Getting Frye, Not Moving Love=Right Moves for Cavs

The trading deadline in the NBA came and went, and the Cleveland Cavaliers only did some tinkering as we hoped they would earlier this week.

One of the things the Cavs needed to address was getting another reliable shooter from beyond the three point line, and they did just that, getting C/F Channing Frye from Orlando for Anderson Varejao, Jared Cunningham, and some draft picks.

We understand that dealing a long time Cavalier in “Wild Thing” will hurt some fans, but if you take sentimentality out of the equation, you will realize this is a good move by GM David Griffin.

Varejao didn’t get much playing time under either David Blatt or Tyronn Lue, so basically, Griffin moved someone who doesn’t play for someone who should get some minutes and also could solve a weakness.

Let’s face it, Tristan Thompson and Varejao are basically the same player, they don’t compliment each other.

Frye is a career 39% shooter from beyond the three point arc, and is making 40% of these shots in 2015-16.

His minutes are down about eight per game from a year ago, but Frye is now 32, and quite frankly, we would be surprised if he plays more than the 17 minutes a night he was getting in Orlando with the wine and gold.

There were many rumors surrounding Kevin Love as the trade deadline approached, and that made us shake our heads.

The primary rumor was Cleveland getting Ryan Anderson is return, which is ridiculous because he will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Love continues to be a whipping boy for those critical of the Cavs, but we feel the player hasn’t been productive as everyone thought because he is not utilized to the best of his ability.

When Lue took over the team, he wanted to get Love some touches around the elbow, where he had success in his best years with the Timberwolves. However, since the first couple of games, that has disappeared along with the production from Love.

After a four game stretch where the forward averaged 22.5 points and 9 boards per contest, the last four outings have produced 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Granted, Love left two of those games early with injuries, but even when he was in there, he seemed like an afterthought on offense.

Lue talks about sacrifice, but really no one has given up more than Love, who has been used pretty much like a glorified “stretch four”.

We feel that part of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s sacrifice should be to get Love some scoring opportunities as well. The team will be tougher to defend when they don’t ignore the big man.

Now, that doesn’t mean Love is blameless. His shot from outside (including at the free throw line) seems flat. He’s had many wide open looks from beyond the arc, and simply hasn’t made as many as he needs to.

His percentage isn’t down from last year, so perhaps again, it’s that he’s being used in this manner too often.

Maybe Frye makes the Cavs less reliant on Love for outside shooting from a big man.

We will not consider Love a “bust” or not worth getting in the trade until the wine and gold make a concerted effort to use him more efficiently.

By the way, we also don’t understand complaining about a guy who averages 16 points and 10 rebounds per night.

Should Cavs Tinker or Stand Pat?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting at 38-14 on the season, the best record in the Eastern Conference and the fourth best record in the entire NBA, yet it appears GM David Griffin is trying to improve his team.

Many fans and members of the media are wondering why a team with this kind of record would be willing to tinker with the roster, but really, a good GM should always be looking to improve his team. That’s his biggest responsibility.

At this point in the year, Griffin has to be worried about a possible date in The Finals against Golden State, but also has to be prepared for a scenario where the Spurs or the Thunder come out of the Western Conference.

And all of this while making sure the Cavs superiority in the East isn’t threatened either.

It’s a delicate balance for Griffin.

Tyronn Lue’s team could use another reliable threat from three point range, and could also use some help on the defensive end, particularly on the perimeter.

And the drop off of Timofey Mozgov’s game has necessitated not only the exploration of moving the free agent to be, but also replacing the big man if a deal involving Mozgov is made.

Because, you know, if Cleveland gets to the championship round, they may just play San Antonio.

What Griffin can’t be sure of is the transition going as smoothly as last season’s when the general manager made deals for Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, and JR Smith within a one week span.

It only took a few games for the Cavs to gel and make a run to a Central Division title and an Eastern Conference championship.

As we said at the end of the regular season last year, most transitions have an adjustment period attached, and there is no guarantee it will occur again.

So, what should Griffin do?

