I’ve been prepping a post about trade possibilities for Kevin Love as the trade deadline approaches… forgive me. I don’t feel like writing it anymore right now.
Kobe Bryant is dead today at age 41. He and his 13 year old daughter Gianna were in a helicopter crash this morning. Tragically, Gianna has passed away as well.
I feel selfish for focusing on Kobe. Four other people including his own daughter passed away, but Bryant will get all the press and all the publicity. Maybe that is better. Others can grieve in peace. Maybe its worse. What about recognition? We as a people only care about tragedy when it happens to us or to someone with a high profile. I’m guilty of it as well. I know I am. That’s why I feel the way I feel now. Just stunned. Absolutely, positively stunned. My reaction from the moment I got the notification on my phone has just been “Wait, what?!”.
Regardless of all that, this death matters to me, and I know it matters to so many more. I might not always have preferred Kobe’s style of play; I’d make jokes about his reluctance to pass and how his overly serious nature helped cause the rift between himself and more jovial former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, but I always recognized Kobe as an undeniable force.
A fierce scorer who would use a deft combination of skill and will to get buckets on one end and smother his opponents on the other. He grew into a leadership role as his career progressed. His second set of Finals runs with the Phil Jackson led Lakers showed an older, wiser Bryant still at the top of his game, but more capable to reach his teammates and work inside a framework to make everyone exceptional. He became a well oiled winning machine, willing to raise his teammates and himself in favor of greatness on the floor. He became the undisputed 2nd best shooting guard in the history of the game. He became an invincible force of basketball nature, even sinking 2 free throws before retreating to the locker room after tearing his Achilles in 2013. He became the Black Mamba.
And I think that, for those of us fortunate enough to have been able to follow Bryant’s career, that is why this hurts and why it is so shocking. Every previous memory we have of Bryant is of him willing his Lakers squads to 5 rings, slashing through every last Toronto Raptors on his way to 81 points or even those aforementioned one-legged free throws. We never consider these athletes that we cheer or boo just as fragile as the rest of us, especially when they hit the type of peaks that Kobe hit. It is absolutely devastating when we end up getting reminded that despite all those feats they are exactly what we are: human. It hurts.
Now for a disclaimer: I don’t want this next part to be taken wrongly. Family and friends are important- one of the most important things this world has to offer, period. What I am about to say is in no way a replacement for that, if anything it should re-affirm it.
For someone who has been an avid American sports fan for as long as I can remember, these teams and these individuals become a part of our lives. I can turn the television six days a week in the summer and watch the Cleveland Indians play baseball. Often times I do exactly that. These athletes become part of our routine. We watch their professional lives progress sometimes from their dismissal from college until their middle age. They become part of our lives. For better or for worse, they create a connection with us through a common interest. They just happen to be the ones blessed enough to perform it on a daily basis. Bryant may have been a villain to me more often than not, but he was a respected one for all the reasons I have mentioned. Having “lived with him” for the last 20+ years is what makes this so harrowing.
He can’t be dead. He’s too wily and tough to be dead. He terrorized the Western Conference for twenty years and was a perfect foil to the natural passer and less hardened exterior of LeBron. How could it possibly be?
But it is. Rest well, Mamba. That fall-away mid range shot of yours is going to give them all fits in heaven. You and your daughter can continue to share your passion forever. I hope your family finds peace, as well as all the other families involved.
For the rest of us: remember that we are all fragile. Even the ones of us we see day in and day out. Even the ones we could never even imagine not being strong.
What we didn’t know until now, was that the illegal use of that bullpen phone was essentially harmless. In a game in 2017 one member of the Yankees’ coaching staff picked up the phone and used it to contact the replay room and ask if they thought a particular pitch was a strike or not. That was it. Technically illegal, but really, no advantage came of it. They could have literally done the same thing themselves on the delayed television feed in the clubhouse. However, we also know that that illegal phone use is what the Yankees were punished for. We know this because after MLB investigated in 2017, they found no evidence that the Yankees were using a live feed to steal signs like the Red Sox suggested.
We now know that to be false as the Athletic has reported that the Yankees did indeed use their video room to decode signs from 2015 thru 2017. Now to be clear, MLB didn’t really even start making any type of stink about this type of activity until 2017. Any time before that it is practically certain that what the Yankees were doing was unethical, but not directly illegal by official rule. For all we know, they may have stopped after paying their respective fine in 2017.
This first interaction between the Commissioner’s office, the Yankees and the Red Sox would be the impetus for statements from the League directly saying that any future wrongdoing would be punished more severely. From the moment of the Apple Watch and bullpen phone, this became a big deal. It should also be noted that the Red Sox fine was announced on September 15th, 2017. The now famous video showing White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar changing signs due to the Astros banging a dugout trash can occurred on September 21st, a mere 6 days later, but indeed after the announcement of a crackdown on this type of activity.
And that is why we wait today for Commissioner Rob Manfred and his staff to levy punishment upon the Astros. Claims are that this is the most thorough investigation that MLB has ever performed and that up to 75,000 pieces of electronic correspondence have been reviewed as well as the interview of countless team personnel. Meanwhile, sources claim that the looming punishment for Houston and its staff members is likely to not only be brought down in the next two weeks, but to also be “severe”.
Beyond all this, the Athletic has now reported that the 2018 World Series Champion Red Sox also were using cameras and their instantly replay room in order to steal signs. A staff member viewing this screen would decipher the opposing catcher’s signs for that day and then tell a passerby player what the sign system was. That information was then likely disseminated through either each player in the lineup or one of the base coaches, with the goal being that base-runners would then relay signs to the batter.
I will say, this is still a dirty system that made illegal use of the camera tech provided to each team, but it was at least a mere speed up of a process that could have been done by the players themselves. The monitor created a steady, consistent ability to get opposing signs down pat, something that would have been possible through getting a runner on second base, just less efficiently. Think of the Red Sox as using a calculator on an elementary school math test where you are supposed to show your work. Its not nearly as blatant, swift or comprehensive as what the Astros were doing. You can kinda squint your eyes and convince yourself it isn’t as big of a deal. Still, we now have World Series champions implicated in this type of cheating for consecutive years.
