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Central Notes: LeBron, Love, Carter-Williams, Bulls

March 29th, 2016 at 9:46am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs are confident LeBron James won’t leave in free agency again, but they understand that at least a slight chance exists that he would if they once more come up short in the postseason, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. James “lashed out” at his teammates during the players-only meeting that followed the firing of David Blatt, sources told Lowe, and many in the Cavs brass have kept a nervous eye on the signs of discontent that James has shown on the court. The four-time MVP has the power to press for changes. Lowe confirms that the Cavs and Celtics spoke about Kevin Love before last month’s trade deadline but hears the Celtics made a lowball offer. The ESPN scribe believes chances are strong that Cleveland will trade Love if the team doesn’t deliver in the playoffs, underscoring the unusual level of concern surrounding a team poised to grab the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

See more from the Central Division:

It’s a key summer for the development Michael Carter-Williams, Bucks coach Jason Kidd argues, but Kidd maintains his faith in the former Rookie of the Year, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel details. Carter-Williams, who’s out for the season with a torn labrum in his left hip, will be eligible to sign a rookie scale extension from July through October. “Michael is able to guard the point,” Kidd said. “Giannis [Antetokounmpo] isn’t going to guard the point. You’ve got to have a small on the floor. With Michael being able to work on his jump shot and become consistent, it only makes us better.”
Bulls GM Gar Forman and executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson know they need to change the roster this summer, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf seems inclined to empower them to do so, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Still, Friedell takes Forman and Paxson to task for failing to see the fissures in this group of players last year and for a coaching change that hasn’t panned out. The Bulls, who held a team meeting Sunday, have lost four in a row and are two games in the loss column behind the Pistons for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cavs GM David Griffin is at fault for failing to put someone in the locker room who can hold LeBron accountable, at least to a degree, but the superstar is ultimately worth all the angst, contends TNT’s David Aldridge in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.

Central Notes: Blake, Motiejunas, McRae

March 11th, 2016 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy downplayed the idea of a Brandon Jennings trade in the weeks leading up to the deadline, but Steve Blake nonetheless readied himself for more playing time in case a Jennings trade happened or a deal that sent Blake himself to another team took place, MLive’s David Mayo notes. Of course, the Pistons traded Jennings to the Magic and kept soon-to-be free agent Blake, who’s glad he’s stuck around.

“I easily could have ended up somewhere else,” Blake said, according to Mayo. “I was praying it wouldn’t happen but I knew it could happen. I knew it was a possibility.”

Reggie Jackson is a fan of his backup, acknowledging that he seeks advice from Blake, a 13th-year veteran, as Mayo also relays. See more on the Pistons amid news from the Central Division.

The Pistons aren’t worried about the implications of a grievance that the union is reportedly giving strong consideration to filing in the wake of the voided Donatas Motiejunas trade, Van Gundy said, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. The Pistons want to cultivate a reputation as a player-friendly organization, but they don’t think the flap over the failed deal, which prompted some harsh words from Motiejunas, will hurt the team.
Jordan McRae‘s potential to develop was one of the reasons the Cavaliers signed the 58th overall pick from 2014 to a two-year deal this week, GM David Griffin told Sam Amico of Amico Hoops. The sides decided against a second 10-day contract to strike a long-term deal after only a single 10-day stint. “He has fit in well, understands his role and embraces the opportunity he has to improve,” Griffin said. “Jordan has a unique combination of length and scoring ability, and we are intrigued by his versatility and upside.”
The Bulls have fallen flat this season, but injuries have played a major role in that, and the team would be unwise to execute a major overhaul in the summer, argues Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Jimmy Butler is a legitimate centerpiece and Derrick Rose is probably better than anyone they could trade him for, so the Bulls should concentrate on marginal changes instead, using their rookie contracts and Taj Gibson as trade bait, Berger contends.

And-Ones: Lue, Anderson, Burks, Luwawu

February 15th, 2016 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Five NBA head coaches have been fired since the start of the season, and a sixth, George Karl, nearly was. That’s left a skittish environment in coaching circles, as Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post examines.

“I think maybe the owners are running out of patience,” said Tyronn Lue, who took over the Cavs from the fired David Blatt. “I’m not sure. Just talking to the guys, it’s good to get a long-term deal, because you never know what’s going to happen in this league. In our situation alone, we’re number one in the East and we got to the NBA finals last year, and then something like this unfortunately happens. I think you just have to continue to see improvement every year. A lot of times, I know ownership, they get anxious, and they probably think they’re better than what they really are. So that tends to play a part in it.

