Great Scott?

Add the Cleveland Cavaliers to the list of Cleveland sports franchises in 2012-13 who decided their current head coach wasn't getting the job done and decided to make a change.

After Manny Acta (Indians) and Pat Shurmur (Browns) were each shown the door by their respective teams, the Cavs have followed suit today by dismissing head coach Byron Scott after three years on the job.

I think what surprises me more than anything, especially in this town, is that most people believe that Scott should have gotten another year.

To be honest, I really don't have an opinion one way or another. I've never been a big fan of the NBA, and my interest in the Cavs has waned, especially this year. All I know is, Scott had three big factors working against him in his bid for an elusive fourth year:

1. His average of 22 wins per season. Sure, the Cavs were in rebuilding mode after LeBron James decided to take his talents south, but I can't think of any head coach whose winning percentage was just .278 being allowed to coach a team longer than 3 years. It's a bottom-line wins, and wins are the bottom line. The Cavs were 64-146 under Scott, and Scott's wins and win percentage rank last among all full-time head coaches that have been with the team longer than one season.

2. His teams being among the worst in the NBA in overall defense. The Cavs finished last in the league in defensive field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot better than 47 percent. During Scott's three years in charge, opponents shot .475, .467 and .476 this season. They never ranked higher than 27th in the league defensively -- a stark contrast to the LeBron James-Mike Brown-era Cavs, who annually ranked in the top five teams defensively.

3. The team's performance this season. What should have been a season of continued growth and potential contention for a playoff berth turned into a miserable season. Sure, star point guard Kyrie Irving, forward Anderson Varejao and last summer's fourth-overall pick Dion Waiters each missed significant time with injuries this season. However, the Cavs blew four second-half leads of 20 points or more this season -- the only team in the NBA to do so and the first team in the last 15 years to do so, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Cavs blew leads of 27 points (at home to LeBron and his Heat) and 26 points (at home to Phoenix), which are the two largest leads blown team history and the two largest leads blown in the NBA this year. The Cavs also lost 16 of their last 18 games and looked listless at times, with some players questioning Scott's coaching decisions to the Akron Beacon Journal.

Sure, you can say that Scott played against a stacked deck from the beginning. Scott was hired after Michigan State coach Tom Izzo turned down a substantial offer from Dan Gilbert to be the new head coach. Scott was an All-Star point guard with the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and had success in two other coaching stops in New Jersey (an NBA Finals berth) and New Orleans (helped develop Chris Paul into the best point guard in the NBA).

Scott was also hired just days before LeBron James went on ESPN and embarassed the city and the organization by announcing that he was signing with the Miami Heat. I'm sure Scott believed that he was coming here to help coach James and get him over the playoff hump. Instead, he inherited a listless group that lacked direction and missed their superstar teammate. That team slumped to a 19-63 record and lost an NBA-record 26 straight games. That team also disappeared with the world watching on Dec, 8, 2010, when  Cleveland came out to voice their displeasure against LeBron James and saw a team that buddied up to him all game, didn't hardly guard him, let alone foul him, and lost by 30 points.

The second season, shortened to 66 games due to the lockout, had promise due to No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving and fourth-overall pick Tristan Thompson joining the fold. However, Irving battled injuries (as did Varejao) and the Cavs only won 21 games, landing another spot in the NBA lottery.

This season began with the fourth- (Dion Waiters) and 17th- (Tyler Zeller) overall draft choices joining the fold, and the team showed some promise at times. However, another Varejao season-ending injury pushed up the timetable on Zeller and forced veteran Luke Walton to play a lot more minutes than the team hoped. And, after a steller showing at All-Star weekend put Irving on the NBA map, he suffered yet another injury and missed a good chunk of the second half.

Irving, when he did come back, seemed to sulk both on and off the court. His final home appearance was marred when former Cleveland State standout Norris Cole made him look foolish on an attempted game-winning shot against the LeBron-less Heat, and then compounded when he walked off the court without taking part in the Fan Appreciation postgame ceremonies. While Irving has said all the right things today, it looked to most observers that Scott has lost the ear of his superstar point guard.