And now, this opens up a whole extra round of investigations for MLB. Once they are done with the Astros, the Red Sox are sure to be next to become scrutinized. The one common thread between both teams is current Astros manager Alex Cora. Cora was the Astros bench coach in 2016 and 2017 before being named skipper of the Red Sox in 2018. That means he was in the dugout when the Astros were doing their best garage band impression in 2017 and again when the Red Sox were playing telephone in 2018. I would not be surprised at all if in due time Manfred makes Cora a scapegoat for a lot of this wrongdoing. Yes, people like Astros Manager AJ Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow with face punishment. However, I fear it will all be too easy for MLB to link the circumstantial evidence together, point their collective finger directly at Cora and levy the steepest punishment of all on him, followed by patting themselves on the back and going back to distracting us with ideas of a pitch clock and universal designated hitter.
When I last wrote about this subject, I specifically highlighted that the fine people at the Athletic stated that the Astros were only a part of a larger, wide-spread problem. I continue to believe that to be the case, and will continue to, even after Cora will be made the sacrificial lamb (to be clear, I really am speculating here, it just really wouldn’t surprise me at this point). The easiest way for baseball to get rid of this scandal is to find someone to blame and move on, and I fear that is exactly what they will do.
It says a lot about this situation as well that back in 2017 when the Red Sox got accused of cheating by the Yankees they were able to come out and say “yeah… but they were doing it too!!!” and be absolutely right. For one, it presents a situation where teams can weaponize allegations against each other. Its a system of “don’t tattle on us, because we will do it right back”. Now, with the promise of stricter penalties against team personnel it even becomes a bit of a nuclear option, a way to the get staff of one of your rivals potentially removed. Secondly, it becomes clear that teams confidently know that other teams are even operating this way in the first place. That should be enough in itself to suggest that this goes deeper than just the Red Sox, Yankees and Astros.
It makes me wonder where this ends? Is every team that isn’t tanking doing this (because if you’re tanking why the heck would you look for an advantage)? If that is the case, and we vacate the 2017 and 2018 World Series for anyone who cheated, does that leave say… the 2017 Atlanta Braves and a tie between the 2018 Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers as World Champions? I know I’m getting carried away, but I am trying to make a point on how deep this could go. It just seems all too easy for MLB to chalk this controversy up to a couple of bad apples and then move on. If they really want to eradicate this problem, whether it is to make the game ethically better or to cease the effect it has on pace of play, then they will have to do better.
30-7 record. Currently the top seed in the NBA’s Western Conference. Playing with the best player in the world. Sunny, glamorous Los Angeles, California. Lakers Power Forward Anthony Davis has all of that and more going for him. Yet yesterday, Yahoo reported that Davis will test free agency this off-season rather than take the max contract extension that has been offered to him by the Lakers. He will forgo the 4 years and $148 million that he can make today, and risk it all this summer. All of this, despite requesting and being obliged to a trade to Los Angeles just this past summer. How could this be? What could the Lakers have done wrong?
The answer is likely, not very much. This is a calculated move by one of the ten best players in the NBA and his people, and it provides him with a lot of good options to position himself and his career into the future. Below, I will go through five of those options, and rank their likelihood by percentage.
Lets see what he have:
Davis opts in to his 1 year player option this summer (-1000% chance)
So this one isn’t a real choice, but I felt like it still needed to at least be addressed. On its face it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Davis has announced he will be turning down the 4 year extension he could be provided by the Lakers. So why opt in for one measly year at the end of the season? He would make less money signing this option than signing an all new deal and would have no longer-term contract. Further, Kevin Durant just had the worst injury a basketball player can get, and still accepted a max contract from the Brooklyn Nets. Its likely that even if the same happened to Davis, a max deal will be out there for him in the summer. Financial security isn’t an issue that would cause Davis to need to opt in. This isn’t happening.
Davis opts out this off-season and goes somewhere else (3%)
Is this possible? Yeah. Is it likely? No. But, if Davis for some reason really doesn’t like playing with LeBron or disaster strikes and James becomes injured long-term then there are a couple of teams out there that could provide the enticement for Davis to leave the Purple and Gold.
Chicago is his hometown and is struggling to find its leader and star on the floor. Plus, they will have a max salary slot available where Davis would fit quite nicely. An even better basketball option in Miami won’t have the space automatically, but could clear it with a trade or two. If they want to pass up the 2021 free agent sweepstakes (which stands to be much better than this coming summer’s) and pair Davis with Jimmy Butler they would become the best team in the Eastern Conference. Don’t put it past Pat Riley to flash his 6 rings and make a compelling case. Still, Davis will be hard pressed to find a situation better than his current one in the summer, especially when you consider he would make more money staying in LA.
Davis opts out, but then signs a 1 year deal with a player option for a second year (7%)
The good ol’ LeBron’s return to Cleveland deal. Davis has the same agent as James- Rich Paul, and they used this strategy very effectively in Cleveland. It applies pressure on the Laker front office to do every possible thing to be as competitive on the court as can be, and that’s something both Paul clients would benefit from. Davis could keep opting out every year like this for as long as he wanted, and then really test the market any year he desires. Like I previously mentioned, 2021 is a big free agent class year and teams are already clearing salary cap space for it. Davis could make himself available then and there, and if not could keep increasing his money with the Lakers every year re-signing new deals because of the way the collective bargaining agreement is structured. He might want more security than this though, which brings us to our next option.
Davis opts out this summer and then signs a long-term max deal for the most money and years possible (35%)
This choice is the obvious reason why Davis is currently turning down the extension that the Lakers have offered. He stands to be able to add a fifth year to his contract and an additional total of about $50 million to his payout by signing this off-season. The reason why has to do with the CBA, but to put it simply, Davis lost the ability to sign for this kind of money through a mid-season extension when he was traded from New Orleans to LA. Anyway, this option provides him the peace of mind of knowing that if a better opportunity really is out there, he can take it this summer, but he can definitely fall back on more money and a great situation in LA. He can continue to learn from LeBron as they will eventually shift roles between top player and side-kick over time (assuming LeBron actually does regress at some point before being eligible for Social Security). They are already in great position to win a title this year. Adding stability and continuity to their situation would just position them even better. Remember, LeBron has never won the title in his first year on a new team. Both times it was the second year. And that second year really might be the big one…
Davis optsout, then signs a 2-year deal with a 1-year option in the summer (55%)
Really, there is no bad choice here for Davis, only ones that are better than others. He sits in an enviable position, and that’s great for him. For better or for worse at this point, players like Davis are in charge of their destinies, and really the destinies of the league at large that they play in.
