According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have just come off an NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, will part ways with their mastermind General Manager, David Griffin.
Griffin was a huge reason for the Cavaliers' success in the last three seasons. In the middle of the 2014-15 season, the Cavaliers made a very important trade to acquire J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. This turned out to be a huge factor in the reason Cleveland went all the way to the NBA Finals that season, along with the trade that helped Cleveland acquire 7 foot 2 Russian center, Timofey Mozgov.
In the following season, Griffin's genius was proven once again when he brought Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson, two close friends who have been very successful both on and off the court as a duo. GM Griffin also brought in Dahntay Jones for the playoff run, who became the Cavs much needed "enforcer".
And finally this season, which was his last season with the Cavaliers, David Griffin made some huge moves when the Cleveland squad was struggling and their star player LeBron James was not satisfied. LeBron demanded the Cavs to sign a playmaker and a rim protector. David Griffin came through and brought in one of the best playmakers in the league, Deron Williams. He also shuffled between a few quality rim protectors after facing obstacles with the Andrew Bogut injury and the lack of commitment from Larry Sanders.
Eventually, the Cavs sticked with 7 foot 3, Edy Tavares.
Where will Griffin go?
Now the question that lingers is, where will David Griffin go next? His skill and talent will more than likely be used on another team; this decision definitely does not seem like one that Griffin has decided to do to finish his general manager career.
The Orlando Magic were rumored to have offered Mr. Griffin a huge contract a few months ago, something that would've opened the eyes of the Cavs GM. Griffin could've seen the opportunity to jump at a large sum of money which will set him up for life, so parting ways with the Cavaliers might have been a very hard decision, but the money would've spoken for itself.
Or maybe, Griffin wants a rest from the pressure and demands related with making key roster moves for the 2016 NBA champions.
New general manager?
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, former NBA player and all-star Chauncey Billups has emerged as the biggest candidate for the position of GM on the Cleveland Cavaliers team. This could be an intriguing man to hold the job, we all know how great of a player Billups was, but we don't know yet how he will do as a GM if he does get the job. The Cavaliers have flirted with a few rookie head coaches in recent years, will they have a rookie general manager also? I guess time will tell.