David Griffin highlighted Cavaliers’ 2016 title in Pelicans’ presser
By Dan Gilinsky
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and one would imagine the NBA in general (and other professional sports, really) know how special the 2016 NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors was, and in a recent introductory press conference involving his new position with the New Orleans Pelicans, former Cavs general manager David Griffin highlighted the 2016 glory days.
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Cleveland sports in general, really, are fiercely loyal to their teams in the Land.
I’m inherently biased of course, but when you consider how much heartbreak Cleveland fans have endured, it’s hard for me to believe Cleveland does not have at least one of the best fan bases when it comes to cities in the U.S., and across all three of their professional sports teams in the Cavs, the Cleveland Indians and obviously, the Cleveland Browns, by the way.
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Taking that into consideration, when LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and others on the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit over the star-studded Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, they brought the city of Cleveland a championship that will forever be one of the more special ones in the history of the NBA, and in major professional sports in our great country in general.
The Warriors, with studs Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and many other notable pieces, had the most regular season wins in NBA history that season (per Basketball Reference), with 73.
So, James, Irving and the Cavaliers coming back from 3-1 against the Dubs (the only time that’s ever happened in NBA Finals history) and hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy was, well a pretty big deal for the Land.
As Cleveland fans know, the last major professional sports championship before the Cavs’ last one in June of 2016 for the city came generations ago, when the Browns brought home the bacon all the way back in 1964.
Factoring in that context, former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin, who played a huge part in assembling that Finals team, recently highlighted how special that 2016 championship was for the Land in a recent press conference where Griffin was introduced as the new New Orleans Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
This quote was transcribed by NBA.com’s Jim Eichenhofer (and h/t Cavs Nation’s Poch de la Rosa).
"“Generations of people came up to me, literally in tears, (to say thank you), for delivering a championship for their grandparents to see,” Griffin recalled Wednesday. “It was powerful.”"
Griffin was on point in describing how special that championship was.
In 2017, though, he and the Cleveland Cavaliers ended up reportedly parting ways, and now, the Cavaliers no longer have James, who is now on the Los Angeles Lakers (via free agency), and they no longer have Irving (who was traded to the Boston Celtics).
The team seems to be moving along steadily in their now-full-rebuild under current general manager Koby Altman, however.
Regardless, it was nice to hear Griffin reminisce about the 2016 championship, and I wish him the best of luck with his new organization and disgruntled Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis.