Add Shaun Rogers to the List of the Injured
November 30, 2009Zydrunas Ilgauskas Deserves Better From Mike Brown
December 1, 2009While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
Your must-read of the day: “A Perfect LeBron James does not exist, and probably never can. More than any player since Magic, LeBron is capable of playing all five positions on the floor, and LeBron even has greater range on his jump shot than Magic did. But the fact that LeBron can do all things means that the perfect version of LeBron James is one who does all things at once, which is impossible. If LeBron takes his game to the block and refines his skills as a four, people will say that his perimeter game is lacking. If he locks down his outside shooting and starts picking teams apart from the outside, people will say he’s not using his size. If he does both, people will say he’s dominating the ball too much instead of getting his teammates involved. Every spectacular block or steal is a one-on-one defensive assignment that LeBron is neglecting.
Add that to the fact that LeBron’s narrative has been one of unrealized potential since he was 17, and you can expect to continue to see articles and podcasts about LeBron’s flaws even as he puts up record-setting numbers, at least until he wins a ring.” [Cavs the Blog]
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It’s Conference Championship Week…So Where is the Big Ten? [Midwest Sports Fans]
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On Charlie and the Browns: “If the Browns brain-trust seeks to immediately improve the offense and believe Quinn can be a legitimate starter in this league, Charlie Weis is the right man to put the Cleveland offense and Quinn back on the map. Weis still contends Quinn has all the qualities to be an excellent NFL QB, as he did three years ago when the Browns selected the QB in the first round of the college player draft. While Weis and current head coach Eric Mangini have a history of being on staff together in New England under HC Bill Belichick, it is unknown whether issues between Belichick and Mangini would impact Weis’ enthusiasm for the Browns.” [Lane Adkins/The OBR – S/R]
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“[LeBron’s 2010 decision] should be a televised event. If LeBron were smart, he would market the event through his company, sell the rights to a network and reveal his choice on that show. We know what the offers will be. (New York, Miami, Chicago, Memphis, New Jersey, the Clips and the Zombie Sonics can offer the max. Cleveland could offer the max plus an extra year. Nobody else could offer as much.) It’s a cut-and-dry thing. So why not? He could even make it pay-per-view. If people were willing to pay $44.99 for a UFC 106 card headlined by Jenna Jameson’s washed-up husband fighting a guy who hadn’t won in two years, I’m pretty sure they’ll pony up $44.99 for “Decision 2010: LeBron’s Verdict.” [Bill Simmons via Grizzly Adams]
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“[Josh Cribbs] almost cost the Browns dearly on the opening kickoff by forgetting to down the ball in the end zone, and while the Bengals were kicking away from him, there was at least one playable punt that Cribbs passed on (the one we’re thinking of might even have been the one that buried the Browns on the aforementioned drive). Cribbs’ lackluster effort on the field was corroborated by his demeanor off of it, as he was repeatedly caught scowling on the sidelines by the CBS cameras.” [Cleveland Frowns]
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And finally, make sure to head over to Who Shot Mamba today to check out chapter four of the epic film by Brian Spaeth. Viva Inflateable Ben!
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(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
25 Comments
Why would the Browns hire Weis when we are in the process of hiring a GM/VP of Operations? Why would we hire Weis even though the new GM/VP might decide to fire Mangini and bring in his own people? Wouldn’t hiring Weis turn off some GM candidates and also some Head Coach candidates? Wasn’t it building this organization from the bottom up what got us into this disaster to begin with? I’m probably going insane for no reason but anybody that wants Weis brought in really needs to step back for a second and OBSERVE! If Weis is brought in I’m going to be extremely worried that a new Head Coach isn’t in the cards.
^That being said^
I still think Weis is a strong offensive coordinator and I’d like to have him here.
ben-
What makes him a strong offensive coordinator, outside of what HE believes? I’m sure Charlie would be the first to tell everyone that he is a genius and hey look at my rings, etc. The fact is, he never won a game of note at ND and his only success in the NFL came when a future hall of famer was his QB and future hall of famer was the head coach. Those are facts. So you are bascially saying that we should hire Weis while ignoring the big picture needs of the organization just because he may or may not be a good person for the job.
i’d pay $44.99 to see lebron’s decision. hell, i’ll even throw a watch party.
and his only success in the NFL came when a future hall of famer was his QB and future hall of famer was the head coach. Those are facts.
