David Griffin's Task Not An Easy one

[TheAdmin]

Cavaliers general manager David Griffin had a difficult task this offseason: Re-sign his own free agents and try to improve the team along the way. There are still three key free agents cast adrift: Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova. It’s imperative the Cavs bring back Thompson, who excelled in the postseason after Kevin Love was injured. Why he hasn’t been re-signed, I’m not sure. I haven’t been brought up to date on the particulars, but it’s usually about money.

The fact that he’s a restricted free agent lessens the blow. If he is presented an offer sheet from another team, the Cavs can merely match the offer. But it might be beyond that approach. The Cavs have offered a five-year, $80 million deal – if media reports are true – another team can’t offer any more. A four-year pact is the longest another team can submit. From what I can gather, another team can’t offer more than the Cavs have already offered. The Cavs could be close to moving into dangerous territory. Soon, they’ll be negotiating against themselves for his services.

→ Read Full Article On Front Page

 

[Damien O'Connel]

Yeah if we've already offered him more than any other team, send him the contract and wait for him to sign.

What's he gonna do, quit?

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

The huge jump in the cap after next season means that the tax burden for the 15-16 season is likely to be much higher than in the 16-17 season and moving forward from there.

Therefore, to the extent there is any way for the Cavs to delay pay hikes to TT or Delly (especially TT) until next off-season, the tax benefits are huge.

That means there is a huge incentive for Griff to hold firm and let them play for the QO this season. There are obvious potential drawbacks to that, but the benefit for this year are inarguable.

That's why one or both of them may be playing for the QO this year.

 

[Ohio]

Has he improved the team thus far? I would have to say he hasn’t.

I just don't understand how anyone could actually believe this, but okay.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

Don't mean to be too harsh if you're the scribe of that article, but I can't help myself...it's very poorly written.

 

[Green Lantern]

O.k since I blew that one because I couldn't pull up the article..it's a wait n see thing for Griffin.
I think getting the players back healthy is the one key , then getting a scoring backup for Irving(Mo) and getting viable sub for Lebron.

 

[Ohio]

The better question is ,outside of rebounding and defense how has he improved?
He's improved his FT's..but there were stretches in the playoffs and finals where his production was non-existent.
Thats a issue for me.
He would need to be averaging way more offensively than he is for him to get that kind of contract.
But we know he's going to get paid..one way or another.

The quote was in reference to Griffin improving the team.

 

[MoFlo]

I just don't understand how anyone could actually believe this, but okay.

Agree. Sorry Bob, but replacing Shawn Marion & Kendrick Perkins with Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson is a very significant improvement to the team (Whomever takes Haywood's spot is an automatic improvement as well).

 

[Real Deal]

I saw an ESPN insider article headline the Cavs were the 2nd best team this off season behind just one team.

And here Bob says we haven't improved? Well health for one has improved. Mo Willaims with that 2nd team is going to be scary vs other 2nd tiers.

 

[cavsfever]

Agree. Sorry Bob, but replacing Shawn Marion & Kendrick Perkins with Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson is a very significant improvement to the team (Whomever takes Haywood's spot is an automatic improvement as well).

I agree with this (except I'd probably say 'significant' rather than 'very significant' -- Mo and Jefferson are a step up from nothing to something, but obviously not world-beaters). And I'd add that if we get a little bit lucky this year we are going to improve a lot. If Jefferson doesn't fall off a cliff like Marion/Miller and AV doesn't get hurt, and we can actually count on both of them, then we are all of a sudden 11 deep with solid depth. Of course no guarantees of that, there's a good chance one or both of those guys go wrong.

 

[Lysander]

Well Bob has to take a position as a medium to raise thought. I thought it was interesting that he brought up Rondae Hollis-Jefferson from the draft. How nice would it have been to snag a potential contributor at pick 24, had one of our targets fallen to us? Such was out of Griffin's control though, and grabbing Osman as a 2nd round stash could proof to be a steal in a few years for a team with championship ambition looking to splice some talent and youth into the mix.

Nothing has come to fruition with the Haywood contract yet, but were there any guarantees that it ever would? This remains to be seen...I don't have hopes of it being of much significance though, after seeing how this off-season has played out across the league.

