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See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 06:12 p.m. EDT, Aug 01, 2009
In this sports market, the Cavaliers clearly carry the banner.
Yet, even the Cavs ended the 2008-09 season with a great disappointment in losing to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.
Coach Mike Brown took some time last week to reflect on the series, and to address specific criticisms of his decisions.
Brown conceded that the loss stung, that he spent a few days in a daze — and maybe even felt a little sorry for himself.
And he addressed the charge that he was outcoached by Stan Van Gundy.
''I guess I'm not afraid if people say I was outcoached or whatever they want to say,'' Brown said.
Because . . .
''I'm sure [Van Gundy] would probably say the same thing as me right now,'' Brown said. ''We kind of knew what they were going to do and he's said that they knew what we were going to do. It came down to matchups and execution.
''He's a heck of a coach. He did a heck of a job.
''I look at it this way — because you lose a series that doesn't necessarily mean this guy outcoached you or that guy outcoaches you.''
The NBA is a game of matchups, especially in the playoffs. And Brown thought back to the year the Cavs beat the Washington Wizards en route to the NBA Finals.
''We tried a lot of things and went through a lot in that series, but the main thing that saved our behind is we found a matchup problem,'' Brown said. ''Drew [Gooden] was able to guard Antawn Jamison, and we were able to go to Drew in the post. Antawn had a hard time guarding Drew in the post.
''In critical situations, we would pound the ball inside to Drew and eight times out of 10 he would get us a bucket. Which was enough to get us over the hump.''
The matchups against the Magic have been well documented. The Cavs' biggest problem was they had nobody to guard Dwight Howard inside.
''We tried to play him straight,'' Brown said. ''We tried to double him on the pass and on the dribble, and from different areas. He just got into a nice rhythm.
''If we did not double him, he went right through us. If we did, he kicked the ball out to shooters.''
The difference between what happened with the Cavs and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals: Height. The Lakers simply were taller.
''They were shooting over us, a lot of times without feeling us,'' Brown said. ''Our guys did a heck of a job. They were there just as well as the guys in the Lakers series. It's a matter of length and size rotating to guys on the perimeter.''
Brown also addressed three other common laments.
• Putting LeBron James on Rafer Alston.
The Cavs started the series that way, but went away from it after Alston's big game in the Magic's Game 4 win.
''A lot of the reason why we did that was to put Mo [Williams] on a guy who was not going to be as active offensively,'' Brown said. ''And to put a bigger guy on Rafer. Then we felt Delonte [West] initially was the best matchup for [Hedo] Turkoglu.''
Brown said James did a solid job, but Alston hurt the Cavs in one third-quarter run when he scored 10 points in a row.
''We'd done that plenty of times in the past, put LeBron on point guards,'' Brown said. ''He does as good a job as anybody on Tony Parker. Another guy we put him on is [the Boston Celtics' Rajon] Rondo.''
The difference is that not every team has two 6-foot-10 shooters such as the Magic, leaving West to guard a guy 8 inches taller than him.
''Turkoglu's numbers [in the series] were not extraordinary [17.2 points on 39 percent shooting],'' Brown said. ''He did not post up Delonte. Delonte fought him off the block. That did not hurt us.
''Turkoglu's ability to play pick-and-roll with Dwight was a tough thing for us to contain.''
• Putting Ben Wallace on Rashard Lewis late in Game 4 when Lewis made a crucial 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left in regulation.
Wallace was picked off on the play by Howard, but many lamented a power forward covering a perimeter shooter.
''We had Andy [Varejao] on Rashard and Rashard had just hit a shot over Andy, so we wanted to be different,'' Brown said. ''We had Sasha [Pavlovic] on Turkoglu and he had hit a shot over Sasha.
''We had Ben, who had been a Defensive Player of the Year. He has intelligence. He has some length, and he has chased guys like Rashard around for us before.
''He's guarded Dirk [Nowitzki] some. We've put him on those types of guys.''
Another factor was that Turkoglu had twice made late shots that won or could have won games.