Come on, you’re applying nothing but hindsight. You point out that Brady (Tom) is a HoF QB without acknowledging that before Weis worked with him he was a sixth round pick who couldn’t 100% hold down the starting job at a top-10 college program. You can’t play the “HoF QB” card without at least acknowledging that Weis probably had something to do with it. Or, do you think Belichick does EVERYTHING in NE?
This is not discounting your point about hiring him when we’re in the process of rebuiling the FO (hopefully) from the top-down. But, your hate on Weis as an OC is somewhat unfounded.
Clown Baby: Pretend that you set aside your ND-hate for two seconds and look at what has happened:
– OC for NE won 3 super bowl rings in 4 years
– ND 2005: 9th ranked offense
– ND 2006: 22nd ranked offense
– ND 2009: 9th ranked offense
Those are what we like to call “good offenses.” Typically, an offensive coordinator is in charge of offense. Moreover, if he believes he is a good OC, it’s b/c the numbers agree. So yes, i am saying i would like to have a proven offensive coordinator come to Cleveland.
Also, the “needs” of the team are completely subjective and, I’d argue, absolutely unknowable right now.
I’m not hating on him at all. I don’t care where people come from once they are a Brown or coach of the Browns. It’s not a Notre Dame thing. Twice now we (Browns) have been burned by people from the Belichick tree and at some point we have to ask ourselves just how much of their success should be credited to him? If Weis was so grate I would expected him to take a prodigy like Clausen and shape him into an All American. Clausen ended up being good but under Weis’ tutelage I would have expected a lot more. I’m sorry, but I’m done thinking everybody that coached under Belichick is great until they actually prove they are.
Wow, I actually typed ‘grate’ instead of ‘great.’
ben-
The needs of the organization are a strong GM/VP and a coach that lines up with what that person values and then assistant coaches that are brought in by the new coach and VP/GM. I thought those were pretty universally understood? It’s not a Notre Dame hate thing by the way. It’s a “lover scorned by all things Belichick” thing. I never held Braylon or Winslow’s college ties against them. They were Browns for all I cared.
So having better passing numbers than Bradford, McCoy, etc. by his junior season isn’t good? Or taking BQ, who was largely ineffective and turning him into a 1st round draft pick wasn’t good?
I agree – the Belichick tree has been terrible – but in this instance, the facts back up that he is successful on the offensive side of the ball.
Scott – What? No link to the racy Grady Sizemore nude pics? hahaha.
What about ’07 & ’08 ben? lol … I am on the Weis for OC bandwagon.. It all does make sense – daboll is trash, Weis and Brady are lovers, and Mangini and Charlie have worked together before.
lol i ignored 07 and 08 for obvious reasons O:-)
Weiss is a good offensive coordinator based on the system he was able to design in NE that made Brady a HoF QB, got Deon freaking Branch a huge contract from the Seahawks, and turned no name FB’s, OL, and MLB’s into Tight End’s and great blockers. The offense in NE hasn’t changed much, except for more of a passing game, because Bill has kept Weiss’ system in place. McDaniels ran the same stuff Weiss did and it got him a HC job. Weiss had some no name backs and turned them into 1,000yd rushers, he also had a no name QB and turned him into a 3 time SB Champ. You can’t argue with the facts.
The problem with I have with ND’s offense ranking numbers is this that they don’t exactly play a lot of schools with great defense. I’m not looking it up but under his reign ND played many of the service academies (losing 4 times to Navy!), a Mich team that has a woeful defense the last couple of years, Purdue and Mich State. So outside of USC they have some schools on their schedule that they can really drop some major yardage on. A lot of ND’s struggles were defensive related so I know Weis’ shortcomings their wouldn’t apply as an O-Coord in Cleveland but still you have to take the offensive rankings with a grain of salt.