Lue reportedly signed a three-year deal when he took the head coaching job in Cleveland, though GM David Griffin denied it. See more from around the NBA with the trade deadline precisely 72 hours away:

Ryan Anderson is anxious to explore free agency this summer, so he’d only be a rental for any team that might acquire him at the trade deadline, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Conflicting reports paint a confusing picture of the likelihood that Anderson will end up in a trade, though more of them indicate that he’s not the likeliest trade candidate on the Pelicans than the other way around.
Alec Burks is progressing well in his recovery from a fractured left fibula and the general expectation is that the Jazz shooting guard will return to action in March, tweets Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. That’s nonetheless slightly behind the eight-week timetable reported in late December.
Draft prospect Timothe Luwawu of the Serbian club Mega Leks is an all-around swingman with a rapidly emerging 3-point game, strong passing and intriguing defensive skill who must improve his ball-handling and willingness to finish inside and overcome his occasional mental lapses on the floor, observes Jonathan Givony of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Luwawu is Givony’s 15th-rated prospect for this year.

Central Rumors: Cavs, Meeks, Vasquez

February 1st, 2016 at 9:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

All-Star small forward LeBron James, point guard Kyrie Irving and power forward Kevin Love admitted fault of their own even as they laid out expectations for their teammates during a sometimes contentious players-only meeting the Cavs had in the immediate wake of David Blatt’s firing, as reported by Dave McMenamin, Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Accountability and double standards were key issues in the meeting that GM David Griffin asked reserve shooting guard James Jones to organize, as McMenamin, Windhorst and Lowe detail. The net effect appears to have been positive, based on the team’s 4-1 record since and the input a pair of sources gave the ESPN scribes.

In other news around the Central Division:

Pistons shooting guard Jodie Meeks has suffered a setback during his rehab from a broken right foot, David Mayo of MLive.com tweets. Meeks met Monday with surgeon Martin O’Malley, who determined that the foot had not fully healed, Mayo continues. Meeks must stop practicing, which he began doing last week, and he also has to cut his rehab activity, Mayo adds. Meeks was expected to miss 12-16 weeks after he was injured during the team’s home opener but the club was hopeful of getting him back by the All-Star break.
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy, who is also the team’s president of basketball operations, doubts he would trade for a player that becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season, Rod Beard of the Detroit News reports. Detroit has been linked to Pelicans power forward Ryan Anderson, who is in his walk year, but Van Gundy doesn’t want to mortgage the future for a player who might depart after this season. “I’m not willing to yield an asset right now — even for a guy I really like — if he’s unrestricted and we could lose him in the summer for nothing,” Van Gundy told the team’s beat reporters. “That would be a step back in our building, even if it’s a minor one. We’re not going to give up a pick for a guy. If we were going to make a trade, it would be a for a guy who’s still got contract time left after next year, that we know we’d have.”
Bucks point guard Greivis Vasquez expects to play again this season, Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Vasquez, who underwent right ankle injury in mid-December, is not close to returning but Vasquez remains optimistic, as he told Gardner. “I didn’t play the way I wanted to, but I needed to get healthy,” he said. “I know I’m going to come back before the season is over. Hopefully, we rack up a few wins and I can help.”

Cavs Notes: Mozgov, Love, LeBron

January 27th, 2016 at 1:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers had talks with the Pelicans about a potential Timofey Mozgov trade, but it didn’t go anywhere, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports in his latest edition of “The Vertical” podcast (audio link, scroll to 53-minute mark). Omer Asik was involved in some talks as well, but Cleveland had no interest in doing a deal, Wojnarowski adds. The Yahoo Sports scribe reported earlier this month that the Cavs had begun to explore the market for Mozgov, who’s making $4.95MM this year in the final season of his deal. See more on the Eastern Conference leaders:

