From Distance: Skills Rule the Day

four point play….

1. Cleveland may not be the city of champions quite yet, but the Browns’ first victory since the Obama administration has certainly given Northeast Ohio a pleasant jolt of confidence.

Baker Mayfield made his shortly awaited NFL debut after Tyrod Taylor left the game with concussion like symptons.

Baker promptly did exaclty what Browns fans hoped he would. He hit receivers with pinpoint passes while marching the previously inept offense down the field.

Mayfield was not mistake free. He sailed a couple passes and even put one ball on the ground in his first action, but Baker’s field vision, accuracy, and pocket awareness were every bit as impressive as his proponents suggested.

He consistently threw guys open against man to man, and protected his receivers with back shoulder delivery against zone schemes. The dude was legit as the Browns scored on every drive that didn’t end a half.

Sometimes hype is well warranted. Sometimes a rookie is indeed ready to lead a team. Obviously, Mayfield will need to continue his solid play before Browns fans can finally say they have found their Qb of the present and future.

I, however, have seen enough. From his college play, preseason, and first regular season action, I feel confident in claiming Mayfield a future star.

2. What sets Mayfield apart from previous Browns’ “QBs of the future” is how he has been successful. Unlike the previous “successful” debuts from guys like Charlie Frye or Brady Quinn, Mayfield didn’t rely on scrambling and broken plays to complete passes.

Mayfield already manages the pocket extremely well and his accuracy is practically Breesian. Quinn and Frye were doomed to fail because neither was able to read set defenses and/or consistently make easy throws. A scrambling QB can make plays on a singular Sunday, but he doesn’t make a team a perennial contender unless he can read a defense and complete the pass he sees.

The Browns have drafted a guy with a strong enough arm that his decision-making and incredible accuracy may be realized. Mayfield can play legit football. He doesn’t simply resort to backyard ball. He rightfully trusts his arm.

The hype is real and warranted. Mayfield is the football counterpoint to Collin Sexton. Every time I declare my take on Collin Sexton’s inevitable mediocre play, I am met with pushback that mentions his decent Summer League numbers. To which I say, Brady Quinn anyone?

Accuracy and decision making. Whether we are talking about QBs or PGs, without those two skills, it doesn’t matter how badly we wish for a players’ success. The decent numbers will only be fools’ gold.

Can Collin learn to shoot (accuracy) and distribute? I am in the “eh” camp. We shall see on both accounts.

3. Jimmy Butler is clearly as tired of Thibs as he is of Karl Anthony Towns’s and Andrew Wiggins’s collective work ethic. Derrick Rose and Luol Deng might be humbled since the new Wolves were in Chicago, but their mere presence helps to undermine Butler’s role as team leader.

Add that to the reported disconnect between Butler, KAT and Wiggins and it is no surprise that Jimmy wants to be traded away from Minnesota.

The obvious locations have been declared. Butler rightfully left the Lakers off his list knowing full well what a drag it would be to play with LeBron’s Lakers. The other LA and NYC teams made the cut. If Porzingis returns to health, I actually think the Knicks would be a scary team with Butler and Frank Ntilikina hounding opposing wings.

The Clippers and Nets are less attractive in terms of roster construction, or in the Clippers’ case, coaching.

Why wouldn’t Butler consider Cleveland? The Cavs would have to get very creative in order to sign Butler to a full max in 2019, but if Butler were to come to the Cavs, he would have an opportunity show the NBA that he is as good as LeBron. (spoiler alert: he isn’t.)

Is Sexton, a future first rounder, Tristan Thompson, and Jordan Clarkson enough for the Wolves to ship Butler and Gorgui Dieng (and his large contract)?

I wouldn’t do that trade if I am Minny, but who knows what Thibs is thinking at this point. Maybe having less good versions of Taj Gibson (TT) and Jamal Crawford (Clarkson) is exactly what Thibodeau wants. Since he started playing Rose over the wildly superior Tyus Jones, I feel anything could be on the table.

Nance, Love, Butler, Korver, and Cedi would be an interesting lineup to combat the Celtics jumbo lineup.

I know. This is not going to happen. I simply like the idea of Butler trying to win MVP with the Cavs. On second thought, no I don’t. That sounds awful.

4. After a summer of training posts on Instagram, there has been a lot of buzz about the rise of the personal skills trainer.

While the Instagram aspect is somewhat new, the real surprise is that all NBA players haven’t been working in this way all along.

I find the similarities between the basketball and opera worlds to be plentiful. In this space, I have likened leadership in coaching to leadership in stage direction. I have discussed how roles vary for a player or singer depending on team or production.

Here, we have yet another direct analogue. Whether in individual sports or classical music, the private teacher has always been a staple of the developmental process. That it is only now becoming the standard in pro basketball is a bit strange.

A classical singer usually has a voice teacher that focuses primarily on the physical necessities of the vocal instrument. Artistry, while not to be abandoned, is the secondary focus.

The “voice teacher” is employed by the singer directly, and is the main person concerned with skill acquisition and maintenance. Think “me, me, me, me, meeeee!!” and all that fun.

There are teachers who are more concerned about their own fame and reputation. There are teachers who prefer to teach incognito. And yes, also in opera, there can be ideological wars between different voice studios (their “gyms”).

When there is an opera production of Tosca or something, the singers in that production do not all begin studying with a voice teacher enployed by the theater. It is understood that each singer has agency over his own instrument. The primary voice skill work is not associated with the operatic production team of a theater.

What a theater does supply are vocal “coaches”. The coach is responsible for the specific artistry and language challenges of the repertoire.

For example, in a “coaching”, a singer may be told that he isn’t saying a word correctly or that he should broaden a musical phrase. The coach is coaching Tosca, not vocal exercises.

If a coach hears that a singer can’t physically perform a desired artistry, the coach will often say, “take it to your teacher”. It is not the coach’s domain.

Before free agency, perhaps a player would spend enough time with a single team employed coach to really develop his skill set via long-term collaboration. Now, it makes far more sense to have an individual skills “teacher” who works the players skills, regardless of current team.

An organization would be foolish not to allow its players to work with skills trainers. Still, a player should always be careful in selecting that teacher. Some teachers are just as likely to inadvertently train a guy out of a job.