David Griffin is close to being named the permanent GM of the Cavaliers, reports Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. This news is also confirmed by a tweet from Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Griffin has been the team’s acting general manager since team owner Dan Gilbert fired Chris Grant on Feb. 6th. According to the article, neither Gilbert nor Griffin would comment, but a source said that after interviewing four or five serious candidates, the Cavs settled on Griffin.
After Griffin took over for Grant, the team responded with a six-game winning streak, which was its longest since the 2009/10 season, and went 17-16 the rest of the way, remaining in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season, notes Schmitt Boyer. He was the one who pulled the trigger on the trade that brought Spencer Hawes in from the Sixers.
Griffin joined the Cavs as vice president of basketball operations in 2010, after Danny Ferry resigned as GM. Before joining the Cavs, Griffin spent 17 years with the Suns, starting as an intern in communications and working his way up to Suns senior vice president of basketball operations. During his time with Phoenix he also served as assistant GM of player personnel, director of player personnel, assistant director of player personnel, basketball operations assistant and media relations assistant, per the article.
One of the first calls that Griffin will have to make is in regard to the status of coach Mike Brown. No matter who is named GM, a league source tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that Brown’s job is “very much up in the air” (Twitter link).