Obviously, that hasn’t happened whatsoever. A little over a year later the Cavs are now 10-25 and look like a top-half lottery team for the second year in a row, and are still in the beginning stages of a complete rebuild. As such, Love is the subject of continual trade rumors and even though he hasn’t formally asked for a trade, would likely welcome one. How do I know this? Well for one, there are reports that say so. But also, things appear to be hitting a boiling point between Love, his teammates and the Cavaliers’ staff.
Saturday afternoon following shoot-around, Love had an emotional “outburst” that was directed at Altman. One of his claims during that outburst was that the Cavs have “no feel”. Further, in the waning seconds of the 2nd quarter in Saturday night’s contest vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder Love appeared visibly frustrated and threw up his hands at ball-handling guard Collin Sexton mid-play. Love stood in front of him until Sexton passed him the ball. This led to Love firing a pass to forward Cedi Osman (who ended up being fouled on a 3 point attempt).
I think his frustration to a point is understandable though. The sticking point is the actual on the court actions of himself and his teammates. All that I laid out above is obvious. Its’ all macro-level considerations of the situation that Love finds himself in. If you take a look at the nuts and bolts of a game situation that Love finds himself in though, it could be perceived as pretty maddening.
I’ll provide an example. I will call this a “crunch time break down”. I might do more of these in the future, where I lay out a close game and explain what I saw as an avid basketball fan. Forgive me. Its going to be wordy. I could just as easily throw up a video and say “see for yourself”, but there are specific points I want to lay out. Without further delay:
This past Thursday night the Cavaliers took on the Charlotte Hornets from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (gag).
With about 5 minutes left in the game the Cavaliers led 100-93 and Love, forward Cedi Osman and center Tristan Thompson have all just re-entered the game after rest. The following possessions occur (this is going to be fairly Love-centric, but I plan to be even-handed):
Right off the free throws that allowed the trio to come into the game Love received the ball in the post and travels. Its his only turnover of the night, the Cavaliers had 14 as a team. 4:58 remains in the game. Cavs still by 7.
Charlotte point guard Terry Rozier makes a three and Charlotte now trails by 4. On the next Cavs’ possession the ball never leaves Sexton’s hands. He drives into the crowded paint and puts up a contested layup with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. He held the ball for the entire 21 seconds. Not only is it a miss, Love is open at the 3 point line. 4:13 remains. Cavs lead 100-96.
Charlotte forward PJ Washington’s layup makes it a 2 point game. On the Cavs possession they run a set play. After the ball comes up the forecourt, Love receives the ball at the top of the key and immediately gives it up on a dribble hand-off to wingman Kevin Porter Jr. Porter dribbles around the perimeter into traffic and takes a bad contested layup. The shot is no good. Love isn’t as open this time, but is still uncovered on the left wing. Osman and Sexton are also open on the left side of the floor. Two bad, contested layups in a row. Cavs lead 100-98. 3:27 remains.
Porter putting it up, surrounded by 3 Hornets. Love, Osman and Sexton, all open to his left.
On the ensuing Charlotte possession Rozier comes right down the floor off the rebound, and receives a screen from center Bismack Biyombo. Love had been guarding Biyombo and shows hard on Rozier. To Rozier’s credit and the slow-footed Love’s detriment, Rozier crosses Love, who fails to impede his progress. Porter was Rozier’s man, but he went over the top of screen and now can’t recover since Love failed to keep Rozier in front. This means the man guarding the weak-side corner- Osman, should come to help. He doesn’t. Tie game. 3:16 left. Cavs call timeout.
Love tries to keep Rozier in frontLove is too slow. Osman appears ready to help.Osman is still standing there. Easy layup.
Coming out of the timeout Beilein draws up a play for Love off of a Thompson off-ball screen at the top of the key. Love takes an open three in rhythm but misses. 3:06 left. Still tied at 100.
Charlotte guard Devonte Graham throws a pass into the stands and the Cavs get the ball back. A Darius Garland-Love screen and pop leads to penetration by Garland down the right side of the lane. Garland kicks to Sexton in the left corner. 3 ball… got it! This is the best play you will see throughout this entire exercise. Cavs lead 103-100. 2:30 left.
Hornets come right back down and Graham answers with a 3 of his own. We are tied again. The ensuing Cavs possession has Garland bring the ball up the floor on the right side of the key. Osman comes out, slips a screen and dashes to the left wing behind the 3 line. Osman briefly flashes open but by the time he receives the pass and puts up the shot he is contested. 1 pass was made, the shot was contested, Love never touched the ball and 11 seconds were on the shot clock when Osman hoisted. Bad possession. Still tied. 1:58 remains.
Look who is open on the other side of the floor.
Sexton plays sparkling defense that leads to a Garland steal of Rozier. Garland is fouled in the open floor which leads to a review to check for a clear path foul and an unofficial timeout. No clear path foul occurred, but its Cavs’ ball and we are still tied.
Beilein uses the extra time to draw up a set play for Love coming off another screen. He takes a good shot, but misses the three pointer at the top of the key. We are still tied and there’s 1:30 left.
More good team defense in crunch time leads to a missed three by Rozier. We are really getting into crunch time now as Thompson pulls down the rebound and gets it to Garland as we get under the minute mark. Garland and Love run screen and pop again. It looks a lot like the play Sexton made a 3 on instead this time Garland takes a layup in traffic with 7 seconds still on the shot clock. Biyombo should be guarding Love at the 3 point line but he has completely abandoned his post and has come down to the key to help on the drive and ensure he retrieves the rebound. This is the most open Love has been yet, naked on the left wing at the 3 point line. We are still tied and 45 seconds remain.
Love is barely in frame, but open. Osman is open too.
On their possession Charlotte runs a screen slip that leads to a bad, contested three that Graham makes even though he had no business taking it. Basketball-reference.com describes it as a “36-footer”. I give credit to Sexton for contesting. 106-103 Charlotte. 23 ticks remain.
Beilein calls timeout and the Cavs inbound at half court. Austin Carr directly says on the broadcast “You can (afford to) go to your second or third option here and get a 3 point shot.”. John Michael makes mention that a quick 2 pointer wouldn’t be bad either. We either want to work for a 3 pointer to tie or find a quick, easy 2 pointer and allow time to still come back.
