The Cavaliers quickly silenced all the critics about their poor field goal and free throw shooting, at least for one night. The offense played like they’re capable of, even against a usually solid Bulls defense, as they routed Chicago 113-94.

The Cavs’ bench bunch played a key role in the victory. Donyell Marshall and Anderson Varejao each scored 15 and Sasha Pavlovic exploded for 16 points as the bench scored 56 points. The Cavs built an early 30-18 lead as the first quarter came to a close and then cruised from that point. LeBron finished with a mere 19 points but had 12 assists as the team did a much better job of working the offense and spreading ball around. We’ll be in much better shape if we can get consistent play from our bench.

In addition, rookie Shannon Brown scored his first two points of his NBA career on a layup in garbage time.

The Padres hired former Indians pitcher and Angels’ pitching coach Bud Black as their new manager Wednesday, replacing Bruce Bochy, who recently took the open managerial job in San Francisco.

Yawn, right? There’s more:

Charles Nagy, the Angels’ triple-A pitching coach, is the leading candidate to replace Black…. The Angels hired Nagy last year, in part on Black’s recommendation. Black is expected to retain San Diego pitching coach Darren Balsley but could ask the Angels about Nagy, a three-time All-Star with Cleveland.

It’d be great to see Charlie get a shot in the majors, though you had to figure it would happen at some point. It’d be even better to see Nagy back in the Tribe organization at some point.

Indians fans crack me up sometimes.

The general opinion on yesterday’s trade of Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown for Josh Barfield seems to be split: some love the move, some hate it. Mike in Chicago commented on one of our threads that Shapiro has once again given up too much talent for “an upside guy that hasn’t proven anything.”

Um…actually, Barfield proved that he can hit, run and field at the big league level — .280 with 13 homers, 21 steals and a .987 fielding percentage that ranked third in the National League, all as a 23-year-old rookie. Plus he had a very good minor league career, hitting for average and a bit of power (15-plus homers from 2003-’05) while stealing bases and even taking some walks (an average of 50 per year from 2003-05).

Meanwhile, I don’t see anything overly impressive about Kouz’s minor league numbers. Granted, the kid can obviously hit (.379 with 22 homers combined between AA and AAA last year), but so can Barfield, plus Barfield plays exceptional defense and he can run. Those traits are much more valuable in a middle infielder than they are in a corner infielder.

Let’s turn this around for a second and say the Indians had Barfield last year as a rookie and the Padres had Kouz. If Shapiro dealt Barfield for Kouz, people like Mike in Chicago would be bitching about Shapiro dealing a proven talent in Barfield for an upside kid in Kouz. It’s true. I bet Mike in Chicago hated the Coco/Marte trade too.

It’s fun to play GM when a deal like this goes down, but some people love to hate no matter the situation. You’ve got to give talent to get talent, and you deal from your strengths to shore up weaknesses. Despite some people’s opinions, the Tribe believes Andy Marte has a chance to be special offensively and defensively, and they have several guys to play first base. Kouz was excess, and therefore a prime bargaining chip. Shapiro did an outstanding job using that chip to plug a gaping hole at 2B with a young, proven talent who will instantly add some much-needed speed to the lineup. Plus, he did it without eating up any of the payroll, which means he can now focus his resources on shoring up the bullpen and adding another quality right-handed power bat.

Kouz could be good, but Barfield already is. So what’s the problem?

Former Browns head coach Butch Davis may actually land another job. Sources say he is close to an agreement that would make him the University of North Carolina’s new football head coach.

A deal “hadn’t yet been finalized, but it seems we’re headed in that direction,” the source told ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach.

A source said an announcement of Davis’ hiring, barring late complications, could come as early as Monday.

FrankenButch obviousuly wasn’t cut out to handle an NFL head coaching job so I guess it’s good for him to return to the college ranks. One thing he’ll have difficulties with early on is recruiting. At the “U”, Davis could get pretty much every prospect he wanted because of Miami’s status and the state of Florida being a hotbed for quality high school football talent. Things will be a little different at North Carolina.