January 2011
23 posts
6 tags
Colt Vs Kolb
Adam Schefter is reporting that the Philadelphia Eagles have decided to franchise Mike Vick and trade Kevin Kolb.
More importantly to us, sources are listing the Browns as one of the teams potentially interested in trading for him.
You’re not going to find a bigger proponent than me of the notion that until your NFL team has a quarterback, they’re just not important. You’re...
3 tags
Boobie Gibson and the Oklahoma Thunder
The last time the Oklahoma City Thunder were on national television, I remarked on Twitter that I would not be able to take them seriously as a contender until they could make for than 5 threes a game (good for 28th in the league).
I wrote this because I’m a big believer in the impact the 3P shot has on offensive efficiency. When your team can shoot well from behind the arc, not only does...
7 tags
Let's Make a Deal. (Please, I'm Begging.)
Like a lot of other Cleveland sports junkies, I grow a little more frustrated every day by the Cavs. However, I’m no longer talking about the record or the lack of defense. I’m not talking about the players. I’m not even talking about the infallible Byron Scott (for once).
I’m talking about the front office.
Clearly, the team isn’t going to turn things around. At...
4 tags
Competition and the Popularity of Pro Sports
In yesterday’s post, Tim wrote some things that I didn’t wholeheartedly agree with (it happens from time to time). I’m overgeneralizing a bit, but his argument was essentially that, of the three major professional sports, the NFL is the most friendly to small market teams, citing competitive balance as his measuring stick.
There are, of course, different ways to gauge...
9 tags
NFL: the Official League of Non-Major Markets(?)
Yesterday, Mike made an excellent point about what dark clouds the new NBA free agent circus may hold for small-to-mid-market franchises. His conclusion syncs up nicely with something I’ve been thinking about since the end of the Browns season.
The question is this: Is it possible that in a few years, the NFL will be the only sustainable pro sport in non-major markets, i.e. the only one...
5 tags
Why Is It Okay to Talk About Carmelo?
I’d be surprised if there is a single person out there reading this who is not sick and tired of hearing about the Carmelo Anthony trade talks. Include me in that mix.
So why the hell am I writing about it?
Good question. Here is my explanation:
You may remember that during the lead up to LeBron James’s free agency, the NBA doled out multiple fines for team officials who dared to...
5 tags
The Problem with Pace
Another day of the NBA season, another update on the continuing downward spiral of the 2010-11 Cavs.
Wayne Winston of adjusted plus/minus fame released his latest weighted NBA efficiency ratings yesterday. The Cavs are now even more firmly cemented in last place than before. Overall, their Winston-calculated efficiency differential has plummeted to a knee-buckling -10.41 points per 100...
2 tags
A Simple Question About Offensive Coordinators
This is a simple question, really, from a very tired and overworked young man.
Should anyone on the planet be surprised the Browns haven’t been able to hire an Offensive Coordinator yet?
I don’t think so.
Why?
Because who wants to be an Offensive Coordinator on a team where they aren’t even going to get to call the plays?
Even better, the guy calling the plays instead is...
9 tags
Colt McCoy & the Arm Strength Conundrum
Although a lot of Browns fans are excited by the possibility that Colt McCoy could finally be The Guy,a lot of analysts have agreed that there’s a dark shadow hovering over him. People love his leadership. They love his work ethic. They love his intelligence and the way he performed under pressure. But from Tony Grossi onward, the word is that McCoy’s arm strength is “a...
3 tags
Holmgren vs. LeBron
In a tweet last week, LeCharles Bentley suggested that there were parallels between Mike Holmgren’s decision to hire Pat Shurmur as head coach of the Cleveland Browns and LeBron James’s decision to leave the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
The implication here, of course, is that Holmgren decided a long time ago that Eric Mangini would be fired and that Shurmur would replace him - just...
12 tags
Browns Draft Considerations →
The link jumps to an excerpt from a book called Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won, by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim. The book itself is billed as “Freakonomics for sports.” I just read another excerpt on a different topic in the new issue of Sports Illustrated last night have been really impressed with it so far.
The excerpt...
3 tags
Everything Goes In Cycles
Here are two box scores, from two separate Cavaliers games, about 20 years apart.