Love comes to the ball at the left wing and receives the inbound. Its a screen hand-off to Sexton at the top of the key. Sexton’s initial drive is shut down, but he tries again and dribbles into the paint. Biyombo completely leaves Love this time. You can see it down below. He knows there is absolutely no chance Sexton is going to pass the ball back out. Its another missed layup in traffic. The Cavs were down 3, Sexton took 8 seconds and only got a contested layup out of the possession. That was neither a couple passes that led to a three, nor a quick, easy 2 pointer.
Biyombo pulls down the rebound because he has nothing better to be doing; the Cavs foul twice and send Graham to the line. He makes both and Charlotte leads 108-103. 9 seconds remain. Looks like checkmate.
Beilein calls his last timeout and the Cavs take the ball out from half-court again. This time the play is a direct pass to Love in the post off the inbound. Instead of guarding Love, Biyombo is guarding Osman, but hedges inside to help on Love. Love actually notices and fires the ball out to the perimeter to Osman. 3 ball… got it! Holy cow! Someone passed to an open player, and a shot was made?! The Cavs still trail by 2 and there’s only 4 seconds left.
Actual court vision.Cedi for 3!
The Cavs foul again and the door kinda, sorta swings open. Rozier misses one of two free throws and its a 3 point game again, but the Cavs are out of timeouts and have to inbound in the back-court. Sexton gets freed up 40 feet from the rim and fires a decent looking shot, but its no good at the buzzer. Love comes over and rubs Sexton’s shoulders. I’m not a lip-reader, but he appears to tell him “good shot!”. The Cavs lose by 2 after leading by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter.
So what do we have here? 11 possessions in the final 5 minutes for the Cavaliers. Love touched the ball on 6 of them but two of those were quick give-ups for a dribble hand-off and a screen hand-off. Three different times he was left wide open on the perimeter and four different times a young Cavaliers’ ball-handler took a bad, contested layup at the rim. That’s just as many attempts as legitimate touches that Love got in the final five minutes.
I would be frustrated too. I am not saying that Love should be taking every shot down the stretch of a close game. Absolutely not. But at the same time, each possession that didn’t involve him was absolutely poor. The only one where he didn’t touch the ball and it went well was Sexton’s corner three. Yes, Love missed 2 threes of his own. They were good, open shots. They weren’t contested layups with two or more defenders draped over the shooter while the best player on the team stood wide-open for three. That’s how you lose games. That’s not how you build any type of winning culture. That’s the type of thing that leads to this:
A good friend of mine texted me and said he thinks Sexton lost track of the shot clock. Could be, but it seems more like Sexton just doesn’t have any real vision. He isn’t really a ball-handler. He couldn’t see Love standing near the paint with the 6 foot tall Chris Paul on him. Love literally has 9 inches on him! I think that’s what Love might have meant on Saturday when he blew up at Altman and said the Cavs have “no feel”. These young guys have no feel for how to operate a professional level offense. What is Coach Beilein teaching these guys anyway? The crazy part is that with the shot clock running down, Love found a half decent look for Osman for three, and they got foul shots out of it. That would not have occurred unless Love did what he did.
Yes, Love is being surly, but I think he has good reason. Quite genuinely, if placed in this position I think a certain former Cavaliers’ star would act very similarly as well. In fact, this on-court attitude is somewhat reminiscent of LeBron taking himself out of plays while Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters fought over the ball in 2014, or the month long pout-job he did in January of 2018 to force Altman to re-form the Cavs roster at the trade deadline.
I don’t think Love means anything ill by what he is doing, but he is frustrated. I can’t blame him for that. Unfortunately for him, he might have to ride out the storm for this season. A Love trade still seems like a rigorous endeavor at this point.
They have brought this proposal to the negotiating table against the Minor League Baseball, as the agreement between the two parties is set to expire after the 2020 season. Eliminating the current affiliations would make the 42 teams independent, meaning they would no longer have a league or players. They would still exist as businesses, but they would be be fending for themselves and would have to find new independent leagues and their own rosters. MLB has taken what is usually a formality of negotiation and renewal and turned it on its head.
To their credit earlier this year, the Toronto Blue Jays (run by former Cleveland Indians President Mark Shapiro) announced they would be raising their minor league wages by 50 percent. However, they are the only organization to get out ahead of this issue and improve wages for their minor leaguers.
I’m sure the other owners can see this controversy brewing though. Its ultimately not a good look for the teams to be paying their farm hands so very little. Unfortunately, the solution they have come up with doesn’t seem very even handed either. It appears that they all aim to follow the example of the Houston Astros organization (since they’ve just been so classy lately) and cut minor league affiliates while banking on improved player development technology to account for the smaller talent pool. One aspect to not be neglected here is that technology. If teams can use Rapsodo to better measure spin rate or SwingTracker to better judge and correct flaws in a hitters swing they don’t have to play as much of a numbers game when hoping to find talent.
Are you with me so far? Because its about to get worse.
With all of this in mind, and the above mentioned Major League/Minor League negotiations going on, Manfred took it a step farther last Friday, publicly threatening to cut ties with Minor League Baseball as an organization entirely. The statement comes it seems from a point of frustration in negotiations. Manfred has been vocal recently about Minor League Baseball’s inability to be flexible in talks and further, how he did not care for how public the Minors organization has been with the press about the removal of 42 teams. The commissioner apparently decided the best way to take out his frustrations about his counterparts playing the press as a negotiating tactic… was to also play the press as a negotiating tactic. And he sure did swing for the fences.
To be clear, cutting ties would not mean the abolition of minor league baseball, but rather, Minor League Baseball. It would mean that MLB would be negotiating with the individual teams instead of all of them together in one organized entity. This set up with provide MLB with a huge amount of leverage to do whatever it wants in the talks, being able to throw its proverbial weight around since it would be working from such a great place of financial power.
So here we are. The billionaires club that is the MLB owners have grievances about having to make sure their employees are paid the minimum wage. So much so that they want to eliminate 42 teams worth of roster spots. Never mind that five full months of pay at $1700 a month for a first year AA player comes to $8,500. Add a little extra cash for how the season extends into September and that player is getting compensated about $9000 for their talents. For those of you keeping score at home,the poverty threshold for a single American under 65 years old is $11,770. It sure is a darned shame those poor billionaires can’t even muster up the extra $2770 just to get their AA players (never mind players below that level) to the poverty line without cutting teams out of the equation.
