While We’re Waiting… Thoughts on the state of the Cavs

While We’re Waiting is a space on the WaitingForNextYear website where we share links every day. We’ve been doing it for about four years or so. Denny Mayo used to be much more amusing with his intros, if you recall. You know the drill: Email us with suggestions at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

What are the Cavs right now? Who is their core? Looking deep inside their system: “So far this season, despite a near abuse of the words ‘culture’ and ‘process’ in Mike Brown’s renewed jog with the team, the Cavs seem more like a DeMarcus Cousins Kings team than a culture team. Right now, their identity is a cult of personality… and that personality is the Rubix Cube that is Andrew Bynum.” [Robert Attenweiler/Cavs: The Blog]

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How to fix all the struggling Eastern Conference teams, including the Cavs: “The problem: They’re getting killed on the wings. C.J. Miles has played well, but No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett has been brutal, shooting just 22.4 percent from the field. Free-agent signee Earl Clark, too, got off to a bad start, and Mike Brown has gone back to Alonzo Gee as his starting small forward. Second-year guard Dion Waiters has bristled about his role and is rumored to be trade bait.” [Sean Deveny/Sporting News]

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Things look better for the Cavs of late, but there are still major issues: “What’s wrong with the Cavs? Just about everything. It seem like everybody has an opinion on what ails the Cavaliers. With the team struggling as badly as they are, people are quick to offer their opinion. Some believe Chris Grant is the problem. Many others think the issue is Mike Brown. Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, Jarrett Jack, Anthony Bennett, Andrew Bynum and even Kyrie Irving are not safe from criticism.” [Demetri Inembolidis/The Cleveland Fan]

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Oh hey, the Cavs have an opening for a Basketball Systems Developer! Calling all numbers people. [Sports Analytics Blog]

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And I hate talking about LeBron James as much as anyone on this site. But this amazing article about the Heat’s evolved offense is being regarded as one of the best stats-focused articles in the sports web ever. It’s really awesome. [Kirk Goldsberry/Grantland]

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Looking at three things worth keeping an eye on with this Browns season: “The contract situations of Alex Mack and T.J. Ward — Alright, so I cheated and this isn’t actually a positive that you can see on the field when the Browns play. However, it is an important storyline for the team’s future as they continue their perpetual rebuild. Both players are in the final year of their contracts and have not yet signed extensions. Both players are also some of the best performers on the roster.” [Mitchell Joseph/iSportsWeb]

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And oh, there’s also this All-Pro on the verge of a long-term deal: “Joe Haden, CB, Cleveland Browns — Haden will be a UFA following the conclusion of the 2014 season. This is a player who can do it all at the corner position — play press-man coverage, play off-man with a smooth backpedal and very good closing quickness, play zone coverage with good vision and route recognition, finish on the ball with pass breakups or interceptions (63 PBUs/12 INTs in his four seasons), and will flat out hit, which is something that we all know corners are reluctant to do.” [Louis Riddick/ESPN Insider]

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The Rule 5 Draft is coming up soon. Check out this thorough background on the past 10 years of results. [Jeff Ellis/Indians Baseball Insider]

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Great Tribe site continues their look at Indians attendance: “Dynamic pricing is a model used in many industries like the movie, airline, hotel and rental car businesses where it is accepted that not all products are created equal. When and where you fly, what time of year or day of the week depends on the price of your flight or hotel stay. Over the last four seasons many Major League Baseball teams—including the Cleveland Indians—have adopted the dynamic pricing system. With an 81 home game schedule, spanning six months, Major League Baseball is a perfect sports product for a dynamic pricing system.” [Mike Brandyberry/Did The Tribe Win Last Night?]

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This quote was getting so much erroneous play on Twitter: “Looking at the surface, Meyer’s quote seems to argue in favor of Auburn or Missouri jumping Ohio State because they would be a 1-loss SEC champion. However, in 2006, Meyer was arguing for his team to jump a 1-loss Michigan team that wasn’t a conference champion (when that actually mattered in the discussion) and had just lost to the Buckeyes. Both Florida and Michigan finished the regular season 11-1. The troubling thing is that there are scores of individuals who will slurp up this manufactured nonsense handed to them on a plate without knowing the truth of the matter.” [Matt Yoder/Awful Announcing]

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The first 40 seconds of this tunnel video from the OSU-Michigan game are INTENSE. You should definitely check it out to get hyped for Saturday. [Big Ten Network/YouTube]

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Not sure exactly what prompted a prestigious paper to trash Urban Meyer: “He is also everything that is wrong with college athletics today. It isn’t just that Meyer is about winning and winning only. That doesn’t make him any different than 99 percent of the coaches who are paid millions of dollars to win at the big-time level in football and basketball. What separates Meyer from most of his colleagues is his ability to sell the notion that he’s clean when there’s dirt and mud all over him.” [John Feinstein/Washington Post]

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*Every OSU girl swoons* “Craft is so unimpeachable, his roommates’ Twitter account — @CRAFTRoomies — is a send-up of his wholesomeness. Here’s a picture of Aaron on the first day of school; here he is doing his homework; here he is vacuuming the apartment.” [Dana O’Neil/ESPN.com]