With the Cavs believed to be interested in luring James back to town next summer, when LeBron opts out of his contract with the Miami Heat, the time to make a splash is now. Perhaps LeBron never wanted to play for Byron Scott, and his hiring may have been his final push in Miami's direction (probably not, but it's an interesting theory). However, if the Cavs want to be considered a serious player in the LeBron sweepstakes, they need to show immediate improvement next season. That means not playing for ping-pong balls in hoppers and instead playing for playoff berths.

The Cavs enter this offseason with yet another high choice in the NBA lottery, where they could pick as high as first or as low as sixth (or stay put at third). Irving and Thompson will enter their third years as professionals, while Waiters and Zeller will become second-year pros. Young guys such as Shawn Livingston, Mareece Speights and Wayne Ellington could be counted on to add depth, and the team could be an active player in the free agent market for the first time since you-know-who left. The clock is ticking.

Several names have popped up in the early going in the search for the new head coach. The most intriguing is former Lakers coach Phil Jackson, but I don't think he comes here unless he's almost assured LeBron James returns for the 2014-15 season and beyond. Another intriguing name is Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has rebuffed many chances to jump to the NBA but could want to be paired up with his former point guard Irving (and, of course, LeBron loves playing for him).

More realistic names include Pacers assistant Bryan Shaw (who always seems to be linked to head coaching jobs, but hasn't landed one), Warriors assistant Mike Malone (a former Cavs assistant under Mike Brown), Miami assistant David Fizdale, former Pistons head coach Flip Saunders (a Cuyahoga Heights native), former Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy and current ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

There are some who think that Gilbert may make another overture to Izzo. Also, ex-Cavs coach Mike Brown, who was run out of Los Angeles just one week into this season, has already let it be known that he'd love to come back and coach the Cavs.

Joe Cleveland will go on record and say that, if the Cavs decide to re-hire Mike Brown, he will be officially done with Cavs. So, you basically are admitting that the last three years were a mistake. It also makes Gilbert (who fired Brown over the objections of GM Danny Ferry, who subsequently quit) look even more foolish than the national perception already is. And, when so many believed that LeBron was behind the firing of Brown (by quitting on him during the Celtics series and talking about wanting to play for a guy who at least had a track record of playing and coaching), why would those of you who think that LeBron would return next summer believe that he'd want to come back playing for Mike Brown?

It just doesn't make sense. But then again, nothing about the NBA makes any sense to me.

At the very least, the NBA planets aligned (wink-wink) and the Lakers backed into the playoffs, even without Kobe Bryant. That means the Cavs can get the Lakers' No. 1 overall pick this year instead of the Miami Heat's last pick in the first round. So, the Cavs should have two more first rounders in the top 16, which is a good thing.

A very precarious fan base hangs in the balance with this head coaching hire and what the team does this offseason. The Indians won back many disgruntled fans when they landed the big fish in Terry Francona and shown a willingness to spend money in free agency that they lacked recently. The Browns didn't land their so-called "big fish" in either Chip Kelly or Nick Saban, and a fan base waits with baited breath to see how new coach Rob Chudzinski and coordinators Norv Turner and Ray Horton mesh together with the new group of players. New owner Jimmy Haslam's problems with the feds stemming from Pilot Flying J, along with distrust of returning GM Mike Lombardi, have only added to the fan base's anxiety of the upcoming season.

The Cavs were a solid No. 2 (not counting Ohio State football) behind the Browns locally until this season. What they do between now and August will say a lot about if they can regain that spot among the locals, or if they will fade into more apathy and obscurity.