An easy response would be to stand pat. After all, your team is 24 games over .500 and if not for what the Warriors are doing, no one would be panicking. The Cavaliers are still regarded as one of four teams with a solid chance at hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

We wouldn’t have an issue if no changes were made, either. But, then it would be up to the coaching staff to fix some of the issues the Cavs have that need fixing. And please don’t take that as a possible slight to Lue and his staff.

However, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Griffin tinkered with players outside of the top seven or eight in Lue’s rotation.

For example, moving Mo Williams, who is barely getting on the court right now, for a bigger wing defender would be a solid move and wouldn’t upset rotations and chemistry.

The same would be true with Richard Jefferson. We don’t believe anyone would be upset if you could swap him for a more reliable three point threat.

Making a deal would also send a message within the locker room that the front office hasn’t lost faith in the core players and they believe this team can win the franchise’s first title.

The talk about major changes should be just that. And if the wine and gold don’t get to The Finals, or get blown out once there, perhaps a major change will be made this summer.

But for right now, making a minor addition would be just fine.

All The Pressure Is On LeBron and Lue

Shocking.

That’s the way we would have to describe the news that David Blatt was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday afternoon.

After all, the wine and gold had the Eastern Conference’s best record, and was on a pace to win 60 games.

GM David Griffin tried to spin that the team was disconnected and felt that new coach Tyronn Lue was the man to unify the roster.

Fair or not, LeBron James is going to be blamed for Blatt’s dismissal, and we do not believe for a second that his opinion regarding the coach who piloted the team to The Finals a year were not well known throughout the organization.

This put immense pressure on James and Lue to deliver a title to the franchise, because now, nothing short of that will justify Blatt’s firing.

The only reason Magic Johnson doesn’t have a reputation as a coach killer is that when he went to Laker management and demanded Paul Westhead be removed in favor of Pat Riley, he led Los Angeles to a title.

The end justified the means.

If the Cavs don’t hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in late June, James will have blood on his hands.

He and the coach guided a team without two of the three best players on the roster, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, to the brink of a title, stretching the eventual champion Warriors to six games.

Anything less than that will be a failure for James, Griffin, and Dan Gilbert.

Did Blatt have flaws? Yes, he was reactive at times, and could never seem to get a consistent substitution pattern, which had to irritate the players affected by it.

But he knows basketball. Our guess is his knowledge of the sport is much higher than his successor, but that doesn’t matter.

In the NBA, if you don’t get along with the superstars, you don’t last long.

And if you are LeBron James’ coach, don’t count on getting his endorsement ever. He has never developed the relationship with a coach that Michael Jordan had with Phil Jackson, Isiah Thomas had with Chuck Daly, or Tim Duncan has with Gregg Popovich.

That’s on him.

Look, there is no question the franchise is much better off with LeBron, who is still the preeminent player in the sport, but his attitude toward his bosses has to promote a lack of unity with the head coach.

It will be interesting to see what changes Lue will make starting tonight.

Will Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson, and Anderson Varejao get more minutes?

Will Matthew Dellavedova, still the best defender among the point guards, have his time diminished?

Some have speculated that the move could signal a trade is forthcoming for Blatt favorite Timofey Mozgov, but if he is moved, the team still needs a rim protector.

And how will Lue handle Kevin Love? Will Love get more touches inside early in games to establish himself, or will he get the ball only when James and Irving decide that it is prudent?

Will the offense be a ball moving attack or the isolation sets that the Cavs settle into at times for no reason?

And for those saying the Cavs couldn’t win a title with Blatt, the fact is they got closer than ever last year with him at the helm.

Lue? We simply don’t know. He’s never been a head coach in the NBA until today.

There aren’t many coaches with a championship pedigree in the sport right now, besides Popovich.

The only “elite” bench guys are perhaps Rick Carlisle in Dallas, and maybe Doc Rivers with the Clippers. Neither of them are replacing Blatt.

The pressure is squarely on James and Lue to bring a title to Cleveland. Anything less and LeBron will have explaining to do, even if he did have nothing to do with Blatt’s departure.