No one has wanted to acquire Kevin Love more than Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, Wojnarowski says in the same podcast (scroll to 51-minute mark). Still, podcast guest and Yahoo colleague Chris Mannix suggests it’s too soon for the Cavs to trade Love, who just re-signed with the Cavs to a five-year max deal this past summer. Cavs GM David Griffin wants a versatile, defensive-minded wing player, Mannix hears, speculating that Jae Crowder would fit that bill.
Griffin has indicated in the wake of David Blatt‘s firing that the onus is on the players to put the team first, though with little recourse for major roster changes, new head coach Tyronn Lue would likely be the one to face the consequences if the Cavs don’t perform up to their potential, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt examines. “Our most glaring need is to understand and communicate role delineation and team sacrifice,” Griffin said. “We have to have group buy-in and team-first habits in order to become the team that intend to be. We don’t have to concern ourselves with expectations of a destination. We need to work towards tomorrow and honor one another with total commitment every single day.”
LeBron James was pointed in his denial that he’s ever undermined a coach in the wake of rumors that he was behind the dismissal of Blatt and sought to have Erik Spoelstra fired, saying that it “does suck that people want to throw my name in dirt for no particular reason, because of speculation or whatever the case may be.” Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal has the details.

Latest On David Blatt

January 23rd, 2016 at 6:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Fired Cavaliers coach David Blatt is already drawing interest from the Nets, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). Chatter is connecting him to the Timberwolves, notes international journalist David Pick, and Kyler says Blatt’s name has also been linked to the Lakers (Twitter links). Blatt and Brooklyn have a natural connection, given his time as coach of the Russian national team and the presence of Russian Mikhail Prokhorov as Nets owner.

Cleveland GM David Griffin said it was behind-the-scenes issues rather than on-court performance that doomed Blatt, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs compiled a 30-11 record through the first half of this season, but Griffin was unhappy with the atmosphere in the locker room and thought a change was necessary. “I’ve never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be,” Griffin said. “We’ve only been galvanized when expectations were not high and circumstances were somewhat artificial. Otherwise, we’ve been a group of tremendous individual talent with individual hopes and dreams. That’s not a winning formula. I’m not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all of the efforts of everybody that works in this organization to chance.”

Speaking to the media tonight, new coach Tyronn Lue said the Cavaliers don’t enjoy playing the game, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal. Lue also made an appeal for Blatt to be the Eastern Conference coach in the All-Star Game, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but a league source who spoke with Haynes shot down that possibility (Twitter link).

The reaction to Friday’s firing continues to pour in from around the league:

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy has been an outspoken critic of the move, writes David Mayo of MLive. Van Gundy expressed dismay that Blatt was let go despite taking the Cavs to the NBA Finals last year and compiling the best record in the East this season. “You can’t even make a flimsy case for the fact that the guy wasn’t meeting expectations,” Van Gundy said. “So obviously, there’s something else going on, and that’s what I’m saying — none of us now has any clue, whatsoever, what the expectations for coaches are.”
To be successful, Lue needs the full support that the Cavaliers were never willing to give to Blatt, contends Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. As a former player and respected assistant coach, Lue has the advantage of being an NBA insider, which Zillgitt believes will make it easier for him to relate to players than it was for Blatt.
Blatt turned out to be the wrong coach at the wrong time, and the Cavaliers wasted a year and a half of James’ career by not firing him sooner, writes Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group. He contrasts that with the situation in Golden State, where the Warriors dumped Mark Jackson after the 2013/14 season even though they knew it would upset Stephen Curry because they believed Steve Kerr would be a better coach for their star.

Chuck Myron contributed to this story.

Eastern Rumors: Cavs, Kidd, Johnson

April 13th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

GM David Griffin turned the Cavs into a potential championship contender with his in-season moves and unwavering support of first-year coach David Blatt, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today opines. Cleveland needed those improvements to be a true contender, Zillgitt continues, and his acquisitions of J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov made the desired impact. Griffin also diffused a potentially divisive issue with his public support of Blatt while the team was struggling, Zillgitt adds. Cleveland’s turnaround this season has made Griffin a prime candidate for the league’s Executive of the Year award.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Jason Kidd deserves Coach of the Year consideration after guiding the Bucks to the playoffs one season after they won 15 games, Matt Walks of ESPN.com writes. Kidd had to deal with the season-ending injury losses of Jabari Parker and Kendall Marshall as well as Larry Sanders‘ mental health issues that led him into retirement. Kidd also changed point guards from Brandon Knight to Michael Carter-Williams at the trade deadline, yet the club ranks second in defensive efficiency, Walks points out. The Bucks have a strong young core, provided they retains restricted free agent Khris Middleton, and has the draft choices to add more pieces, Walks concludes.
Tyler Johnson‘s story offers hope for prospects with seemingly little chance to be drafted, as he went from undrafted to a prominent role in the Heat’s playoff push within a single year, as Shams Charania of RealGM examines. Johnson, who’s averaging 18.4 minutes in 30 appearances, has a non-guaranteed salary for next season that becomes 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st.
The Cavs assigned Joe Harris to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, the team announced on Monday. The guard has played in 50 games for the Cavs this season, averaging 2.7 points in 9.5 minutes per game. Harris was available to play for the Charge in their postseason game on Monday against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Executive Of The Year Candidate: David Griffin

