When David Griffin took over as the General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers back in early February last year, the team was a total mess. The Cavs were coming off a humiliating loss to the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers and the team was in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Under former GM Chris Grant, Cleveland had a 16-33 record and was 5.5 games behind of the final playoff spot in the dismal Eastern Conference.
It’s safe to say, Griffin had a lot on his plate, as the Cavaliers, despite possessing some very talented individuals on their roster, seemingly had no plan or vision going forward. There was major doubts that the (then) face of the franchise Kyrie Irving would re-sign, Dion Waiters was as inconsistent as Dennis Rodman’s hair colour and the 2013 number one draft pick Anthony Bennett was having huge difficulties adjusting to the NBA game.
Griffin though, turned a lost franchise into serious championship contenders in a matter of months and should be awarded for that with the Executive of the Year award. How did it all come to fruition though? Let’s take a look at Griffin’s resume for the award.
So as the Cavaliers entered the off-season after missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, Griffin was the man asked to clean up an almighty mess. When Griffin was promoted from interim GM to permanent GM on May the 12th, 2014, he made his vision for the franchise very clearly, per cavs.com:
"“Our ownership’s commitment to this franchise and the fans of Cleveland is absolute. I feel that commitment, not only by the resources they make available but also with their tireless passion for delivering a championship-caliber team. Our entire organization reflects that passion and commitment. I am humbled and honored to be put in position to aggressively work with them, all of our front office staff and anyone who can contribute to achieving that vision.”"
Griffin’s first big move in what would ultimately turn out to be a historic off-season in Cleveland, was to find a head coach. After Mike Brown was sacked for the second time in four years, Griffin was left with the task of finding someone to guide the Cavs into the future. To the surprise of many, European coaching legend David Blatt was hired just days before the NBA Draft. Blatt was known for his innovative Princeton-like offense overseas and was coming off one of the most successful seasons in European basketball, as his Maccabi Tel Aviv team won the Israeli League, Israeli Cup and Euroleague in an incredible 2014. Blatt made history, as he became the first ever coach to make the jump from European basketball to the NBA and with the out of the box selection from Griffin and the Cavs, a little bit of interest was drawn back to basketball in Northeast Ohio.
Next on Griffin’s Cavalier to-do list was who to select with the number one pick in the NBA Draft. After Chris Grant botched the previous seasons selection in Bennett, Griffin made sure that the Cavs wouldn’t endure an encore. Griffin went with the safe route, as Andrew Wiggins was made the number one pick and the newest Cavalier. With Wiggins and Blatt joining the Wine and Gold army, things were looking up in Cavalier land but ultimately; this team was still building for the future at the time. Then, an unthinkable series of events occurred and Griffin played a major part in all of them.
After months of rumors that Irving was un-happy in Cleveland and would consider leaving the team in free agency, Griffin and the Cavs made sure that wouldn’t happen. Within the first few hours of the free agency period, Irving committed to Cleveland, signing a long-term extension. This signing from Griffin was probably the most crucial in hindsight, as it really set start to a magical free agency period in Cleveland. Without the commitment of their franchise player, no free agents would be attracted to come to the Cavs, as if a player who’s been at the club for years wouldn’t commit to them, who would? Griffin being able to convince Irving to stay with the Cavs for the long haul would quickly become little news, compared to what happened next.
“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home.” These are the words that officially put Cleveland basketball back on the map, as LeBron James returned home via a heartfelt letter to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. Now it is tough to say how big of a deal Griffin had in James returning. James has close ties to Northeast Ohio, as even when he was a member of the Miami Heat he would come home in the off-season to help the kids of Akron. His decision was one made with off the court duties in focus as well and Griffin wouldn’t have had a say in that. Although if Griffin didn’t get Irving to re-sign to that aforementioned long-term extension, would James have returned?