This all goes without mentioning each team of course has its own season ticket salespeople, game-day operations managers, and concessions workers among other occupations. With the fate of their teams in jeopardy, so are all of those jobs. Those jobs are in danger today based solely off of association.
And yet even further, not only would all these people be hurt, but the owners would likely be hurting the welfare of the game. One of the best marketing benefits that baseball has is its established network of minor league teams. If you just live in or around a small city there is likely inexpensive, professional baseball near you. There are 261 teams worth in America. You might not be able to afford lower level seats in the big city, but you’re likely to be able to watch the stars of tomorrow in that town nearby, all up close and personal. Maybe one or two of them will even make it to the show and that will encourage you to start watching their Major League club on television (queue baseball’s biggest money maker: the television contract).
For the MLB owners to work for the removal of 42 teams and all the jobs and economic impact that come with them though is dirty business. Dirty business that seems to be a positive for them and them only, with even the game itself possibly taking a hit.
And now they’re threatening to take their (probably juiced) ball and go home if they don’t get what they want.
If even the purveyors themselves aren’t looking out for the game, who is?
When I started writing in this space I promised Cleveland baseball content, which to this point, has actually been conspicuously absent. I had another post all punched out and ready for editing today, but then I started getting the alerts early this afternoon on my phone. Truthfully, I was hoping to not have to start Indians content this way:
The Cleveland Indians have traded two-time former Cy Young Award winning ace starting pitcher Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers for outfielder Delino DeShields Jr and rookie relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase.
The acquisition concludes over a year of trade discussion about Kluber, that dates back to talks from before baseball’s 2018 Winter Meetings. Talks about Kluber continued all last winter, but the Indians could never come to terms with any team and decided to begin the season with Kluber and his $17 million contract on their books in a continued attempt to compete for the World Series.
The Indians came into this off-season with all that baggage around Kluber. Still, with a clean bill of health given trade talks commenced again about the dominant right-hander. This is the part that I just don’t understand.
A lot of fans like to lament the Dolan family. I, for one, usually don’t. I applaud them for the fact that as an ownership group they have largely hired incredibly competent people to run their baseball business and not meddle in affairs. I genuinely believe the Indians are run as one of the 5 best organizations in all of baseball and a lot of this has to do with the steady hand of ownership.
Everything I can think of would suggest that wasn’t the case with this Kluber trade. Let me be clear on why.
This is a staff that largely loves to sell high. They did not do this whatsoever with Kluber. If I was in their position I would have to question an offer like the one that was ultimately accepted. Kluber may be coming off of an injury, but it was a freak one, not based on stress or miles on his arm, but by an accident. There was no structural damage to his elbow or shoulder. There should be no reason to expect the injury to linger. Further, his poor month to begin the 2019 season was just that: a month. What are you more apt to trust? The one month of ineffectiveness he struggled through in 2019, or the six seasons of dominance that came before it? This was the perfect opportunity for the Indians to shelf the trade talks and let Kluber return to form. A likely better performance and a clean bill of health could either lead to the dominant ace you know helping propel your ballclub to 2020 playoff hopes, or at least a better value at the trade deadline. To be clear, my beef is not with trading Kluber at all, but for trading him now and for what was received in return.
Instead, Kluber was traded- when his value probably couldn’t have been any lower than its been since talks commenced. Why? As stated before, the Indians front office deserves a lot of credit under the Dolan’s ownership. With the exception of the Manny Acta years they have provided competitive baseball consistently while at the helm. If I can see the flaws in the trade they just performed, I’m sure they are aware of them as well. So what’s the deal?
Remember how I congratulated the Dolans on not meddling? Well, maybe they have started. Its likely not a coincidence that Kluber’s $17 million is coming off the books in return for a paltry rookie contract and the projected 2nd year of arbitration contract of $2.4 million for DeShields.We already know that the marching orders last winter were to cut payroll, and cut payroll the Indians did in the removal of Lonnie Chisenhall, Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen among others from the roster via free agency. Maybe this is all step 2 in that process, but it couldn’t come at a worse time.
The Indians answer to all of this so far? Trade their somewhat expensive, but relatively reasonably priced ace pitcher when his value is lowest.
Speaking of… what have the Indians gotten in return? To be frank, there actually is at least a little good news here.
DeShields is a light-hitting right-handed outfielder that played exclusively in centerfield last year but can play leftfield as well. He hit .249 in 2019 with just 4 home runs and a fairly average .325 OBP, but did steal 24 bases. His weighted Runs Created plus (wRC+) was just 72, and is just 76 over his 4 year career (100 would be average, higher is better). Defensively, he held the 4th best Range Runs for any centerfielder in baseball, while being a middle of the pack quality centerfielder otherwise. Oddly though, he hasn’t played any other position than centerfield since 2017, an area likely to be patrolled by Oscar Mercado in 2020 and beyond for the Tribe. Ultimately, DeShields was worth 0.8 Fangraph’s WAR in 2019. His career high is 2.1 in 2017 when he hit .269, scored 75 times and had 29 stolen bases. Basically, he’s a fast, athletic outfielder that was taken 3rd overall in the 2014 draft, but few other tools ever developed.
Clase is a right-handed rookie relief pitcher with a fastball that scouts absolutely adore for both its velocity and movement. He only pitched 23.1 Major League innings in 2019, but posted an ERA of 2.31 in those innings. He has shown an ability to limit walks, both in the minors and with a walk rate of just 6.4% for the Rangers last season. His combination of a blazing fastball, able to regularly hit 99 MPH, while not walking many hitters is a talent beyond his years. He also incorporates a slider, but will likely automatically be the biggest “power arm” in an Indians bullpen that often got by with only finesse in 2019. Ben Clemens at Fangraphs claimed he could be one of the best relievers in baseball just this past August. (If you don’t click any other link in this post, click that one. It will give you hope.) He is a legitimate solid pick-up.
Clase is the real chip here that the Indians got in return, but he projects as a (possibly even dominant) set-up man for their bullpen. Someone you hope will pitch 70 innings a year but nothing more. I truly feel the Indians could have gotten more for Kluber if they had played this right, and they likely know this too, either kicking themselves for not trading him last winter or wishing they could give it one more go this summer.