April 11th, 2015 at 11:14pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Cavs’ season got off to a rocky start, but the team rounded into form and looks like the favorite to win the Eastern Conference. The success this season is a far cry from the team’s results last year. The Cavs still have three games remaining this season, but with a record of 51-28, they already improved their win total by 18 games over last season’s and locked up the second seed in the conference. LeBron James returning to Cleveland was a huge factor in this year’s success, but that shouldn’t exclude GM David Griffin from winning the Executive of the Year award. Pat Riley was the co-winner of the award in 2011 after he successful recruited James in free agency, so there is some precedent involving James. Still, Griffin’s candidacy goes beyond The Decision 2.0.

Griffin was named the acting general manager of the Cavs in the middle of the 2013/14 season. His first trade brought Spencer Hawes to Cleveland in exchange for Earl Clark, Henry Sims and a pair of second round draft picks. Ownership clearly wanted to make the playoffs that season. While the move didn’t bring the Cavs closer to that goal, Griffin was able to follow the ownership’s directives without sacrificing crucial assets that would hinder the team’s ability to make moves in the future.

Leading up to James’ decision, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported that he would insist upon a maximum salary contract. In order for the Cavs to have the means necessary to make the offer to James, they needed to unload salary. Griffin traded Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev to the Nets and Tyler Zeller to the Celtics in a three-way deal. Getting out of Jack’s contract was crucial to Cleveland’s long-term plan regardless of whether James ended up signing with the team or not. The move did carry an additional cost as the team had to send a first-round pick to Boston in the deal. However, given Cleveland’s likelihood of finishing with a strong record again next season, it is unlikely to be that valuable of an asset.

The day after the trade became official, James announced that he was signing with Cleveland. The news would dramatically shift the team’s objectives from hoping to become playoff-bound to winning the franchise’s first championship. That goal seemed to be in jeopardy during the early part of the season. The Cavs were struggling and James missed a stretch of eight games due to neck and back injuries. During that stretch, Griffin made two trades that turned the Cavs’ season around.

The Cavs shipped Dion Waiters to Oklahoma City in a three-way deal that netted the team J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and a future first-rounder from the Thunder. Griffin sent the Oklahoma City pick, along with Memphis’ first-rounder, which the team acquired in the 2013 Marreese Speights trade, to Denver for Timofey Mozgov and a second-round pick. Mozgov helped solidify the team’s defense and Smith and Shumpert gave it the depth necessary to compete with the league’s contenders. The Cavs have gone 32-9, which includes a 12-game win streak, since James returned to play alongside his new teammates.

The wildcard in Griffin’s case for the Executive of the Year award is the Kevin Love trade. The Cavs surrendered Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a future first-round pick to acquire the UCLA product. Wiggins looks like a future star for the Wolves, while Love still doesn’t look completely integrated into Cleveland’s game plan. Love previously expressed his intention to opt in and stay in Cleveland during the 2015/16 season. However, there has been speculation that he will depart Cleveland in the offseason and over half of Hoops Rumors writers who voted in a recent poll believe he will leave town after the season. If executives around the league, who vote for the Executive of the Year award winner from among their ranks, believe that Love will leave in the offseason and Griffin gave up a potential star for a one-year rental, it will no doubt hurt his chances to take home the award.

The race for this year’s Executive of the Year award is unique in that the would-be front-runner for the award is ineligible for the honor. Because of his racially charged comments about Luol Deng, Danny Ferry, whose candidacy I previously examined, has not been nominated by the Hawks. Instead, Mike Budenholzer will be on the ballot for Atlanta, and a league source told Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors that some GMs have spoken about abstaining from the vote because they won’t have the chance to vote for Ferry.