Cavaliers vs. Lakers
Cavaliers vs. Heat
The first, as all of you can guess, I’m sure, is the Cavs’ 55 point loss to the Lakers from Tuesday.
The second is the Cavs’ 68 point victory over the Miami Heat on December 17, 1991.
This is simply a reminder that, in sports, like in many things,...
5 tags
Byron Scott & the Case of the 55 Point Loss
A lot has been said in the past 24 hours about the Cavs’ 55-point humiliation at Staples Center on Tuesday night. There’s the quantifiable and historic angle: largest margin of defeat in franchise history, fewest points scored in franchise history, etc. There’s the dramatic angle, courtesy of LeBron’s Twitter-supplied middle finger to Dan Gilbert and who knows who else. This being Cleveland,...
Chucky Commits to MNF, Shurmur Smiles and Waits
Well, last night it happend — Jon Gruden verbally committed back to Monday Night Football, he will not enter the draft, he will not pass Go, he will continue to collect on the last year of his Tampa Bay contract.
Yes, he was a JMID favorite to be the next Browns coach — well, at least my favorite pick, but it was not meant to be. However, in true “We’re Not Here To...
6 tags
Pat Shurmur & The Cool
The Browns are set to interview current Giants’ defensive coordinator Perry Fewell today, but according to sources such as Peter King, Rams’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is the current favorite for the job.
This is not news in and of itself. I won’t bother listing out all the boxes Shurmur has checked; undoubtedly you’ve read that somewhere else by now. Suffice it...
2 tags
The End of Varejao's Season
On Sunday, the Cavs announced that Anderson Varejao’s season is most likely over.
This has an obvious effect on the team, as Varejao was a part of the Cavs’ best performing line-up (Boobie Gibson-Mo Williams-Anthony Parker-Antawn Jamison-Varejao), a line-up that also got more floor time than any other unit.
It is also worth mentioning that Varejao’s 2-year Adjusted +/- ranks...
4 tags
Cavs Milestone Time
It’s official: with Sacramento’s win at home against Denver last night, they have now pushed the Cavs down to the sad position of holding the worst record in the NBA (8-27).
In light of this checkpoint, I thought it would be good to take a quick look at how they’re progressing under the great Byron Scott.
Since it’s something I highlighted as a red flag back in...
On the Limits of Revenue Sharing in the NBA →
True Hoop links to a story from Business Insider that argues revenue sharing would not help small market teams compete. I agree with this P.O.V.
7 tags
Cavaliers Offer Job to Ex-Con With Radio Ready...
Since the Cavaliers can’t even keep a game against the 24th best team in the NBA to within single digits, I am instead going to write about the second biggest joke of the day: the Cavaliers PR department’s decision to stage a publicity stunt.
As if this woeful season full of deeply terrible defense and a new allegedly fast breaking offense that can’t run past the first half...
7 tags
The Newfound Vulnerability of Mike Holmgren
As the level of chatter around the Browns’ now-vacant head coaching position rises, there’s another way that Eric Mangini’s recent dismissal is significant for the organization.
Whatever its contents may be, from here on out Mike Holmgren is officially the man holding the bag.
Holmgren has been in his presidential role with the Browns for a little more than a year. But the...
5 tags
The Ghost of Mangini
Just about everything that can be said has been said about Eric Mangini.
I disagreed with his approach to the game of football, which seemed to revolve around a desire to keep the score close and hope for luck.
Therefore, I agree with Mike Holmgren’s decision to make a head coaching change.
When it comes to the process Holmgren and General Manager Tom Heckert have now begun - the search...
6 tags
Browns: Where Do We Go Now?
With the Browns taking a humiliating 41-9 dive against the Steelers today, the second consecutive 5-11 Browns season comes to a close. It seems all but certain that we’ve seen the end of the Eric Mangini era, as well.
The question is: what now?
I’m not going to spend time speculating who the next coach will be. Peter King reported on Football Night in America tonight that he...
6 tags
Cavaliers: Adjusted +/- →
The above is a link to this year’s Adjusted +/- stats on the Cavaliers, from Basketball Value. I thought it would be worth checking out, given Andy, Boobie, and Mo’s inactive status for tonight’s game against Chicago.
As you can see, in the one year numbers - which are noisy - Andy, Boobie, and Sessions are the only good things going.