Chris Grant - Cavaliers GM

[MD13]

The bench is awful..thats something he won't be able to cover .Looking ahead, I want tosee what he does when he attempts to make a trade sometime this season.
It'll be a bench player but I want to see what he gets.

I think it's pretty obvious at this point that he had no interest in fielding a team that would be as competitive as possible right now, so I'm not counting the bench against him. Reading between the lines, the cavs knew they'd need another high draft pick going into the season; what better way to do that than with a horrible bench? If he honestly thought this bench would be decent and didn't spend FA $$ because of that, then my grade changes completely. that doesn't seem to be the case, and for the most part i agree with his overall vision for the team.

 

[Mazer]

Say what you will about CG, but he has a plan and he is sticking to it. Yeah, our bench is horrible and we all realize that a few veterans mixed in would greatly help out win total.

But helping our win total this year isn't what he wants to do. Is it hurting the young guys development not having enough veterans? Maybe. It's still a fun team to watch right now - for me at least - keeping in mind that we aren't built to win this year.

The Baron Davis trade was obviously brilliant for us. DG's willingness to spend was as important as CG's GM abilities there.
The Tristan pick - I'd say the jury is still out. People get obsessed with it being a #4 pick, but it was a crappy draft after #1 (which we only got thanks to above). I don't see future all-star, but it was a crappy draft.
Waiters - looks good so far. Too early too tell. But again, I think it shows CG has a plan (placing a lot of stock in advanced metrics) and sticks to it.
Zeller trade - I'm not unhappy with trading away the 2nd rounders to move up and get "our guy". Would have been too many rookies to bring into camp and so far the new Z looks capable.

Where CG shines is the things he hasn't done. Example - blowing all our assets for Bynum. Or bringing on a bunch of over-priced retreads to pair with Kyrie in an attempt to win now. Or trading Andy for a competitor's cast-off and the 22nd pick in the draft.

If we our starters continue to improve this year, their isn't a lot more I could ask for. The fan in me wants to win games. The realist in me knows that losing is better for us. I am happy to see our starters winning their minutes already at their young ages. The future is looking good.

This summer, I want CG to really show me something. We'll have another great pick, another first, 2nd rounders and a ton of cap space. Then it is time for a key trade or two, a couple of veteran bench signings (not CJ fucking Miles) and then we will have a team full of NBA talent instead of what we have now.

I assume this is what CG is doing. If we make the playoffs next year with Kyrie as a superstar and 2 additional all-star caliber players then I give CG a 9 or 10 based on where he started on July 8, 2010.

 

[Jon]

Still an incomplete.

We've got to see how his picks work out relative to who he might have picked, and we've got to see how he uses our cap space once he's ready to do so.

It's also a little early to judge his player development ... but his ability to dig up diamonds in the rough seems suspect. Giving up on Danny Green rather than finding some way to get him to click is disappointing. A great source of talent are often the guys coming off their rookie contracts that their old team don't want to keep, and his unwillingness to spend isn't helping us in this area.

For instance, was CJ Miles at $2.2M supposed to be a bargain over OJ Mayo at $4.2M?

 

[Green Lantern]

I think it's pretty obvious at this point that he had no interest in fielding a team that would be as competitive as possible right now, so I'm not counting the bench against him. Reading between the lines, the cavs knew they'd need another high draft pick going into the season; what better way to do that than with a horrible bench? If he honestly thought this bench would be decent and didn't spend FA $$ because of that, then my grade changes completely. that doesn't seem to be the case, and for the most part i agree with his overall vision for the team.

I don't really agree with all that. Some things he's doing I like ,other things I don't like.
I know he wasn't trying to field a team that's playoff competitive right now but you can't always just bank on the high draft pick to get all your parts.
The way he tosses around later picks and some players that he has traded away doesn't sit well with me.

Bringing in guys that really suck over someone more talented to hold on to some $$$$$$$ doesn't win me over because a high pick is needed the next year.

He can still get some competent players that can at least play some ball and help the starters.

 

[daytripper]

I give Grant a '10' for his ability to collect draft picks. Of course he's had Gilbert's pocketbook to take on a Baron Davis or Luke Walton contract but having the foresight to swap this year's Miami pick with the Laker pick as part of that Sessions deal was a classic CG move. It's amazing to see the war chest of picks he has accumulated after the Lebron debacle. Toronto could've done the same thing after they lost Bosh for the same TPE/pick package but they went ahead and pissed their picks away on the likes of Bayless and James Johnson who aren't even on their team anymore. (Not to mention dealing their 2013 lottery pick..ugh).

I am expecting CG to make another Zeller type deal on draft day next year with all the extra picks he has stockpiled.

