Sunday Six Pack: Reasons to love Sergey Karasev
June 30, 2013Scott Raab on The Sopranos, Mad Men, Jimmy Haslam, and the Cavaliers draft – WFNY Podcast – 2013-07-01
July 1, 2013“While We’re Waiting” serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“This is a big year and big training camp for Shawn Lauvao. If the younger talent on this team — like Garrett Gilkey and Ryan Miller, among others — perform well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lauvao among the surprise cuts at the conclusion of training camp. Earlier this offseason, I mentioned five players who could become cap casualties. The first of those three players are already long gone: Chris Gocong, Colt McCoy, and Usama Young. The fourth player on the list was Shawn Lauvao.
Cutting Lauvao would not be a huge cost-saver, but he is in the final year of his contract and has had his fair share of struggles as a starter the past two seasons. “Inconsistency” would be a word that describes him the best. Lauvao’s performance in 2012 was one of the big reasons I heavily advocated that the Browns pursue a top offensive guard in free agency, which they ended up not doing.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]
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“Friday night’s doubleheader sweep by the Cleveland Indians over the host Chicago White Sox proved a lot of things about the Indians ballclub. Along with the never-say-die attitude, the heart, and the resiliency that they showed over the course of 18 grueling innings, a rain delay, and nearly eight hours of game action, two young pitchers also showed that they are not quite ready for the big league stage.
This by no means is meant as a stab at either Trevor Bauer or Carlos Carrasco. Both young men have showed glimpses of the pitchers that they could potentially become at the Major League level. Unfortunately, the remaining holes in their respective games are too glaring to fine tune in Cleveland while the team remains in contention in the American League Central division. If either one of the two pitchers is able to develop accordingly, the future of the Indians may be bright.” [Toth/DTTWLN]
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“Overall, Tashaun Gipson did a solid job in coverage during the 2012 season. Based on studying the times that Gipson was targeted in coverage, I do not believe that he will ever be the type of safety that a defensive coordinator will regularly trust in man coverage against tight ends and slot receivers in space. He is not a quick-twitch safety and he will likely be a liability in confined areas. Gipson is at his best in zone coverage, but he must learn from his mistakes and improve his instincts by studying his opponents if he wishes to take his ability in zone to the next level. Although Gipson shows the physical attributes to be a very good cover safety, he must improve his instincts and do a better job of keeping his balance when adjusting to receivers in space. There were too many times that I saw Gipson lose his balance when adjusting to receivers. With all of this being said, Gipson showed plenty of promise in coverage and his physical attributes were regularly on display. I believe that the promise that he showed was the reason for Gipson being used primarily on passing downs during his rookie season (spent 251 out of 377 snaps in pass coverage).” [Leister/Draft Browns]
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“Coded tweets have become part of college football recruiting. Until prospective players sign their national letters of intent, staff members are not permitted by NCAA rules to mention a recruit by name. But a cleverly worded message of 140 characters or less skirts the rules. The University of Georgia and LSU have taken social media to a new level with the creation of apps titled “The Georgia Way” and “The Les Miles Method.” Georgia’s app is essentially a rundown of the program’s history, highlighting traditions, the coaching staff and Bulldog alums in the NFL.
“It’s a great tool for our coaches to have when they go into recruits’ homes to show their parents, show the recruits. It’s kind of an icebreaker,” said Georgia video coordinator Brett Greene. “They can sit there for 20 or 30 minutes and the mom or dad who hasn’t had a chance to come over here can come here on a visit. They can sit there for 20 or 30 minutes and see everything about Georgia, see everything about Athens, our facilities, academics and all that.” It’s no secret that the current generation wants information instantly and in a sleek, glossy manor. It generally comes via smartphone, which makes an app a no-brainer.” [Rowland/Eleven Warriors]
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“8. The inevitable “why is Tristan Thompson still starting” conversations. What if Tristan Thompson gets off to a slow start playing Anderson Varejao again? Won’t there be countless conversations about how they have duplicative rebounding skills, and don’t fit together in the frontcourt? Last season everyone wanted Tyler Zeller starting with Varejao. If Bennett shows he is a polished scorer, and Thompson is still hovering around 52% true shooting, a lot of Cavs fans are going to want to bench Thompson. This despite the fact that the Cavaliers played their best last season when Varejao and Thompson were both on the floor, and that the defense will almost certainly be better with the two playing together.” [Zavac/Fear the Sword]
4 Comments
That Anthony Bennett article and the Brandon Bass/Derrick Williams comparisons reminded me why I had him 6th on my “draft board”. Ugh.
Didn’t Gipson have a ton of PI penalties?
Time will tell one thing if for certain if Grant didn’t paint a bullseye on himself after drafting Thompson then following that a year later with Waiters he sure did now using the #1 overall on Bennett. Don’t get me wrong I like Bennett the kid can already produce and he still hasn’t really learned the game. Enter the defensive questions. His body also hasn’t matured. These things take time at least a year just ask Tristan Thompson.
You’re thinking of Buster Skrine