LeBron leaves again and where the Cavaliers go next?

I've given myself a few days to reflect on the loss of LeBron James and by the time that my thoughts had been sifted through and filed away, it was a pretty easy finale' to say I'm OK.

Don't take that the wrong way -it is a huge loss for the city of Cleveland and a larger one for the Cavaliers organization, however, it feels far different from when the first defection to Miami occurred.
On that occasion, I felt anger toward LeBron James.
This time, it's a two-pronged feeling- Relief and Confusion.

Relief, because finally the Cavaliers and their fans can move on from the constant drum of counting down when LeBron James could test free agency and begin the long process (More on that later) of the second rebuilding after a LeBron James departure.
Confusion because unless this move to the Los Angeles Lakers is all about post-career ambitions and has little to nothing to do with basketball (and it may be just that), this decision to pick Los Angeles just doesn't add up to a smart one from a basketball viewpoint.

From a basketball viewpoint for LeBron, he leaves a team that would be the third seed at worst in the Eastern Conference (Boston and Philadelphia) for a team that would be the fifth seed at best in the Western Conference.
The Lakers haven't done a great job in attracting talent around James as most of their major targets have signed elsewhere and to my surprise allowed restricted free agent Julius Randle to leave the team to create the space to sign the often-mercurial Rajon Rondo.
I'd think that bringing in James, Rondo, Lance Stephenson (Can't wait to see how that works out) and JaVale McGee with holdovers Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lonzo Ball will be more than enough to turn a lottery team into a playoff team, but I don't see how one can rank them above the Spurs and maybe even the Jazz, let alone the Warriors, Rockets, and Thunder as the Western's elite squads.

As for the Cavaliers, life after LeBron looks to be one that will hinge on one decision- will the team attempt to make the playoffs, which in the East still might be possible despite the loss of James or will the Cavaliers begin revamping the roster?
Cleveland's constant assuaging of James has placed the team in a salary cap situation that ranks as quite dire and some of these contracts would be very difficult to move, even if another team was motivated to add some of the players that would not be part of a long-term project.
The Cavaliers have three options that are plausible and reasonable, it simply depends on the selection and direction that they take.

Option number one:
If the team decided to try to contend, they do have some parts that could be enough to make the playoffs with a few veterans and a handful of interesting younger players.
They could run the offense through Kevin Love as the number one option and hope he returns to the form that he displayed in Minnesota. hope that Rodney Hood flourishes after settling into Cleveland, first rounder Collin Sexton turns out to be the player that they hope he is, use Kyle Korver and George Hill as solid veterans and hope that they can get anything out of J.R. Smith to enable them to make the playoffs.

Option number two:
They do all of the above with Love, Korver, Hill, Smith and Tristan Thompson, but they do so not to try to make the playoffs, but to increase their marketability at the trade deadline to accumulate assets for a team that will have to send a first rounder to Atlanta, if they finish with a higher pick than 10th in the draft and should they finish in the lottery, would have to send the following years number one to the Hawks.
This could mean a possible awful sign to the fanbase as if those players play well, the Cavaliers could be jettisoning players that could have the team in the playoff hunt at the time before trading the veterans away.

Option number three:
The Cavaliers decide now to start their revamping of the organization and start trading everyone in sight before the season and build around Rodney Hood ( a restricted free agent, but likely to have any offers matched), Larry Nance Jr, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and maybe Ante Zizic.
The Cavaliers would likely be well under .500 and a lottery team, but the rebuild would start sooner and there would be some excitement with watching the young players develop and yes, take some lumps.

I'm not sure which option that the Cavaliers will decide to choose, but I lean towards the second option.
That gives the team some flexibility to decide at the deadline in what direction to head and would give Cleveland more options than either one or three.

In any event, I understand that Cleveland fans have hurt feelings and will now watch their team take a significant step back to among the pack from the best four year run of basketball that the almost fifty-year franchise has had in its history.
Still, for all the drama that consistently surrounded LeBron James for his skill as a player and lack of such in player personnel, he'll be missed and at the same time, a sense of normalcy will set in.
Normalcy is when you don't have the best player in the game and you have to build in the same manner as every other team that doesn't have the best player in the game- slowly and smartly.

Back later with some boxing notes and coming soon- my weekend in Ohio.

So, What's New?

Long time, huh?
Eight days since last hearing from me?
Could you live with yourself?
Did you survive?

Well, I have plenty of topics to write about, but first, let me explain why I was off for far longer than usual.

First, I had a trip to the doctor and even though I'm fine (She actually said she's amazed at my health!) that's always something that makes me reticent and somewhat anxious-both pre and post-visit.

That was followed by the craziness of the circus-like environment at Frederick for Cuban prospect Luis Robert and the Winston-Salem Dash and work too.
Plus my laptop went down and needed to be repaired, so add that to the reasons it has been a while in writing.

