Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Things To Be Thankful For In 2015
3. David Griffin, Cavaliers GM
The man. The myth. The legend? Quite possibly.
This is the man that has built the Eastern Conference champions, general manager David Griffin. I mentioned earlier how Kyrie Irving was the biggest deciding factor for LeBron James and Kevin Love ultimately coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but without Griffin, and his ability to work out every little detail with trades, the Cavaliers would not be where they are today.
Griffin was the interim GM for the Cavaliers after Owner Dan Gilbert relieved Chris Grant of his GM duties. At the end of the miserable 2013-14 season, there were rumors of New York Knicks president Phil Jackson showing interest in him. We all know if Jackson has interest in anybody they have significant importance in the NBA. Owner Dan Gilbert immediately made him the full-time GM and the rest is history.
Some fans could say his drafting has left a lot to be desired, but when you have a team that is a championship contender, some put stock in draft picks–while others don’t. Just for this sake, let’s take a look at his draft picks. Last season, he drafted Andrew Wiggins, who was traded for Love, and Joe Harris, who only seems to play in garbage time.
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This season he drafted Rakeem Christmas,but he traded him to the Indiana Pacers for a second-round draft pick in 2019. Griffin also drafted Cedi Osman who is still in the Turkish Basketball League and Sir’Dominic Pointer who plays for the Canton Charge in the D-League.
Hopefully the players that remain could be contributors down the road. Griffin is best known for the trade of Jarrett Jack, Sergey Karasev and Tyler Zeller in order to make room for James. However, it doesn’t stop there. He brought back Mo Williams, signed a solid veteran in Richard Jefferson and added a little excitement and speed to the roster with the signing of Jared Cunningham.
He even convinced Sasha Kaun to finally join the team. I didn’t even mention the re-signings of Love, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson.
Griffin then somehow traded Mike Miller and Brendan Haywood to the Portland Trail Blazers, getting a $10.5 million trade exception for Haywood and a $2.85 million exception for Miller. The Cavaliers spent a total of $175.6 million and have to pay a luxury tax of $60 million and they still have room to add a piece. Incredible! If that move alone doesn’t get Griffin Executive of the Year, I don’t think anything will.
If all these moves pan out in the end, it shouldn’t be James for MVP because it’s Griffin.
Next: 2. Dan Gilbert