***

By the way, you may have noticed that I've written Joe Cleveland under my real identity. It was time. As it is, most of the people who read this blog already know who I am anyway. When I decided to bring back Off The Turnbuckle (theoriginalott.blogspot.com), I had to change my Blogger profile. That included Joe Cleveland. So, from now on, you will know that Dan Gilles is the guy writing Joe Cleveland.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!

Open mouth, insert foot

So, Indians closer Chris Perez was one of two Wahoos to be named to the American League All-Star Team, along with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.

Something tells me that Mr. Perez will be one of a tiny few on the AL roster who get booed by the crowd at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium. In fact, he'll probably be the recipient of the loudest boos of the night for any player on any team.

I wonder how Perez will take it, considering how sensitive he is to being booed by a home crowd.

This is what happens when you run your mouth for no apparent reason, other than to rile yourself up. You suffer the consequences.

I wonder if Kansas City fans will do the "You can't see me gesture" to him if he enters the game and starts giving up hits. I wonder if someone will hold up a sign that says, "You drill us, we drill you!"

It appears the guy who calls himself "Pure Rage" isn't completely over the mentality of Cleveland fans and their long memories when it comes to his performances and the performances of his Indians' teams. His little popoff to the New York Times confirms it.

Perez seems like another Braylon Edwards. Edwards mostly dressed down Cleveland, the Browns organization and his teammates while he was here, and then lit into all of them the moment he was sent packing to New York to play for the Jets.

Browns fans booed Braylon, and booed him hard. And, they will continue to boo him ... that is, if he ever finds another NFL job.

The moment Perez leaves the Indians -- and it could happen sooner rather than later -- he will pull a Braylon and really let Cleveland know how he feels. He may stress that he doesn't want to go anywhere, but I believe that he's praying that the Indians fall out of contention so they will dangle him to the highest bidder.

Last week, while the Indians were in New York to play (and subsequently get swept by) the Yankees, Perez expounded on his earlier feelings about the fans.

He said fans seemed to care more about rooting against LeBron James and the Miami Heat than they do about rooting for the Indians.

“I don’t get the psyche,” said Perez, who grew up in Florida. “Why cheer against a guy that’s not even in your city anymore? Just to see him fail? Does that make you feel good? I could see if the Cavs were in the championship, but that’s their mentality.

“They’ve had a lot of years of misery. They say, ‘You just don’t understand because you don’t live here.’ O.K., maybe I don’t. But that doesn’t mean it has to keep going.”

The Indians drew more than 3 million fans for six seasons in a row starting in 1996, the year the NFL Browns moved to Baltimore. The new version of the Browns has not won a playoff game in its 13 seasons.

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Perez said. “Their whole thing is, ‘We want a winner.’ Well, why do you support the Browns? They don’t win. They’ve never won. They left. You guys blindly support them. I don’t understand it. It’s a double standard, and I don’t know why.

It's head-scratching. It's just -- they don't come out. But around the city, there's great support. They watch it in the bars. They watch it at home. They just don't come."

A few Cleveland fans claimed that Perez was "speaking the truth." About what, Joe Cleveland wonders?

So, Perez -- a University of Miami graduate -- thinks that the people who support his team in the city he plays should "get over" LeBron James. Apparently, it's OK for Perez to keep an entire city, region, fanbase and franchise in limbo for three years while he drops cryptic hints, gives up on that franchise during his final playoff series, not return any phone calls from the media (or his franchise) after the season, even after that franchise dumped the coach and GM to placate him, and then go on national TV and say you're taking your so-called "talents" somewhere else.

Sure, it's OK for that guy to make disparaging comments about Cleveland after he leaves and throw your teammates under the bus ... then again, this is exactly what Perez has been doing all along.

All of his comments and off-color on-field demeanor simply riles up his opponents. Meanwhile, he sits in the sanctity of the bullpen for 8 innings and only pitches if his team has a lead and only pitches one inning when he does. His teammates, which aren't that good to begin with, find out that other teams are bringing their best and not holding back anything because they've gotten the proper motivation to do so.

