So Long JJ Hickson… Too Soon?

Really?... Really?

So the 2011 NBA Draft has come and gone, the Cavaliers made their picks at #1 and #4, picking Point Guard Kyrie Irving and Forward Tristan Thompson. With the pick of Tristan Thompson  was kind of a surprise, but with the way the picks before the Cavs selected again went, he is actually who I predicted the team to take, although I did figure he would factor into a later trade. After the Cavs didn’t trade him I did a little digging and found out a little more about him. He might not be the future face of the franchise, but I can see him developing into a very nice NBA player. He has great length and athleticism, and can really play some defense. Where his game lacks is inside scoring and limited shooting range. The Cavs supplemented his downfalls with the addition of Omri Casspi, the shooting Small Forward from Sacramento who can shoot the lights out now and then. Unfortunately, in picking up Casspi the Cavs dealt away future All Star Power Forward JJ Hickson. In my mind, I saw Thompson being a very good counter part to the aggressive interior stylings of Hickson moving forward, but it would appear that the team did not see things the same way I did, and it has taken me some time to come to terms with Hickson’s trade. Hickson is still very young, and probably rawer than he should be at this point in his career, but I feel like the team may have dropped the ball with this one, and I would hate to see it come back to bite them later after he blossoms somewhere else.

Cavs Win Lottery, get #1 and #4

Cavs Win! The Lottery!

It looks like our Cleveland Cavaliers came out as the big winners in Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. The Cavs, who had the 2nd best odds to get the #1 pick did just that on Tuesday. The little ball that said Cavaliers was picked for the #1 choice, as it was again picked for the #4 pick. The reward for trading Mo Williams for Baron Davis was that #1 pick, which gives the Cavs an unprecedented 2 picks in the top 5. While I first want to get the emotion out of the way, please allow me a quick moment. HECK YES!!! #1 AND #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAKE THAT LEBRON! Well that felt good. That leaves me a little confused though, I know I’m probably not the only one who wants to tell LeBron to suck it because we won the lottery, but part of me is a little bitter sweet about it. We all definitely have to remain objective in steadfast as we prepare with the team for the future, which might be coming a little faster with two early picks in the draft. What will the Cavs do with those picks? That is the ultimate question, we just have to wait and see but that won’t stop us from talking about it at all will it?

Indians Win!

BOOM! GAME OVER

Wow. The Indians are hot hot hot right now. The Indians struggled through most of the night, Jeanmar Gomez came out really flat and labored through the outing. Gomez really looked not himself, he was barely hitting the high 80′s on his fastball most of the game and he was not locating. The Indians had to actually play catch up this time because of a Miguel Cabrera bomb in the 1st inning. The Tribe was trailing through the top of the 6th 3-0 and they were playing sloppy defensively, not only did Gomez labor but Chad Durbin came in and his night was quick and not good. Gomez managed 5 and 2/3 innings with 4 k’s and was able to minimize the damage despite 10 hits. Durbin came in and gave up 2 quick runs before geting out of the inning. 

Wahoo Notes 4/28

Masterson has been Masterful thus far in the season, leading the Indians early success.

The first Wahoo notes of the 2011 season, finally. What a start to the year it has been! The shock of the year so far is the hot start of your Cleveland Indians. The Tribe sits atop the AL Central and are fresh off of sweeping the Royals out of town. The Tribe made easy work of the 2nd place Royals thanks to some more powerful offense and what is becoming typically good pitching performances. 

Browns Draft Update

It’s being reported, by Jay Glazer, that the Cleveland Browns are currently in talks with the Atlanta Falcons about possibly trading the 5th overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Falcons have been calling around trying to get a top 7 pick to try and take an impact cornerback, and the Browns are the team that is talking to them the most about a potential trade. The Browns are thought to be interested in Julio Jones, Wide Receiver from Alabama, but if they are really interested in taking Jones would they possibly be able to take a good wideout in the late 20′s if they make the trade? Not as good as Julio Jones certainly. But the Browns might be able to pull down 2 or 3 picks for their #5 pick, which with this draft class might be the direction they’re thinking of heading.

We’re Baaack….

