Team management
By all indications, David Griffin was an excellent general manager. He was smart, aggressive, experienced, plugged in, and, perhaps most importantly, knowledgeable about the intricacies of the National Basketball Association’s complex salary cap rules. And the results spoke for themselves; even in the face of the Cavaliers’ luxury-tax position, he got to pull off player acquisitions that resulted in one championship and two runner-up finishes in his three years at the helm. So good was he that when the Hawks and the Magic had to deal with openings for the position, they asked for permission to speak with him to gauge his fit and, notably, not his fitness.
So, yes, Griffin was competent. And he also had the support of players, notably top dog LeBron James, who stumped for him back in April, when questions on his inability to secure a contract extension first arose. To be fair, majority owner Dan Gilbert did come up with an offer, but, under any measure, it was far from commensurate to both what the market already bore and what his accomplishments merited. Which is why, his impressive body of work notwithstanding, his employment is now referred to in the past tense. Not that he was alone; since control of the franchise changed hands in 2005, every single one of his four predecessors likewise suffered the same fate.
Moving forward, the change does not augur well for the Cavaliers. For one thing, it makes the relationship between James and Gilbert all the more tenuous; amid all the success the two has had together, there remains bad blood emanating from The Decision and its openletter-in-comic-sans-font aftermath. For another, it comes at a time when negotiations to pry either Paul George or Jimmy Butler — cornerstones of the Pacers and Bulls, respectively — appeared to gain momentum. Needless to say, those talks will be stalled, never mind that a five-man team is supposedly in place to assume his responsibilities until such time that a replacement is named.
Given the revolving door, it’s clear that Gilbert believes the Cavaliers will remain active dealers of talent regardless of who occupies the hot seat. No doubt, the sentiment is borne of the intrinsic pull of burning rubber alongside James. On the other hand, not everybody — make that not just anybody — has Griffin’s cachet to turn wish lists to reality. He dared to entertain dreams and knew how to reach for them with his feet on the ground. In his absence, the hope is that the wine and gold will not get lost chasing after rainbows.
It’s clear that Gilbert believes the Cavaliers will remain active dealers of talent regardless of who occupies the hot seat. No doubt, the sentiment is borne of the intrinsic pull of burning rubber alongside James. On the other hand, not everybody — make that not just anybody — has Griffin’s cachet to turn wish lists to reality.