Factory Lines: Next Commissioner?, Trade Irving & Tristan’s Defense, Staff Coming Together
Back with our Factory Lines: A Daily Assembling of Cleveland Sports Headlines.
Cleveland Indians
Mark Shapiro In Line to be Next MLB Commish?
"The list of candidates to replace Selig is long and varied. One is familiar, Indians President Mark Shapiro. For the last year or so, Shapiro’s name has been mentioned in stories just like this.“It’s an honor to have your name mentioned, but that’s about all the time I spend thinking about it,” said Shapiro. “My whole career, I’ve focused on doing the best I can at the job I have … and I love the job I have.”"
Shapiro is not even in the top 3 according the the article but for Indians fans, sick of their small market having very low chances of being successful long term someone like Shapiro as commish would be a huge boon. The article notes that Shapiro may need experience with another team to strengthen his resume so if he moves on in the near future that may mean he is looking in this direction.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Pluto Chimes in on Trading Kyrie Irving
"Washington is having the type of season that I hoped would happen in Cleveland. The Wizards are 24-23 and a playoff team. Suppose they had traded John Wall at the 2013 deadline. Wall was the Irving of 2010, a point guard who played one year of college (at Kentucky) and became the top pick in the draft. In Wall’s first three seasons, the Wizards were 23-59, 20-46 and 29-53.That’s why the Cavs need to wait on Irving. Wait to see how he plays the rest of this season. Wait to see if he will sign an extension — if not, then a trade is in order."
Pluto’s comparison with Wall’s Wizards is interesting. Wall was not seen as having as high of ceiling as Irving but has been given time to grow. The players around him are starting to compliment him as well. Could the Cavs young players develop into such, sure, but Irving’s game has to develop as well.
"This performance on the streak has been indicative of some of the major red flags with how Thompson has played this season. We applauded Thompson for his massive progress in his sophomore season, transforming from bewildered rookie to potential stud rebounder, blooming defender, and locker room rubber cement. This season, that growth has evaporated. Thompson switched shooting hands this offseason, to little effect on his offensive game other than a slight uptick in free throw percentage. His rebounding rate is down, as is his assist rate. And defensively, we’ve seen zero improvement from Thompson. This is perhaps the most concerning piece of the lack of development."
Overall Thompson has just been a non factor this year. Is it the return of Varejao? Was it playing next to Bynum? Is he, since he is close with Irving, feeling his buddy’s struggles too much? Did the drafting of country man Anthony Bennett scare him? His defense needs to improve but his overall game has struggled this year as well.
Cleveland Browns
Browns Add Rusty McKinney to Staff
"According to CoachingSearch.com, now affiliated with 247 Sports, is reporting that the Cleveland Browns will add Russell ‘Rusty’ McKinney to the staff. McKinney has spent the past five years at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts where he functioned as linebackers coach and strength and conditioning coach. The Browns have multiple linebackers coaches already, so the assumption is he will be involved with strength and conditioning."
The Browns continue to flesh out there staff, with rumors of adding more offensive staff sometime today. McKinney is connected with new defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil through time shared in college. Strength and conditioning isn’t always a glamorous job but it is very important for both young players development and keeping players healthy.
What news did we miss? What did you find important in the last 24 hours or so of Cleveland sports? Talk to us in our comment section below