Cavs Biggest Problems: Defense, Three Point Shooting

By the end of this week, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have played half of their NBA schedule, and no one thought they would be struggling this much.

They are currently sitting below the .500 mark at 19-20, far from the juggernaut many experts predicted before the season started with LeBron James returned to the team, and GM David Griffin traded for Kevin Love.

Yes, there are a lot of new players that started the season with the wine and gold, and the recent trades made by Griffin have added three more new players (one of whom, Iman Shumpert hasn’t played yet), and that makes continuity and knowing your teammates very difficult.

The biggest problems seem to be on the defensive end, where right now it appears there isn’t a consistent effort on a nightly basis.

Part of the problem is the lack of quickness on the players defending the perimeter. That problem means they play off of the opponent to stop penetration, and then cannot recover to contest the jump shot. This has led in part to allowing a 51.6% defensive field goal percentage thus far, second worst in the league behind only Minnesota.

It seems like teams hit an inordinate amount of three-point shots against the Cavs, but the wine and gold ranks 19th defensively against the long distance shot. That’s not great, but they are getting hurt inside the arc.

In terms of defensive efficiency, the Cavs rank as the sixth worst defense in the NBA. That needs to improve and quickly.

Yes, we understand that Love and Kyrie Irving aren’t good defensively, but you can cover that up by team concepts. Right now, the team scheme needs to be revamped because it’s not getting it done.

Cleveland allows the sixth most dunk attempts in the league, but don’t allow a lot of layup attempts. However, opponents convert a good percentage of those layup attempts, which Timofey Mozgov should help with.

Where the Cavs get killed is on jump shots of between 16 feet and the three-point line, as opponents are making 46.3% of their shots, two percent more than the next worst team Toronto. Besides the Raptors, no one else is giving up more than 42.6% of these shots.

That’s because the perimeter defenders are having a problem closing out on shooters.

Oddly, this ties into the other problem, the lack of three-point shooting. Cleveland ranks 18th in the NBA offensively, which is disappointing for a team with Irving, Love, Mike Miller, and James Jones on it. The thought before the season was with all the ability the Cavs have going to the basket, these guys would have plenty of good looks from beyond the arc.

Irving shot close to 40% in his first two years in the league, but shot just 36% last year and is sitting around that mark again this season.

Love came into the season hitting 36% of his shots from distance, but he’s dropped to 34% this season.

Miller has been over 40% each of the last three seasons, but he’s dropped to 35.3% in 2014-15.

Jones is a career 40% shooter that is making 36.8% of those shots this season.

The latter two are big problems because they don’t provide the perimeter defense the Cavs need, and they aren’t making as many shots as they have in the past. And quite frankly, if Miller and Jones aren’t hitting shots, there is no reason to put them on the floor.

David Blatt would be better served playing Joe Harris, who is a little better defensively, at this point in time.

At this point, the Cavs still seem to be using the roster turnover as an excuse, which it shouldn’t be half way through the season. They really need to just start playing hard, especially defensively.

One other thing. This team needs to get out and run, but if the other team keeps scoring, it’s difficult to get transition buckets.

The defense has to get fixed right now.

The Reshaping of Cavs Should Be Complete

The one thing you can say about Cavs GM David Griffin is that he isn’t afraid of change.

After watching his basketball team struggle more than expected, Griffin didn’t sit back and hope things would get better, he did something about it.

It has been painfully obvious if you know the game of basketball that the main problem for the wine and gold has been on the defensive end. They have ranked among the best teams in the NBA in offensive efficiency. The two trades made in the last few days have addressed the problem when the opponent has the ball.

The Cavaliers have had problems stopping perimeter jump shots and also have had breakdowns when opponents have gone to the basket. Picking up Iman Shumpert helps with the first issue and is a solid enough defender to stop penetration as well.

And if they do get to the hole, Griffin’s latest acquisition, Timofey Mozgov will be there to provide resistance.