''We wanted Andy on Dwight and we wanted to put LeBron on Turkoglu so Turkoglu would be, quote, unquote, nullified,'' Brown said. ''We felt Ben was our next best guy to put on Rashard. If I could have put LeBron on Rashard and Turkoglu at the same time, I probably would have done it.''
Brown said Lewis made a ''turnaround, 3-point jump shot to his right shoulder coming to the ball.''
''At some point you gotta give him credit,'' Brown added. ''We could have put a guy who's a lot smaller on one and 'Bron on the other, or put a guy with some length on one and hopefully he can bother him.''
Financial picture bleak
The Indians said that the trades of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez were not mandated and that the baseball side was not told to dump salary.
But the baseball side is aware of the drop in attendance this season, and what that means to the future.
It's not hard to figure the numbers.
The Indians started the season with a payroll in the $80 million range — which was on the high end of the scale for the market size and the economy.
They based that in part on a projected attendance of 2.2 million. Even at those figures, the Indians projected to lose significant money, but felt that risk was justifiable given the team believed it could contend.
They project right now to draw 1.8 million, but the anger and frustration from the trades could send that figure lower.
Let's say they draw 1.7 million, which is optimistic and 500,000 less than projected.
Five hundred thousand times $20 per ticket (a reasonable average) equals $10 million.
That figure does not take into account the effects of the economy that shows up in lost sponsorship, ad revenue, concession sales and marketing deals.
Could the Indians project to lose as much as $20 million this season?
It doesn't seem impossible. They surely will lose $12 million to $15 million.
No business this side of the U.S. government can sustain itself running gigantic losses. Until the Indians can print money like the government, or until baseball finds a more equitable team salary structure, teams like the Indians will have seasons like this and have to make decisions like the trade of Lee.
It stinks.
It really stinks.
It stinks from here to Wapakoneta.
But nobody who runs a business can do it losing millions of dollars every year.
The real killer for the Indians is that there was no significant growth in attendance after the playoff season of 2007.
In '07, the Indians averaged 28,448 and ranked 21st in baseball.
In '08, after the Indians came within one game of the World Series, they averaged 27,122 and ranked 22nd.
The slow start figured in that. So did the economy. Whatever the reason, the numbers are real.
Meanwhile, the Browns sell out every game.
Long history of this
The trades this week bring back some memories of dumping proven players for prospects.
Many folks point to the Bartolo Colon deal, but these kinds of deals with the Indians go back decades, and the tally is enough to make you upchuck:
In 1974, Chris Chambliss, a guy who grew up in the Indians' organization, went to the New York Yankees for pitchers Fritz Peterson, Steve Kline, Fred Beene and Tom Buskey.
Are you kidding me?
In 1972, the Indians sent Graig Nettles to the Yankees for catcher John Ellis, infielder Jerry Kenney, outfielder Rusty Torres and outfielder Charlie Spikes.
Spikes, the Bogalusa Bomber, was supposed to be the key. He hit 65 career home runs; Nettles and Chambliss were infield cornerstones for World Series winners.
In 1978, the Indians traded Dennis Eckersley to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Rick Wise and Mike Paxton, catcher Bo Diaz and third baseman Ted Cox.
We all see how that worked out.
Cox, the key to the deal, played two seasons with the Indians and hit .233 and .212.
In 1984, the Indians got Joe Carter for Rick Sutcliffe (with others involved). In 1989, they traded Carter for second baseman Carlos Baerga and catcher Sandy Alomar Jr.
This was a win for the Indians.
In 1982, the Indians traded Von Hayes to the Philadelphia Phillies for second baseman Manny Trillo, shortstop Julio Franco, catcher Jerry Willard and pitchers Jay Baller and outfielder George Vukovich.
Baller was the can't-miss prospect that time. He missed. Vukovich wound up being sold to the Seibu Lions in Japan.
In 2001, the Indians traded Roberto Alomar for Matt Lawton, Alex Escobar, Jerrod Riggan, Billy Traber and Earl Snyder.