Yet again we are staging a comeback. After another long absence which we certainly do apologize for, but as you all know life catches up to us sometimes. I blame it on a new job that sees me working all sorts of long and crappy hours plus a long commute on top of that. But none the less, Dustin and I are returning, with a new venue to boot. We will still be posting here, all of our Ohio related content will be reposted on this site, so it will really be the most of what he and I are posting. So we should have daily posts, if not almost daily. Our new upstart blog is called, Out Looking: A Kelly Trifecta Sports blog. The link is here, http://kellytrifectasports.wordpress.com/if you want to check out what we have thus far, it is coming along nicely. And yes, you read that right, it says trifecta. There is a 3rd member to our crew of opinionated dim whits. Our older brother is joining the fray, Matt, who actually lives in Ohio will be blogging with us. While he actually lives up in our northern home land he is not much of a fan of the Cleveland teams, so his posts will be primarily on that sight, but when he ventures into our world we will feature it here. He will be our Ohio State specialist, since he follows them more closely than the other two of us. so any way, long story short. We are back. Enjoy.

PEYTON ‘THUNDER’ HILLIS! Your Madden 2012 Cover Athlete!!!

Hillis is bringing the Thunder to Madden

Congratulations are in order. The Cleveland Browns running back, Peyton Hillis was voted on to the cover of the 2012 edition of Madden NFL Football. What a huge moment for Hillis and the Browns. I can only imagine what the 25 year old bruiser is thinking right now, and if I were him I would be excited but my thoughts would also be… “Oh Shit”…

A New Website You Might Be Interested In

http://www.speakingthetruthdaily.wordpress.com/

This is me and Zach’s older brother Matts website. He’s gonna be posting about sports in general. It will just be his take on the goings on in the world of sports. Mostly the Buckeyes, Cowboys, and Orioles. Enjoy!

Potential Browns Offseason Moves

With no CBA and no guarantee of football coming back in 2011, what better to do than to look at some of the potential moves the Browns could make to help make the jump from last, to at least better than the Bengals.

 

Some things the Browns will almost certainly be looking for, are wide receivers, lineman (offensive and defensive), help in the secondary potentially and maybe even linebackers, and then also some help in the backfield to spell Hillis. Basically every position not occupied by Colt McCoy, Peyton Hillis and Lawrence Vickers is potentially up for grabs, and even those positions could get some backups in.

The biggest potential offseason pickups are the players who have been recently released by their teams, Superbowl winner AJ Hawk, former Redskins running back Clinton Portis, tight end Donald Lee, ex-Jets defensive end Vernon Gholston and there are sure to be a few more available players at some point this offseason/until whenever there is football again. The guys that could fit best into the Browns plans would be the two former Ohio State defensive players, Hawk and Gholston. With the Browns transition to the 4-3 a solid pass rusher would be a good addition from the defensive end postition, while Gholston showed some promise at Ohio State he has been sackless since being drafted sixth overall by the Jets in 2008. And Hawk, a solid linebacker with the Packers, helping them to a Super Bowl championship this past season alongside Clay Matthews.

The most intriguing potential pick up to me is the possibility of adding a veteran running back to play behind Peyton Hillis. And to me, Clinton Portis could possibly be a great fit for the rebuilding Browns, a veteran back, who is (supposedly) a good locker room fit, could be a leader amongst the Browns offense, and while not needing to carry an offense like he has done for year in Washington he could be a spark with 5-10 carries a game or so. Darren Sproles, Ahmad Bradshaw and Ricky Williams are all unlikely to get resigned by their respective teams since San Diego has Tolbert and Matthews, Bradshaw, whose fumble problems will likely see him leave the Giants and Ricky Williams age might finally be too big of a factor for the Dolphins to overlook. While their own teams might not resign them they could all make good additions to the Browns backfield to help out Hillis a little bit.

Obviously since there is no CBA as of yet this is all highly speculative and even writing this might be a waste of time because who knows when we might have NFL football again. But hey, theres no harm in thinking about the next time we get to see our Browns, and who might be wearing a Browns jersey for the first time.