It’s tough to say but no would be the safe and most logical answer. James knows he is only going to get older, so going to a rebuilding team wouldn’t have been an option. Also, if Griffin didn’t trade Jarrett Jack, Sergey Karasev and Tyler Zeller the day before James’ decision to come home, Cleveland simply wouldn’t have had the cap space necessary to sign James. So while James returning home was ultimately an independent decision and one bigger then basketball, if it wasn’t for Griffin’s crafty salary cap dump and getting Irving to re-sign, the Cavs wouldn’t have James right now.
Just because James was home and Cleveland was a certain playoff team again, that doesn’t mean Griffin was done fixing the roster. Griffin made a number of minor deals in the off-season to fine tune the roster. In acquiring Brendan Haywood’s unique contract, Griffin gave the Cavs some much needed finically flexibility and a valuable trade chip for the near future. Griffin then signed James’ close buddies James Jones and Mike Miller to contracts; giving the Cavs veteran leaders in the locker-room and James’ brother-like relationship with his teammates are well documented. Shawn Marion was also brought to Cleveland to provide some defensive flexibility and championship experience to the young ball club but Griffin’s biggest trade of the off-season was made in late August.
When the best player in the world comes to your team, championship expectations are automatically applied, fairly or not. This means teams can’t wait around for young talent, however talented they may be, to mature and develop in the cruel world of the NBA. This was exactly Griffin’s thinking when he traded Wiggins, Bennett and future draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love. Love was coming off a career year, putting up 26.1 points a game and 12.5 rebounds a game and was arguably a top 5 player in the league. The concept of an Irving/James/Love big three was simply too good to pass up and Griffin jumped on the opportunity when it was presented. Many fans were unhappy with the trading of Wiggins but it was a smart move by Griffin. Winning is extremely hard in this league and Griffin knew that Cavs would be a powerhouse if they acquired Love and that is exactly what has happened. If the “monumental” off-season as Griffin described it wasn’t good enough to earn him Executive of the Year, then the in-season trades that he made just strengthened his case.
While Cleveland’s roster was one of the best on paper, they struggled out of the gates. The defense was putrid and the offense was still a work in progress. Griffin knew changes had to be made and boy, did he make some big ones. With the Cavs hovering around .500 in early January, Griffin snatched J.R Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks and a couple days later scored Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nuggets. All of these players were acquired at the cost of a struggling Waiters, little used Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk and multiple draft picks (many believed that Cavs gave up too many picks in the Mozgov deal but the Cavs are in a win-now mode. Griffin knows this and knew the Mozgov trade was a must.) In a matter of two days, Griffin took care of the biggest needs on the team- a defensive presence in the middle, a perimeter defender and a floor spacer. Waiters was expected to be that floor spacer but was struggling mightily and the defensive personnel was clearly a major issue. Griffin fixed all of these problems in just a matter of days and the results have been sensational.
Since January 15, Cleveland owns the best record in the NBA at 31-7 and they have all but secured the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They have won 18 straight home games, with Mozgov and Shumpert yet to suffer a loss at the Q and Smith has only lost once in that building. From the beginning of the season until January 15, the Cavs had an offensive rating of 104.8 (10th in the league), defensive rating of 106.3 (27th in the league) and an overall NET rating of -1.5 (19th in the league.) The numbers were underwhelming and the Cavs seemed like a team destined to disappoint. Since that January 15 date though and ever since Shumpert, Smith and Mozgov have played in the Wine and Gold, it’s been a completely different story. The offense rating during this 31-7 stretch is an unreal 111.5 (1st in the league), the defensive rating is 101.4 (10th in the league) and this results to a NET rating of 10.1 (2nd in the league.) Cleveland have looked like the championship contender everyone expected them to be ever since Griffin made these trades and without giving away anything major to acquire them, Griffin made an absolutely brilliant move.
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It’s been quite the year and a bit ever since Griffin got hired back in February of last year. He has taken a team with seemingly no direction and made them into legitimate championship contenders, while make some adjustments along the way. Griffin’s ability to get superstars and veteran leaders to Cleveland and his genius trading manoeuvres have earned him the right to be named the NBA’s Executive of the Year.
Do you think David Griffin should be NBA’s Executive of the Year?