11:53am: Billups met with Gilbert at least twice to discuss the Cavs’ position, but didn’t confer at all with LeBron James or LeBron’s agent Rich Paul, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. According to Vardon, Cleveland’s offer was believed to be in the range of $2-3MM annually, and Billups was seeking more.
11:24am: In his full report on Billups’ decision, Wojnarowski passes along a statement from his ESPN colleague.
“I have great respect for [owner] Dan Gilbert and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I greatly appreciate the discussions we had regarding their organization,” Billups said. “As I have conveyed before, ultimately I would like to lead a team’s basketball operation and be a part of a successful franchise. But presently, the timing just isn’t right to delve into that role in Cleveland. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on broadcasting and my other business endeavors.”
10:52am: Chauncey Billups, who was reportedly offered the top position in the Cavaliers’ front office, has withdrawn from consideration, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
Cleveland extended an offer to Billups prior to last month’s draft in the hopes of making him the team’s new president of basketball operations, but the process has dragged since that point. The two sides reportedly went back and forth, with the former All-Star guard making a counter-offer to the club. But ultimately, it appears the Cavs and Billups couldn’t agree on an arrangement that would work for both sides.
Reports had indicated that Billups had some apprehensions about the job, since he likes his current role as an NBA analyst and didn’t necessarily want to uproot his family. He was also believed to have concerns about the fact that LeBron James could leave next summer, as well as the prospect of having to be objectively critical about head coach Tyronn Lue, who is a close friend.
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reports (via Twitter) that concerns about staffing and money may also have been sticking points for Billups, who has received a raise from ESPN, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter links).
With Billups out of the mix, it’s not clear who the next man up on the Cavs’ wish list might be. In the wake of David Griffin‘s departure from the franchise last month, Cleveland quickly zeroed in on Billups, so no other candidates have really been linked to the job.
Since Griffin’s exit, assistant general manager Koby Altman has essentially been serving as the de facto GM for Cleveland, making him a potential candidate for the full-time job. The team has reached tentative deals with Kyle Korver and Jose Calderon since free agency opened on Saturday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I’m glad Chauncey didn’t get the position because that’s a tough job. Hopefully he can get a GM job with a different team that isn’t in such a weird position, but then again he might have only been considered because Lue is his friend.
A) Billups can choose to not take this job for many reasons. As some felt, maybe HE doesn’t feel as if he’s qualified yet to take such a huge step. It’s his decision, we’ll have to see if he ever illuminates us on his reasoning.
B) I take umbrage with this narrative that the Cavs are in chaos. The YANKEES of the 80’s-mid 90’s were chaotic. The Knicks for the last 10 years have been chaotic. Dan Gilbert decides to let Griffin go, for whatever reason, right or wrong, and all of a sudden it’s mass hysteria.
C) IF, and all we can do is speculate, LBJ thru channels told Billups he was leaving next year and THAT was the reason he declined then he was the wrong candidate for the job from the get go. If LBJ leaves then the new GM inherits a team with 2 all-star players under contract for 2017-18 and they can be either be extended and built around or traded for younger assets. As long as they are healthy and replicate their 2016-17 season, I see know reason why Love (29 in Sept) and Irving (26 in March ’18) couldn’t fetch lottery pics and younger assets easily, especially in this new NBA where lesser players are netting $30 mil + + in multi-year contracts, if traded after 2017-18 season. As much maligned as their signings have been they only have Love and Irving committed for 2 more seasons and in 2019-20 have only JR Smith and Tristan Thompson under contract. BOTH players, if still productive, would be highly sought after contracts given production and contract compared to the current market. In 2019-20 they would have a clean slate.
Any GM or Pres hire that only wants to inherit a championship caliber team, IMO, probably wouldn’t be hungry enough or willing to put the effort in to do their job.
I also wonder if he would consider the Knicks job. Is he located in Bristol or LA or ESPN? If it’s Bristol that could maybe be commutable, not sure, also there’s more of a team to be built in NY where as in Cleveland his only job would be to find a couple bench pieces every year and make a 2nd round pick who would eventually be cut.
I think we all differ in how we approach an new job position. Some may prefer to did their toes in the pool and learn to float, wade and then swim laps. Some may want to dive right in and swim laps immediately. I don’t know his makeup other than the fact that on the court he was always up to the challenge. If it were me, I would relish the chance to work with the Cavs. You get the best of both worlds. You inherit a great team capable of going deep in 2018 and maybe longer if LBJ stays. If LBJ leaves then you get the challenge of proving you can compete WITHOUT him. Daunting task indeed. Or you can use Love and Irving, tear it down and craft a team with your own vision (and of course Gilbert’s). All fascinating to me.
