The Sports Mixer - Cavalier Catch-up

I meant to write after each of the last few preseason games for the Cavs, but life does this funny thing where it doesn't give me the time (or motivation) to do so, so I'm going to lump the last few games together (which means bearing with me as I try to remember details) and give a brief idea of what I think this team is going to be like in the regular season.

The thing I've noticed most in the last couple of games is Mike Brown not calling nearly as many timeouts as he was the first couple of games for defensive lapses. This seems to be due to the lapses becoming less frequent, but also Brown seeing if his young team can work through these things together.

The other thing I've realized is that while there is a hole at small forward, the rest of the starting lineup looks absolutely fantastic to this point. Kyrie Irving has been dazzling at times, although the turnovers have been high, but he's more in-tune defensively than he's ever been and that's worked its way down the roster. Dion Waiters looks more confident on offense, although he still likes to jack up jumpers a little too frequently; side note to that is he looks much better shooting them and has taken to Brown coaching him up.

Tristan Thompson seems to have no issue with the switch to shooting with his right hand. If anything, he looks much more confident, much smoother with his shot now. He was hitting from 20 feet with ease, although I don't think Brown wants to see many of those shots from TT. Anderson Varejao is, well, Andy. All he does is crash the boards, cause mayhem, and get easy baskets. He and TT seem to be very similar in that regard, which has helped the Cavs become better in the rebounding department.

The bench is going to be better this year just because of Jarrett Jack alone. He brings a level of toughness that this team really needs and should be able to keep the ship sailing smooth when Kyrie needs a breather. It's hard to really say who's going to round out the bench on this team, although it's becoming more clear by the game. It will be interesting to see who Brown keeps and how his rotation looks, but it should be a decent bench.

Notice I didn't mention Andrew Bynum? The big man has participated in three on three drills and seems to be closer to coming back than most thought he would be at this point. It's encouraging, but most fans will be happy if he is held until completely healthy. Without him this team should be more competitive to begin with; Bynum coming back healthy and at All-Star form could push this team higher than some could've hoped.

Alonzo Gee is a wildcard. He's always been a tough defender and shown occasional glimpses on offense, but he's never been consistent on the offensive side of the ball. If he can give the Cavs 10-15 points per game, it would go a long way.

Matthew Dellavedova is an intriguing player to me. He hasn't shown a consistent shot, and he's prone to turning the ball over at times, but he also has shown he has the ability to be a competent back-up in this league. Could be a valuable player to have if Irving and/or Jack are in foul trouble or deal with injuries.

Oh, and then there's top pick Anthony Bennett, who no one seems to know what to make of. He's looked great at times, but at other times he's reminded us how much work he needs to put in still. Yet Brown has remained patient with him, teaching him at every opportunity. Bennett has shown he can rebound, grabbing 10+ on a couple of occasions now, plus he does have the ability to go on a scoring streak at times as well. He's going to be fun, yet frustrating. Get ready fans.

Now, onto the games I've failed to cover the last few days.

They've gone 2-2 in the last four games, losing to the Charlotte Bobcats in Canton, dismantled the Detroit Pistons in Cleveland, were dismantled by the Pacers in Cleveland, and held off the 76ers in Columbus.

In all four of those games, the starters have played well, mostly outplaying the starting unit on the other side of the court. Irving didn't play the fourth quarter in three of those games, as was the case with the rest of the starters as well. In the case of the Bobcats and Pacers, the second and third units were often pitted against starters, and the game got away quickly. In the game against the Pistons, the backups manhandled the Pistons starters, which was quite the surprise.

What's become clear is while Brown is coaching to win, he's also trying to teach and find out what each player has to offer. Instead of giving the players a couple of minutes to showcase their talents, he's giving them almost entire quarters, which should make it easier to make a decision going forward on who stays and who goes. He's used timeouts to show individual players what they did wrong and what they should be doing instead.

