January 27, 2011
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 this point they’ll be lucky to avoid the worst record in modern NBA history. But I worry, because I have seen nothing in weeks that indicates the front office has accepted this unavoidable reality.

Mike and I have already argued on this blog for months that the best possible move is for the Cavs to declare the present a total loss and do anything they can to prepare for the future. By now, we’re certainly not alone, and it’s no longer a revolutionary opinion (if it ever was).

Yet every day I check for Cavs’ trade rumors, and every day I come up empty.

So for all the talk about the need to collect assets and build through the draft, I have no real evidence that the front office is making overtures to try to do that. And if they’re not, I cannot for the life of me imagine why. Because at this point, that’s their only function besides scouting the NCAA and Euroleagues—making this team worse now (and better later) by pawning off any semi-valuable players to contenders at the highest possible price. 

Other people have written about how Dan Gilbert’s near-psychotic need to win faster than LeBron has already hindered the rebuilding process. The argument is that after being humiliated by James, Gilbert convinced himself that the Cavs should try to compete for the playoffs this year as a way of saving face.

Of course, I don’t have behind-the-scenes knowledge of what’s going on in the owner’s box, but I suspect that there’s a good deal of truth to this theory. All you have to do is realize that whatever the Cavs could’ve gotten for Andy over the summer would’ve been better than what they can get for him for the rest of this season, which is basically nothing.

The real problem is that I now fear that Gilbert will try to save face by holding onto would-be “stars” like Jamison and Mo in hopes of avoiding the worst record ever—without realizing that those big(ger) names are directly contributing to the reasons the team is losing as much as it is. (To prove Byron Scott is either a hypocrite, out of options, or out of touch, consider that Jamison is averaging 31.3mpg this season despite Scott’s insistence that only players who will lock down on defense will see playing time. Watching Jamison try to D up reminds me of that moment in every ghost movie where someone or something passes directly through the body of a specter and leaves all witnesses amazed and terrified.)

I admit that just because I’m not seeing rumors on the web doesn’t mean that talks aren’t happening behind closed doors. The Cavs’ case is also hurt by injuries to some of their more tradeable assets: Andy out for the season, Mo having only appeared in 34 games because of nagging ailments.

But between now and the trading deadline (which is only a month away), I sincerely hope to see strong evidence that Chris Grant and company are working the phones like mad to try to get what they can for what they have. If they’re not—or if Gilbert’s ego is holding them back in any way—this rebuilding process is going to be as delayed and bumpy as major real-world construction projects so often are. Having been up close and personal with one of those for a number of years, I hope for the city’s and the fan base’s sake that none of us have to suffer through that.

-T

12:33am  |   URL: http://www.josemesaisdead.com/post/2955418712/lets-make-a-deal-please-im-begging
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FILED UNDER: NBA Cavs Chris Grant Dan Gilbert Trades Antawn Jamison LeBron James 
December 2, 2010
Cleveland, C’mon Now, We Can’t Let Sports Define Us

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write this column. I considered posting a video of myself offering suggestions for what the people of Northeast Ohio should be doing instead of spending a whole lot of time worrying about a basketball player named LeBron James. But here I am, staring at the screen, typing away. I suppose I can’t stop myself from writing, no matter how badly I sometimes wish I could. 

And, based on my contributions to our Twitter feed and to this blog, I apparently can’t stop writing about LeBron. Or “Bron” as I used to call him when he was still a Cavalier (admittedly, I relapse sometimes, on occasion). The man’s contributions to the Cleveland sports world probably inspired us to create this website as much as anything. He showed young fans in Cleveland who missed out on the Browns playoff runs of the 80s and the Indians near championships in the 90s, that success was possible at the highest levels. 

It is fair to say then that LeBron has had an impact on my life, both in tangible (I’ve written about him) and intangible (witnessing greatness moves me to want to be great) ways. I am okay with that. I believe that sports, entertainment, and art can motivate and inspire, so long as the observers are active participants. Interpretation though is key. 