We can argue that Gilbert failed to field a competitive team in the 4 years LBJ was gone but in fairness, LBJ left and the team went from a title contender loaded with veterans on contract to a lottery team loaded with veterans on contract. It took time to recover and get lean to the point where they were looking to rebuild around Irving, Waiters and Thompson. I think that Gilbert is committed to fielding a good product with or without LBJ on the team. Any Pres/GM should want that.
They’re trying to pay him as much as they tried to pay Dan Gilbert, which was definitely not enough for the most stressful GM job in the league. Where you’re pressured by your star player who will probably leave after a year, your owner who will probably make your star player leave again, when you already have a good paying job commentating. Chauncey Billups is a smart man and no smart man will take that Cavs job.
I agree about the Cavs job, for the most part. While it looks like a great, shiny job on the outside; however, if you dig a little deeper all that glitters is not gold…
Gilbert is nightmare to work for, and he simply cannot be pleased. He does not appreciate the hard work any of his past GM’s has put in, and he views that job with little to no respect whatsoever!!
Again, that job would be a complete nightmare for any rookie executive, I think Billups was very wise to run away!!
You mean Griffin. Why is the Cavs’ job the “most stressful job in the league”? Where’s the empirical evidence of this? How was this narrative created? I would think resurrecting the Celtics, Lakers and Knicks to be more daunting of a challenge because you have a MORE frustrated fan base.
When I entered into the industry I choose I jumped at the first promotion they gave me, and interestingly enough, it was as a field rep based in the Ohio Valley where I lived in Cleveland of all places. I was working out of the NY office, got the heads up that I might be selected for an opening in the Southeast (atlanta, miami, etc) but when the job was offered, because I was the low man on the totem pole, was sent to Ohio. Not glamours but I jumped on the chance to start somewhere and work my way up.
Ppl need to get past this notion that Gilbert, the “letter” aside, is unstable. He’s a self-made business man who has invested a LOT of money into downtown Cleveland. In every year LBJ has been there he has shown a willingness to spend money and, during his short tenure in the city, has probably been be best team owner since the pre Art Modell Browns and maybe the mid 90s Cleveland Indians.
As for the pay, I think $2-$3 mil offer mentioned seems unlikely IMO. Can’t see Gilbert low-balling a player referred to as his friend. How do you let Griffin go, bring in a friend and then low ball him? Seems unlikely.
I’m pretty sure Billups is in L.A., so not positive that would work out, for some of those same reasons he declined the CLE job…
Although, I do think Chauncey would do alot of good for the Knicks franchise, but I just can’t see it happening…
You’re reading into this a bit too much pal
He has a family and doesn’t want to leave them for a weak job
I would too
Chauncey can’t deal with Lebron.
Most people cannot and would not want to deal with LeBron and his incredibly high expectations and demands on a daily basis….It is just too much for most people to handle, and I don’t blame anyone if they ran away from this job quick, fast, and leaving a trail of fire behind them…
While extremely smart, very charitable in his community, and extremely talented on the court, LeBron runs HIS teams much like Donald Trump runs his businesses..
He’s very successful, but he is also incredibly demanding. He truly expects to dictate all outcomes, and everyone’s job. Behind closed doors, he is loud, obnoxious, whiny, outspoken, and if you don’t meet his demands you will be gone…
I’m more of a Cavs fan than a LBJ. I know his agent and ppl around but I don’t know him personally. That being said, he is not obnoxious nor whiny from what I’ve been told by people who do biz with him in and outside of basketball. But let’s not act as if LBJ is the first player to be demanding towards the FO. Magic, Bird and Jordan were as well. It’s just that social media and 24 hr news coverage makes it more evident.
Just my opinion but the LeBron is whiny thing comes straight from ESPN and their need for making up eye catching headlines. Throughout the first half of the season, all ESPN talked about was how high his minutes per game were because he was basically the team’s backup PG. Almost every show they had brought this up and how they thought the load would catch up to him if they made it to the finals. Fast forward to the second half of the season, LeBron says yeah they need help (he probably meant a backup PG cause they never truly replaced Delly) and the ESPN and FS1 narrative changed to LeBron is being whiny and he already has two all stars on his team what else does he want.
Phil got 12 million to run the knicks, and Dan is only offering $2 mil, wth!! I understand that CB doesn’t have tie resume of Phil, but Gilbert seems to be drastically under paying his executives.
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Smart move. The starting price to dealing with Gilbert should be $10M/yr.
Chauncey gonna rejoin the Clippers, you heard it here first.