However, it got better as Derreck Chupak and I made an Ohio trip together and I'll be writing about that as the week goes along.
It was a great trip and hopefully, you'll enjoy the recap.
There is plenty of other news and notes and I've heard something about a player going west in the NBA-I'll try to have some thoughts on that later tonight.

It's nice to be back and I hope you will enjoy the upcoming posts as I catch up on things.

Berchelt crushes Barros, Taylor defeats Postol

In the boxing challenge, there were several impressive performances, but the day's first star goes to Miguel Berchelt, who retained his WBC junior lightweight title with a three-round smashing of former featherweight champion Jonathan Barros in Mexico.
Berchelt badly hurt Barros in the first and scored a knockdown in the second that had it happened before the waning seconds of that round, could have ended the fight then and there.
Berchelt immediately sent Barros to the mat in the third and relentlessly stalked Barros with a real beating before Barros hit the canvas again.
The game, if outgunned Barros rose, but his corner had seen enough and entered the ring to stop the bout.
Barros might have been an expired item, but Berchelt did exactly what a champion does in a situation against an opponent with little left than a name- he took him out quickly and impressively.
Berchelt has an all-Mexican mandatory defense against Mickey Roman next and hopefully, then a unification bout can be matched with the talented, if mercurial WBA champ (which he should not hold, but that's beside the point) Gervonta Davis, who is the only fighter in the division that can make an argument other than Berchelt as the best in the division.

Another impressive win was Scotland's Josh Taylor, who pulled a mild upset over former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol by a far (FAR) wider than was remotely realistic unanimous decision in Glasgow.
Taylor dropped Postol in the tenth round of a strong action fight and that knockdown gave Taylor the win on my card by a 114-113 tally.
Taylor now earns a mandatory shot at WBC champion Jose Ramirez sometime soon, but I wouldn't rule out a chance of Taylor entering the next World Boxing Super Series tournament at junior welterweight.
Postol fought well in defeat and I'd consider giving him a slot in that bracket as well.

Also in the U.K, but in England, veteran middleweight contender Martin Murray continued his later career drive towards a fifth world title attempt with a unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia of Mexico.
Murray wins a minor title from Garcia and keeps his name around in the rankings for a potential rematch with Gennady Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez, should he dethrone Golovkin in September.
I would rather see Murray get a shot at WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, which would be a grudge match after that bout has been canceled twice, a winnable fight for Murray and should draw a nice house in England as well.
I haven't seen this fight yet, so no scoring on this one.

On ESPN, Golden Boy's Vergil Ortiz looks like their best young prospect since Canelo Alvarez as he looked very strong in against his first name opponent as he ripped through former junior lightweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado in three rounds in Los Angeles.
Ortiz's body shot folded Salgado in half and finished him off cleanly.
I'm a big believer in Ortiz and think that Golden Boy might have the real deal in Ortiz after several disappointments among their homegrown talents.

In the boxing challenge, I scored six points to Ramon Malpica's three on the weekend to push my lead to 107-83.
My six came from two points from wins from Martin Murray, Vergil Ortiz and Miguel Berchelt.
Ramon's three were added with two points from Berchelt and one from Ortiz.

Devils draft Ty Smith.

Photo Credit; Bruce Bennett-Getty

The New Jersey Devils used the 17th pick of the first pick to select defenseman Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League.

I've said before that I'm a novice when looking at the hockey draft, at least once one gets past the first few picks of the draft, so I make no claims about being a hockey draft expert.

Ty Smith finished second among the WHL in points from a defenseman and was the first pick in the WHL draft in his junior draft season.
Smith is reported to have excellent offensive skills, although, at 5'11, he isn't as large as you would hope for a first-round defenseman.
Smith isn't afraid to shoot (194 shots last season) and was rated by some as a high-level skater.
Smith will need to get stronger and I think he will need at least one year and likely two to three years before being physically prepared for the physical NHL grind.

All about the Jersey has a far better look at Ty Smith than I have here, but the consensus going into the draft, Smith was considered as a top 15 pick with a few sites rating him as high as eighth on their player board, so depending on your ratings, the Devils either received a tremendous steal or a mild theft at 17.

Ty Smith's skating ability and skills seem to be a nice fit for the Ray Shero style and for the Devils, Smith is the type of defenseman that the system lacks and that Shero is continuing to try to build up for his vision of building the franchise and how he wants the team to play.

Finally, what really struck me was long-time TRS favorite Kathryn Tappen's (a crush that goes all the way back even past Tappen's time at NESN to the old College Sports Network, which was eventually swallowed up by the CBS Sports Network) talk with Ty Smith.
Tappen told the viewers that when they ask the various players all sorts of questions that one of those questions was "who among you would be the best team player/teammate?".
Tappen then stated that the overwhelming leader in responses was Ty Smith.
That's the type of answer that can be generic but is always a good thing when evaluating a player.
You want guys that can be leaders and who other players enjoy playing with.
It makes it a better environment and can help down the road in being able to recruit players on occasion when a team tries to win over a free agent.