Recently, we’ve talked here about not putting professional sports on a pedestal of importance. I will continue to be irritated by the existence of Cleveland Browns Stadium, funded with nearly 75% taxpayer money, wasting precious real estate on the lake. I intend, at some point, to begin a campaign to have the Indians change their nickname and mascot to something that isn’t entirely regressive. I will try to talk fans down off of the ledge if the Browns make it to the playoffs in the near future and blow a game. Cleveland isn’t cursed, I’ll say. Come on, man.

After spending the first 18 years of my life in Northeast Ohio, I have devoted the majority of my time over the course of the past twelve months to occupying the same terrain. Cleveland has changed. Parts of it have progressed. Cleveland, I know, will always love sports. I will continue to love sports, as well. I understand. And it’s not wrong. I admire sports enough to write about them 2-3 times a week, after all. But the sad truth is that Northeast Ohio allows itself to be defined by its professional sports teams far too easily and far too often. 

This is why, I think, tonight could be seen as a crucial turning point in the history of this region. The national perception of Cleveland will be affected by whatever happens. Most people watching from around the country will be hoping for a train wreck. Part of that is human nature. Another part of that is the expectations that the media and the past behavior of Cleveland sports fans have filtered into the collective subconscious of America.

I had a mild argument a couple of weeks ago with a friend at Bar Cento in Ohio City. He said Cleveland has nothing to care about except its sports teams. My friend grew up in Cleveland, and he feels this way, so you can imagine what people who have never been to the Midwest must think. I countered by saying that there may be some truth to that, but there is no reason why sports have to be the only thing in Cleveland. They don’t. If the citizenship spent as much time trying to build something in the city center as they do flocking Downtown on Sundays, paying $25 for parking while drinking Four Loko (R.I.P.) and getting bombed into oblivion, there would be more “other things” in Cleveland.  

This is not to say I’m against taking a break and having fun - although sometimes I certainly act like it. I’m definitely not against drinking - I’m a writer for god sakes. In reality, what I’m saying is that the future of Cleveland and of Northeast Ohio depends on us. We can be the region that people want us to be, drowning our sorrows whenever the Browns, Cavs, or Indians face a major setback, setting things on fire when we feel betrayed by someone we’ve never met, or storming the field during a promotional beer night. Or we can be something more. Something bigger, better, smarter, more ambitious and more sophisticated. The next time you have a decision to make that will effect your hometown in some direct or indirect way, I urge you to consider this: 

What could I do that would make someone come to Cleveland instead of make fun of it?

It is up to us to be committed to things that truly matter and villains that have actual effects on our environment, like abandoned homes and dwindling opportunities for recent college graduates, not multi-million dollar child stars named LeBron James.

We won’t all be at the game tonight. I won’t be. Even if I was, I couldn’t move the entire crowd to put on a proper display for the television cameras. Just like the actions of a team of pro athletes shouldn’t define us, neither should the behavior of a group of drunken provocateurs. 

 More importantly, whether it’s tonight or tomorrow or some night in the future, during a playoff series against the Heat, I urge everyone who feels the need to lash out at LeBron to lash out instead at the national perception of Northeast Ohio and of Cleveland.

LeBron might not have made the city light up like Vegas - and Dan Gilbert may be trying to do it in some ways I feel a little uncomfortable with and some ways I feel more positive about - but that doesn’t mean we can’t contribute to the same type of goal. 

It turns out that Cleveland can learn something from professional athletes like LeBron. Their level of confidence and belief in themselves is exactly what we need more of. 

Until later, enjoy the game. 

5:19am  |   URL: http://www.josemesaisdead.com/post/2070806016/cleveland-cmon-now-we-cant-let-sports-define-us
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FILED UNDER: Cleveland Cavs LeBron James NBA Miami Heat Dan Gilbert 
October 29, 2010
Dan Gilbert’s “Scarlet Letter” Reconsidered

As some of you may have read or heard earlier this week, Dan Gilbert has chosen to stand by his comments in the infamous Comic Sans Manifesto of July 8th (which I’m dubbing the Scarlet Letter since it roughly fits the team’s colorways). 

