While We’re Waiting… Kyrie Irving, breaking down defenses

While 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 at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

With the Browns and Buckeyes on bye, and the Cavaliers losing both games this weekend, I thought we’d look this morning at some sports news outside the Cleveland realm a little bit as well as Cavalier news.

“Irving does a great job of collapsing the defense with his driving ability, then finding an open man at the three-point line, but that open man at the three-point line is often Alonzo Gee, who’s not entirely comfortable shooting (open or otherwise) from beyond the arc. I like Gee a lot, and he played pretty well tonight—18 points on 7-for-17 shooting, although he should probably never take more than 10 shots in a game—but he desperately needs to improve his range. He shot just 32% on triples last season. I’m aware improving one’s jumper is easier said than done, but the Cavs would benefit handsomely from Gee locking himself in the gym with a rack of basketballs and trying to become a Jared Dudley type.” [McGowan/Cavs the Blog]

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An interesting solution in Laker-land- “Still, the idea that the offense was going to sort itself out, and that the Lakers badly needed a defensive-minded coach to improve upon what was a terrible defensive start to the season doesn’t quite scan with me. The offense did, does and will need considerable minding as we move along. Nash has to learn to co-exist with another ball dominator in the back court. Kobe has to do the same, and all of the Lakers have to determine a way to improve upon their middling start to the season in terms of 3-point shooting — not a lot of spot-up guys on this roster, and Bryant (an all-time legend as a scorer, but for his career a below-average 33.7 percent 3-point shooter) will have to watch his amounts of transition threes.” [Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie]

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McGwire, being interviewed by Costas– “The conversation then transitions to what McGwire would tell any hitter who asked his advice on PEDs:

“Yeah, don’t do it. Use your head. It’s a mistake that I have to live with for the rest of my life. I have to deal with never, ever getting into the Hall-of-Fame. I totally understand and totally respect their opinion and I will never, ever push it. That is the way it’s going to be and I can live with that. One of the hardest things I had to do this year was sit down with my nine and ten year old boys and tell them what dad did. That was a really hard thing to do but I did it. They understood as much as a nine or ten year old could. It’s just something, if any ball player ever came up to me, run away from it. It’s not good. Run away from it.”

Say what you will about McGwire’s past — everybody has and will continue to do so — but you have to give him credit for not only coming clean, but again making it a point to denounce his actions. [Townsend/Big League Stew]

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Good look at some Browns offensive stats through the break- “Even though the offense has taken some steps forward in 2012, statistically, they still have a long ways to go in order to catch up with the rest of the league. The pass protection has improved, as the Browns rank fourth in the league in terms of sacks allowed per pass attempt, compared to 17th a year ago. Points per game has also improved by more than five points, but is still below the league average.

The outstanding issues are on third downs and in the red zone. Cleveland has regressed from the 2011 season in both regards, and perhaps no game showed that better than the loss to the Ravens a week ago when they had to settle for five field goals. If/when Pat Shurmur gets fired, I wonder if he’ll have nightmare of 3rd-and-1. The Browns haven’t been able to convert it at a very high rate, and the playcalling in those situations has come under heavy scrutiny. Let’s look at how the Browns have handled 3rd-and-1 and 3rd-and-2 situations in terms of pass-run distribution this season, and then compare it to other teams in the AFC North.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]