Cavs Additions: Ranking David Griffin’s Players

Jun 25, 2014; Independence, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin speaks to the media at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers totally remade their roster this season. Currently only Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova are on the active roster from last year’s Cavs team. Anderson Varejao also was on that team but is out for the rest of the season.

GM David Griffin has made significant moves to get the Cavs where they are today. He has added players through free agency, trades and even through the draft. The overhaul from Chris Grant’s team to Griff’s has been quick and complete. Rare that a GM can pull that off in one season, some thanks goes to Grant for leaving Griff the resources. Even rarer when a GM can pull it off and have his team competing for a chance at an NBA Title.

It goes against everything the reigning NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs stand for. Their success is built on continuity and stability. Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker have all been on the team for a long time and set the tone for new players. The Spurs add role players yearly but the turnover is small, especially with players who will see meaningful minutes.

When last season ended, and then again when he was given the full time GM job, David Griffin talked about finding players that fit and can shoot. He talked about how valuable it is to have players who can move the ball, space the floor and fill specific team needed goals. He went about finding those players this off-season.

With the regular season winding down but the NBA Playoffs right around the corner, we felt like this was the best time to rank the players that Griffin brought on for the Cavs. We will rank them in order of importance, not skill, to the success of the team. Who sits atop the list will not surprise you. After that we may veer off course from your expectations. That is the fun of subjective lists, there is no objective measure by which to be right or wrong.

We hope the list is fun for you and we look forward to your thoughts in comments or on social media.