Let me say this so we’re all on the same page here. If Cleveland hires a new GM/VP and that person hires a new head coach and then that coach thinks Weis is a good fit and it would benefit the organization then great….I’m totally on board with Weis. What I’m not okay with is rushing out and hiring Weis and eliminating some GM/Head Coach candidates simply because he is Charlie Weis. Lack of patience and forsight is how Lerner got us into the present quagmire.
Why do people insist that Lebron can play all five positions? He can’t play center, and he can barely play power forward. He’s the best player in the NBA without it, but let’s call a spade a spade.
The same Navy that gave Ohio State a hell of a fit and the same Purdue that beat Ohio State, right?
Not a Notre Dame fan, I’m just sayin’ that at times, those two teams specifically looked like they could play.
@ #14 – I agree with that take completely.
He can play PF, I’d say he’s better than Rashard Lewis, David West, David Lee, Jeff Green, Amare Stoudamire, Rasheed Wallace, Troy Murphy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Lamar Odom, and Gerald Wallace. He can defend all those guys, rebound better than all those guys, and has a better face up game than most or equal to all those players. So I think he can play there. Center is an entirely different story, but if we had to go small he could.
Regarding the Cribbs portion, the couple/few times that he did get to return the ball during the game, I thought he looked slow. After seeing the injuries that occurred during the game, I’m wondering if maybe what I perceived as slowness was actually hesitation to throw himself into it like he usually does. If I were him, after doing everything he’s done this year, I may be pulling back the reins a bit if I don’t think I’m looking at a new contract. Sure, he signed the deal he’s playing under, but he’s proven he deserves more given how important he is to the team. I think he’s still being misused, as well. I don’t see how a college QB isn’t given the opportunity to pass more often in gimmick situations.
@18 S-dub: By (most of) that definition I am a power forward too, if a bit undersized. Some of the guys (David Lee, etc.) you mentioned are just hustlers who happen to be 6 ’10. Some are big shooting guards (Rashard Lewis, Troy Murphy, Rasheed, most of the time). And Lebron is not as good a power forward as Odom, Rasheed as a PF, or Amare. He’s more athletic, maybe, but he never, ever, plays that role.
@#14: if you’d said just that, I wouldn’t have replied, honestly. It was the assertion that Weis wasn’t a good NFL OC that I think most had the problems with, because regardless of how you feel about the Belichick coaching tree, Weis proved he was a good NFL OC. Shoot, Romeo was our DC in 2000, and was honestly not that bad. Head Coaching material? No thanks. But it was your statement of: “What makes him a strong offensive coordinator, outside of what HE believes?” etc. that I think was at issue.
DP-
Yeah I re-read my first post and I stopped short of saying what I did in #14. That was my bad for not articulating. I just can’t get over how many people acknowledge that hiring Mangini before Kokinis was a mistake but are okay with hiring Weis before a new GM or head coach. The man can run an offense, but his accomplishments don’t merit bypassing the power structure. He hasn’t done THAT much.
@20 Roosevelt: I don’t understand how that makes YOU a PF but ok? It’s not my fault “hustlers” are what today’s PF’s are, I was just comparing and saying LBJ is better than those guys if he were to be on their teams. I would argue that if you were to put LBJ in place of Odom, Sheed, and definitely Amare that he would be 10x’s better than them. Especially Amare, I mean that guy just runs and dunks, has no jumper and doesn’t rebound with the best of them. Odom is good but he’s not really a traditional PF he handles the ball a lot so I think him and LBJ would be a wash because they have a lot of the same skill sets. Sheed hasn’t played a real PF role in years, in Detroit he did rebound well but mostly because of Ben Wallace.
KG, Duncan, Gasol, and Al Jefferson are the only PF’s in the league, that I can think of, are far and above LBJ when it comes to replacing what they do for their team. Please argue me if that assumption isn’t correct.
@23 S-Dub: No, I agree there aren’t very many actual PFs in the league. My point is that guys like David Lee who just hustle and get rebounds and put backs, are not the barometer of whether Lebron can be a PF. Those guys are not either PFs.
Thanks for the link guys – I like basketball.