While We’re Waiting…Fausto Apologizes, Tribe Trades for Slowey, And On Cavs Last Rebuild

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

On Tribe’s deal for Kevin Slowey: “The Cleveland Indians haven’t had the most exciting offseason in the history of the franchise, though things are certainly changing. Pitcher Fausto Carmona was arrested for actually being Roberto Hernandez Heredia on Thursday and, to follow that up Friday, the Indians traded for Kevin Slowey from the Colorado Rockies.

Slowey doesn’t elicit quite the response that Carmona’s false identity scandal did, but the former starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins shouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to Cleveland’s pitching staff this season. Slowey’s started 90 games in his career, compiling 39 wins and 29 losses despite an 0-8 season with the Minnesota Twins last year.

To acquire the 27-year-old Slowey, the Indians shipped Zach Putnam to the Rockies,according to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi.”  [Scott Schroeder / SB Nation]

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No Cavs mentioned on Zach Lowe’s list of NBA’s most disappointing players so far this season. JJ Hickson was though: “It’s hard to single out one Kings player, with no fewer than eight members of the regular rotation shooting 41 percent or worse. And it almost feels unfair to pick on Hickson, who tries hard, looks lost less often on defense and depends on Sacramento’s bevy of score-first, pass-later ball-handlers to deliver the rock.

Still, Hickson is 23, in his third season of receiving major minutes, and it’s fair to ask when we will see major progress from a guy for whom the Kings gave up Omri Casspi and a protected first-round pick. Hickson’s game on offense is the same as it ever was — explosive, but without polish. He can score on put-backs and cuts, but he doesn’t give you much from the post, the mid-range (with that unreliable jumper he loves to take) or the pick-and-roll.

Hickson has attempted just 12 shots out of pick-and-rolls, per Synergy Sports. While some of that falls on the aforementioned guards, it’s also on Hickson, who loves to slip screens but hasn’t figured out another way to make himself available for passes. Speaking of passing, Hickson still doesn’t make many productive ones, as he’s averaging fewer than a dime per game.” [Zach Lowe / The Point Forward]

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Fausto / Roberto released from jail, says he’s sorry: “The Cleveland Indians pitcher known as Fausto Carmona issued a tearful apology Friday as he was released following his arrest for allegedly using a false identity to play baseball in the U.S.

“I ask for the forgiveness of my fans, the government of the United States and the Cleveland Indians for this situation,” he said upon leaving the court, where a judge released him on bail of about $13,000.

Police arrested him Thursday outside the U.S. consulate in his native Dominican Republic when he arrived to get his visa renewed. Spokesman Maximo Baez Aybar said the athlete’s real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia and that he is 31, three years older than he had claimed

He was the second Dominican player arrested in recent months for using a false identity.

Marlins reliever Leo Nunez was arrested last month for using a false identity, three months after the team placed him on the restricted list when it became known he was playing under an assumed name.” [Associated Press / USA Today]

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On chances of Cavs current rebuild not possibly going as badly as first few years of LeBron’s:  “Again this is focusing on the first few offseasons of the Lebron Era. An era where we made a grand total of three draft picks in four years between 2004-2007. We all have pretty much bought into the thought process of building this new team through the draft. Whether we have a top-5 pick or late lottery it will almost assuredly be a better result than 2004 and 2005.

In these key years we should’ve been building a young nucleus around the young star. Instead we drafted Luke Jackson in 2004 and followed that up with zero picks in 2005. We had shipped off 2004’s second rounder in a deal involving Lamond Murray in 2002. We lost 2005’s 1st rounder to Phoenix in a 3-way deal in 1997 and our Second rounder in the Drew Gooden/Tony Battie deal. You can argue the only 2 solid young pieces we acquired in these first few offseasons were 2nd round picks in Anderson Varejao and Boobie Gibson. They wound up being core rotation players on some damn good teams and only serve to emphasize how important it is to at least have some at-bats in the draft.

Instead we further compounded the issue by trading away our TWO 1st rounders in 2007 for Sasha Pavlovic from Charlotte and Jiri Welsh. To make it even worse the Celtics later flipped that 1st round pick in a deal to acquire a PG named Rajon Rondo. Now lets look at the present situation. We owe zero picks going forward. We have recently added not one but two young promising players. We have a potential 14 draft picks in the next four years.  Who knows how many we’ll actually use but we can fairly assume it’ll be more than three.” [Bill Nagel / Stepien Rules]

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Mo Williams on fire for second game in a row, than ejected after two T’s last night: “The shots didn’t stop falling tonight, at least not initially. Mo Williams remained virtually unstoppable for the second night in a row, going 7-for-7 from the field (again) in the first half. Williams tallied up 25 points on a series of tough jumpers and forays to the hole before Minnesota received some “help defense” in the form of an ejection at the 6:20 mark of the fourth quarter. With Williams tossed, the Clippers offense, and depth, would be tested even further. Already without Chris Paul, playmaking duties would be placed solely in the hands of Chauncey Billups.

Losing Williams ended up being the turning point in the game. His scoring was the steadying factor for the offense — something they could rely upon consistently. After Williams left, the Clippers offense turned to mush.” [D.J. Foster / ClipperBlog]