David Griffin is, by all accounts, a very good basketball executive who has had a very weird job since LeBron James declared he wanted to return to the Cavaliers in July 2014. Griffin has made the most of it, making several good moves to improve the supporting cast around LeBron. The result: Cleveland has made three straight NBA Finals.
The other result: David Griffin is out of a job.
After a lame duck season for Griffin, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert announced the two couldn't agree on contract terms. This comes a month after Gilbert refused to allow Griffin to interview for GM jobs in Atlanta and Orlando. Those jobs have since been filled. This is pretty dirty, even by Gilbert's standards.
Reports suggest the future of the franchise was at issue. Occam's Razor suggests Griffin wanted a substantial and deserved raise after three straight finals and one championship and that Gilbert (who is paying out the nose for the roster) declined.
In any case, LeBron — who had lobbied for Gilbert to extend Griffin's contract in recent months — unloaded a note of befuddlement on social media. Gilbert reportedly did not consult LeBron in making the Griffin decision. Meanwhile, Gilbert is reportedly interviewing Chauncey Billups for the job. The upside to that: Billups recently advocated for a Kevin Love-Carmelo Anthony trade on ESPN. The Banana Boat Dream is alive!
Trade season!
Before he got canned, Griffin was apparently working on deals to get Jimmy Butler to the Cavaliers. Those pesky Butler to the Timberwolves rumors are back, too.
Why the Lakers should be trying to trade for Paul George right now instead of waiting for 2018 free agency.
Rumors suggest the Lakers are open to moving D'Angelo Russell to land a second pick in the top 12.
I enjoyed Chris Ryan's Chris Paul to the Rockets conspiracy theory.
Draft season!
Here's Ricky O'Donnell's penultimate NBA mock draft incorporating the Markelle Fultz trade.
Why Jonathan Isaac will be much better in the NBA than he was in college.
Why Josh Jackson is going to be a better pro than Jayson Tatum.
The Lakers are reportedly committed to picking Lonzo Ball No. 2.
Wow. A study from Josh Wheeling indicates that over the past 20 years, white American players have vastly underperformed their draft position compared to black American and international players.
And now, other stuff.
Shout out to all-time leading WNBA scorer Diana Taurasi! Is she the greatest women's player ever?
Is Andre Iguodala going to go after one more big contract, or take less to stay with the Warriors?
Kevin Durant is celebrating his first NBA championship by digging his old Twitter Fingers out of the closet.
Chris Granger has left the Sacramento Kings. He was the team's president and, by all accounts, the person with the biggest role in keeping the team in town and getting a new arena built. (Yes, even bigger than David Stern or Vivek Ranadive.) Granger says he's chasing bigger challenges; most Kings watchers know better.