Browns fan politely declines Joe Haden’s offer of Super Bowl tickets
January 30, 2014Anthony Bennett has one big need
January 30, 2014Cleveland sports fans are waiting. Thus, while we’re all waiting, the WFNY editors thought you might enjoy reading. Because you never know how long we might be waiting. So here are assorted reading goodies for you to enjoy. Send more good links for tomorrow’s edition to tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“I took some time out of my busy basketball-watching schedule last night to check-in on Jarrett Jack; to pay a welfare call, of sorts. Last I inquired, he was struggling through his first few months in Cleveland, trudging through a disappointing quagmire that few predicted would occur, but now seems to be fully set in and largely irreversible. Sure enough, he was there, looking like the Jarrett Jack I always remembered. There was the moustache and gleaming bald head, the three-quarter-length black tights and ankle socks. There was the intense stare and the signature side-smirk, the high-dribble and T-Rex arms. Everything about Jarrett Jack was there. Except, of course, for Jarrett Jack. He was nowhere to be found.” [Greenberg/The Diss]
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“Post-draft grade: C+ Summary: I was skeptical about early impact from this class. At the time I wrote: “Mingo adds depth at outside linebacker, but he’s going to need some developmental work because he played with his hand on the ground at LSU. After that, there isn’t a lot here that you’ll see in 2013.” The whole system issue may have been overstated, but the fact that Mingo still needs development wasn’t. He’s just not a three-down player at this point, and was pretty inconsistent with his pass rush. After that? Well, there isn’t much at all. McFadden got some decent reps late and could start next season, but it’s all wait-and-see after that.
New grade: C-” [Kiper/ESPN Insider]
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“We already have seen more multi-year contracts signed this off-season than any of the previous four, and depending on how many of the second tier pitchers — Chris Capuano, Paul Maholm, Jason Hammel, etc… — land two year deals, there’s probably another 10 to go. If a couple of the available relievers end up snagging two year contracts as well, we could see the off-season end with 60 multi-year deals, almost double the number given out five years ago, and that’s with a smaller total number of MLB contracts handed out.
And the overall annual average value of contracts handed out this winter is almost exactly double the overall AAV of contracts handed out in 2009: $9.65 million to $4.87 million. We all know that the cost of signing a free agent has gone up a lot since these new TV deals started making MLB teams richer than they’ve ever been, but I didn’t realize just how quickly the total numbers had doubled.” [Cameron/Fan Graphs]
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“Anthony Bennett needs to play power forward. Or undersized center, in a pinch. He needs minutes, and plenty of them. He can’t play small forward, and he shouldn’t be coming off the bench for cameo appearances with all eyes on him.
Cleveland’s coaching staff (because the front office, hesitant to send him to the D-League, won’t help in this regard) has to understand this, even with the “make the playoffs or else” mandate. The defense was terrible with Bennett out there on Tuesday night, but it was terrible in the stretches just before that, time with starters that allowed NOLA to build a big lead. The kid has to play, or you’re going to lose him. No amount of preparedness for “your number” being called can make up for these sorts of things.” [Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie]
9 Comments
Good article about Jack, and it really furthers my fear that the Cavs need to go the route of the Browns and get rid of their coach sooner rather than later. A lot of people want to consider Jack a black mark on Grant’s resume, but I can’t fault him for the signing. Maybe JJ just took the money and ran, but this article made me remember why I liked the signing in the first place, and I think it’s the system that is the problem, not Jack himself. Maybe he should be more adaptable, but he is a veteran who has found his place in this league and is less pliable than a 21-year old (should be).
There was a great article over at C:tB about Irving, and an interesting comment that suggested maybe Byron would have been a better coach to lead a three guard combo like KI+JJ+Dion. I’m not saying I miss Byron as much as I am just trying to keep sheltering myself from the undeniable truth about our current HC. Gilbert and Grant are probably smart enough and saw the huge backlash that firing a coach so quickly can bring, but if I were them, I’d be making some phone calls to guys like George Karl or Jerry Sloan and asking what their prices are. A hasty dismissal could be quickly overlooked so long as there actually is a plan in place.
I wasn’t a Byron supporter, but that was always my argument for keeping him around at least 1 more year: the guy can coach guards and the team Grant built was guard driven.
I miss Byron. I heard that the Cavaliers offensive and even defensive statistics aren’t off much from what they were last year under Scott.
I loved the signing of Jack the problem is you have a head coach who has a track record of being unable to get different kinds of players to work together in whatever kind of system Brown likes to run. He couldn’t do it his first time in Cleveland which is why Danny Ferry had to continually work to find players. He was absolutely horrible in LA and now here again in Cleveland despite a wealth of young talent Brown is horrible. I said it before and I’ll say it again: he’s a defensive assistant coach period.
Why do I want to pay money to see what hairgel has to say regrading his thoughts on the Browns 2013 draft?
because he was smart enough to care about the NFL draft before anyone else outside of NFL FO’s.
So if Kiper gives his draft grade a C- after giving it a C+, then he must grade his own initial grading somewhere around a C, which means that…oh hell this is too meta and stupid with the silly grades.
I think he was just tasked to cover the draft as a 23 year old and did an ok job so he got to do it another year and the rest was history.
success is 1 part opportunity, 1 part luck, 1 part hard work. usually in that order of importance.