Escobar was the key to this trade, but he never recovered from a knee injury and had 388 total major-league at-bats.
In 2001, the Indians sent Colon to the Montreal Expos for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Jeff Stevens.
This was a very good trade for the Indians.
Now Martinez is traded for three young guys and Lee is traded for four young guys the year after CC Sabathia was traded for young guys.
It's almost like it's a team policy.
Which might be part of the reason there is so much frustration.
Wait until Lee and Sabathia pitch against each other in the World Series.
Random thoughts
• The Indians and the NFL are showing the effects of the economy on sports.
Most leagues had their seasons under way when things bottomed out a year ago, so the impact was delayed. Now it's hitting — in full force.
The Indians and Browns teamed up to try to sell suites, something I never thought I'd see. And the Browns are offering some new discounted ticket packages.
Professional sports rode the gravy train for a while.
Now it's going to be different.
• Why are the Cavs immune?
LeBron.
• An online commenter pointed out an interesting point about the Indians' acquisitions for Lee. None of us really and truly know the players acquired, nor do we know the ins and outs of the guys the Toronto Blue Jays tried to acquire for Roy Halladay.
Yet when trades like this happen, folks talk like they know.
So folks cry that the Indians should have gotten Kyle Drabek or J.A. Happ or Dominic Brown, all top prospects for the Phillies. And they say that even though seven days prior they couldn't tell their Happ from their elbow.
• Basically you either trust the guys making the moves or you don't. Two years ago, folks would have trusted the Indians. Two bad years have eroded the trust. It will return if these moves pay off. If they don't pay off . . . yikes.
• Not that the anger isn't justified or understandable.
It is completely understandable.
But everyone who complains needs to wonder how they'd handle things if they lost $14 million in one year.
• Hey . . . at least the Browns got their rookies signed before the start of the first full-team training camp practice.
Until next time . . . there you have it.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohio.com/mcmanamon/. Follow Pat on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/patmcmanamon.
In this sports market, the Cavaliers clearly carry the banner.
Yet, even the Cavs ended the 2008-09 season with a great disappointment in losing to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.
Coach Mike Brown took some time last week to reflect on the series, and to address specific criticisms of his decisions.
Brown conceded that the loss stung, that he spent a few days in a daze — and maybe even felt a little sorry for himself.
And he addressed the charge that he was outcoached by Stan Van Gundy.
''I guess I'm not afraid if people say I was outcoached or whatever they want to say,'' Brown said.
Because . . .
''I'm sure [Van Gundy] would probably say the same thing as me right now,'' Brown said. ''We kind of knew what they were going to do and he's said that they knew what we were going to do. It came down to matchups and execution.
''He's a heck of a coach. He did a heck of a job.
''I look at it this way — because you lose a series that doesn't necessarily mean this guy outcoached you or that guy outcoaches you.''
The NBA is a game of matchups, especially in the playoffs. And Brown thought back to the year the Cavs beat the Washington Wizards en route to the NBA Finals.
''We tried a lot of things and went through a lot in that series, but the main thing that saved our behind is we found a matchup problem,'' Brown said. ''Drew [Gooden] was able to guard Antawn Jamison, and we were able to go to Drew in the post. Antawn had a hard time guarding Drew in the post.
''In critical situations, we would pound the ball inside to Drew and eight times out of 10 he would get us a bucket. Which was enough to get us over the hump.''
The matchups against the Magic have been well documented. The Cavs' biggest problem was they had nobody to guard Dwight Howard inside.
''We tried to play him straight,'' Brown said. ''We tried to double him on the pass and on the dribble, and from different areas. He just got into a nice rhythm.
''If we did not double him, he went right through us. If we did, he kicked the ball out to shooters.''
The difference between what happened with the Cavs and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals: Height. The Lakers simply were taller.
''They were shooting over us, a lot of times without feeling us,'' Brown said. ''Our guys did a heck of a job. They were there just as well as the guys in the Lakers series. It's a matter of length and size rotating to guys on the perimeter.''
Brown also addressed three other common laments.