In last night's game against the 76ers, he finally played his starters in the fourth quarter and they turned a 74-73 deficit into a runaway win, highlighted by Irving's pass to Bennett and TT's soft touch on his jumpers. Defensively they locked down on the 76ers, allowing just 35% shooting for the game and outscored the 76ers 33-24 in the fourth.

With just two preseason games left, it's time for those players on the bubble to show whether they belong or not, then it's time for the regular season, where yours truly will be in attendance (it's my birthday!).

Cavalier Caveats

• Irving continues to show that he's taken the challenge seriously to play better defense. His stance and reactions to what the opponent is trying to do is so much better this year than last. Let's be real though, you watch Irving to see him break ankles and he was in full force last night in Columbus, at one point causing a defender to fall backwards.
  
• Varejao and TT in the paint is a nightmare for opposing teams. Varejao has always had a tendency to drive opponents crazy and it appears that trait is rubbing off on TT more and more. Both have a knack for knocking the ball away from would-be rebounders, only for themselves or someone else to come and scoop the ball up.
  
• I want to believe in Gee and last night's game is why. When he's on, he's a valuable asset on this team, capable of hitting a corner three and the occasional driving slam. He's also such a good defender, but he plays a challenging position that expects scoring. As mentioned earlier, if he can give the Cavs 10+ PPG, most will be happy, but his defense needs to stay at a high level.
  
• If Bynum comes and plays at his previous level, this team isn't just dangerous, it's a possible contender. He would give the Cavs a low-post threat that's different from TT and Varejao, but it also would boost the bench as one of those three isn't going to be starting. It's a big what-if, but could have the biggest payoff if it pans out.
  
• There's a lot of talk about health and rightly so. If Irving and Varejao can play 70 or more games, this team is drastically different than if one or both miss significant time. Freak injuries cost both players last year, so many fans will be watching to see how they hold up.
  
• I'm very interested to see the growth from year two to three in TT and Irving, but also interested to see the growth from year one to year two in Waiters. He's perhaps the most polarizing of the three for some reason and has the most to prove it seems to fans. He has such a great ability to drive to the basket, but needs to be able to consistently hit the outside jumpshot to keep teams from squeezing the paint when he has the ball. So far his shot has looked much improved, but old habits are easy to fall back on.
  
• Some fans are concerned about the sleeping disorder that Bennett has and to an extent, it's a justifiable concern. To me, the bigger concerns are his mentality and work ethic. He has talent, but will he work to get better? One of Brown's weakest areas has been working with younger players, in particular rookies. If Brown can shape Bennett into a hard-worker who always is trying to get better, then we'll be able to say that Brown has truly grown as a coach. If Bennett reaches his potential, you won't hear clamoring for LeBron James as much.
  
• Which brings me to the LeBron discussion. Many nationally feel the Cavs are positioning for a run at LeBron. I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, he's the best in the game now, but it's hard for me to think that Gilbert is going to swallow his pride and go after LeBron. I could be wrong though.
  
• Next up the Cavs "host" the Washington Wizards from US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

The Sports Mixer Looks Back - Lions vs. Browns

To say this past game was deflating is an understatement.

The Browns had a chance to go 4-2 and show that they could contend this year. Further, Brandon Weeden had a chance to show he could learn from his own play as well as the play of Brian Hoyer.  The defense had a chance to show it was a legitimate, top-ten defense.

The Browns did well for one half, then fell flat on their faces in the second half in losing 31-17.

How bad was the second half? The Browns were up 17-7 at halftime. The offense was moving the ball and the defense was shutting Matthew Stafford and the Lions down. It looked like the Browns had hit their stride and had a chance to run away with the game.

The Lions made some adjustments at halftime. They started to attack the Browns on both sides of the ball. Suddenly, pressure that wasn't there early on started to get to Weeden a bit in the third quarter. The defense was suddenly being exploited in the middle of the field. And the coaches did very little to adjust to Lions.

