Cleveland Browns launch ‘Paint the Town Browns’ campaign
September 3, 2013Dion Waiters: I’m coming…I’ll be the best shooting guard in the NBA
September 3, 2013While Weâre Waiting is the daily morning link roundup that WFNY has been serving up for breakfast for the last several years. We hope you enjoy the following recent collection of yummy and nutritious Cleveland sports-related articles. Anything else to add? Email us at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“In a recent interview, Waiters made some bold predictions, mainly focusing on the fact that he thinks he will be the NBAâs best shooting guard in short orderâŠ.
âI just feel as though Iâm next up as far as shooting guards. If you look around, you know, Kobe [Bryant] and [Dwyane] Wade and those guys, they paved the way for a player like me and theyâre almost done. Iâm coming. I just want everybody to know that. âWithout a doubt, I really believe that [Iâll eventually be the best shooting guard in the NBA]. This year, Iâm going to show a lot of people who doubted me and still doubt me. Iâm going to show them.â [Moll/Hoop Doctors]
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“No rookie starters for a 5-11 team committed to building through the draft? Plainly and simply, teams that build through the draft⊠those teams draft players that play. If youâre 5-11, one would think that a drafted rookie could break into the lineup, no? Weâve reviewed the Ramsâ draft with three drafted rookies starting for them. Weâve reviewed the Bengals with five fourth-or-fifth round picks starting for them (Boling, Charles, Peko, Atkins, Iloka). The Browns build-through-draft initiative is off to a slow start is youâre being kind; is just more horseshit if youâre being honest.” [Kanick]
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“Who is the easiest player on the roster to root for?
That’s a tough question, considering this franchise just lost two players who fans could root for any day of the week in kicker Phil Dawson and special teams return man Joshua Cribbs. Dawson played for this team from 1999-2012 at an extremely high level, but he only got to experience one playoff game during that stretch. Cribbs put his body on the line and his heart and soul into being the best special teams player possible from 2005-2012.
This team has a lot of relatively new players on it, with the team also being constructed as one of the youngest in the NFL. Therefore, there aren’t many players who fans are attached to yet. I have a feeling many other teams are picking an underdog in this category, but for the Browns, we’re going with our best player: left tackle Joe Thomas. He will be entering his seventh year with the team since being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, and he has not missed one snap in his career. He has made the Pro Bowl all six years and is the best left tackle in football, period.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]
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“Boyett, who is currently on the non-football injury/reserve list, meaning he’s going to miss the first six weeks of the season, tried to get into a bar in Indianapolis but was not let in (that doesn’t happen to Reggie Wayne or Andrew Luck, one would think). He wasn’t let in because he was too intoxicated, the Indianapolis Star reported. Boyett refused to leave, so the cops were called in.
That’s when it got ugly. The Star reported that Boyett’s “abusive behavior” included threatening to break an officer’s jaw, making fun of his hair and nose, and when police tried to arrest him Boyett gave them a stiff arm and tried to run away. But here’s the money quote:
âYou canât arrest me, Iâm a Colts player,” Boyett said repeatedly, according to the police report. Awesome.” [Schwab/Shutdown Corner]
21 Comments
good for Dion, we need irrational confidence from our SG.
Kanick’s a bit harsh, but he does have a point. The problem is that we have obvious holes that we didn’t really try to patch. CB2 should not be manned by a 3rd round rookie (growing pains) nor by 2 undersized backup CBs (Owens/Skrine). TE should not just be handed over to a complete unknown despite playing seasons in the NFL. Safety is another spot they did the dance-around on. I understand the drafting of Mingo (if he ends up a premier pass-rusher, then it is hard to argue against — see NYG), but makes them look unprepared for the possibility when they seemingly went all-in on Grimes and came up empty at CB in FA. I do disagree with what the waiver period signifies. It’s the backend of the roster, it doesn’t mean too much what we did there as an organizational philsophy compared with what we are doing with the starters.
and JoeT is the man. the end.
Love that Dion sounds totally ready to roll. Those highlights remind how great he is getting to the hole – the explosive step, the improv with balance, the power. The only thing that might make him still be another year from a real break out is adjusting to Mike Brown’s constant harping about defense. We’ll have see how quickly Dion and his Philly attitude can adjust to a real sheriff with different program.
I’m starting to get the feeling this Browns season is going to end up a 2-14 disaster…
here is where I thought Kanick was too harsh:
we had the youngest ever starting offensive lineup last season. it shouldn’t be too surprising that we didn’t want to overload with more youth there (though it should be surprising we didn’t go after a TE or OG in FA, but whatever). those guys “should” be better in year2. Weeden, Richardson, Schwartz, Benjamin and Gordon. Little needs to keep playing like he did in the 2nd half of last year and Bess should be an upgrade. I would also think that our OL should be better with another year of playing together and most are young there as well (OG injuries are hurting there though). Ogbannaya and Jordan are the 2 wildcards on offense.
on defense, it’s a bit of a different story though.