As I said, I'm far from the best guy when it comes to the NHL draft, but I have to admit that I like what I heard yesterday about Ty Smith and hopefully, Smith will be a Devil in a few years.

Back later with a boxing challenge report...

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge continues with bouts that don't have American television (one does have U.S TV) and can only be found via the stream, but I wanted to cobble together somewhat of a fun low-key boxing weekend.

The ESPN Plus app is showing two fights of interest with one in mid-afternoon from England as four-time title challenger Martin Murray stays busy after his fifth challenge was canceled when WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders feigned injury as he prepared to jump in, if needed, for a bout against Gennady Golovkin.
Murray still can be in a position for that fifth shot with a win over Mexico's Robert Garcia, who holds a minor belt of the WBC that means nothing other than it puts you into a better position in the WBC's rankings.
Garcia, who is on a nice run of victories over B- level competition, should be a decent measuring stick for Murray. who lost a terrible decision to Felix Sturm and arguable ones to Sergio Martinez and Arthur Abraham in title tilts.

ESPN + also features Miguel Berchelt's defense of his WBC junior lightweight title from Mexico against former WBA featherweight champion Jonathan Barrios.
Barrios has fought about everyone that you can name and lost a split decision to Lee Selby in his last fight for the IBF featherweight title that Selby then held, but looks to be in trouble against the larger and bigger hitting Berchelt, who can make an excellent argument that he is the best 130 pounder in the world with Vasyl Lomachenko moving up.

ESPN2 will have a Golden Boy card with the main event being the first leap forward for the very talented Vergil Ortiz against former WBA junior lightweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado.
Ortiz has crushed all nine of his opponents, but the grizzled Salgado is a huge step up even though he looks a bit faded.
Salgado holds wins over Jorge Linares (yes that Linares), Jonathan Barrios (mentioned above) and Argenis Mendez, but is just 1-7 since his victory over Barrios.

The final fight of the challenge does not have American television as former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol takes on undefeated Scot Josh Taylor in a title eliminator.
Postol, who holds a win over Lucas Matthysse, has fought just once since losing to Terence Crawford in a unification bout almost two years ago, while Taylor, a former Olympian, holds an impressive KO win over former lightweight champion Miguel Vasquez.

In the Boxing Challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 101-80

Middleweights. 12 Rds
Martin Murray vs Roberto Garcia
R.L: Garcia Unanimous Decision
TRS: Murray Unanimous Decision

WBC Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Miguel Berchelt vs Jonathan Barrios
R.L: Berchelt KO 7
TRS: Berchelt KO 5

Junior Welterweights. 10 Rds
Vergil Ortiz vs Juan Carlos Salgado
R.L: Ortiz Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ortiz KO 5

Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds
Viktor Postol vs Josh Taylor
Both; Postol Unanimous Decision

Cavaliers draft Collin Sexton

The Cleveland Cavaliers may not know if LeBron James is returning and they may not know who will actually be on the roster come October when the season starts, but they still had to make a selection in the first round of the NBA Draft and their selection made sense from a positional need but did the selection of point guard Collin Sexton of Alabama move the needle enough to bring James back or he is desirable enough to deal with another team as part of a package to land the star that the team needs to team with James in a possible return?

The 6'3 Sexton averaged 19.2 points in his only season at Alabama under former NBA player Avery Johnson and shot 44 percent from the floor ( 33 percent from the shorter college three-point area).
Sexton is very explosive to the basket, handles the ball well, is a willing passer and has the type of game that the current point guard in fashion in the league is favoring.
In other words, he's the point guard that likes the ball in his hands but isn't afraid to score himself.
Sexton is also regarded as a player that likes to play defense and isn't afraid to get rough when he defends either, neither of which is always a box that is checked when discussing draft prospects.

Of the available point guards, I thought Sexton was the best available as I graded him slightly ahead
of Trae Young of Oklahoma (Atlanta through Dallas), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Kentucky (Charlotte) and Boston College's Jerome Robinson (L.A.Clippers) as more of what the point guard challenged Cavaliers might be looking for.

I don't think Young is a playmaker, I think he may be an excellent player, but he's going to be a scoring guard that is listed as a point due to his size, Gilgeous-Alexander is more of a two-guard as well and Robinson doesn't bring the quickness and speed that Sexton brings to the table, so with the Cavaliers largest need (Other than keeping LeBron James), Sexton was the safest pick and one that made the most sense on the surface, especially if you believe the various whispers that James preferred Sexton as his choice among the available draft prospects.