Let's start with the good in this game: Weeden started off well enough. He seemed to take a page out of Hoyer's playbook and was trying to get the ball out quickly. He showed decent accuracy and wasn't holding on to the ball as long as he had been in previous games. 

The running game, while not stellar, was doing a decent job of keeping the Lions offense. The receivers didn't always help Weeden (early drops by Josh Gordon and Davonne Bess seemed to hurt initially), but they fought for the ball when it came near them. Weeden made a poor decision on a wheel route to Chris Ogbonnya that was intercepted, but he threw two touchdown passes on short throws to Ogbonnya and Greg Little.

All in all, not bad.

Meanwhile, the defense was stuffing the run and making life difficult for Stafford. Calvin Johnson did play, but his impact was minimal, especially considering he dropped a few passes, including one sure touchdown. He seemed rusty and the Browns seemed to be catching some breaks there. The defense didn't catch any breaks from the officials, who decided to assist the Lions on their scoring drive by calling a phantom pass interference call on Joe Haden, who compounded things by earning a legit PI a couple plays later.

Overall though, the defense seemed to be playing well even if they weren't getting to Stafford that often.

The bad? Well, the entire second half. Stafford started throwing primarily to Reggie Bush and his tight ends, including 3 touchdown passes to Joseph Fauria, who decided to do a variety of dances afterwards. Craig Robertson in particular was torched in the second half and Stafford seemed to be targeting Robertson. Truth was, the defense overall wasn't as crisp in the second half. Missed tackles made things worse, especially from TJ Ward, who whiffed a few times in the backfield on what should've been losses on running plays.

The ugly? Well, the offense overall. No variety in playcalling (playaction passes dominated the second half) and bad decisions by Weeden completely stalled the offense out. As competent as he looked in the first half, he looked horrific in the second half. He started to hang on to the ball too long and the Lions began racking up sacks.

Then came the throw that completely sabotaged this game and perhaps the season. Facing pressure and for some reason unable to dump the ball off to Ogbonnya when he had the chance to, Weeden tried to do a shovel pass to Ogbonnya that never had a chance. Deandre Levy, who had the previous interception, picked this one off as well and the game was effectively sealed.

The Lions padded their lead, Weeden picked up some garbage yards to end the game, and you have your 31-17 loss.

The pass, well, words can't describe how bad it was. As soon as the ball left Weeden's hand, you knew it was bad. You knew it was going to be intercepted. You just couldn't believe a professional football quarterback threw that ball.

So a chance to prove to the rest of the league and country that you were for real was lost primarily by a panicked throw from Weeden, but helped out by a lack of adjustments and a defense that underperformed. They better put this one behind them quickly as they head to Green Bay to play the Packers this Sunday.

Brownie Bits

• If Gordon can remove the occasional drops he suffers from, he definitely can become a top receiver in the NFL. Unfortunately, he's dropped two potential touchdown passes to start each of the last two games. He has to clean that up. One Greg Little is bad enough.
  
• Jordan Cameron hasn't disappeared due to Weeden quarterbacking, but rather defenses keying in on him now. Torch a couple of teams and the rest start to pay attention to you more closely. Defenses are rolling a safety over the top to help the linebackers trying to cover him. A decent running game could help alleviate this problem some.
  
• On a positive note, Buster Skrine has absolutely turn his play around the last three weeks. His coverage has been as good, if not better, than Haden's and when he does get beat, he has tremendous recovery speed to get back to the receiver. He's starting to learn to look for the ball to make a play on it, not just throw himself into the receiver and pray. Chris Owens seems to be playing better as well. Suddenly the secondary doesn't look so scary.
  
• The linebackers had a rough game. Paul Krueger didn't have much of an impact in this game and we've gone over the struggles of Robertson already. Barkevious Mingo had a nice game though and clearly learned from the CJ Spiller run from last week. He held the edge much more consistently, preventing running backs from having that big cutback lane. D'Qwell Jackson was solid, but also had his issues in coverage. Might be time to re-evaluate coverage schemes. Jabaal Sheard coming back next week should help though.
  
