Former GM David Griffin Talks Current Cavaliers Team, Trading Nets Draft Pick
Few people can offer better insight into what's going on with the Cleveland Cavaliers than former general manager David Griffin, who shared his thoughts on the team during an NBA TV interview Wednesday.
Speaking with the hosts of The Starters, Griffin said Kevin Love's broken hand may give the front office more urgency to improve the team before the NBA's Feb. 8 trade deadline. However, he suggested Cleveland may still prefer holding onto the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected 2018 first-round pick:
Griffin also elaborated on how LeBron James' preference for short-term contracts put the Cavaliers in a bind as they looked to surround him with the strongest supporting cast possible:
"It makes it so that you make a series of shortsighted, win-now deals. You don't have the ability to build a team organically. If LeBron came back and he would've said, 'Listen, I'm gonna be here four years' or 'I'm gonna be here for the rest of my career,' it makes it so that you could build in a much more sustainable way."
Griffin's comments aren't revelatory, but they highlight why it was so puzzling for team owner Dan Gilbert to feel comfortable letting him go and hiring a young, unproven general manager in Koby Altman.
After James returned to Cleveland in 2014 and the Cavaliers acquired Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Griffin excelled at making incremental moves to address the team's biggest weaknesses. He also had a strong understanding of the locker room dynamic, and he knew when a role player such as Channing Frye could not only help the Cavs on the court but off of it as well.
It's a fun thought exercise—perhaps not so much for Cavs fans—to think about what Griffin would do differently at the trade deadline if he were in Altman's position.
However, Griffin's presence may not have dramatically altered Cleveland's trajectory.
He acknowledged how he had to make a number of decisions with major long-term effects.
Griffin signed JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to extensions that make them difficult to move now, and he acquired Frye, Kyle Korver and Richard Jefferson—all of whom were into their 30s when they arrived and clearly declining. Frye and Korver are still with the Cavs, while the team traded Jefferson last October.
Griffin did exactly what was asked of him, and he helped build a team that won an NBA championship. Now, the Cavaliers are dealing with the consequences of prioritizing the present at the expense of the future.
