Reversal of fortune

Sporting News, The, Feb 19, 1996 by Chuck Daly, Terry Pluto

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the surprise teams of the season. Left for dead after an 0-7 start, the Cavs won 16 of their next 21 games and now are a respectable 26-20. Spearheading the turnaround is Coach Mike Frateuo, the coach-turned-broadcaster-turned-coach, who has turned a team of relative unknowns into a Playoff contender. For insight into this incredible turnaround, The Sporting News went to another coach-turned-broadcaster, Turner Broadcasting's Chuck Daly, for his spin on the Remake by the Lake.

The Cavaliers have gone through a metamorphosis, which isn't a basketball term, but it's the right word. They looked at their roster and realized they had been riding the Mark Price-Brad Daugherty era for a number of years.

There was an undercurrent of feeling within the organization that General Manager Wayne Embry and his staff needed to rebuild with young players, including making some significant trades to get draft choices. In addition, they thought they would have to go through the same situation most teams reestablishing themselves go through -- a long losing period followed by a long rebuilding process.

What the organization didn't count on was that it had one of the more brilliant coaches in the business fight there in Cleveland in Mike Fratello. Mike has done -- not only this season, but also last season when there was a little bit of a different situation -- a phenomenal job. He has taken his talent to its potential, and that's the mark of an outstanding coach.

I went down and watched them during the exhibition season in Cleveland, and early in the season I saw them in Detroit. I had some concerns, but I didn't think they would start off 0-7. The fact is they struggled early for two seasons in a row now, which is kind of surprising, and then they stepped out of it.

That's not to say they don't have the talent. They do. The important thing Mike does is what you have to do in a rebuilding situation: utilize the talents you have and learn what they have to do to win.

During the preseason, I didn't think the Cavaliers had enough depth or size. They didn't have real presence in the lane. They had some good one-on-one players, but I thought they were a little short talent-wise compared to some of the other teams in the league. A big part of their slow start was that the players wanted to run and play a wide-open game and not use as much of the clock as they did last season. They went that route, and it didn't work. They went back to more of a control game -- dominating the clock, playing good defense, trying to get good shots -- and that's when they started winning basketball games. The talent margin is so narrow in Cleveland it makes it extremely difficult if you are just going to run up and down with teams.

All-Star Terrell Brandon, who leads the team in scoring with 19.5 points per game, as much as anybody, has been a big reason for the Cavs turnaround, but you just don't win basketball games with one guy. There are a lot of players contributing to their success -- forward Chris Mills (16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds), guard/forward Bobby Phills (15.8 points, 3.7 rebounds), forward/center Michael Cage (7.8 points and a team-leading 10.2 rebounds).

But one player I've been pleasantly surprised and happy for is Danny Ferry. Because the Cavs are so short of people, he has gotten a lot of minutes. He doesn't always put up great numbers, but he plays hard, plays smart, he makes shots and he has done a nice job for Fratello -- I think a better job than the organization ever hoped for.

Ferry is a player that's not very athletic. He is kind of a strange mix. He's a good outside shooter, but doesn't have the jumping ability and a lot of the shot-blocking ability and quickness from the waist down. That will harm a player who has to play as far out as he's doing. Because of the skills he possesses, he always has had a problem defining his position. Is he a power forward? Is he a small forward? There are other players who have trouble defining their roles, but what makes Ferry stand out is he plays really hard and he's getting minutes. Guys who play hard -- even those with limited talent and skills -- usually get the minutes.

The knock on the game today is that there are too many individuals, too many players out for themselves. But what you really have in this league is no different than any other profession. You have very talented people in the NBA, and always the most difficult job is to get guys to play like a team.

Ifs a constant selling job -- one a coach is continually addressing. Some guys get it, some never get it. Some players are only concerned with getting their 30 or 35 minutes (per game) -- which isn't too hard because most players at this level have all been high school or collegiate All-Americans. Players can always get the numbers and the playing time, but that's not good enough to win ballgames. It has to be a cohesive effort: The right shot at the right time by the right guy combined with all the other aspects of the game.