• Travis Benjamin doesn't get the ball enough. Sounds like what was said about Josh Cribbs, right? End around went for 45 yards and if not for a spectacular chase-down by Levy, he could've gone the distance. Aside from a long pass attempt from Weeden later on, he was largely absent from the field from that point on though. There are concerns about how frail he is, but I certainly feel like they could utilize him a bit more.
  
• There have to be concerns about Weeden at this point, but there also aren't many options out there either. Rumors have been flying about Tim Tebow, but it's highly unlikely the team would pursue him. Jason Campbell seems to be the forgotten man for some reason on the roster and Rob Chudzinski has already stated Weeden is the guy. Just how long the team can stay with him remains to be seen. Have to believe that another sideways flip-pass would be the end of it for Weeden.
  
• Finally, this week will be interesting to watch. The Browns are playing the Packers, but the receiver situation in Green Bay is dire and Clay Matthews Jr is out with a broken thumb. There's an opportunity to win, but Weeden has to play better and the defense has to get to Aaron Rodgers.

The Sports Mixer - Cavs are back!

Last night saw the return of the Cleveland Cavaliers to the floor to take on the Milwaukee Bucks in their opening preseason game.

Let me say that again as that's going to be a point emphasized over and over again: their FIRST preseason game.

I have to keep saying that to keep things in perspective as last night was a very, very encouraging opening display of basketball presented to use from the wine and gold.

From the moment Mike Brown was announced as the head coach in his second stint with the Cavs, people have been wondering how quickly this team would embrace his defensive priniciples, if they did at all. What was the offense going to look like? Was Anthony Bennett going to be ready to play?

Well, this corner very pleasantly surprised to see what was going on once I turned the TV on to watch the end of the second quarter into the second half, then watched the replay at midnight to see what I had missed prior to that point.

I saw players hustling on their rotations, bigs showing strong, pressure on the ball, and a swarming of defenders to the paint that I hadn't seen since, well, Brown was coaching here previously. Each player played as if defense was all that mattered to them, and when there were lapses, Brown took a timeout to explain what he saw go wrong. This happened frequently during the first half and was refreshing to see the coaching going on during the game.

As for the offense, it looked a lot better than I could've anticipated given that offense hasn't been worked on much at all. Kyrie Irving is of course gifted and does what he wants out there, but Dion Waiters continues to show an improved jumper (don't care what people say about him shooting jumpers; he looked confident shooting them), Tristan Thompson continues to expand his offensive game, and it was nice to see contributions from just about everyone who played.

Now, I'm not going to get into the specifics of each player and how they should be able ton contribute; this post is about seeing this young team openly embrace Brown's defensive ideas and execute them surprisingly well. I can honestly say I noticed more effort defensively tonight than I had seen the previous two years under Byron Scott.

Now, many will say it's the Bucks and they're going to be bad, but this effort was missing against all opponents. When the Cavs won, it was more because they were firing on all cyclinders offensively and did the bare minimum to stop the other team defensively. Last night, they played solid overall defense and weren't too shabby on offense.

It was a nice change.

Cavalier Caveats

• Brown took a beating the last time he coached here and I always thought it was unfair that he was the scapegoat when LeBron James decided to jump ship. Brown took a team back then similarly disinterested in defense and turned it into one of the top defensive teams in the league year after year. The rap is that he's not good with rookies and developing players, so this is going to be a big test for him. Will he get the most out of Irving, Waiters, and company? Or will they flounder under him.
  
• Anderson Varejao had to be ecstatic to see Brown back. It must also be nice to have one guy who's familiar with the defensive schemes in Varejao to lead the young players forward. That said, Irving is the biggest key to the defensive turnaround. If Irving buys into it and leads by example, this team could be back near the top again sooner than later.
  