The biggest question that I and others have about Collin Sexton is the outside shot.
Let's face it 44 percent isn't a great percentage and that is likely inflated by the easy drives to the hoop.
The 33 percent from three-point land is a greater concern when you consider how much the game has placed more importance on the ability to consistently connect from behind the line.
If Sexton's outside game doesn't at least improve to league average. the value of this selection dips considerably.

I must admit to preferring the 6'10 wing player Michael Porter of Missouri over Sexton.
I know that he had back issues at 19 and that often leads to bigger problems down the road, so I realize that the Cavaliers would be taking a huge risk in Porter, had they decided to go that way.
However, the Cavaliers aren't exactly stacked with future number one's as they have peddled several around to acquire various players in attempts to bolster the roster around LeBron James.
Sometimes, you gamble on greatness and sometimes you take the lower ceiling player that is more of a sure thing.
Without the back injury, Michael Porter would have been nowhere near the Cleveland pick in the eighth position, so it would have been a risk to try to land him, but his talent might have made such a risk understandably taken.

The selection of Collin Sexton also closes the book on the Kyrie Irving trade with the Cavaliers holding three role players in Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood, and Larry Nance Jr to go with Sexton as the return for Irving.
At this particular stage and despite the injury that ended last season to the oft-brittle Irving, I would still rate the Boston side as the better half of this swap, although Sexton could swing that pendulum more toward the Cleveland side.

Is Collin Sexton enough to retain LeBron James?
Could Sexton be involved in a trade to land a veteran that might be more of an immediate help?
I don't have the answers to those, but at best, the Cavaliers have made a major step forward, they could also have drafted a major piece of a possible rebuild without LeBron or at worst, they might regret not taking Michael Porter.

This just hasn't been my year with Cleveland drafts.
For the Browns, I preferred the safer and more prototypical passer in Sam Darnold and the Browns gambled on the risky hype train that is Baker Mayfield.
For the Cavaliers, I wanted them to take the big swing at the green with Michael Porter and they laid up with the more guarded selection of Collin Sexton.
It's funny to see how these things occur sometimes.
It'll be interesting to take a look back in a few years to see who had the better ideas.

Cleaning out the inbox-Passings, Non-Sports version

The inbox polishing continues on the eve of the NBA draft and I'll concentrate this time on the recent passings from the non-sports world.

Goodbye to Hugh Dane at the age of 75.
Dane was a long-time character actor was best known to many (and me) as Hank the Security Guard in the NBC classic The Office.
Dane never got a break in a starring role in film or television, but he'll always have a firm spot in the heart of all fans of the Office.


Goodbye to Alan Bean at the age of 88.
Bean was part of Apollo 12 and the second crew to land on the moon.
Bean had never been to space at all and had been relegated to working on the Skylab project before the death of C.J. Williams opened the spot on the Apollo 12 crew mission.
Bean would return to Skylab and eventually commanded a mission that spent 59 days in space and might have been the first commander of the space shuttle had he not decided to retire.
Bean would become a painter and his paintings dealt with his time on the moon and were realistic down to the exact colors of the moon dust and Apollo vehicles.

Goodbye to Matt "Guitar" Murphy at the age of 88.
Murphy, who played guitar with about any famous blues man that you could think if, wound up being more famous to another (mine) generation for playing himself in the "Blues Brothers" film starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
I'm not sure if you are between 45-60, that you haven't seen that film and that role was where Murphy received his longest lasting fame.
"Let's Boogie".

Goodbye to Richard Goodwin at the age of 86.
Goodwin, who seemed to have his finger in everything political in the late 1950's and 1960's, was a speechwriter for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, worked in the congressional investigation on the game show scandals (as shown in the film Quiz Show) and came up (with LBJ) for the name of the Johnson domestic programs as the Great Society.
Goodwin wrote the famous "We Shall Overcome" speech by Johnson in 1965 and worked on Al Gore's concession speech after his controversial 2000 Presidential election loss to George Bush.
Goodwin was married to author and news pundit Doris Kearns Goodwin for over 40 years and was also the New Hampshire campaign manager for Eugene McCarthy in 1968 in McCarthy's famous near-upset of Lyndon Johnson that sent Johnson from a re-election bid.

Goodbye to Joseph Campanella at the age of 93.
Campanella appeared in close to any hour-long television series that you could think of in the 60's and 70's as a character actor/guest star including a stint as Joe Mannix's boss in "Mannix" and Bonnie Franklin's ex-husband in "One Day at a Time" before transitioning into soaps in the late 80's until 2005.

I'll be back tonight with the Cavaliers pick with the eighth pick of the NBA Draft.
Their selection could wind up being a franchise building block for the post-LeBron age, a player to support a return of LBJ or might even be a Cavalier for a few months before bringing in some veteran help.
Who really knows at this point, but I'll offer some thoughts later...