I have been debating with myself for the past 24 hours or so whether or not this is a good thing.

The reality is, I’m over LeBron’s departure. (Sidebar: I found myself getting irritated whenever he missed a free throw against Boston on Tuesday night, then kept happily realizing milliseconds after it happened, “Wait a minute…This no longer affects my team!” Same phenomenon whenever Shaq blew an easy lay-up. But I digress…)

As we’ve written many times already, the healthiest, most productive thing for Cleveland fans would be to move on from James as quickly as possible. Stop thinking about him, stop tracking what he’s doing, stop comparing how he’s playing, stop critiquing the condition of his image. Just put the baggage down for once.

Of course, that’s not going to happen—especially not this quickly.

Dan Gilbert knows this, as well. In fact, in his comments on Tuesday, he tried to sell the idea that he wrote the open letter not for LeBron or himself, but for the fans, so that they would know he and the rest of the organization felt the same way as they did the night James left. I’m sure there is some truth to this, but I also don’t believe for a moment that part of it wasn’t just about Gilbert being pissed off and lashing out because he felt like he’d been played—not to mention the calamitous, instant drop in the franchise’s value.

Regardless, the question is: should he have apologized or retracted the sentiment in the letter?

After contemplating, I would have to say ‘No.’

Public Relations 101 would tell you that the correct move was to backtrack. We see it happen all the time in sports journalism:  some player (most frequently), coach (on occasion), or owner (rare) gets emotional in a press conference or a sideline interview and says something his reps decide they need to retract. (Unless it was a Twitter rampage, in which case the person in question will inevitably use the ‘My account was hacked last night’ excuse.)

Barring extreme circumstances, though, do any of us really end up liking the person in question better when they backtrack? I know I don’t. In fact, I usually end up rolling my eyes and liking them less. 

I’d estimate that 80% of the time, the comment the person is apologizing for was authentic, honest, entertaining, or some combination of the three. Those are exactly the qualities that I want in an answer from a public figure. It’s one of the reasons I look forward to every Phil Jackson sound byte. He plays head games; he takes shots; and he absolutely does not apologize, no matter how outraged his target may be.

I disagreed with Gilbert’s decision to release the letter in the first place. I thought it further inflamed a public that already had the potential for rioting. But considering that nothing terrible happened that night, and we now have some distance from it, I’m happy that he’s chosen to stand by his comments. At least he doesn’t look like another spineless P.R. zombie.

However, he’s also smart enough to know that the anti-James sentiment in Cleveland is still very strong, and will continue to be for a long time. In that sense, his stance makes him look good to both sides of the aisle. The fans who are still angry at James believe that Gilbert is still with them; the fans who have moved on from James’s exit can respect that he neither copped out nor made the situation worse. (Most importantly, he made clear that he will not release the laundry list of LeBron’s transgressions and shortcomings that he promised he would air out back in July.)

In the final analysis, I give Gilbert a pass for his handling of this most recent interview. However, I also have a sneaking suspicion that we haven’t heard the last from him on this topic. Whether or not I’ll be in his corner on the next chapter remains to be seen.

-T

2:21am  |   URL: http://www.josemesaisdead.com/post/1430495754/dan-gilberts-scarlet-letter-reconsidered
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FILED UNDER: Cavaliers Dan Gilbert LeBron James Ether Comic Sans 
August 5, 2010
Lance Blanks & A Very Special Cavs Mystery

If you follow front office moves, you already know that today Cavs exec Lance  Blanks was hired away by Phoenix to be their new general manager. Blanks worked under Danny Ferry during his entire tenure as Cavs’ GM, along with the brief stint under Chris Grant after Ferry’s contract expired earlier this summer.

