What Does the Firing of David Griffin Mean For the Cavaliers?
On Monday, June 19th we saw the news. The news that excited all Cavaliers fans and Warriors haters. The Cavaliers were interested in both Jimmy Butler and Paul George. Now they would just get one of them, but they would have to give up a starter such as Kevin Love. My first thoughts on this news included the fact that it wouldn’t make sense to acquire a guy like Paul George if you are giving up Kevin Love. Love was a big factor for the 2016–17 Cavaliers as he provided very good post play and stretch four ability, and also defense. Yes Love played atrocious in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, but he was having a very good postseason for Cleveland. Now yes, Paul George and Jimmy Butler are both better players than Love, but it wouldn’t make the Cavaliers much better at all. The Cavaliers would be missing out on their post threat in Kevin Love and would get a scorer and a defender in both George and Butler, but the Cavaliers do use Love’s post scoring and stretch four abilities to the max. If the Cavaliers got lets just say Jimmy Butler they would have Channing Frye starting at power forward and he would get bullied by Draymond Green in the Finals. Now if the Cavaliers were to put Butler at small forward and move LeBron James down to power forward it would make complete sense.
Then I thought to myself, the Cavaliers do not have enough assets to get a guy like Jimmy Butler or Paul George as they would probably need to get a draft pick. Their then was reports that David Griffin would send Kevin Love to the Suns for the 4th pick in order to get Butler. With the Bulls reported huge interest in Kansas small forward Josh Jackson, it would make sense for them to get the 4th pick in return for Jimmy Butler. Now the Boston Celtics do have reported interest in Josh Jackson, but he was yet to work out for them and they reportedly had a growing interest in Duke small forward Jayson Tatum so the Bulls would have a chance at getting Jackson. I’m guessing that the trade would also include a guy like J.R. Smith being sent to Chicago along with the 4th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. It still doesn’t make sense to me though, the Phoenix Suns have two young power forwards in Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss so why would they trade for Kevin Love?
As I was processing the thought of this trade going down, David Griffin, the General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers had reportedly resigned. Griffin’s contract was set to end on June 30th. To me, this is crazy. In all three years that Griffin has been the GM, he has made the Finals and he built a Championship team around LeBron James. Also, Griffin was about to make a move for Jimmy Butler and was reportedly inches away from it. He was aware of the Warriors super team and he was trying to help make the team better. What is pretty crazy is the day the Cavaliers announced the resigning of Griffin, it was the 1-year anniversary of Cleveland’s first title which was on by Griffin. Griffin reportedly resigned due to Him and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert disagreeing over the future. In Gilbert’s 12 ½ years owning the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is yet to come to a contract extension with a general manager. The day after the announcement, Sam Aminco reported that the Cavaliers had engaged in trade talks with Carmelo Anthony. So maybe Gilbert wanted Anthony and Griffin wanted Butler? It was also reported that the Cavaliers were out of trade talks with the Indiana Pacers for Paul George but were still in trade talks with Jimmy Butler. Assistant GM Koby Altman was the man negotiating the trades. Cavaliers senior Vice President Trent Redden also resigned, so maybe Redden and Griffin were against Dan Gilbert about the future? Shortly after the announcement, Cavaliers Dan Gilbert made a statement:
“On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Griff for his leadership and many contributions during his time here, including most recently, his role in the franchise’s first NBA Championship. We have no announcement at this time related to new leadership of the Cavaliers basketball operations group, but we are confident our current front office will continue to aggressively explore and pursue opportunities to improve our team in weeks ahead.”
David Griffin also released a statement:
“As of today, I am stepping down from my role as GM of the Cavs. Our basketball family at the CCC and at Q has experienced unprecedented success together both on the floor and off and I remain deeply appreciative of the opportunity Dan Gilbert and his leadership group afforded us to build and lead this world-championship caliber organization. I am certain that the Organization and the incredibly dedicated and passionate team that puts their heart and souls into this daily, will continue to push towards even greater heights. My wife, Meredith and I will continue to be vested in the success of Believeland and can’t thanks all of the fans of this great city enough for the kindness you all have shown us. I am extremely excited for my next challenge in the NBA, however, Dan and I know now that are a team built largely on the concept of fit and we are now at a point where the fit is not right for us to continue with one another”.
Also, LeBron James wasn’t afraid to speak his opinion on the Griffin firing with a tweet that throws shade at the Cavaliers:
“If no one appreciated you Griff I did, and hopefully all the people of Cleveland! Thanks for what u did for the team for 3yrs! We got us 1.”
Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reported that LeBron was disappointed and concerned with Griffin’s departure. Now with LeBron James being a free agent in 2018, this is big news. Two teams that will definitely be competing to sign him include the Lakers and Clippers. LeBron has a house in L.A. and his wife has come out and said she would like to live in Los Angeles long-term. The Clippers recently signed Jerry West to a deal to have him help target LeBron in 2018. West has major experience built the Shaq and Kobe Lakers as he acquired both players, and he build the current day Warriors. For the Lakers, they just got rid of Timofey Mozgov and D'Angelo Russell for the 27th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft which will be an asset to help acquire Paul George, and they got the Nets All-Time leading scorer in center Brook Lopez who’s contract is up in 2018. The Lakers are trying to move guys like Luol Deng and Jordan Clarkson and acquire Paul George. If they were to move those players they would have cap space to sign LeBron in the 2018 Free Agency. The problem is that Julius Randle and Brook Lopez are both 2018 Free Agents so they would have to take pay cuts in order to have a super team and sign LeBron. The Lakers are also set to draft Lonzo Ball with the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft who they think has superstar potential.
We don’t know what team LeBron will go to, but it’s looking like with the current front office issues, James will leave in 2018. Kyrie Irving has come out and stated that he would request/force a trade if LeBron were to leave, putting Cleveland in the same situation they were in in 2014.
Enough predicting the future of LeBron James, lets get into who will replace David Griffin.
The current frontrunner for the general manager job is former Pistons point guard and NBA Champion and multiple time All-Star, Chauncey Billups. Billups has already met with the Cavaliers twice as of Wednesday, June 21st. Chauncey Billups is currently an NBA Analyst for ESPN and a captain in Ice Cube’s “BIG3 Basketball League”. Ice Cube announced today that Billups is leaving for “that job”. Now it is pretty much official Billups will be hired to be the new GM for the Cleveland Cavaliers because of Ice Cube’s words. Billups has no front office experience which may make the Cavaliers locker room a little upset.
Today, Jay Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported members of the Cavaliers were pushing for a Butler deal and now they are telling Butler not to join the organization. They are worried about their roster breaking up with guys like LeBron James maybe leaving in 2018 and with Kyrie Irving wanting to push towards a trade if James were to leave. Sam Aminco though said that their was no truth to any Cavaliers players contacted Butler not to join Cleveland. Their are many sources also reporting that Cleveland was told Butler wants to stay with Chicago and their are many reporting the same as Cowley.
What does the firing of David Griffin mean? It means that the Cavaliers are currently in a bad state as they were looking to improve their roster and now their is a strong believe that LeBron James will once again leave Cleveland. Griffin was a very good GM for the Cavaliers, and I think Dan Gilbert really screwed up right here by not re-signing Griffin.
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