Let's reset the discussion, let's make it a goal to assess the roster without race coming up. Has Griffin done some exceptional maneuvering? Absolutely:
+Without many assets, he traded for a 2nd round pick, Dunleavy, then Korver.
+He dug DeAndre Liggins out of D League purgatory and received some quality "minutes eater" play early in the year.
+When building the roster at the trade deadline, he got tremendous value from teams when the teams didn't have trade assets.
+He identified who he believes the Cavaliers core rotation should be, rotates the periphery of the rotation because of outside inflating factors like the unexpected free agency spending spree of 2016.
Is he perfect in that quest? I think Shakey is pushing hard for one side like a lawyer while others are pointing out lack of perfection in this roster.
- After two deep playoff runs, the odometer on a few key rotation minutes got too high and they needed more rest.
- The quality of the bench depth took a huge hit for 2/3rds of the season. The cost shows up with how run down the vets at key positions, including TT, happen to look at the end of this season.
- We can turn this into another Delly thread, which I don't condone, but it's clear as day the Cavaliers had poor bench play from the guard position. That was an area where Delly always ate big minutes in the regular season, no matter how you feel about the play on the court during those minutes. Felder just couldn't eat minutes, he wasn't ready.
- It can be argued that Griffin unloaded too many assets early in his run as GM that would have paid dividends this year. Two first rounders for Moz looks worse when Moz is sitting on the Lakers bench and TT has tendonitis.
- I think it's absolutely fair to say Shumpert hadn't given Griff what he expected when he was the centerpiece of the New York trade and the recipient of an 11 million a year contract.