At first I thought you said ready to troll which would be more fitting. Shut up Dion and just play ball!
I agree a bad team needs a guy who clearly thinks he’s better then he is and isn’t afraid to tell everyone. Nothing could go wrong at all!
I liked what Kanicki wrote there isn’t a team in this town who drafts well. Maybe that’s why the teams in this town are in the state that they have been, just a thought.
In other news…LeBron James working on a sitcom, surely you joke?
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/lebron-james-signs-on-for-sitcom-090313
What is that money that must be spent this year. Where is it going?
I apparently don’t understand all of the rollover rules. I thought they had ended this past offseason, but they might apply to next offseason?
anyways, the %-spent rules do not apply until the rollover stops (because you are just “promising” to spend in the future).
No boom that’s the Indians effect so snap out of it! The mighty Shamstradamus does not forsee such a disastrous 2-14 but preaches patience and some normalcy. Therefore he is sticking with 5-7 victories most likely 6-10.
Yes, agreed. You need that irrational confidence to overcome the potential reality of your situation. Fake it till you make it.
How dare you what do we pay you for ‘lil buddy? It’s bad enough the Indians are rolling over but now you admit to not understanding something. WTH is going on, it’s not even Monday????
Hmmm… A Cleveland team promising something for the future? Naw
Sounds like a mantra, I like it!
I disagreed with a bit more. The Oline and WR’s are two units that were very young last year and will obviously see some imrpovment, but he also claims the only change on the front 7 defensively is Kruger for Maiava. Nevermind that Tayor was missing for half of last year and not himself for a while after, or that we were supposed to be starting Fujita and Gocong but ended up with JMJ and Maiava and other assorted rookies for most of the year. For some reason he has Roberson as the starter for 2012 making for no change at his position, but he only started 3 games. It’s a different scheme, but you can’t tell me that Ruben/Taylor/Bryant – Kruger/Jackson/Roberson/Sheard isn’t a better overall unit than Rucker/Ruben/Wynn/Sheard – Maiava/Jackson/Johnson because of more than the Kruger for Maiava switch.
He also claims no change/improvement at running back even though we were starting a rookie with broken ribs last year. (and seriously, Richardson “runs soft?!”) No change/improvement at quarterback even though we started a rookie last year. No change in the secondary, which I recognize is a weakness on the team, but he lists Gipson as the starter in his 2012/2013 comparison table, when Gipson only started 3 games last year. That’s one new starter. We may not be in love with Skrine, but he’s only 1 inch shorter than Brown was, and he’s way faster. Brown looks to be out of football at this point, so it’s not like we let somebody awesome walk. That’s 2 new starters. Haden was out for 5 games last year, and the secondary was significantly better with him on the field. Just having him play a full season will help. TJ Ward has struggled with injuries, but when healthy I think he can be a pretty good safety. I do wish they’d gotten a stud CB to play opposite Haden, but it’s really not true to say there has been no change. I think that unit will be improved, although still a weak point on the team.
My biggest issue, though, is that he harps (again) on the fact that the Browns haven’t spent all their money and if the reason is that they want to build through the draft, then they should have rookie starters. A ton of players on the team have been drafted in the last three years, so they have already built through the draft. They led the league in rookie starts the last two years by wide margins, and are the 2nd youngest team in the league. If we have to replace 5 more starters with rookies this year, the team hasn’t gotten any better and the drafting has been bad. Fortunately, at many positions we have young guys who have held onto their job for a 2nd or 3rd year. This is not a bad thing. As a team gets better, fewer rookies will start. How many rookies are the patriots starting? The 49ers? Last year’s Ravens? A better indicator of drafting prowess is how many starters you drafted previously. Doing a good job there keeps you from having to bring in a bunch of mediocre has-been veterans for too much money like we’ve always done in the past. Something that Kanick openly complains that we didn’t do again. We’ve been a bad team in cap hell before, and we could surely get there again.
Also, in his analysis of the draft this year he ignores that we used a 2nd rounder on Josh Gordon, that our wheeling and dealing in the 4th round got us Davone Bess, (and a 7th rounder who made the team) and that we drafted McFadden at all. So the only round they actually “punted” on is the 5th. Perhaps the message here is less that the new FO doesn’t care about making the team better (which is a ludicrous thesis at all times, for any team, in any sport) and more that if they are offered a higher round pick for a lower round pick and nothing else, they will make that deal every time. (and for all the moaning about how the Steelers were smart enough to want our pick at 111, Shamarko Thomas is a 5-9 DB, which Kanick would be ranting about had the Browns drafted him)
This is an offseason that has seen quite a bit of churn on the roster, a bunch of money spent on free agents to make the defensive front seven better, several new starters who we think will be improvements, and a ton of young players that should be getting better, but somehow because the Browns traded two mid-round draft picks and still have cap space left, Kanick only sees a team that “punted” on the season.