Perez likes to talk trash abour the Browns and Browns fans. OK, Chris, let me throw some cold, hard facts your way.

The Cleveland Browns have 8 championshps, while the Cleveland Indians have 2 (and the Cleveland Indians have been around almost 50 years longer than the Browns have).

The Cleveland Browns have won a championship more recently than the Cleveland Indians have -- 1964 (Browns) to 1948 (Indians). Even though the Indians have been in the World Series two more times than the Browns have been in the Super Bowl since 1964.

Going back 10 years -- to 2002 -- the Cleveland Browns have had the exact same amount of playoff berths (one) and winning seasons (two) than the Cleveland Indians have.

So, Chris Perez, why, exactly, is your franchise better than the Browns? Do your history homework, son!

There really isn't a scientific reason as to why Cleveland is more of a football town than a baseball town. You factor in 8 homes games for the Browns to 81 for the Indians, and you can see why people go more ape-shit for the football home games. Plus, it's actually cheaper to go to a season's worth of Browns games than a season's worth of Indians games, when you factor in parking, concessions, travel, etc.

Perhaps the move (and the way the fans responded and the end result) only added to the Browns fervor. The fans showed what loyalty can accomplish when they got the NFL to make a ruling they've never done and gotten concessions (the guarantee of a franchise within a certain time frame, the complete history of the franchise retained, the NFL to kick in on a new stadium) the NFL has never allowed. Yes, the team has been mediocre (by and large) since they've returned. But, quite honestly, haven't all the Cleveland franchises been pretty mediocre during that span?

The Cavs had five straight playoff berths from 2005-2010 with LeBron James in town, even reaching the NBA Finals once. If any franchise wants to call "scoreboard" to the town, the Cavs deserve it, even with LeBron tucking tail and going ring hunting in Florida.

The Indians haven't had a winning season since 2007 (which, coincidentally, was the Browns' last winning season). That year, they had a 3-1 lead in the ALCS over the Boston Red Sox, with Game 5 being played at Jacobs Field with Cy Young winner CC Sabathia on the hill. Somehow, the Tribe blew it.

Perez wants to crow about how his team is "winning," but pennants aren't awarded because you had a great April and May. The Indians had a phenomenal April and May last season, only to finish two games under .500 and double-digit games behind Detroit for the AL Central crown. This season, they had a good April and May, but have struggled ever since Perez went nuclear on his own fanbase.

Yes, the team's offense and the inconsistant starting pitching and some of Manny Acta's moves are all to blame, and Perez still hasn't blown a save since Opening Day. But it seems AWFUL coincidental that the team's overall struggles occurred when Perez popped off the media about a so-called "lack of support" from his fan base.

Perez doesn't seem to get it. Unfortunately, his comments have made him somewhat of a cult hero to a sect of the fan base. But, Joe Cleveland sees a fan base that has struggled to back the Indians because of their apparent lack of supporting a winning product, from ownership on down, and realizes that the Indians blew a lead last year that very few franchises blow and wound up with nothing, and knows that a guy popping off about THEM being the problem and not his manager, his general manager, his president and his owners being the problem (which they are), and most of THEM will sit on their money and not feel as motivated to make the trek to Carnegie and Ontario on a summer night.

The Indians were 12-15 in June. They were 23-17 when Perez first popped off, and 40-39 now, which is 17-22 since May 19. They are barely over .500 and first place in the Central (which is what they were on May 19) seems like a distant memory.

I want the Indians to succeed. However, Chris Perez, if you struggle, Joe Cleveland will not be shy about letting you have it or letting you hear about it.

You drill us, we'll drill you!

Hope you're somewhere else after July 31, Chrissy. Vinnie Pestano should get three measly outs in the ninth inning just as well at a fraction of the salary, without being a lightning rod for controversy.

***

After LeBron led the Heat to the NBA title a few weeks ago, someone argued that LeBron's last Cavs team, the 2010 team, was just as good, if not better, than his current Heat team.