I think Mo is a solid signing to provide some more depth. Chances are that we will re-sign Delly and Smith given how limited we are for flexibility. I see Mo and Delly as option 2a and 2b depending on the situation. More depth than last year! Is Delly really that bad for what we ask him to do? Do we even win that the one finals game if he doesn't get that put-back foul? It wasn't a surprise though, because his game is built around his doggedness. Nice contrast with Mo.

When I first heard about the Richard Jefferson signing I wasn't that excited, and I can't say that has changed...But after readjusting back to the reality of what options were available I can't, in good faith, say that it is a bad signing. It just is. Jefferson will offer some strengths as other posters have pointed out his catch and shoot proficiency of recent times.

So I think we have one roster spot available after we dumb Haywood, and counting Delly, Smith, and Thompson. Sasha Kaun?

 

[Jordan]

Agree. Sorry Bob, but replacing Shawn Marion & Kendrick Perkins with Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson is a very significant improvement to the team (Whomever takes Haywood's spot is an automatic improvement as well).

I don't know, man. I agree that we have improved. But I wouldn't call it significant. RJ is not really a step up from Marion. The dude can barely play 20 minutes per night, can only defend the SF position, and is a good shooter. He is nowhere near as fast as he once was. Additionally, I'd be interested to see his shooting numbers when he average more than one 3pt per night. Not saying he will definitely be bad, or definitely be good, it is too early to tell.

Also, I'd say Andy is replacing Perk, and I would call that an improvement.

I want to wait to see if we re-sign Delly and Smith before I say Mo counts as any improvement. If we lose one or both of Delly and JR than the signing of Mo is a lateral move. EDIT: I'd like to add that if we re-sign both of them Mo becomes a definite improvement.

Have we improved? I definitely think so. If we re-sign everyone now I'd think we are a slightly better team. But odds are, come playoff time, Andy and RJ aren't even playing meaningful minutes. So the only addition at that point is Mo. And in some series he will be incredibly useful (Golden State) but others, where a more defensive-oriented approach is needed, I don't think he'll have much of an impact. Thus, I don't understand how the improvements are significant.

 

[Lee]

Agree. Sorry Bob, but replacing Shawn Marion & Kendrick Perkins with Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson is a very significant improvement to the team (Whomever takes Haywood's spot is an automatic improvement as well).

Mo is a significant add, and hopefully Jefferson is what Matrix was suposed to be for us.

If he is, another significant add.

Another thing no one is taking into account we have never had Andy and Moz at the same time.

If we bring back all of our free agents, we just added 3 players to our depth. How is that not significant. Did we think we were improving our starters that include 3 of the top 20 players in the league?? Not realistic.

 

[The Oi]

The only thing I'd really fault the Cavs for is not using Haywood's contract, but they can still do it.

I thought they managed the draft fine, if either Pointer or Christmas end up contributing at all at the NBA level while Cavaliers then those were good picks. Mo and Jefferson were very effective signings considering that Miller and Marion were awful signings last year.

I see the Love signing as an accomplishment actually. Accomplishing a trade for him was obviously a much bigger deal than re-signing him, but signing UFA's is NEVER to be assumed. Think about what we'd have said about him if he'd have LOST Love.

I'm waiting to see what happens with Haywood, before I grade this off-season. If they accomplish nothing with his contract, I'd give it a C. If they use it effectively, I'd probably give it a B or B+ depending on what they get.

 

[Kypus]

The funny thing is so many people are just assuming Blatt will incorporate whomever we sign into the rotation. This is NOT a given. I mean, by the end of the playoffs he was using TWO freaking guys off the bench in the playoffs! TWO!

Improving depth is one thing- improving the actual rotation is quite another. Will it be 1-7? 1-8? 1-9 with emergency shooting from Jones and/Mo? At this point, I doubt Richard Jefferson will even be a rotation player...whose expense will it come at? Mo may not even be in the rotation....finding minutes for him is already going to be awkward. How will Blatt handle having 3 PGs?

Assuming the starters will be Kyrie/Shump or JR/Lebron/Love/Moz...

Bench could be Delly or Mo/JR or Shump/Tristan and as far as we know, just end there. We're talking nitty gritty Blatt playoff bench.

So far, depending on how much Blatt value's Delly's pestering defense- Mo and Jefferson just look like emergency depth, and Andy is, well...Andy. We won't get a read on him probably til training camp.

My point is, the GM can lead coach to water, but...you know...