I feel like whenever I read the gripes with Griffin, its people who are tying Grant's moves to him. The bad drafts, the squandered picks, etc. Griffin has done a damn good job at not only acquiring talent for the now, but also keeping the core together for a long window.
I don't want to hear people bitch about 2nd round picks he used to facilitate trades because not only would those guys not matter, but we have spares that he acquired. We have our own 2018 1st, 2020 1st and beyond. Why draft a late 1st, when you can find a similar talent in the 2nd on a better deal? Its not like they're going to play. With the way our team is built & the core we have, don't expect us to pull someone late in the draft when we are trying to win now.
The mindset changes when you are in win now mode. Especially when you have a legitimate chance to compete for a title. No need for wiping bottoms and feeding snacks. We need legitimate NBA players who are not only prepared to win now, but know what it takes to do so & are willing to make that sacrifice.
Does Lebron have an effect? Sure, but thats not Griff fault. Nor was it his fault to takes risks on JR, creatively acquire Dunleavy then flip him for Korver. He has turned dog shit into gold every time.
Lets look back at his moves and find one where we didn't come out on top...
Griff was hired in Feb 2014. Which was a month after we dumped Bynum, the legendary Kings pick, for Lou Deng. So this wasn't his waste of assets. I feel like people assume this was his fault.
Griff's 1st Move: trading guaranteed salaries of Clark & Sims for the expiring contract of Spencer Hawes. In the process we burned our own 2014 2nd & one we acquired. This was one of many moves to make a move for LBJ. WIN
2nd Move: Acquired the Brendan Haywood contract for next to nothing. WIN
3rd Move: Dumped Jack + Zeller + Karasev & an extra 1st for a few seconds and cap space. Without this space we cannot resign Lebron James to the max deal he wanted!!! No "If he took less money" scenarios need apply. WIN
4th Move: Traded Wiggins + Bennett+ 2016 1st (ended up being #16, not sure who it belonged to) for Love. The 2nd fiddle Lebron was promised upon return. WIN
5th Move: Acquired extra 2nds & Keith Bogans for unguaranteed scrubs. WIN
6th Move: Dion, Lou Amundsen & Alex Kirk for JR Smith, Iman Shumpert & a 1st round pick. WIN
7th Move: The 1st rounder from above which was heavily protected, and the another pick from the Grizzlies which to my knowledge still has not been conveyed due to its protections for Timofey Mozgov. Neither of the picks were ours that was moved. WIN
8th Move: Drafted Tyus Jones & his guaranteed deal then flipped him for Cedi Osman, who is under our control. Wash at worst
9th Move: Dumped Hayward, Miller & two extra seconds for cap space. Missed opportunity IMO
Signed Mo Williams, RJ, Sasha & then resigned Lebron James, Kevin Love to an incredibly friendly deal, Iman Shumpert to a friendly deal, JR to a solid deal, and then Delly to a two year deal. Resigned Tristan right before the season started to a deal that looks great as each day passes. Huge offseason for us
10th Move: traded the abortion that is Anderson Varejao & a 2018 pick for Channing Frye. Win
11th Move: Traded our 2019 out with the corpse of Dunleavy for Kyle freaking Korver. He made this possible by giving Portland our owed pick a year early. Win
Today he's signing young talents like Derrick Williams to fill spots on the roster where we were most bare & signing all star caliber vets to slide them into our rotation.
So what if Delly & Mozzy walked. Moz was replaceable and would only serve limited minutes with the way we are constructed. As for Delly, he wanted to start and get a nice check. Cant fault the guy, but he's about one year away from being a back up again. Smart moves to let them go.
The dude is creative at not only finding huge moves, but finding them for cheap. He has Lebron James & we are desperate to win. Not once has a GM gotten the upper hand on Griff. You cannot take away from what he has accomplished. He has found a way to get legitimate talent for nothing. Many people have been the GM of a Lebron James led team and struggled to find half of the quality that Griff has.
