experience is important because with the movement towards analytics and looking at numbers, it’s important for someone who has played to be involved in building the team. Basketball is a game where it is important for the pieces to fit, it’s not just all about putting a bunch of talent together and hope it works.

Then, allow that new leader to hire the coach he wants to carry out the vision. And that vision should be something the organization can hang its hat on, such as defense, ball movement, etc. Players who can carry out the plan are the guys to keep.

They need to bring in someone who can teach the young players to win. We believe everybody wants to win, but some players need to be taught how to win. There are few players on the current roster that don’t put out effort.

We like J.B. Bickerstaff and maybe he’s the right guy, but if you hire a new GM, you have to give him the opportunity to bring in his own person.

Changing GMs, hoping to catch lottery magic isn’t working. Yes, the Cavs and all professional sports are in the entertainment business. And the goal of that business is winning, and that requires a plan, and allowing people to carry out that blueprint.

When the team wins, everyone can share in the credit. Look at the championship team. Yes, LeBron was the star, but this area loves players like J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, who were key pieces to the title.

It’s okay to admit when something doesn’t work. That where the Cavs’ management should be right now. There is apathy surrounding this basketball team right now, and that has to change. It’s time to start winning again.

Left On His Own, Altman’s Been Fine

With the Cleveland Cavaliers were going through their recent 10 game losing streak, the natives started getting restless. Should the franchise replace GM Koby Altman, who has been at the helm since June 2017, taking over for David Griffin.

Since Griffin was the architect of the only championship team the city has seen in the last 56 years, he is revered here so Altman faced an uphill trek because of that. And it didn’t help that he is the GM of record on the Kyrie Irving trade to Boston, which many feel had owner Dan Gilbert’s fingerprints all over it.

He did pull off the megatrade at the trade deadline of the 2018 season, bringing George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. to the Cavs, a deal that if isn’t made, the wine and gold probably do not make their fourth consecutive Finals appearance. Add to that, Nance has become one of the current team’s best players.

We feel in evaluating Altman, we should be talking about the man guiding the rebuilding of the franchise. It is difficult because early on in his tenure, it is difficult to judge what moves were made by Gilbert and which were made by Altman.

For example, we feel the signing of Kevin Love and the hiring of John Beilein as coach were moves made by ownership. Both were mistakes. Love’s contract seems to be an untradeable albatross, although we remember former GM Jim Paxson was able to move Shawn Kemp’s deal. And Beilein was an ill fit for the pro game, and left after half a season.

Several of Altman’s early moves were jettisoning veterans from the championship team for younger players. Kyle Korver brought Alec Burks, Hill brought John Henson and Matthew Dellavedova. Burks and Rodney Hood brought some spare parts and draft picks.

Altman has bad luck in the draft lottery too. The prize pick in the Irving deal, that of the Brooklyn Nets, was sabotaged a bit by Nets’ coach Kenny Atkinson, who made the team somewhat competitive, so it turned out to be the 8th overall choice. Would Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who went 11th, been a better choice? Perhaps, but over the last year or so, Sexton has shown he can be a solid NBA player.

Cleveland had the third worst record in the NBA in the 2018-19 season, but they fell to fifth in the draft and selected Darius Garland. The GM could be criticized for picking small point guards in consecutive drafts, but in this second year, Garland has shown signs he can be a player. And he added Dylan Windler late in the first round, and traded three second round picks for Kevin Porter Jr.

Porter looked like a solid pick, but the issues that caused a talented guy to drop to the last pick in the first round rose up again, and Altman was forced to deal hi to Houston.

The Andre Drummond situation seems to be a negative for Altman right now, but why not take a shot at getting a talented big man for virtually nothing. And when Drummond didn’t sign an extension, Altman got involved in the James Harden deal and picked up 22-year-old Jarrett Allen, who appears to be an all star in the making.

We know you cannot cancel parts of the schedule, but the Cavaliers just went through a brutal stretch of a schedule in which they played six games against top four seeds in each conference, and four more against likely playoff teams. Predictably, they lost 14 of 16.

