Indians: Hot. Browns: Not. Cavs: What?

Okay, so tell me if I understand this correctly: The Cavaliers think they are a shoo-in for the NBA Finals with the signing of Dwyane Wade? The same guy who LeBron played with for a few years down in Miami – that Dwyane Wade? The guy who’s – in terms of relative ability – a mere shadow of his former self?

This comes on the heels of the Cavs acquiring Isaiah Thomas from the Boston Celtics, the same Isaiah who has a chronic hip injury and is – in terms of relative ability – a mere shadow of his former self? And this comes on the heels of the Cavs signing Derrick Rose, the same Derrick Rose who’s been a mere shadow of his former self since a devastating injury took his quickness in 2012 – that Derrick Rose? Nope, can’t see anything wrong with that pipe dream.

Seriously, I’ll never understand how seasoned NBA executives always want to believe that by simply reducing the number of minutes of playing time of a given player, he will respond with high-quality minutes in that shorter period of time. Unfortunately, a player’s performance level is not inversely proportional to the number of minutes played. If it were, we could suit up Austin Carr and Jim Chones for a couple of minutes a game, right?

“Diminishing skills,” as a certain Browns head coach bluntly assessed QB Bernie Kosar when Bernie’s career was coming to an end. Nobody here wanted to admit it, but the determination was correct. Unfortunately, that’s where Father Time (or chronic injury in Thomas' case) is with the Cavs trio I mentioned above. And the Cavs should know this better than anyone, as they used the same reduced minutes magic elixir formula with Shaquille O’Neal several years ago. Someone remind me how that worked out. 

Didn’t really think the Browns were so committed to “tanking” a second straight season, but the early returns appear to indicate something to the contrary. In fact, throwing DeShone Kizer back in during the Ravens game while he still was recovering from a migraine seemed like a Hue Jackson kamikaze mission. The Browns are indeed better – they come back to lose by relatively narrow margins this year – but in a bottom line business they are (sure enough) still at the bottom. I don’t know if Dee Haslam has Jimmy sedated before Browns games or what, but it’s hard to picture a guy with an itchy trigger finger such as Jimmy’s to be holding on much longer before going wacky-wack. Just sayin’. 

So glad the playoffs are finally here for the Tribe; looking for a deep run. I’m a bit surprised at the Kipnis-in-center-field thing; look for other teams to routinely tag from second base on fly balls hit to Kip. He played second base for a reason: his arm wasn’t strong enough for the left side of the infield. Hope the weak arm doesn’t cost us. Also surprised to see Bauer and Tomlin get the nod over Mike Clevinger as starters (Tomlin if need be) in the first round of the playoffs. Hands down, Clevinger was the best of the three this year, but Tito is loyal to his veteran players.

But just the same, we’re going to the World Series again, baby … GO TRIBE!

Jeff Bing

Lifelong Westlake resident who dabbles in writing whenever the real world permits. My forte is humor and horror...What a combo!

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Volume 9, Issue 19, Posted 10:00 AM, 10.03.2017