Eventful day in Cleveland sports. Three different items deserve some attention, so I’ll try to address them all briefly.
PART 1: Cavs / Celtics Bazooka Point
In the words of PTI’s Mike Wilbon, Father Time is undefeated. Every day that seems to be more apparent to people watching the 2009-10 Celtics.
It wasn’t long ago that I heard pundits still talking about Boston winning it all this year. There was a dramatically different tone in the commentary of today’s game. Jeff Van Gundy (to his credit, usually the sole voice of reason on the ABC broadcast) became the first national commentator to declare that the Celtics might not get out of the first round of the playoffs.
This isn’t a news flash to the Mesa team. After all, I’m on record dating back to August about how much of a threat I thought the Celtics were going to be to the Cavs this season. However, I do think it’s interesting that the Celtics’ overall play has gotten to the point that the media’s opinion of them is starting to change. Granted, their weakness is still being pegged as “inconsistency” rather than just plain age, lack of effort, and lack of talent. But considering that the Cavs scored 104 points on the Celts and won by 11 despite missing 17 free throws and only shooting 41%, it seems to me that the writing is on the wall.
Speaking of which…
PART 2: Goodbye Brady Quinn, You Were Never Even Allowed to Test Positive for PEDs
That’s right: as I’m sure you all know by now, the Browns have shipped Body by Quinn to Denver for a fullback named Peyton Hillis, a 2011 6th round pick, and a conditional 2012 pick (you know, the season that we’re not even sure will exist yet).
The trade should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. Once Holmgren traded for Seneca Wallace and then decided it was a good idea to pay Jake Delhomme $7M this year, Inadequinn’s days were numbered.
But what I am still a little surprised by is the return on investment. The package listed above isn’t exactly a treasure trove, especially considering that it seems there were multiple teams who had at least a slight interest in attaining the King of Myoplex’s hypothetical talents. (ESPN’s Chris Mortensen spent several tweets on Saturday talking up Quinn and mentioning strong links to KC and Washington.) Although the more I read about Peyton Hillis, the more it seems that they’re betting on him to be a significant part of the offense as a “true” West Coast pass-catching fullback.
The bottom line, though, is that Quinn’s got a fresh start in Denver lined up for this season. Though there’s always some chance that he could get his act together and doom me to a future of Quinnbots prattling on about the Browns’ front office reopening the wounds of the Elway years by handing the Broncos a franchise QB, I would counter by quoting the one, the only Jon Gruden. As he noted in the closing minutes of the Browns’ Monday night game last season when BBQ chucked two consecutive deep-outs into the opposing bench, “I don’t know much about statistics, but I do know that if you want to play quarterback in the NFL, you gotta be able to throw the ball between those two white lines.”
PART 3: Goodbye Kamerion Wimbley, You Were Never Even Allowed to — Wait, They Traded WHO?!
Unlike the Quinn deal, this one came completely out of nowhere. But the Browns brain trust dealt Kam Wimbley to Oakland for a 2010 3rd round pick, bringing their draft pick total for this season to either 12 or 13.
In looking at some basic stats, the reality is that Wimbley went from 11.0 sacks in his rookie season to an average of ~5 per season from 2007-9, a stretch in which he only missed 1 game. In comparison, mid-season waiver pick-up Matt Roth tallied 4 sacks in 6 games in 2009. Holmgren and Heckert must believe that Roth’s success is sustainable (in concert w/the other linebackers on the roster), thereby making Wimbley expendable. Given the renowned depth of this upcoming draft, a high 3rd rounder should be enough to come away with a player of some impact.
[Note: it was revealed the morning after I wrote this that the Raiders only gave up the later of their two 3rd rounders, #86 overall instead of #70 overall, to get the Browns to dump Wimbley. This revelation obviously makes the trade even more questionable than originally thought.]
This brings us back to the powder keg of potential.
In the span of about three days, it seems as though the average Browns fan has gone from viewing Holmgren as a franchise-changing savior to someone who, at best, should be treated with skepticism and, at worst, may be a complete idiot. The front office has now officially entered into the realm of culpability by (gasp!) making actual decisions, some of which have not exactly been met with loud and immediate applause. The big money signing of a 35 year-old Jake Delhomme, the dumping of BBQ (expected) and Wimbley (unexpected) have altered the team without a doubt. They’ve also helped create a scenario in which the 2010 NFL draft will either change the franchise into a legitimate team, or ensure that for the next decade it stays in the cellar like the deformed son of some backwoods survivalists.
It’ll be interesting to see far the fan base’s good will extends beyond the draft. My guess is that unless Heckert and company come up with a series of picks that’s universally endorsed by every major NFL analyst, people in Cleveland are going to start freaking out immediately. If so, it’s a ridiculous reaction, since no one will know until the actual season whether or not the team has improved. (I’d remind everyone that the great Rey Maualuga—who Mangini was practically tarred and feathered for passing on—ended last season with 1.0 sacks and spent part of this off-season at the Betty Ford center after a drunk-driving incident where he crashed into 2 parked cars and a meter.)
That said, this week’s flurry of activity has started the clock on the Holmgren/Heckert era. We’ll see how long it is before they’re being crucified on the Plain Dealer’s comment boards—and whether or not we have any actual results to judge them on beforehand.
-T