• Putting LeBron James on Rafer Alston.
The Cavs started the series that way, but went away from it after Alston's big game in the Magic's Game 4 win.
''A lot of the reason why we did that was to put Mo [Williams] on a guy who was not going to be as active offensively,'' Brown said. ''And to put a bigger guy on Rafer. Then we felt Delonte [West] initially was the best matchup for [Hedo] Turkoglu.''
Brown said James did a solid job, but Alston hurt the Cavs in one third-quarter run when he scored 10 points in a row.
''We'd done that plenty of times in the past, put LeBron on point guards,'' Brown said. ''He does as good a job as anybody on Tony Parker. Another guy we put him on is [the Boston Celtics' Rajon] Rondo.''
The difference is that not every team has two 6-foot-10 shooters such as the Magic, leaving West to guard a guy 8 inches taller than him.
''Turkoglu's numbers [in the series] were not extraordinary [17.2 points on 39 percent shooting],'' Brown said. ''He did not post up Delonte. Delonte fought him off the block. That did not hurt us.
''Turkoglu's ability to play pick-and-roll with Dwight was a tough thing for us to contain.''
• Putting Ben Wallace on Rashard Lewis late in Game 4 when Lewis made a crucial 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left in regulation.
Wallace was picked off on the play by Howard, but many lamented a power forward covering a perimeter shooter.
''We had Andy [Varejao] on Rashard and Rashard had just hit a shot over Andy, so we wanted to be different,'' Brown said. ''We had Sasha [Pavlovic] on Turkoglu and he had hit a shot over Sasha.
''We had Ben, who had been a Defensive Player of the Year. He has intelligence. He has some length, and he has chased guys like Rashard around for us before.
''He's guarded Dirk [Nowitzki] some. We've put him on those types of guys.''
Another factor was that Turkoglu had twice made late shots that won or could have won games.
''We wanted Andy on Dwight and we wanted to put LeBron on Turkoglu so Turkoglu would be, quote, unquote, nullified,'' Brown said. ''We felt Ben was our next best guy to put on Rashard. If I could have put LeBron on Rashard and Turkoglu at the same time, I probably would have done it.''
Brown said Lewis made a ''turnaround, 3-point jump shot to his right shoulder coming to the ball.''
''At some point you gotta give him credit,'' Brown added. ''We could have put a guy who's a lot smaller on one and 'Bron on the other, or put a guy with some length on one and hopefully he can bother him.''
Financial picture bleak
The Indians said that the trades of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez were not mandated and that the baseball side was not told to dump salary.
But the baseball side is aware of the drop in attendance this season, and what that means to the future.
It's not hard to figure the numbers.
The Indians started the season with a payroll in the $80 million range — which was on the high end of the scale for the market size and the economy.
They based that in part on a projected attendance of 2.2 million. Even at those figures, the Indians projected to lose significant money, but felt that risk was justifiable given the team believed it could contend.
They project right now to draw 1.8 million, but the anger and frustration from the trades could send that figure lower.
Let's say they draw 1.7 million, which is optimistic and 500,000 less than projected.
Five hundred thousand times $20 per ticket (a reasonable average) equals $10 million.
That figure does not take into account the effects of the economy that shows up in lost sponsorship, ad revenue, concession sales and marketing deals.
Could the Indians project to lose as much as $20 million this season?
It doesn't seem impossible. They surely will lose $12 million to $15 million.
No business this side of the U.S. government can sustain itself running gigantic losses. Until the Indians can print money like the government, or until baseball finds a more equitable team salary structure, teams like the Indians will have seasons like this and have to make decisions like the trade of Lee.
It stinks.
It really stinks.
It stinks from here to Wapakoneta.
But nobody who runs a business can do it losing millions of dollars every year.
The real killer for the Indians is that there was no significant growth in attendance after the playoff season of 2007.
In '07, the Indians averaged 28,448 and ranked 21st in baseball.
In '08, after the Indians came within one game of the World Series, they averaged 27,122 and ranked 22nd.
The slow start figured in that. So did the economy. Whatever the reason, the numbers are real.