• Bennett looked like a rookie last night early on. He was tentative and seemed unsure of things going on around him. But CJ Miles did something I highly respect him for. After Bennett nicked the iron on a free throw, Miles went over, spoke to Bennett for a moment, and seemed to ease the rookie's mind a bit as he nailed the next free throw and went on to have a decent night rebounding with 10 boards. He has room to grow and it will be interesting to see the growth in the coming months.
  
• Waiters needs to attack more. Two examples from last night demonstrated the good that happens when he does. The first actually ended in his shot being blocked at the rim, but because of the attention on him, it left Thompson with a wide open, and I mean WIDE open put back. The second resulted in a pretty vicious slam dunk. Waiters is strong and can score at will, but he needs to learn to finish better sometimes, but him attacking can almost always lead to good things, much like with Irving.
  
• I've always liked Thompson and am happy to see him continue to improve. Called a bust before he's had a chance to fully develop, I really hope he continues to improve his game. If he can continue to produce consistent double-doubles, this team will do all right going forward. 

The Sports Mixer Looks Back - Browns vs. Bills

It's been a while since I've written.

I've tried to stay away from it while focusing on my YouTube channel, but last night's game was something else between the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills.

For starters, it was a game of momentum shifts. The Bills jumped out to a 10-0 lead, then the Browns stormed back to take a 17-10 lead, then the Bills regained the momentum and took a 24-17 lead before the Browns scored the last 20 points to grab a 37-24 win.

Of course the big story was the season-ending injury to Brian Hoyer, who tore his ACL attempting to run along the side-line. That brought Brandon Weeden and the boo-birds out as Weeden's first couple of passes were a tad off to say the least. He did make a couple of nice throws, but for the most part, it was the same old stuff we've come to expect from Weeden.

This game demonstrated to me the differences between Hoyer and Weeden. See, I was one of the supporters of Weeden who claimed the line wasn't giving him the time needed to make a good throw. I said a running game and better blocking would help Weeden.

Truth is, after watching Hoyer for 2+ games, I've come to realize that while the line has sometimes had its ups and downs, but with Hoyer, the protection didn't seem to be much of an issue. The ball would get snapped, Hoyer would take his drop, and the ball came out.

Last night after Weeden came in, the ball was snapped, Weeden would take his drop, and stand there. And stand there some more. Then get sacked or throw the ball very late.

So I sat and thought about the things I've seen from Weeden and the things I've seen from Hoyer and came up with some simple conclusions that most rational fans should be able to agree with.

With Weeden, the biggest problem is his inability to make a quick decision once the ball is snapped. He holds the ball and if he doesn't get sacked, he throws late and the receiver has little chance of making a good, clean catch. He also has a very bad habit of staring his receiver down from the moment he takes the ball, which helps a defense tremendously. His lack of mobility and feel for the rush work against him as well.

That said, his arm is strong and he can throw a mean deep pass when he has the time to get the ball off as demonstrated on his successive throws to Greg "Mr. Dependable" Little and Josh Gordon to tie the game at 24 in the third quarter.  Unfortunately, he still continues to be off with his throws more often than not, mostly throwing behind his receivers, again giving them little chance to make a good play on the ball.  In essence, if he learned to look from one side to the other and throw the receiver open, he'd be a successful quarterback.

Which brings me to Hoyer. He may not have the same arm strength as Weeden, but his accuracy and timing are far better than Weeden's. He often would throw the ball with the receiver not yet out of his break yet and when the receiver would turn his head, the ball was on its way. This helped the receivers tremendously and the chemistry was immediate between Hoyer and Jordan Cameron, as well as with Gordon.  Whereas Weeden holds the ball, Hoyer would take his drop and more often than not, the ball was gone when it was supposed to be.

Whether his decisiveness would hold up for a full season remained to be seen, but for two games, his ability to make quick decisions, get the ball in the endzone, and not make terribly costly mistakes had endeared him to Browns fans. Weeden will need to show that he can do the same if he wants to remain viable and I'm not sure he can correct his biggest issues during the season.

