Where Will David Griffin Lead The Cavs?

[jonathanlambert33]

If anyone should be thrilled with the ascendance of David Griffin to the role of General Manager, it should be me. Or you, I don't know, maybe you have a solid relationship with the guy or have a stake in his success. I don't, outside of the fact that his success would mean that my favorite basketball team had good things happening.

Griffin comes from a school of basketball thinking on something approaching the cutting edge of offensive strategy in the NBA. His Phoenix background speaks to a preference for pace and three point shooting. Pace is generally well thought of as it doesn't allow the defense to get settled for what tend to be predictable set patterns of offense. Three pointers are thought to be good because, hey, you get an extra point when you make them. A good example of this is the Philadelphia 76ers. They were awful because they had awful players that were really young, but they pushed the pace and allowed guys like Michael Carter-Williams to launch up threes. The philosophy was there, there just wasn't anything to execute it.

And aside from that, Griffin has continuously preached the need for pieces that fit. In general, I have wanted the Cavaliers to embrace these principles for a very long time. The Cavaliers front office has for some time indicated that they were not interested in building around Kyrie Irving, but merely with Kyrie Irving. The first draft choice the Cavaliers made after Irving was an unskilled undersized big. The first draft choice the Cavaliers made after Irving's Rookie of the Year campaign was a ball dominant guard. The first free agent that the Cavaliers invested significant money in long term after drafting Kyrie Irving was a ball dominant guard.

We know all this. And it seems like David Griffin does too. At his press conference yesterday, he outlined what he was looking for as he puts his mark on the team:

"As we talked about the end of season meeting ... we need to be bigger, we need to be smarter from a basketball IQ standpoint, I'd like us to be a team that's recognized as being tougher, I'd like us to be a better shooting team, and we need to address our fit. If anything our commitment to those things are strengthened."
 

He commented a bit on the state of the roster:

"I think the fit of our roster needs to be pieces that make sense, you know we've got ball-dominant drive and kick creators, we need to be able to open the floor for them. We also need a little bit more ability to play from the inside out, to make our team a little more balanced ... I think we have very, very good talent."
 

All of this stuff mirrors exactly what I've been trying to say and argue for a couple years now. Except maybe it doesn't. Many on Twitter and in our comments have speculated on what all this could mean for Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson. The short answer is that we have no clue.
 

 
http://www.fearthesword.com/2014/5/14/5714664/what-does-david-griffins-vision-mean-for-the-cleveland-cavaliers

 

[elcheato]

Probably no where