Meanwhile, the Browns sell out every game.
Long history of this
The trades this week bring back some memories of dumping proven players for prospects.
Many folks point to the Bartolo Colon deal, but these kinds of deals with the Indians go back decades, and the tally is enough to make you upchuck:
In 1974, Chris Chambliss, a guy who grew up in the Indians' organization, went to the New York Yankees for pitchers Fritz Peterson, Steve Kline, Fred Beene and Tom Buskey.
Are you kidding me?
In 1972, the Indians sent Graig Nettles to the Yankees for catcher John Ellis, infielder Jerry Kenney, outfielder Rusty Torres and outfielder Charlie Spikes.
Spikes, the Bogalusa Bomber, was supposed to be the key. He hit 65 career home runs; Nettles and Chambliss were infield cornerstones for World Series winners.
In 1978, the Indians traded Dennis Eckersley to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Rick Wise and Mike Paxton, catcher Bo Diaz and third baseman Ted Cox.
We all see how that worked out.
Cox, the key to the deal, played two seasons with the Indians and hit .233 and .212.
In 1984, the Indians got Joe Carter for Rick Sutcliffe (with others involved). In 1989, they traded Carter for second baseman Carlos Baerga and catcher Sandy Alomar Jr.
This was a win for the Indians.
In 1982, the Indians traded Von Hayes to the Philadelphia Phillies for second baseman Manny Trillo, shortstop Julio Franco, catcher Jerry Willard and pitchers Jay Baller and outfielder George Vukovich.
Baller was the can't-miss prospect that time. He missed. Vukovich wound up being sold to the Seibu Lions in Japan.
In 2001, the Indians traded Roberto Alomar for Matt Lawton, Alex Escobar, Jerrod Riggan, Billy Traber and Earl Snyder.
Escobar was the key to this trade, but he never recovered from a knee injury and had 388 total major-league at-bats.
In 2001, the Indians sent Colon to the Montreal Expos for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Jeff Stevens.
This was a very good trade for the Indians.
Now Martinez is traded for three young guys and Lee is traded for four young guys the year after CC Sabathia was traded for young guys.
It's almost like it's a team policy.
Which might be part of the reason there is so much frustration.
Wait until Lee and Sabathia pitch against each other in the World Series.
Random thoughts
• The Indians and the NFL are showing the effects of the economy on sports.
Most leagues had their seasons under way when things bottomed out a year ago, so the impact was delayed. Now it's hitting — in full force.
The Indians and Browns teamed up to try to sell suites, something I never thought I'd see. And the Browns are offering some new discounted ticket packages.
Professional sports rode the gravy train for a while.
Now it's going to be different.
• Why are the Cavs immune?
LeBron.
• An online commenter pointed out an interesting point about the Indians' acquisitions for Lee. None of us really and truly know the players acquired, nor do we know the ins and outs of the guys the Toronto Blue Jays tried to acquire for Roy Halladay.
Yet when trades like this happen, folks talk like they know.
So folks cry that the Indians should have gotten Kyle Drabek or J.A. Happ or Dominic Brown, all top prospects for the Phillies. And they say that even though seven days prior they couldn't tell their Happ from their elbow.
• Basically you either trust the guys making the moves or you don't. Two years ago, folks would have trusted the Indians. Two bad years have eroded the trust. It will return if these moves pay off. If they don't pay off . . . yikes.
• Not that the anger isn't justified or understandable.
It is completely understandable.
But everyone who complains needs to wonder how they'd handle things if they lost $14 million in one year.
• Hey . . . at least the Browns got their rookies signed before the start of the first full-team training camp practice.
Until next time . . . there you have it.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohio.com/mcmanamon/. Follow Pat on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/patmcmanamon.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 06:46 PM, 08/01/2009
In my opinion if you buy a sports franchise thinking your there to make your fortune in Sports please sell the team. How many teams a year in any sport make he playoffs. And most of the time those teams may or may not make a profit. Franchises, in the here and now, are for owners that have already made their fortune. Yes I would love to own a cleveland franchise, but I would go broke trying to win. Not only that is it usually takes winning to make money, so if you can't spend money to make money you need to put the money in a savings account and live off the interest.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 10:03 PM, 08/01/2009
Pro sports franchises have made many men very rich. Dick Jacobs was one of them. Filthy rich. I believe those days are over. Excessive salaries have finally caught up, and it will KILL the golden goose. Other sports at least have a salary cap, but they're still out of control.
Baseball continues unchecked, players just grabbing for every last dime and not caring how it's hurting the industry. Did C.C. really need a $161-million, 7 year contract? You and I could live on $100,000 for the rest of our lives. But you see, perspective is warped. And depressed markets like Cleveland and Detroit and Pittsburgh are gonna feel it in the worst way.
Mark my words, teams will be going bankrupt. MLB has a huge problem brewing. The Tribe's $20-million loss for one season is just the tip of the iceberg, league-wide.
Posted 12:10 AM, 08/02/2009
The Indians did not lose $14 million. They failed to produce the "expected" gate income. This represents a major difference. Based upon its protection from the Sherman Act, MLB has never released accurate financial data.
New Carlisle, OH
Posted 09:51 AM, 08/02/2009
Pat is right regarding the reality of economics in baseball. No question that these trades were not just to build a talent base but primarily to save money. The Indians had a solid core of players who could have been contenders in 2010. They still have some good players on this roster and could have a few of these prospects emerge as good/great players in the next couple of years. Shapiro believes they can still contend next season...seems very doubtful. But without some kind of salary cap in baseball, this scenatrio will be repeated time and again with samll market teams forced to dismantle their rosters to survive. The playing field is absolutely grossly unfair.
hagerstown, md
Posted 12:02 PM, 08/02/2009
Marvin Miller explained the money losses by baseball teams circa 1976. It has to do with taxes. For example, you can make 50 million under a certain tax rate, but you only make 40 million. You report that you have lost 10 million not that you made 40 million. If these teams were actually operating in the red, why are so many trying to buy them? Why do you think baseball owners have never offered their books to anyone? Gene Autry was the only owner that ever offered to open his books for the union. No sympathy here for sports franchise owners and their sweetheart deals on stadiums and everything bit of revenue that goes with it. So don't feed us the line that they are losing money as in operating in the red. It's revenue that they could make but didn't.
hudson, OH
Posted 03:05 PM, 08/02/2009
reality check - dick jacobs was ALREADY filthy rich when he bought the indians. shopping malls, strip centers, office towers (key center, anyone?).
we man is right when he asks why are so many in line to buy these teams if they lose so much money?
it is true that baseball needs to even the playing field when it comes to revenues and high priced free agents, but as long as the floridas, minnesotas, oaklands of the league continue to compete on a yearly basis with little or no payroll, the 'has' teams will always have an argument.
Yuma, AZ
Posted 11:10 AM, 08/03/2009
I believe it is totally unfair to laud the Colon trade and not rip the Indians for letting Brandon Phillips get away. Here is a Gold Glove caliber second baseman, stealing 25, 32, 23 and this season so far 17 stolen bases for the Reds in 3.5 seasons. He has hit 17,31,21 and 16 homers so far. And he crushes lefties, which this team has cried about needing since he left. Did I mention Gold Glove defense? How would that look with Asdrubal at short? Good trades matter a lot less when you squander the talent. Lee is gone, and was almost wasted anyway-- he was only called up from the minors on neccesity, not this management's talent evaluation. These guys are losers! I hope the Dolans lose enough money that they are finally forced to sell this team to someone who cares!
Posted 11:26 AM, 08/06/2009
I will continue to say that Mike Brown violated one of his cardinal rules from the very start of the series: he gave the Cavaliers an excuse to lose by saying the matchups were a problem. Game, set, and match right there because the Cavaliers started to believe no matter what they did the Magic had the matchups. When a team wins 65 games it should have an arrogance that says we create the match up problems - not the other way around. Very disappointing.
