Appearing "Soft," TO & Berea Silence

Looking "Soft"
I have seen this before.

The Cavaliers of the early 90s did not win an NBA championship for two reasons - because Michael Jordan was around and because they (Cavs) were “soft” inside, and simply could not rebound well enough in the clutch.

The 2008-09 Cavaliers should win the title this year. We’re on record as saying so and have been for a while. They lead the league in most defensive categories, possess the game’s best player (LJ) with a new and improved team due to the addition of all-star Mo Williams.

Now here is something I did not say back in November that is starting to worry me – the Cavaliers currently look somewhat soft inside (i.e. Price, Nance, Daugherty Era).

Since Lamar Odom torched the Cavaliers in Cleveland, this squad has been getting pounded in the blocks by opposing “bigs.”

It happened again in Boston Friday night when three bench players came in and dominated the post, scoring at will and pushing the Cavaliers’ interior people around all night long.

They abused them in every way possible – which led to the Kevin Garnett-LESS Celtics shooting well over 50% from the field.

That was an embarrassing defensive performance by the Cavaliers, who pride themselves on stopping people.

It’s simple – if they shoot from four feet all night and you shoot from 20 feet, you lose, even without their best all-around player.

Yes, Ben Wallace is out, but he was around when this weakness began to get exposed.

Adding Joe Smith will help space the floor at the offensive end, but it does not solve the problem inside.

This means against certain teams, Cleveland will not be able to go small (play LJ at the 4 and Wally at the 3) come the post-season or risk getting abused inside.

They need to get Wallace back healthy and need to get more physical in the paint if this team expects to win a championship.

Man up fellas.

Back to the Basket
The Cavaliers are not getting many post up buckets. LeBron is either taking long jumpers right now or driving to the hole. He has stopped posting up.

Secondly, either Z no longer wants to post up his 7-3 frame or the coaching staff is having a group brain fart.

We all know Z is primarily a jump shooter now, but once in a while, you have to post him up. It gives everyone else a break offensively and it just might lead to easy buckets and/or free throws.

Come playoff time, you need to be able to score in the blocks in the halfcourt. The Cavs have only two options inside - Z and 23. They simply need to emphasize the post up game more.

LeBron
One could argue LJ had his two worst games in the two biggest games all year.

He shot 5-of-22 against the Lakers in Cleveland – giving the Cavaliers their only home loss all season long – and he went a quiet 5-of-15 versus the Celtics on Friday, a game that could have gone a long way toward sealing home court advantage in the conference for the good guys.

Come on LJ, if you want to be the MVP, you have to play big on the biggest stage. It doesn’t get bigger in the regular season than versus Kobe and in Boston.

Bar Bet Question
Okay Cavs fans, answer this question.

How many division winning banners currently hang in the rafters downtown?

Wrong - just one.

That tells you how pathetic this franchise has been considering it has been around since Nixon was president and he hadn’t even hired plumbers yet.

#2 will go up soon. That’s good news I guess.

TO In Buffalo
Really? I would never have guessed the Bills.

I could see him ending up with New Orleans, San Diego, Carolina or Oakland of course, who will take anyone with a pulse who has not done serious jail time, but Buffalo?

How hard is TO going to run his routes come late November early December when the snow is falling, the wind is blowing in Buffalo, and the Bills, who currently get as much national exposure as the former Montreal Expos, are sitting at 5-7?

As for the Bills taking a shot at TO, it makes sense on their end if you think about it. What do they have to lose?

That coaching staff has done it their way and that has led to absolute mediocre play year after year. That crew is another 7-9 season away from being canned, so throw a bomb and hope for the best?

It's the old "desperate times leads to desperate measures" philosophy at play.

Here’s hoping TO leads the Bills to the playoffs. I have a soft spot for Ralph Wilson’s crew, who came up bridesmaids so often it became tragic.

Alls Quiet In Berea
I hope we start seeing more of their plan soon.

So far, the Browns’ new brain trust has traded the team’s most talented offensive player for the perennial player(s) to be named later, signed a non-descript tight end from Buffalo and re-signed a back-up safety.

That’s it.

Now, I did not expect this regime to make a huge splash in free agency. But it is eerily silent in Berea right now and I’m not sure if that’s by design or these guys have no idea what there are doing – alla Barack’s economic team.

I will remain patient for a while longer.