Outside of Kyrie it's probably too early to judge any of the actual picks. I do like the fact CG is willing to swing for the fences. Dion is a work in progress but he has a bigger chance of becoming a star than someone like Barnes. After all it is a star driven league and role players like Barnes can be added later. Same thing with Tristan. I didn't like that pick but can see why CG would take a chance on a raw PF like Tristan over someone like Marcus Morris who was already close to their potential when drafted. Personally if they were going to swing for the fences I would've preferred someone like Jonas or Drummond but hopefully they will be in a position to grab a high potential post scoring threat in the 2013 draft.

As for FA I give CG a pass for this year. Their goal is to develop KI/TT/DW/TZ while adding another high lottery pick and keeping their salary flexibility for now. From the reports over the summer they did show interest in Teletovic and Shved but those players chose to sign with other teams.

 

[godfather]

Still an incomplete.

We've got to see how his picks work out relative to who he might have picked, and we've got to see how he uses our cap space once he's ready to do so.

It's also a little early to judge his player development ... but his ability to dig up diamonds in the rough seems suspect. Giving up on Danny Green rather than finding some way to get him to click is disappointing. A great source of talent are often the guys coming off their rookie contracts that their old team don't want to keep, and his unwillingness to spend isn't helping us in this area.

For instance, was CJ Miles at $2.2M supposed to be a bargain over OJ Mayo at $4.2M?

Did you really think Mayo would choose Cleveland over Dallas, though?

 

[Jack Brickman]

For instance, was CJ Miles at $2.2M supposed to be a bargain over OJ Mayo at $4.2M?

OJ Mayo is a two-guard. We had just drafted a two-guard with the fourth pick. Why would we sign a guy who was going to cut into his minutes and hamper his development? There's no guarantee that Mayo would have signed here if his only promise was back-up minutes, and I have to assume that, having just drafted Waiters, that's all the organization would have been willing to offer him. And if your argument was that Mayo could play the three, well, he's massively undersized to do so at 6'4", the same height as Waiters.

CJ Miles is a combo guard/forward. He can play both the two and the three. He's a bit undersized at the three, but he has at least two inches on Mayo, so he's not at a massive disadvantage guarding guys that are 6'8" or 6'9". Yeah, he's been absolutely terrible this year, but I don't think anyone here saw him being this bad, and I doubt the organization did either. Miles was brought in to be a short-term back-up at the two and the three, and if he ever works his way back up to his career averages, he'll provide that.

 

[Ohio]

Gotta go with an 8.

Sure TT has been disappointing so far to say the least, but there was nobody else in that draft after Kyrie. The next best couple players from that draft (Faried, Leonard) were picked in the 20's...so oh well.

Waiters is in the ROTY running so for now that pick looks genius.

And lets not forget how he hustled both LA Teams in trades.

 

[Jon]

Did you really think Mayo would choose Cleveland over Dallas, though?

For enough money ...

 

[Scholar]

For enough money ...

But, then, it's not for 4.2 mil a season. Is it?

 

[Jon]

OJ Mayo is a two-guard. We had just drafted a two-guard with the fourth pick. Why would we sign a guy who was going to cut into his minutes and hamper his development? There's no guarantee that Mayo would have signed here if his only promise was back-up minutes, and I have to assume that, having just drafted Waiters, that's all the organization would have been willing to offer him. And if your argument was that Mayo could play the three, well, he's massively undersized to do so at 6'4", the same height as Waiters.

Most vets don't feel threatened by rooks. I don't really care what line of bull Chris Grant used to convince Mayo to sign with us, he's just an example of the sort of player we could have taken a chance on and made part of our rebuilding plan or flipped for other assets.

 

[Jon]

But, then, it's not for 4.2 mil a season. Is it?

Don't know if you don't call his agent...

 

[godfather]

For enough money ...

So why throw a lot of money at him, when his role is going to be diminished. Boobie, Kyrie, and the recent number 4 pick in the draft Waiters eats up most of the minutes at the guard position. The Cavs probably should have went out and got at least a decent vet, dirt cheap, that is better than Donald Sloan.

 

[BimboColesHair]

8. Somehow got a 2nd rounder out of DJ Kennedy, got 2 2nd rounders for a player not in the league, flipped Delonte and Telfair into Sessions who he then flipped into a 1st round pick (traded to get Zeller) and the chance to swap from Miami's god awful pick to what already looks like a low 20s pick from LAL, drafted a perennial all-star with a lot of ? marks before the draft, hasn't wasted our cap space on middle of the road free agents, appears to have been right on Dion, and found our best perimeter defender in the D-League. He'll get a 10 if TT pans out, we get that Sacto pick, and for what he accomplishes with the Anderson Varejao trade we all seem to think will be going down this season.

 

[pr26]

Don't know if you don't call his agent...

You chatting with OJ and his agent, or are you in with CG man? Why have you been holding this inside info??