The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Gilbert making huge mistake if he lets Griffin walk
Enjoy the Cavaliers as they’re built now, because it is looking more and more as though the architect of Cleveland’s first championship in 52 years, the one that restructured the Cavs on the fly this year, is headed to Disney World.
“I think David Griffin is going to be the general manager of the Orlando Magic next season,” a league source said May 1 at The Q before the Cavaliers demolished the Toronto Raptors, 116-105, in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference best-ofseven semifinal series. “Even if he doesn’t have the title of president, he’ll be running the show.”
Griffin’s contract as general manager of the Cavaliers is up when the final horn in the Cavs’ final game sounds. He instantly becomes one of most valuable free agents of the summer.
Before Game 1 with the Raptors, I asked Coach Tyronn Lue what Griffin means to the Cavaliers. He was not giving his opinion on contract negotiations.
“Every time it seems like things are bleak for the team or the organization, he always finds a way to get things done,” Lue said. “The first year we lost Andy Varejao, he brings in Timofey Mozgov and makes a trade for J.R. Smith and Shump (Iman Shumpert).
“This year he got Deron Williams and Derrick Williams to come. He got (Andrew) Bogut to come and got Kyle Korver here.”
Bogut suffered a broken leg in the first minute in his first game as a Cavalier, but that was just bad luck.
The thought Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wouldn’t do everything in his power to keep Griffin in Cleveland is inconceivable, but there have been no meaningful offer from the Cavs, according to a report by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Maybe Gilbert was too preoccupied with the planned expansion of Quicken Loans Arena and Cleveland City Council’s hesitancy to approve extending an admission tax to help fund the project. That approval came in a vote by city council on April 24.
Lue did not list one of Griffin’s biggest accomplishments for obvious reasons. Griffin fired former coach David Blatt midway through last season and replaced him with Lue. Griffin also acquired Channing Frye at the trading deadline last year. Frye was an important part of the championship run. The drought would be at 53 years if not for the coaching change.
Deron Williams, signed on Feb. 27, was critical to sweeping the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs this year. He was 7 of 9 on threepoint attempts. Korver, acquired in a trade in January, played only 22 minutes in the Indiana series and totaled 12 points. But if the Cavs need a spark this series it is a comfort to Lue knowing he has Korver on the bench. Korver hit a pair of 3s against the Raptors in Game 1.
“He always makes the necessary move,” Lue said. “He never just sits back and relaxes. We won a championship last year. He didn’t say, ‘OK, we won a championship. That’s enough.’ He’s always trying to be better. That’s what you need in a GM That’s why he’s a great G.M.”
Gilbert is making a huge mistake to assume just because LeBron James is on the roster that any general manager can put a championship team together.
I wouldn’t blame Griffin if he feels disrespected. Maybe he’s already decided to take on the huge challenge of building the Magic into a contender. If so, time is running out for Gilbert to change Griffin’s mind.
If Griffin leaves the Cavs for the Magic, a line from the chorus of “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell becomes appropriate:
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”