The Cleveland Cavaliers had one job. They still have it, technically, but for how much longer, nobody knows.
Their objective: Don’t do anything to ruffle LeBron James’ feathers.
Simple, right?
Apparently not.
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert showed general manager David Griffin, someone James held in high regard, the door shortly after the NBA Finals ended. He immediately zeroed in on Chauncey Billups, he of no front office experience, to replace him. To this point, other candidates haven’t trickled out, giving off the impression Gilbert has eyes for Billups alone.
But that interest is, officially, not going to be reciprocated, according to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Chauncey Billups has withdrawn from consideration for Cleveland's President of Basketball Operations job, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2017
This is a terrible, no-good, really bad, god-awful, might-as-well-kiss-LeBron-goodbye look.
No one is claiming Griffin was a superhero. He was, however, particularly adept at filling out the roster with solid supporting-cast members despite a complete absence in flexibility. If you’re going to can him, you best hit on your replacement, or at least have multiple candidates in mind.
The Cavaliers will no doubt pivot from here, but the optics are bad. No matter how you slice it, they screwed up. They’re still locks to reach the NBA Finals next year, but given all the dysfunction and incompetence emanating from the ownership post at the moment, it’s more than fair to wonder whether that’ll be enough to keep LeBron interested past next year.
