Plain Dealer's New Cavs Beat Reporter: Chris Haynes

[MirORich]

Haynes to date has been more if a best writer and also often scoops out via twitter. He's never been a feature/personality writer like Simmons/Lowe/or even Windy. He's also just moved to an organization and city he has zero prior connections with. I think so far he's done a solid job and will only improve as his knowledge of this city and team improve and as his interpersonal connections and sources develop.

 

[Warren G.]

Wanted to reiterate both that I wasn't criticizing Haynes' content, and that I expect the quality of his work to improve as he settles in. Nor do I mean to make it sound like this is a problem exclusive to him, since we've all seen sloppy writing by MSB et al. in the past. But Haynes is the new guy in town, and he came with some fanfare, so I'm holding him to a higher standard because I want everything about this team and this season to be as awesome as it can be. I'll probably feel the same way about Vardon once I've read more of his stuff.

I'm not expecting a Pulitzer, and I understand that Twitter is indeed the medium of choice for these guys now, but they're still professional journalists whose work ends up in newsprint, and in my mind that means they should be nailing the basics.

Edit: Removed some pedantic stuff

 

[wuck]

Classical hit song? No caps for the title?

PD sports editor has got to share the responsibility for that. Seems like they got rusty after having the entire summer off. Or maybe the PD has no more sports editors now that they are paying 3 reporters...

I am not going to grade Haynes' writing skills, but his twitter feed suggests that he is careful about presentation when he only has 140 characters, is willing to take a position, and is also fine with making jokes (e.g. about Cavs singing talent).

He must be looking to his right (Vardon) and his left (Fedor) and wondering what the hell he got himself into.

Anyway, this is preseason for him, too.

 

[Warren G.]

100% agree about this being the editor's responsibility, too. Sorry if I'm coming off too harshly, as it's only out of passion (and maybe Browns withdrawal). I'm rooting for Chris to kick almost as much ass as the team.

 

[AWhistleAndWhat]

I'm pretty sure Haynes was never really a "beat writer". He worked for Comcast sports Northwest while covering the blazers ... When I asked my blazers fan friend about him, he was like " you mean the guy who's on during the pre-game show? " Maybe he was a bit multimedia with a regular blog also, but he's definitely not coming from a newspaper beat.

 

[wuck]

I'm with you on hoping he delivers.

Given all his contacts around the league, he just broke this news about former player Earl Watson. It will pay off here, too, I imagine.

 

[Warren G.]

I'm pretty sure Haynes was never really a "beat writer". He worked for Comcast sports Northwest while covering the blazers ... When I asked my blazers fan friend about him, he was like " you mean the guy who's on during the pre-game show? " Maybe he was a bit multimedia with a regular blog also, but he's definitely not coming from a newspaper beat.

Ah, then this makes more sense and I'm happy to chalk it up as a rookie taking his lumps.

And @wuck , funny timing on that example of Haynes' league-wide contacts, because I just noticed that he also wrote an article last week about Mickael Pietrus attempting to break back into the league: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/09/free_agent_mickael_pietrus_lea.html

 

[wuck]

I don't know about Haynes's background, but another way to look at it is that the PD may be moving toward a twitter / social media audience and away from prioritizing print columns. That would be too bad in some ways, but maybe more sustainable. Perhaps they'll let Pluto keep doing the extended features?

I appreciate that Haynes has a basketball IQ, compared to some other local reporters. I guess I'm willing to set the bar low.

 

[spydy13]

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/09/source_earl_watson_to_retire_t.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio – After 13 years, point guard Earl Watson will retire from the NBA to accept a coaching position with the San Antonio Spurs' NBA Development League affiliate, the Austin Toros, a league source informed Northeast Ohio Media Group.

Watson, 35, finishes up a phenomenal NBA career in which he was never the fastest or the most athletic, but he was efficient. When he was taken with the 39th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, no one expected him to play past a decade.

His basketball mind is like no other. He studies the game thoroughly.

Coaching is in his blood. He has been mentored by some of the greatest in John Wooden, Hubie Brown, Jerry Sloan, George Karl and list goes on. He can now add Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich to the list.

For his career he averaged 6.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists. He played for Seattle, Memphis, Denver, Oklahoma City, Indiana, Utah and Portland during his career.

Watson had a great run, but the best is yet to come.

It's interesting that they would have him write this up as an article since it has nothing to do with the Cavs, but I guess they hope that some jackass like me will click on it.

He also inflates Earl Watson into being much more than a decent bench piece, which is kind of funny. They clearly must be friends, or Watson's agent is asking a favor in exchange for some news down the road.

 

[Warren G.]

@spydy13 The puffing of Watson is very similar to the Pietrus article I linked above. Haynes is working to keep his sources happy in exchange for dividends-to-be-named-later.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I haven't been impressed by his writing so far, but it's good that he has contacts around the league. I completely ignored the PD coverage once it became clear that they weren't going to adequately replace Windy, so this is definitely an improvement.

 

[AWhistleAndWhat]

I don't know about Haynes's background, but another way to look at it is that the PD may be moving toward a twitter / social media audience and away from prioritizing print columns. That would be too bad in some ways, but maybe more sustainable. Perhaps they'll let Pluto keep doing the extended features?

I appreciate that Haynes has a basketball IQ, compared to some other local reporters. I guess I'm willing to set the bar low.

I think you're right, they def want to be more digital/multimedia ... I noticed how they now refer to themselves during the press conferences (and even in the Earl Watson article) as the northeast Ohio media group, not the PD. The thing is, with the sheer amount of coverage the cavs are going to get this year, pretty much every NBA writer is going to be on the cavs beat.[emoji2]

 

[wuck]

Haynes published a huge feature (3,500 words) on Rich Paul today (http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/10/rich_paul_lebron_james_agent_e.html).

I don't think it's groundbreaking in comparison to other profiles of Paul over the past few months, but it's good move for Haynes (and hopefully for us) for him to cultivate that relationship.

 

[catfish]

That is a lot of fluff with minimal detail in regards to the relationship with Termini and the relationship with the rest of Lebron's crew. The quality of the writing could be improved as well.

 

[LuNcHBoX]

All I've really seen from him so far on Twitter is Cavs account retweets and Trail Blazers news.