As someone who has staunchly defended the Cavs’ executives for the past several years, I find this to be an interesting moment. We all know that among most NBA fans and pundits, the perception of the franchise’s front office has been less than favorable for a long time. Ferry is still routinely blamed by the usual talking heads for hastening LeBron’s exit by trying to build a team with veteran rentals rather than young players. Practically every trade made or rumored trade NOT made has been another bullet for the critics. The consensus among the people with microphones—as well as the fans who listen to them without thinking on their own—is simple: the Cavs’ front office was a disaster. This has become Gospel.

And yet…other franchises keep offering jobs to Cavs execs!

After years as Assistant GM, Blanks—whose name only surfaced as a contender for the job last week—has now been hired away by a well-respected organization in the Suns. Danny Ferry was Paul Allen’s first choice to take over as GM of the Trailblazers about a month ago. Ferry declined, reportedly due to Allen’s similarities to Dan Gilbert in terms of the level of meddling he was capable of.  And lest we forget, Atlanta tried to hire current Cavs GM Chris Grant to be their General Manager back in 2008.  Grant declined the offer in order to stay with the Cavs as Assistant GM and VP of Basketball Operations.

Why on Earth would this happen? Well, there are three possibilities:

1) Danny Ferry secretly spent the past five years compiling a vast photo archive of owners around the league in compromising positions

2) Key decision-makers in other franchises are all complete morons who somehow managed to miss the Cavs’ execs’ obvious laundry list of bad decisions, dysfunction, and general instability that people like Bill Simmons and Chad Ford have been trumpeting for years, or…

3) Contrary to what those same scions of public opinion seem to believe, people who know basketball can see past the crap and have realized that the Cavs’ front office has consistently been pretty fucking good for a long time.

As you may guess, I happen to stand firmly in the camp #3.

One side note: Blanks’s ascension to the top post in Phoenix cements the fact that long time Spurs’ GM R.C. Buford is the Bill Parcells of NBA executives. Like Parcells, Buford’s former assistant staffers are dispersing to the highest decision-making positions in franchises around the league. Danny Ferry worked under Buford in San Antonio before being hired by Gilbert in Cleveland. Ferry brought Blanks with him from San Antonio, then promptly hired Grant away from Atlanta. Blanks has assumed the GM post in Phoenix, Grant has taken over in Cleveland, and Ferry will undoubtedly have another shot as soon as he wants it. Sam Presti worked under Buford for several years before being hired to run the Sonics, who of course then become Oklahoma City. A few weeks ago, Presti’s assistant GM Rich Cho was hired by Portland to be their new GM—the job Ferry turned down after yet another former Buford staffer, Kevin Pritchard, was fired from the job on draft night. Finally, New Orleans hired Dell Demps, another Buford disciple, away from San Antonio to assume the GM job in New Orleans. So if you count Grant thanks to his association with Ferry, 1 out of every 6 NBA teams is currently being headed by someone who can be traced back to Buford, with two former staffers (Ferry and Pritchard) having already been GMs. Pretty impressive, especially for a guy who styles himself like this.

Back to the real point.

On the one hand, I am sad to see Blanks go. His departure symbolizes the end of the brigade (Ferry, Grant, Blanks) who I came to place a great deal of trust in over the past several years. I may not have agreed with every move they made, but I also have read enough to know that some of those moves were more or less forced on them by LeBron via Dan Gilbert. I will always wonder what the team would’ve looked like had that trio been allowed to operate without restrictions, but I guess none of us will ever know. Though you can bet your ass that if I ever run into Ferry or Blanks in an airport like I did with Derek Anderson, I will go out of my way to thank them and inquire.

On the other hand, I am also very pleased to see Blanks go. Not because I wouldn’t he rather have stayed with the Cavs, but because the more success he, Danny Ferry, and other Cavs’ alumni have as the top execs in other cities, the harder it will be for ignorant critics to continue the myth that the teams’ failures during the LeBron era were the fault of the front office.

Best of luck in Phoenix, Lance. Thanks for your efforts here in C-Town. Keep fighting the good fight.