Altman hasn’t been perfect, but no, repeat no GM is. He deserves to go through another trading deadline and draft to say what progress the Cavs can make in 2021-22. Besides, if he were to be replaced, it would likely mean a new GM would want to hire a new head coach.

Just think, since Altman got the gig, he inherited Tyronn Lue, and he was replaced by Larry Drew, John Beilein, and now Bickerstaff. J.B. will be the first coach to have an entire season since Lue guided the franchise to their fourth straight Eastern Conference crown.

There are more plusses than minuses right now for Altman, especially since the owner seems to not be involved. He deserves to see how it will play out.

Cavs Should Use Heat As A Model

As the people of northeast Ohio are well aware, the Cleveland Cavaliers made four straight trips to the NBA Finals from 2015-2018.

However, another team from the Eastern Conference did the same thing in the past ten years. Of course we are talking about the Miami Heat, who were also led by LeBron James. The Heat made four consecutive trips from 2011-2014.

We bring this up because the Heat have recovered post-LeBron and will be in the Eastern Conference finals beginning in a few days against either the Boston Celtics or the defending champion Toronto Raptors.

They accomplished this even though they didn’t bottom out or hope for the top pick in the NBA Draft by getting lucky in the lottery.

Maybe the Cavaliers should take a look at how Miami did it, instead of hoping for the Oklahoma City model of hitting it big in the lottery, something that happened just one time.

The year after James left Miami, the Heat dropped from 54 wins to a 37-45 record. They still had Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, although he played just 44 games. They signed Luol Deng and Danny Granger as free agents, and signed second year big man Hassan Whiteside as a free agent.

At the trading deadline, they made a move with the Suns, dealing Granger, who played in only 30 games for guard Goran Dragic.

In the next draft, they selected Justice Winslow with the 10th overall pick, and signed Amar’e Stoudemire as a free agent. With Bosh returning for 53 games, they won 48 games (#3 seed) and lost in the conference semi-finals to Toronto.

They took a step back in 2016-17, finishing with a .500 record (41-41), missing the playoffs (9th in the East). Wade and Bosh were both gone, and so was Deng. The roster was now centered around Dragic, Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, and James Johnson, signed from Toronto in the off-season.

And they hung their hat on the defensive end, ranking 5th in the NBA on that end of the floor.

They added to that by drafting Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick in 2017 draft, and added another big man, Kelly Olynyk as a free agent.

A 44-38 record was achieved along with the 6th seed in the East, but they lost their first round match up with the 76ers, four games to one.

They missed the playoffs last season with a 39-43 record, but signed Derrick Jones Jr. and Duncan Robinson as free agents, and drafted Tyler Herro with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 draft.

They also signed Kendrick Nunn as a free agent during the summer and added the final piece they needed to contend trading for Jimmy Butler, with the biggest piece being moved being Whiteside, who lost playing time to Adebayo.

There were no 15 win seasons, no 20 win seasons, no falling to the depths of the NBA gutter. The franchise’s worst record was 37-45. They didn’t even use themselves as a destination place for NBA free agents.

One thing they have is a clear identity for the franchise in Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra. There’s a hint for Dan Gilbert.

They also have a defensive mindset. After the first year post-LBJ, Miami hasn’t ranked lower than 11th in defensive rating.

They also have a keen eye for talent. Jones Jr. and Robinson have been key contributors this season, and they were found on the basketball scrapheap.

The point is there are many ways to build a team, you don’t have to bottom out, which always seems to be the plan in Cleveland, and unless you sign LeBron James, it hasn’t worked out.

Hopefully, there is a clear cut plan with Koby Altman and JB Bickerstaff and it can work out like it did for Miami. Nothing but admiration here for the job Riley and Spoelstra have done.

More importantly, the constant change at both the GM spot and the head coach has to end. And that comes from ownership. Hire the right people and let them do their jobs. We understand they won’t have the championship pedigree that Riley has, but there are people out there who are capable of building a solid basketball team.

You have to have complementary players and an organizational mindset of defense and toughness. It’s been awhile since the Cavaliers have had that. The time to start is this off-season.