Regardless, some executive will win the award, and with perhaps the strongest candidate out of the running, and the potential that votes that would have gone to Ferry will simply not be cast, the door is open for another candidate to seize the award. Over the 14 months that he has held the GM position for the Cavs, Griffin has adapted to changing objectives, put together a team that has a good chance to win the Larry O’Brien trophy, and cemented himself in the conversation for the Executive of the Year award.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cavs GM David Griffin On David Blatt And More

January 4th, 2015 at 6:18pm CST by Zachary Links

Prior to today’s contest against the Mavericks, Cavs GM David Griffin spoke with reporters about a number of topics concerning the team, including recent speculation about first-year coach David Blatt. Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer has the goods and the entire recap is worth a read, but here are just a few of the highlights from Griffin’s chat..

On rumors concerning coach David Blatt’s job security:

This narrative of our coaching situation is truly ridiculous. It is a non-story. It’s a non-narrative. Coach Blatt is our coach. He’s going to remain our coach. Do not write that as a vote of confidence. He never needed one. It was never a question. So don’t write it that way. I heard the entire audio file of LeBron James‘ comments. No more than three different times he said, ‘We’re growing together every day, the team grows together every day and I’m happy with who we have at the helm.’ “But that wasn’t a sexy pool quote, so we kept looking for something else until we could pool something that sounded negative. That narrative is done. No change is being made, period.

On trade activity:

We’re very actively working the phones and doing everything we can to improve the team. At the same time, unfortunately our timing doesn’t always match the timing of everybody else. Until the trade deadline, people typically don’t have a lot of reason to do anything in a specific time. So we’re doing what we can and certainly working every angle we can. This ownership group has always been one to turn over every stone and this is no different.

On the team’s areas of need:

Clearly we came into the year talking about our need for rim protection before Andy got injured. I think it’s very clear that we have a real need for more size. Our team is versatile in that we can play multiple position but we’re not terribly big. I’d like to improve that at multiple positions.

I think it’s clear that point-guard depth is something we need to address. [Matthew Dellavedova] missed 15 games and a big portion of that, we really didn’t have a backup point guard that knew our system and was available to play a lot of minutes, and that’s on me. All of that responsibility lies with me. So I think relative to what we need to do to improve, certainly we could address some talent issues but more than anything else, what we need to do is address our fit and our size.

Cavs Owner On LeBron, Blatt, Luxury Tax

October 29th, 2014 at 2:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs still hope to reach an extension with Tristan Thompson before Friday’s deadline, owner Dan Gilbert told reporters today, including Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, confirming a detail from the latest dispatch on the former No. 4 overall pick. Gilbert also touted GM David Griffin for the Executive of the Year award, talked up the importance of the extension Kyrie Irving signed as soon as he could earlier this summer, and had much more to say about his team, which went from the lottery to a title favorite in mere months. Haynes has the entire transcript of Gilbert’s press conference, so it’s certainly worth checking out, and we’ll pass along Gilbert’s most noteworthy comments here:

On how he perceived his chances of swaying LeBron James to return this summer:

“Of course you never know these things until you’re in front of somebody. But I felt good about it. People have things that happen between them. I certainly don’t keep grudges. He’s not that kind of person, and I don’t think most people are generally, there is a few that are like that, but most people aren’t. There is just too much to do, too much opportunity together that we could work on together, leverage together. So from the second that I went down to Miami I felt like things were going to go on the right path, though we didn’t know until we got the phone call, but it felt pretty good from the second I saw him.”

On hiring David Blatt, after having cited Blatt’s intelligence and coaching track record:

“One of the other major factors was we talked to virtually every single NBA player who was either in the NBA now or was at one point and played for him overseas. And to a man, they raved about him. And that’s really a rare thing when you’re interviewing anybody in business or sports. That every single person you talk to raves about him and says the exact same thing. So that sort of put us over the top.”

On whether he’d shy away from paying the luxury tax:

“That message is unchanged, clearly the cap will be going up in the next couple of years based on the revenues of the league as well, but that message is still there. I think that when you have so much invested, if you want to look at this financially and take away the other stuff, I almost think it’s kind of silly when you invest so much into a franchise and have such high costs already, and then at the margin, I know it’s a lot of raw dollars when you look at it by itself, but relative to everything that’s invested, I was a little bit surprised when our franchise was going to stop right there. To me, it’s like getting to the two‑yard line, and okay, we’re done now. I think it’s not even smart business or maybe not even smart financially, because there is obviously risk involved. But when you’re willing to do that, theoretically, your revenues can offset part of that as well and increase in revenues. Definitely, when the decisions are ours and they’re regarding financial, that should not stop us or be any significant barrier to delivering championship‑caliber basketball here.”