-T

11:44pm  |   URL: http://www.josemesaisdead.com/post/911543982/lance-blanks-a-very-special-cavs-mystery
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FILED UNDER: NBA Cavs Danny Ferry Lance Blanks Chris Grant Dan Gilbert Phoenix Suns Atlanta Hawks San Antonio Spurs Front Office Executive GM LeBron James 
August 3, 2010
Mesa Vs ESPN’s “Future Power Rankings”

Throughout this week, ESPN’s Chad Ford (of T.I.T. fame) and John Hollinger have been serially releasing their “future power rankings” of the 30 NBA teams. The concept is simple and interesting, if inexact: create an overall rating for every team’s cumulative prospects in the 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 seasons.

Ford and Hollinger attempt to do this by ranking each franchise in five categories—Players, Management, Money, Market, and Draft. “Players” means the players currently on the roster and under contract for any or all of those upcoming seasons; “Management” means the quality of the front office and its decision-making; “Money” means the owner’s willingness to spend; “Market” means the appeal of the city or region in which the franchise is located; and “Draft” means quantity and likely quality of picks in future drafts.

Each category is weighted differently, but together, they create a total possible point total of 1,000. Players account for 400 possible points, Management for 200, Money for 200, Market for 100, and Draft for 100.

Not surprisingly, the Cavs check in near the bottom of the list—specifically, at number 28, ahead of only Minnesota and Charlotte.

However, this is not because the Cavs, in Hollinger’s and Ford’s joint opinion, rank poorly in all categories. Instead, it’s because the categories in which they are strong are, in the system devised, two of the least valuable overall. For instance, Gilbert’s checkbook is good for 7th place in the league in “Money,” and the Cavs’ draft prospects place 2nd. Unfortunately, those two high ranks qualify the franchise for a grand total of only 219 points.  In “Players” they rank 29th (good for a mere 45 points), “Management” they rank 26th (45 points), and in “Market” they rank 27th (22 points).

I don’t entirely disagree with some of the assessment. (In all likelihood, the parts contributed by Hollinger.) As I’ve written before, I find it entirely possible that Cleveland is, to most players, the least desirable location in the league. In that sense, ranking 27th in “Market” may be generous on Ford’s and Hollinger’s part.

That said, the inherent problem is that the entire list is based on perception—and much of the perception informing the analysis isn’t particularly in touch with reality. For instance, I think it’s ludicrous to state that the Cavs have the 5th worst front office in the NBA, especially considering the circumstances they’ve been forced to operate under for the past 3-4 years. (A point that I am currently considering for the epitaph on my tombstone.) I’m not even going to bother to link to my previous post as to why—I’ve had to do it too many times already. If you don’t know, turn off your Bill Simmons brainwashing and email me.

As usual, the roster is also being drastically underrated—a misrepresentation made even worse by the idea that the Cavs “lack trade assets.” I fully suspect Chad Ford is steering the boat on that particular argument, since he’s written it several times over the past year-plus. Somehow he seems to have missed the fact that the Cavs and Rockets were the only two teams who managed to put together sign-and-trade offers for “Lap Dog” Chris Bosh that the Raptors were interested in consummating. Not to mention that the Cavs are now flush with draft picks and a massive trade exception from the LeBron deal. But what am I thinking, other teams are never interested in picks or, essentially, the ability to trade away contracts without taking salary back. I’m being silly again.

By far my favorite swing-and-miss in the analysis, though, is the mythical power of the Dan Gilbert letter. Not coincidentally, it also comprises the overwhelming bulk of Ford’s and Hollinger’s written break-down of the numbers.

The argument in play is that Dan Gilbert’s 21-gun wake-up call to LeBron the night of “The Decision” has damaged the franchise’s rep with players as long as Gilbert owns the team. By blasting a guy who “made him hundreds of millions of dollars over the past several years,” the argument goes, Gilbert showed his true colors. No free agent will ever want to ball for the Cavs as long as they have such a fork-tongued tyrant at the helm. Hence, the Cavs’ future is so bleak.

There are just a few tiny problems with this argument.