Of course, the main arguement for the pro-LeBron, pro-Decision people is that Cleveland never gave him the proper supporting cast, yadda-yadda-yadda.

Joe Cleveland did some research, and you might be surprised just how evenly these two teams match up.

If you're a stats guy, look it up. If you're a basketball guy, consider this:

STARTERS:
PG -- Mo Williams vs. Mario Chalmers (advantage Cavs)
SG -- Anthony Parker vs. Dwayne Wade (advantage Heat)
SF -- LeBron James vs. LeBron James (I'll give the slight edge to the Heat James because he wasn't afraid to play in the post, unlike his time with the Cavs)
PF -- Antawn Jamison vs. Chris Bosh (even)
C -- Shaquille O'Neal vs. Joel Anthony (advantage Cavs, even with Shaq on the downside, he would eat Anthony for lunch)

Cavs Bench -- J.J. Hickson, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson
Heat Bench -- Shane Battier, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, Ronny Turiaf

Cavs get a major advantage here, even taking into account Miller's 3-point surge in Game 6. As Gibson showed in 2007, everyone catches lightning in a bottle sometime.

For you stat guys:

2012 Miami Big 3 (points-rebounds-assists)
Lebron James 27-8-6
Dwayne Wade 22-5-5
Chris Bosh 18-6-2

2010 Cleveland Big 3
Lebron James 29-7-9
Antawn Jamison 19-8-1
Mo Williams 15-3-5

Miami has a plus-4 advantage in points, but just a plus-1 advantage in rebounds, while the Cavs had a plus-2 advantage in assists.

To me, what this shows is that, if LeBron had shown half the gumption and heart he showed this year that he didn't show in 2010, the Cavs would have won a championship that season.

The key was LeBron himself. This year, he carried his team to a title. In 2007, he carried the Cavs to the finals. In 2009 and 2010 (and 2011 with Miami), he disappeared when it mattered, except for one fantastic buzzer-beating 3-pointer in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron had the pieces around him here in Cleveland, regardless of what ESPN wants to revise in their own history books or what Cleveland-haters want to believe. It was LeBron who failed Cleveland, not the other way around.

I think that's what angers Cleveland fans more than anything. They know, deep down, that Miami's title should be theirs.

***

When the Cavs drafted Dion Waiters with the No. 4 pick last Thursday, Joe Cleveland's not going to lie -- I was pretty angry.

When the Cavs gave up their remaining three draft picks to acquire center Tyler Zeller, Joe Cleveland's mood didn't get any better.

How could the Cavs screw up this draft, I wondered? Why would they take a collegiate non-starter that they never worked out with their first pick, and then give up everything else for a white "stiff" center?

Well, I let it marinate for 24 hours, did some research, listened as the national pundits didn't lambaste the Cavs over an open spicket like I thought they would, listened as Byron Scott and Chris Grant beamed and boasted about the picks, and realized, well, I might have rushed to judgement.

Two of the Cavs' most glaring needs was an athletic 2-guard to team up with Kyrie Irving in the backcourt and an athletic, long center to clog up the middle. They may have filled those two needs with Waiters and Zeller.

Zeller is not a center like Shaq or Dwight Howard or Roy Hibbert. Zeller is along the lines of another guy named 'Z' that played with the Cavs for a long time, a finesse big man who has range. Unlike Ilgauskas, Zeller is more athletic and can get up and down the floor quickly while also disrupting things on the defensive end.

Waiters may be the most athletic player in this draft, in terms of skill set and intangibles. Waiters is confident in his own abilities. You need that to succeed in today's NBA. He can create his own shot while also meshing well with who he called "his brother," Irving.

All the Cavs were raving about the picks when they happened. The national media have given them high grades. Byron Scott can't want to get this young team out on the court for the 2012-13 season.

They are going to run, run, and run some more.

I'm still not 100 percent, but now I'm more anxious to see these kids in action than I was before.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!