You Gotta Have A Master Plan

[CeltsSteve@AOL.com]

Published Thursday, October 18, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal. 


Cavs have empty feeling
Win over Boston lacks fans, who don't care about team yet

By Terry Pluto

Surrounded by acres of empty blue seats, the Cavs played their only home exhibition game of the season.

For the franchise, the message is clear: Right now, no one cares about this team. Or at least, no one is sure why they should pay attention.

The fans see the team accurately, as one with very little success in the recent past, and even less hope for the immediate future.

As Coach John Lucas said: ``It's cold in this building with all these blue seats. That's why I wanted us to win and score 100 points.''

The Cavs did just that 110-95 over Boston before an announced attendance of 7,952. It was probably closer to 2,000, and part of the reason was that they charged regular-season prices -- ridiculous for an exhibition game where the team needs exposure.

Why not just throw open the gates, sell tickets for $10 and let people sit anywhere they'd like for one night in a meaningless October game? At least they did bring down the fans from upstairs to the lower bowl for the second half, so there was some progress.

But there is more that needs to be done.

``We have to give the fans a reason to pay attention to us,'' Lucas said.

Lately, so much of what the Cavs have been about is dumping players and contracts. Goodbye Shawn Kemp. Goodbye Cedric Henderson and Robert Traylor. Goodbye Bob Sura.

General Manager Jim Paxson inherited a situation where players were outrageously overpaid, the salary cap needlessly cluttered. Before a new house could be built, the land had to be cleared, the garbage hauled away.

Now, Paxson must create and sell a vision for this franchise. He and Lucas need to come to an agreement upon the key players, not just for this year, but the future.

And make sure they receive plenty of minutes.

``I agree with that,'' said Lucas. ``We have to tell fans that we know things haven't been good. We can't lie to people. But we also have to say give us time, give us a chance.''



Spinning their wheels


The last time the Cavs made a major move to youth was 1986-87, when GM Wayne Embry and Coach Lenny Wilkens committed to Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams and Ron Harper. Mark Price came off the bench. The fans saw what was happening and bought into it.

But ever since that group departed, the Cavs have been like a gerbil in a wheel, spinning around and around, ending up in the same place.

Former coach Mike Fratello had a team with Bobby Phills, Chris Mills, Terrell Brandon and Tyrone Hill that played about .500 ball, then lost in the first round of the playoffs. Since Wilkens departed in the summer of 1993, this franchise has won a grand total of two playoff games.

The Cavs then sold their souls (and salary cap) to Kemp in the summer of 1997, attempting to sell some tickets. But once it was obvious that Kemp was overpaid, out of shape and had little interest in changing, this franchise was doomed to utter mediocrity.

In the past three years, the Cavs' record is 84-130. Bad, but not awful enough to secure the kind of high draft pick that can change the course of the franchise.


Vision needed

So now what?

It begins with creating a vision, and then explaining it over and over to the public. The Tribe's John Hart was the master of that back when he was bringing along Carlos Baerga, Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, Charles Nagy and Sandy Alomar in the early 1990s.

These are the guys who will be the foundation, Hart said, and the Indians stuck with that. And eventually won with them.

Lucas says Andre Miller will be an All-Star. Chris Mihm can become one of the better big men in the league. Jumaine Jones is energetic, athletic and entertaining. All of that might be true.

``The thing I've noticed is the players here just seem beaten down,'' Lucas said. ``Like they expect things to go wrong. They also have no connection with the community, or the history of this franchise.''

Lucas has had former Cavs Austin Carr and Bingo Smith talk to the team. He wants them to know that you can win in Cleveland.

``And I don't think the city knows our team,'' he said. ``We have to get out in the community and change that.''

That will help, but the product on the court is what matters most.

This can change if Zydrunas Ilgauskas can somehow play without breaking yet another bone in his foot. So far, the 7-foot-3 center has been healthy, but the Cavs also are being very wise -- not playing him in the exhibition season.

When Ilgauskas has started, the Cavs have a 62-44 record. They will be at least a .500 team this season if he manages to start every game.

But chances are he won't.

``I don't want to think negatively; there has been too much of that around here for too long,'' Lucas said.

``Before anything else gets better, that has to change.''

And it's up to the Cavs to do just that, to give their customers a reason to believe.

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