First, as we all know, there weren’t any high profile free agents clamoring to come to Cleveland anyway. Most recently, the Cavs offered Matt Barnes a two-year contract worth ~$3.5MM per—more than double what he ultimately accepted to play for the Lakers ($1.7MM), and by far the biggest contract he’d ever been offered in his career. (The fictional one the Raptors offered doesn’t count.) Didn’t matter. He turned it down.

Did Barnes make that choice because he was afraid he’d be yelled at by Dan Gilbert? Uh, I doubt it. Dude’s got multiple neck tattoos. Considering he grew up in Sacramento and went to UCLA, living in LA and playing for a title might have had more to do with the choice.

Again, this is the entire reason Chris Grant and company are planning on rebuilding the team through trades and the draft. Hard to believe that the 5th worst front office in the league would be able to recognize its strengths and weaknesses and adjust its plan accordingly, but hey, I guess even a broken clock is right two minutes a day, right?

Second, all this talk about how terribly Gilbert treated LeBron after he chose to play elsewhere completely ignores how absurdly well he was treated while he was playing for Gilbert. Under his watch (and more importantly, on his dime), the Cavs:

  • Completely renovated their practice facilities to the tune of tens of millions of dollars
  • Moved Cleveland Clinic Courts to Independence to minimize the commute from LeBron’s house
  • Routinely invited LeBron’s entourage to take the team charter to road games
  • Created jobs within the organization for LeBron’s friends (see: Player Liaison Randy Mims)
  • Mandated that film sessions be kept short to accommodate LeBron’s attention span
  • Remade the roster according to LeBron’s urgings (see: Shaq, Jamison)
  • Fired the coach and GM with whom LeBron was unsatisfied—without a guarantee he’d even return to the team if it happened
  • Offered him the richest possible contract extensions the league would allow

And these are just some of the things that are either true or have been reported. I’m sure there were countless other concessions made in a desperate attempt to keep James happy for the past half-decade since Gilbert assumed ownership. Personally, I don’t care what the guy says about me when I embarrass him on national TV to go to another team; five years of the above kind of treatment sounds like a good deal to me.

Look, professional athlete is perhaps the only job in the world where your former boss’s opinion of you literally does not matter. Did LeBron need a letter of recommendation to get his new job with the Heat? Uh, no. Anywhere else, people in executive positions change jobs. Assuming you stay in the same or a similar industry, your former boss could somehow end up at a new company and once again have an effect on your future. Not in pro sports. It’s not as if Dan Gilbert is going to suddenly sell the Cavs, go buy the Spurs, and then freeze LeBron out of contract. Who the hell cares what Gilbert thinks of you after you vacate the team?

Third, perception is a shifty thing. Right now, few players reportedly want to play for the Cavs. My guess? The problem isn’t Gilbert; it’s that few if any players really believe the Cavs are going to be any good right now.

Think about it this way: if Donovan McNabb thought the Raiders were going to be a Super Bowl contender this year, would he have told the Eagles not to trade him there this past off-season because the team is owned by a tyrannical mummy? I highly doubt it. On a more close to home front, look at how Eric Mangini somehow transformed over the course of a season from being perceived by fans and players as a maniacal dictator (when the team was 1-11) to exactly the type of tough but admirable head coach the Browns have needed since their resurrection (when they ended the season on a 4-game winning streak, including a victory over the Steelers at Heinz Field). 

Is anyone ever going to totally forget the Dan Gilbert letter? No, it’s going to be a part of Cleveland sports and NBA lore until an asteroid hits. But you can bet on the fact that when the team starts winning and Gilbert’s checkbook stays open, its perception in the basketball community is going to be completely different. And you can say the same thing about the franchise as a whole.

Trust me, I’ll be more than happy to point this out to Chad Ford in 2014 when the Cavs are surging and the Mesa team has courtside seats.

-T

11:00pm  |   URL: http://www.josemesaisdead.com/post/901690097/mesa-vs-espns-future-power-rankings
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FILED UNDER: NBA LeBron Cavaliers Dan Gilbert Free agency ESPN Cleveland