That was not be though, and it makes me wonder if the walls are closing in around the Tribe front office when all it would take is the money the Dolans had already committed in order to keep the team’s competitive aspirations afloat. It makes me really wonder what’s next.
It makes me not so confident in a front office that has given me every reason to be.
We are now about a quarter of the way through this NBA campaign and four teams that didn’t find themselves with a playoff spot last season are currently in the top eight in their respective conference. Of those teams, there were a couple you could expect a leap from. The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers added star power in Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis, respectively. Those 2 squads were poised for the leaps that they have taken. On the other end of the spectrum, the Phoenix Suns find themselves as an 8th seed today after having the worst record in the West just last year.
The team that has made the biggest leap in the standings though is the Dallas Mavericks. And news-flash: they have been really good. After finishing 14th in the West last season, just above the Suns, they are currently cemented into 2nd place, 3.5 games behind the Lakers. That’s a 12 position jump in the standings. The Mavs also have the 2nd best point differential in the Association and have won 5 games in a row including a 46-point thrashing of the New Orleans Pelicans yesterday that saw star forward Luka Doncic score 28 points in just 26 minutes.
(Full disclosure, as I have edited this post they have come back from a 20-point deficit vs. the Kings tonight and are now wrapped up in a close game. All that appears above and below does not include data from that game… I hope I didn’t jinx them. I already look silly because Kyrie still hasn’t returned to action).
At 20, the Slovenian-born former Euroleague MVP is leading the NBA in Basketball-Reference’s VORP statistic, a stat very similar to the WAR stat that is used in baseball. Let me be perfectly clear on how good Doncic has been. Doncic’s VORP of 3.0 puts him on pace to finish the season at a VORP of 11.2. Only 2 men have ever had a rating that high for a season. You might have heard of them. Their names are James and Jordan. Did I happen to mention that this guy is 20 years old?!
For those of you not as enamored with new-fangled stats, he’s also nearly averaging a triple-double with 30.1 points per game (good for 3rd in the NBA), 10 rebounds per game as a 6 foot 7 guard and 9.2 assists per game. There are 7 players in the league this year that are shooting 73% or better at the rim while taking at least 5 such attempts per game. Doncic is the only one listed under 6 foot 9 and is also the only one that has logged all his minutes as a guard, according to Basketball-Reference. All of this is coming from a guy that a lot of basketball talking heads didn’t think would have the athleticism to be a star in the NBA. He’s not perfect. He’s taking the 3rd most 3-point shots in the league while only making about 32% of them… but did I mention he’s 20 years old?!
Beyond Doncic, this team has been incredibly sound. They’re first in the NBA in Offensive Rating and have the fewest turnovers per game. Sixth-man Tim Hardaway Jr. has the best turnover percentage in the league while being one of three double-digit scorers on the squad alongside Doncic and power forward Kristaps Porzingis.
The X-Factor here though is Porzingis. Last year’s big name acquisition before the trade deadline is only 20 games into his return from a torn ACL that caused him to miss all of last season. The Mavericks gambled when they traded for him and to be fair he isn’t a sure thing. His scoring numbers are down. This has been the least efficient shooting season of his career by True Shooting Percentage (.499) and he’s averaged fewer points per game than any season other than his rookie year. However, he’s rebounding at a better clip than he ever has (15.0%) and is 5th in the league in blocks per game (2.0). I would say this signifies that he is playing hard. His offense is going to come. This is already the league’s best offense and Rick Carlisle knows a little bit about how to showcase an over-sized power forward who can shoot from anywhere on the floor.
For perspective on this team’s brilliance with the ball, last year’s Golden State Warriors have the best Offensive Rating in NBA history at 115.9 for a full season. Right now, this year’s Mavericks are at rating of 117.9. I know we are only 22 games in and I am getting ahead of myself, but they are on a record pace and Porzingis is likely only going to get better. If he can become the more adept scorer that he was while playing for the Knicks this team could even find another gear. This could be a historically proficient offense.
Outside of Doncic and Porzingis they have had real professional efforts from the rest of their roster. Hardaway has scored 12.5 points per game off the bench, Dwight Powell’s defensive field goal percentage (57.7) puts him in the company of other respected big man defenders like Marc Gasol and Mitchell Robinson. Bench guard Delon Wright is 10th in the league in Offensive Rating.
Yes, this team seems somewhat devoid of star power outside of their two top guys, and really Doncic is head and shoulders above Porzingis at this moment. It isn’t all positives. Their performance bares similarities to LeBron in his first go-round with the Cavaliers, although to this point Doncic has even out-paced LeBron’s age 20 season.
The Brooklyn Nets have announced that star point guard Kyrie Irving will miss the next three games with a shoulder impingement, however this is not new news. Cavalier fans should be familiar by now with Irving’s injury woes throughout his career. Beyond that, this particular shoulder injury has ailed him for over a week now. He was last seen on the hardwood on November 14th in a 101-93 loss in Denver and if he misses the next three games as scheduled he will have missed seven in total.
What is really newsworthy here though
is who those next three games he will miss entail. The Nets are
hitting the road right now and are headed on a three game trip that
will take them first to New York (okay, so in that case maybe they
aren’t hitting the road quite yet), and then to Cleveland and Boston
next week.
For those of you who might have been
hit on the head or just don’t pay close attention, Cleveland and
Boston are the last two cities that Irving played for. Not only did
he play in them and depart, but neither departure was exactly…
amicable.
Starting with the 2017-2018 season, Irving then spent the next two campaigns in Boston after an abysmally executed trade sent him to the Celtics. Irving’s problem has never been his play on the floor, and he continued to be one of the prime scoring guards in the league for Boston in 2017-2018, averaging 24.4 points per game on a career high True Shooting Percentage. Fortunes turned though as an injury late in the year caused him to miss the playoffs. Young stars like forward Jason Tatum and guard Jaylen Brown thrived without Irving on the floor and really came into their own, making it all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. When Irving returned in 2018-2019 it proved too difficult for the team to mesh both personalities and play styles between Tatum and Brown’s emergence, Gordon Hayward’s return from injury and Irving’s desire to remain top commander of both the ball and attention. Irving departed unceremoniously in free agency, but not before an ugly playoff performance that saw him shoot the worst percentages of his playoff career and put up negative values for Offensive Win Shares.
