Conclusion: Each philosophy has advantages and drawbacks.
It is quite amazing that in a city with two teams who are both fighting to be the best, their philosophies are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Cavaliers “go for it now” mentality paid off well with a championship victory. However, that strategy is now seemingly backfiring on the team and on Gilbert. Multiple players on the Cavaliers roster are locked up on long term deals, which gives them little wiggle room to improve the team at all if an injury were to occur.
This was made worse when it was reported last month that Irving no longer wanted to be in Cleveland because he was not fond of playing “in LeBron’s shadow” anymore and wants to lead a team on his own.
There is also that elephant in the room of LeBron potentially leaving after the 2017-18 season. If that were to happen, the Cavaliers would not only go back to being the doormat of the NBA, they would also still have very little room to operate financially.
It is clear the Cavaliers had a time frame to try and succeed, but while doing that they sacrificed their future for the next decade or more in the process.
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So the obvious advantages are that the Cavaliers threw caution to the wind and went head first into their plan, which worked. However now that we are a year removed from the title victory, it is quite clear this franchise is headed for some dark days in the not-so distant future.
Right across the street (literally) the Indians and their ownership group are essentially operating with the exact opposite strategy.
By grooming their own talent within their minor league system, they were able to organically grow their top stars and not rush them along. Players such as Fransisco Lindor, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez now all anchor the Indians infield. What is most impressive is that all four all of them came up through the Indians system.
Cleveland also has one of the top pitching staff’s in baseball, this is due to the Indians ability to put the future ahead of the present and trade MLB talent for prospects and hope those prospects pan out down the line.
Pitchers Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco were given the time to properly develop in the Indians farm system and now all three are top of the rotation pitchers.
So unlike the Cavaliers, the Indians ability to properly mix a win-now mentality while still keeping an eye on the future has set them up quite well for being located in a smaller market. They will not only have the chance to compete for a World Series this year but also in 2018 and 2019 at the very least.
However, the drawbacks to this mentality by the Indians is that while building up a successful team for the future, there will be seasons where the team is not very good as they work to get a team on the field that can contend. Nonetheless, that is just the price you have to pay in order to eventually reach the top.
We are in the best era of Cleveland sports and it is hard to envision another stretch like the one we are witnessing now. There are two teams in the same small-market city, who both have legitimate shots at winning a championship in their respective sport.
Even though the Cavaliers and Indians operate in two different worlds with two different philosophies, the end goal remains the same for both teams, position yourself to win a championship. Because let’s be honest, hose chances do not come around all that often in a city like Cleveland.
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On that magical night in October of last year, LeBron’s message was simple, yet very clear to the thousands of people in the downtown area, and the millions of fans around the world. “At this point, if you are not from here, live here, play here or dedicate yourself to Cleveland, then it makes no sense for you to live at this point, Cleveland against the world.”
No matter what team you choose to root for or philosophy you believe in more, there is no arguing that this is the best era of Cleveland sports we will arguably ever see.