[i’m right here.]
1. first game little/rubin played together they held cowboys to like 60 yds and next held held steelers to 50. ie, d-line not a weakness in need of $40M free agent.
2. see the graphic, it’s the depth chart from the end of last season listing robertson as starting OLB.
3. they invested 80M in contract plus the #6 pick in an already good d-front. congrats, it’s improved. not the point. the point is: mother of god, there can be too many pass rushers. just ask brian sanford.
4. richardson does runs soft. sorry if that bugs you. see here and here. at some point you have to decide whether to believe the fluffy pieces written for him or to trust your eyes.
5. didnt we just go through the weeden staring down receivers problem here?
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holy crap, just expanded the comment, there’s too much to take on, but if you want to challenge my piece, i do have a comment section.
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net net, there needed to be something written that wasn’t a pompom wave. no beat reporters and (now) no radio stations can afford to write something like that because they need the access. so if it seems harsh, perhaps it’s because it’s in stark contrast to what you’ve read before. one of the very few pieces that holds them accountable for the apparent bagging of the 2013 season.
there is no way you can say the browns did all they could do to max their talent for this year. some fans are fine with this. i’m not.
I’m mostly with you, but a few nits to pick (well, fix the Little/Taylor typo above first).
$8mil/year FA. and, Bryant is just replacing the Parker/Rucker combo. so, $8mil for one player who hopefully can do what those 2 did by himself (of course, now he’s banged up).
I cannot be upset with actually having a competent LB corps for the first time in the rebirth. It’s just something I have no issue against as it would make me a hyprocrit as I have pounded the table to stop running out the Ben Taylor’s of the world (and if Mingo ends up being our Aldon Smith, noone will complain).
Richardson ran soft last year. I’m looking for it this year as well. We’ll see.
As for the rest, the main reason that woof and I think it was a bit overly harsh is that it doesn’t factor in any type of improvement from the youngsters. If we think that the coaching staff will be better, then we should expect them to develop the guys (like Mickey w/ the Indians pitchers). It remains to be seen, is a huge question mark, but should be mentioned.
Regardless, once the season begins and the stuff we have questions about become the problems we see on the field, the discussion will shift (slightly).
i probably haven’t expressed my point well enough.
i agree that youngsters will improve and the coaching will yield improvement and bryant/kruger/mingo improve the team’s overall talent.
my gripe is that the FO deliberately passed on addressing known issues either in draft or FA and then poked me in the eye by holding the most cap space and trading out of two rounds of the draft. having poked me in the eye, they go on to insinuate i’m a impatient child if i can’t defer my gratification for the next _x_ years until they actually spend to the cap and until the deferred draft picks mature.
the corollary gripe is with browns fans who nod their heads to all this like ralphie when santa gives him a football.
and that is how salty blog posts happen!
and, as you know, I agree with those gripes đ
I didn’t really set out to type that much, honest. I’ll try to be more concise…. đ
1. I agree the d-line was a strength last year, but despite the team’s oddly respectable sack numbers, they had a hard time hurrying QB’s. Pass rush from the front seven was still a need IMO. Sanford got beat out by a 7th round draft pick for a spot, so it’s hard to say he’s why we didn’t need somebody like Desmond Bryant.
2. I know the graphic was somebody else’s and it reflected the end of the season, but you used it to suggest the changes were basically a wash. I don’t think the graphic really tells the story.
3. LB has been a problem for a while, and it was a problem last year too. It’s not like addressing that unit was ONLY about pass rush. It’s a big change too. JMJ is gone, Fort is gone, Roberson is a starter, Sheard is a LB, and we added Kruger. If LB becomes as big a strength as the D-line was last year this WILL be a better defense overall.
4. I saw a guy with broken ribs at the end of last year maybe shying away from some big hits from the side, but I also saw him gain about 40% of his yards after he had guys hanging from him. Nobody churns harder after contact. He blew a few guys up too. Even in the video against the Cowboys I don’t see soft running. I see a technique error mostly, (let the SS get lower than him) but he could have sliced out of bounds and he went right at the guy.
5. Weeden is not advanced at looking off Safeties, and I don’t think he’s the next Peyton Manning, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be improved in year two. Frankly, there are only a few elite quarterbacks in the league who I see doing a really great job at fooling the defense with look-offs and pump fakes. If Weeden can read the coverages correctly and go through his progressions efficiently, he’ll be at least moderately successful. As it is, we brought in two mediocre veteran QB’s and he was apparently better than either of them.