For both the friction he caused and the false promise of his skill in the playoffs, many Boston fans were happy to see Irving go. They were likely only happy to see him return next week in a Brooklyn uniform so that they can boo the pants off of him. Boston is an opinionated city. They are going to let you know where you stand, and Irving very well might be basketball public enemy #1 right now. Needless to say, Irving seems to have drummed up some ill will on his way out of both of his previous situations.
Further, this would have been Irving’s
first return to the TD Garden. He has also only played in Cleveland
one time in four opportunities since leaving the Cavaliers, and that
was the very first game of the 2017-2018 season, his very first as a
Celtic and first as a non-Cavalier. He has not played in this town
since. Even with the Celtics in the playoff chase last year he
skipped both late season opportunities to play against the Cavs in
February and March. Both times he ended up playing the game both
before and afterward indicating no injury kept him out of the lineup.
Maybe we ought to be paying closer attention to when some of these
guys take their “Load Management” days off.
I’m not willing to go to a full
conspiracy theory like Perkins and say Irving is currently sitting
out to make missing these two games believable. Even in this era of
player empowerment I don’t think a team is going to be receptive to a
player on a contending team disappearing for that long as an…
emotional precaution (think about that box score note… “DNP-
Emotional Precaution”). However, it is an awfully convenient
coincidence for him to take his time recovering his shoulder and then
maybe come back when the Nets return to Brooklyn after their game in
Boston.
You would think then that Irving is trying to dodge the same kind of venom in Cleveland that he is likely to receive in Boston. What is strange though is that in that one return he actually received a fairly mixed reception. And of course he did. You must remember after all that he was the man that hit the game-winning shot in Game 7 of the Finals. Really, even with the his messy departure there is good reason to revere him in Cleveland.
It seems to be Irving’s own attitude though that gets in the way now. He truly is a perplexing individual, and frankly I think its all ego. Its almost like those old memories are beneath him. This is the man who decided he didn’t want to live the basketball version of the good life. He didn’t want to play second fiddle to LeBron and be able to gobble up the victories and Finals runs that came with that experience. He wanted to go out on his own and prove himself. Honestly, I really think there is something to respect there but at some point he is working against his own best interest. Sure, he wanted to win. I have no doubt about that, but he also wanted to be the man at the same time. Nothing less would suffice. Here we are two years later, and Irving is now in Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant in tow. Maybe Irving has convinced himself Durant will never be the top 3 player he was in Oklahoma City and Golden State and that he is still primed to be the man in Brooklyn for years to come. Or perhaps Irving realized he could really use the help after all. Its all too hard to tell.
What I can tell is that its likely that same ego that is telling him to not bother to return to Cleveland or Boston. Its funny. I’m not even sure he harbors any malice for the fans or the city of Cleveland in particular. I literally think that for him the victory of the 2016 Finals wasn’t good enough because LeBron was the team leader and best player. Even though Irving made the Finals-clinching shot. Even though he scored 41 points in Game 6. Some how, some way, in that mind of his that was still a hollow victory. LeBron was running the show and he wasn’t. It doesn’t count, and not only does it not count, but he doesn’t want to re-live it.
The Boston stuff? That’s a LITTLE more
understandable. Naturally, I think we would all rather he soak in the
boo birds and then go out and silence them with his play. That would
likely be the impressive way to perform, but if the Nets are okay
with it then its totally his prerogative to avoid them. You know, to
take the easy way out.
What a contradiction, and really such a
shame. Irving truly harbors a ton of talent. He’s even put it to
great use in his career already. I just hope some day he’s able to
get over his own ego and find a new perspective. Maybe one day he
will enjoy it. Maybe one day he will even play against the Cavs in
Cleveland again.
Just last Tuesday the Cleveland Cavaliers were up five points, on the road against Eastern Conference favorite Philadelphia with 2:30 left in regulation. They sat at a record of 4-5 at the time, technically in an Eastern Conference playoff spot, albeit only 9 games into the season. They would go on to squander that lead and lose the game 98-97 in the Wells Fargo Center.
Since then they have dropped 4 more games in a row including yesterday’s 124-100 loss to the Miami Heat. They have been out scored in these games by an average score of 117-99. Even more startling, the average score after 3 quarters has been 95.5-73. The final quarters in each game have been 20/20 club garbage time.
Of course, understanding problems is the first step in solving them. Below I have 5 big reasons I think are tantamount to the Cavaliers’ recent struggles. All statistics referenced either come from basketball-reference.com or NBA’s tracking data and stats.
The Cavaliers average 7.2 of their shots being blocked per game. Only the Atlanta Hawks are worse at 8 shots blocked.
The league’s best teams at avoiding
blocks average about half of this. Two of the last four losses have
included double digit blocked shots against. There are 11 Cavaliers
that have had a shot blocked during their most recent losing steak,
and the only regular to not have been rejected is Larry Nance Jr. I
think a lot of this can be attributed to a lack of flow in the
offense. In their last four games, the Cavaliers are just one of
three teams in the league to assist on less than half of their made
baskets. They aren’t moving the ball effectively and are putting up
predictable and often difficult shots. The chief culprits in this
have been Tristan Thompson, who has gotten blocked 5 times in 3 games
and Collin Sexton who has been blocked 6 times in the last 4 games.
Sexton in particular appears to be desperately, and ineffectively trying to create offense- mostly for himself. During this losing streak, the majority of his shots are coming after 3 dribbles or more. His second most popular location to shoot from during this span has been the area inside the paint but outside of the restricted area. This has also been his least efficient shot according to effective field goal percentage (35%). This would dictate he is forcing his way into the paint to take contested shots near, but not at the rim and he is missing a lot of them. Naturally, he is getting blocked on others. When placed in this situation it seems like it would be a perfect time to draw the defense’s attention and then kick out to an open player. Unfortunately, Sexton is still averaging just 2 assists per game this season. His offense hasn’t been the only individual struggle though.
Cedi Osman hasn’t been good, especially defensively
Osman has not re-paid the Cavaliers for
their faith as of yet.
Opposing teams have feasted on him on the defensive end of the floor. They are shooting 69.2% on field goals within 10 feet of the rim when Osman is the primary defender. This would dictate that size is killing him, especially when he is forced to play the power forward position. Miami power forward Julius Randle scored 30 points in the Cavs’ match-up with the Heat last Thursday in Cleveland. While Osman wasn’t always defending Randle, he was primarily. Osman would also be the main defender against Philly’s Tobias Harris when Harris scored 27 points on just 14 shots this past Sunday and for Duncan Robinson’s 9 for 12 on 3 pointers night that occurred yesterday in Miami.