Brownie Bites

• The biggest spark in the game was clearly the punt return for a touchdown by Travis Benjamin. It gave the Browns the lead shortly after the Browns had tied the game and then forced a quick three-and-out by the Bills. Benjamin took the ball from the right sideline, weaved his way through traffic to the left, dodged the punter, spun out of another tackle, and darted to the middle of the field before running it in. Bills fans will complain about the lack of a block in the back call, but the contact was minimal at best and I doubt those fans would be crying if it had been the Bills returning the punt.

• The defense was gashed a couple of times by the Bills running attack, but the Bills are unique in that they have three running backs who can hurt you. CJ Spiller had the biggest run, a 54-yard scamper that tied the game to start the second half, which for the moment sparked the Bills again. But after that run, the Browns locked back down against the run and forced the Bills to pass, which became a huge issue once EJ Manuel had to leave with a knee sprain. Jeff Tuel was clearly overmatched and the pick-six to TJ Ward sealed the deal late after the Browns had regained the lead.
• Buster Skrine continues to impress and the biggest thing I've noticed his he's getting his head turned around now to find the ball, something he hadn't done very well even early in the season. He's demonstrated he can run with the best of them and get to the receiver, but more often than not he'd plow into the receiver without finding the ball, thus drawing the pass interference penalty. Several times he has now batted the ball away without the extra contact and his open-field tackling has been superb. He and Joe Haden have both made sure that once the ball is caught, that's it.
• You can't say enough about the job the coaches have done with this team so far. Dead and buried at 0-2, Trent Richardson traded, Weeden hurt, Hoyer given the starting job, and it seemed like the Browns were ready to throw the towel in. Except the team itself didn't get the memo. Rob Chudzinski deserves props, as does Norv Turner for optimizing the offensive talent on the field and Ray Horton for getting the defense up to play week in and week out. You can't say enough about the last three games, but let's hope this isn't a flash in the pan type of situation.
• Greg Little is such an enigma and probably always will be. Clueless off the field, sometimes with it on the field, it becomes frustrating when he does make a play because you can see the talent he has. Unfortunately, he and Gordon sometimes have concentration issues, although Gordon's aren't nearly as frequent as Little's. On the tying touchdown drive in the third quarter, Weeden unleashed two good throws, the first to Little who peeled the ball off his helmet and secured the ball. After a bad, bad penalty on John Greco, Weeden launched a pass into the end zone for Gordon who caught it off a couple of deflections, got the feet down, and made sure to keep possession. It's maddening sometimes.
• I'm neutral on the Jim Brown topic, but it was nice to see he and the team stop squabbling and put together a nice halftime ceremony celebrating his legacy and induction into the ring of honor. He then received a gameball after the victory, which I'm sure meant a lot to him.
• The team has 10 days to get as healthy as possible. The hope is Jabaal Sheard, Quentin Groves, and others will be back and ready to play the Detroit Lions, who will present a tougher challenge, especially for the offense. While I don't think Josh Freeman is in the cards for the Browns, I would be surprised if they don't try to sign another quarterback.
• The Browns are for now leading the AFC North at 3-2. Go ahead and try and tell me you saw that coming, especially after the first two weeks of the season. You can't. Now I'm not sure they can maintain this (Weeden scares me tremendously at this point), it's at least nice to be above .500 for once and leading the division, rather than 2-3, 1-4, or 0-5 like we've been so many times in the past.
• Props to Willish McGahee for stepping in and keeping the running game stable if nothing else. His numbers won't jump out at you, but he ran hard and had a couple of decent runs during the game. Not the long-term solution by any stretch, but isn't giving you much less than you got from Richardson, which is what makes getting a first round pick for Richardson all the more remarkable. It will be tough sledding, but McGahee has helped keep the ship afloat.