Trade Reaction

The news has just come out that the Cleveland Cavaliers have traded 1 time all-star guard Mo Williams and former dunk  contest participant Jamario Moon to the Los Angeles Clippers for 2 time all-star and 2004 All-NBA Third Team guard Baron Davis, and an unprotected 1st round pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

Newest Cavalier Baron Davis

SuperBowl Picks

As the NFL season winds to a close it brings our NFL Picks competition to an end with it. Zach has an unimaginable 20 point lead heading into the final week or the season, making this pick all but a formality. He has won the trade, and the slap bet. Now the trade will not go through until several months from now, much closer to the 2011 NFL season, and the slap will not be administered until then, unless Zach decides to cash it in sooner. Whatever the case may be, we will now give you our final picks for the 2010 season, the picks for the SuperBowl.

Conference Championship Picks

Zach: Steelers over Jets.

Packers over Bears.

Dustin: Steelers over Jets.

Packers over Bears.

Sorting it Out

SS Asdrubal Cabrera needs to get back on track offensively, and stay healthy, to anchor the Tribe's questionable infield.

Let’s just be honest. The Tribe has issues. Many, many issues. Those issues will hopefully be solved quickly so that the team can re-enter the race for the American League Central sooner rather than later. The biggest, most gaping holes on the roster heading into the 2011 season are 2nd base and 3rd base. Almost every other spot on the roster is more or less spoken for, but that does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Coming off of the 2010 season the team’s injuries and poor performances of “Top Prospects” exposed the team as being farther away from contending than many believed. I, however, am a perpetual optimist and I think that if the team stays healthy and the players play to the potential and the expectations, than the Tribe could be a surprise contender in the tough AL Central. We will cover some of the other position battles and issues as we move closer, such as who will fill out the Tribe’s rotation and bullpen, and backup Outfield and Infield roles. Today I’ll just stick to looking at the 2nd and 3rd base spots, running down the main competitors and talking a little about the 1st base job and Short Stop Asdrubal Cabrera.

NFL Playoff Picks – Week 2

So as the playoffs continue and we keep making picks, Zach has extended his lead.

Zach: Pittsburgh I think narrowly pulls this one out.

Dustin: Baltimore over Pittsburgh.

Z: Patriots. I’m not gonna give the the Super Bowl trophy yet, but I think it is theirs for the taking.

D: Patriots over Jets. Cromrartie gets crushed by brady and the pats.

Z: I am really tempted to pick the Falcons at home because of Matty Ice, but the Packers are my Super Bowl pick from the pre-season, so I have to stick with the Cheese Heads.

D: Packers over Falcons. Rodgers just outclasses Ryan.

Z: Chicago, I don’t think the Seahawks can catch the Bears off guard like they did the Saints.

D: Chicago over Seattle. The likliness of Seattle going into beastmode again is unlikely.

Thinking About Trades…

The Cavaliers will be trying to make some things happen at this year's trade deadline.

January in the NBA is when trade talk starts to fly around from all over the place, and as always the Cavaliers are in the middle of almost all of that talk. This year, however, is much different. Rather than looking to add the final piece that might finally push the team over the top and give the Cavs the edge in the playoffs, they are looking to tackle the trade deadline and possible trades from a different stand point. This year the Cavs will be looking to make moves that enhance the future of the team, rather than using young players, expiring contracts and draft picks to acquire players, they will be looking to add some of those things to help them moving forward. If you look at the players that are currently on the Cavs roster, there are really only 2 that stick out as players that us as fans really want to see stay, Daniel Gibson and Andy Varajao. The rest of the team might be movable, JJ Hickson has quickly fallen out of favor with the head coach Byron Scott. Mo Williams has said many times he wants to stay in Cleveland, but if a team is willing to give up draft picks or young players for him he is a piece the team will be willing to part with. Atawn Jamison and Anthony Parker are two players I think the team should really try to move, Parker would have to be an add-on to any trade involving Jamison, Williams or anyone else because he has just been BAD this year. Antawn Jamison is the name that draws the most interest and he is playing better than the rest of the team at this point in time. If Jamison were to be moved, I am not sure what the Cavs would be able to get for the aging Forward, but he could come in handy for a playoff bound team looking to add a scorer (sounds like why the Cavs got him last year).