Meanwhile, Osman’s Offensive Rating for the season is 99, with a rating of 100 being average. So for all his trouble on the defensive end, Osman hasn’t been proficient offensively either. His offensive ratings of 94, 66 and 76 in three of the last four losses are even worse to boot. But he isn’t the lone player to struggle on offense.
Tristan Thompson has been shut off offensively.
Thompson had been a rather large focal point of the Cavaliers’ offense in their first 9 games. He was effective enough that ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote about how pleasantly surprised he was with how capable Thompson had been on the floor this year. Thompson didn’t play yesterday for rest reasons and perhaps the break was appropriate as for the season he is averaging 11.6 field goals a night. Over the last 3 losses before yesterday however, he had put up just 6.7 shots per game and was shooting just 45% from the field., compared to 53% for the season. Most notably, he only shot 3 times last Wednesday against the Heat in 23 minutes. Perhaps Beilein was right to keep him off the floor yesterday. I hope this means his minutes will be able to go back up in the coming games as Thompson hadn’t played under 30 minutes in a game before this now 5-game skid. He hasn’t played more than 28 since the streak started.
Wear and tear is starting to set in already.
Thompson isn’t the only regular Cavalier to miss time lately. Both Kevin Love and Larry Nance missed Monday night’s game against the Knicks in New York and I think the team paid dearly for their absence. Truly, some of the problems I am listing here are inter-connected. A lack of Love and Nance led Osman to more minutes at the power forward position, where Randle was able to take advantage Monday night. Additionally, the Knicks had 19 offensive rebounds in that game, a clear indicator of the lack of effective big men for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers also appeared lost on
offense without the ability to run plays through Love, further
worsening Sexton’s previously mentioned shot selection problems. They
also turned the ball over 19 times to New York’s 7, leading to an
assist-turnover ratio of less than 1. Absolutely brutal.
Additionally, the schedule hasn’t done the Cavaliers any favors. This week includes two back-to-backs, including a trip from Dallas to Cleveland with consecutive games on those trip days. This comes at the end of a 3 game road-stand that started with a home game followed by a game in New York also on consecutive nights. This schedule dictates that these current woes could get worse before they get any better. Which is bad, because defense requires effort and…
The Cavaliers are having trouble guarding anyone
For example, Cleveland has played Miami
twice during this losing steak. The Heat have shot 54.4% and 52.6% in
those games. The scoring is coming from stars and non-stars alike. In
the first Miami game on the 14th rookie guard Kendrick
Nunn scored 23 points with 8 assists. Another rookie, Tyler Herro
had 16 off the bench. Journeyman center Meyers Leonard was 5 of 6
from the field and 2 of 2 from three.
In the next game in Philly, Tobias Harris killed the Cavs for 27 points on 14 shots leading to a phenomenal True Shooting Percentage of 90.7% (aided by Osman, as I mentioned earlier) . The Sixers shot 54.8% as a team for the game, aided by 11 Ben Simmons assists. Randle then ran wild in the following contest scoring 30 points on 17 shots and a 70.6% field goal percentage. Yesterday, it was the Duncan Robinson show as Miami shot 51.4% from three point land as a team. Probably the best stat to depict how horrible the defensive effort has been during this losing streak though is the 95.5 points per game the Cavaliers have averaged allowing through 3 quarters each game. For comparison, Cleveland has scored 97 or less for full games in 3 of their 5 recent losses.
The Cavaliers will have to clean up at least some of these issues if they want to get back to their winnings ways. This is a season of growth and their is a lot for Beilein and company to work on. To be fair, they are only 1 loss worse than I predicted as this point, but early flashes of competence have turned into the issues we see now.
There isn’t a lot of time to snap out of this. Five more games are to come in the next eight nights, but if Thompson can play effectively coming off of rest and young players like Osman and Sexton can show up in multiple facets, the Cavs have the ability to have wins ahead of them.
Both foreshadowed on this very site in
the past month, the Houston Astros and Golden State Warriors are both
former champions of their realms that are now being disgraced in
current times.
During the Astros-Yankees ALCS this year I wrote about the rumors surrounding the Astros illegal sign-stealing. Well, just in this past week The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal broke an official story that the Astros’ antics aren’t just a rumor. The article is behind a paywall, but includes corroboration by former Astros (and current Athletics) pitcher Mike Fiers. Allegedly, the Astros were using at least one camera in center field to relay what pitch was coming to their batter through a series of sounds, often including banging on a dugout trash can.
In recent days, former pitcher Danny
Farquhar also spoke about his experience facing the Astros. A
breakdown video of Farquhar’s appearance on September 21st,
2017 as a member of the White Sox highlights evidence of the tactics
that the Astros used. The video is shown below. Viewer discretion is
advised, the gentleman who put up the video does use foul language.
I also wrote about how while its was
pretty apparent that the Astros were doing this, it wasn’t very
helpful to them in their endeavors to win baseball games. Minute Maid
Park may have more spy cameras than a Mission Impossible film, but
the Astros have been just as good of a hitting team on the road
during their 3 year run of dominance as they have been when their
abilities have been… technologically enhanced… at home.
My concern though is that Rosenthal alluded that the Astros weren’t the only team using illegal means to steal signs. Everyone is ignoring the “Part of a Much Broader Issue” portion of the headline. The Boston Red Sox have already been punished in 2017 for illegally using Apple Watches. There are now rumors about other teams as well. What are the chances that some of these players and executives will be eating crow when their own organizations get popped for doing similarly? Major League Baseball is investigating the entire situation, including interviews with Houston staff, Red Sox manager Alex Cora and former Astro and newly-named Mets manager Carlos Beltran.
Punishments are coming. We just don’t
know how severe they will be yet or who will face them. I would not
be surprised to see the Astros face a hefty fine, as well as a loss
draft picks and international free agent pool money. However, will
Luhnow face suspension? What about manager AJ Hinch? Both have been
presiding over this farce. It is yet to be seen if player
participants will be punished as well. The Astros could be absolutely
decimated by this act that really didn’t statistically seem to help
them. Sometimes winning at all costs really can be to your detriment.
Pick-Up Sports Talk: Cleveland 