Quite simply, Mozgov is a large man at 7’1″ and 250 pounds. He averaged 8.5 points and almost 8 rebounds (7.8) per game and is a career 51.3% shooter from the floor. Those numbers were compiled playing a little over half the game at 25.6 minutes per night. And he’s not horrible from the line either at a little over 73%.

But the biggest thing is he provides a presence and size inside that the Cavs haven’t had all year. Let’s face it, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao are really power forwards masquerading as centers, and while they are solid defenders, they don’t provide the bulk or height needed to make opponents think twice about going to the hoop.

And Brendan Haywood hasn’t been dazzling when he has received minutes either.

Many people have questioned the deal because of the cost, as Griffin gave up two first round draft picks, a steep price for a player who averages less than 10 point and 10 rebounds per night.

However, if Mozgov has the desired effect, then the cost shouldn’t be an issue.

Not to compare the big man to Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond, but what if the same thing happens now as when Thurmond arrived in November of 1975.

When Thurmond was dealt to Cleveland on November 27th of that year, the Cavaliers were 6-11 after losing to the then Kansas City Kings 95-91. Bill Fitch’s squad went 43-22 the rest of the season and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.

Nate only averaged 17 minutes per game for that team, but he was the right fit at the right time.

If Mozgov proves to be a good fit and the Cavaliers get healthy and make a good playoff run, then giving up two first round picks, neither of which will probably be in the top half of the round, is inconsequential.

And it’s not as though Mozgov is an aging player, he’s 28-years-old, and should be a solid NBA player for many years.

That’s another good thing about the moves Griffin made. Shumpert will not turn 25 until after the end of the current season, so his future is in front of him as well.

When LeBron James and Shumpert get back from their injuries, you have a starting five of those two, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and probably Mozgov. That will enable David Blatt to bring these players off the bench: J.R. Smith, Mike Miller, Shawn Marion, Thompson, and his favorite, Matthew Dellavedova.

If Blatt doesn’t give the subs minutes then, maybe he doesn’t have an NBA future.

And in making the deals now, it gives the Cavaliers more time to learn each other prior to the playoffs. If he had waited until the deadline, it would have put that process behind another five weeks.

Regardless, kudos to Griffin for seeing the current roster wasn’t working and going out and trying to fix it. He gave it plenty of time, more than 25% of the season.

Now, let’s see how this version of the Cavs works out.

Griffin Makes the First Move To Improve Cavs Roster

The recent struggles by the Cleveland Cavaliers are partially the result of the injuries, but also an indication that the current roster wasn’t working.

We just wrote a couple of days ago that it was incumbent on GM David Griffin to do something to improve the bench.

That’s the reason Griffin chose to make a significant change, dealing Dion Waiters to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a three team deal that netted guard Iman Shumpert and swingman J.R. Smith.

Griffin parted with veteran Lou Amundsen and rookie Alex Kirk as part of the deal.

Really, it appeared more and more that Waiters wasn’t accepting his role with the current group of Cavaliers. In Sunday’s loss to Dallas, he kept trying to drive to the basket when a lane wasn’t there and took a series of questionable shots that didn’t appear to be part of the offense.

While the focus of many have been on the enigmatic Smith, the real key to the trade is Shumpert, a 24-year-old who can be the wing defender needed by the wine and gold.

Although he is currently sidelined with a shoulder separation, Shumpert is a capable shooter from behind the arc (34% lifetime), but he makes his bones on the defensive end. And that has been a huge problem for the Cavs over the last month.

Smith is a scorer, averaging 13.3 points per game in his career, and is known as a guy who when he gets it going can turn a game around. He has made 37% of his three-point shots during his time in the NBA.

Smith will take the role that coach David Blatt wanted Waiters to have, that of instant offense off the bench, and Griffin picked up a solid wing defender as well. And outside of James Jones, who is limited in other areas, mainly defense, Smith is needed because Mike Miller hasn’t provided the outside shooting the Cavs thought they were getting when they signed him.

And, by the way, picked up a first round pick from Oklahoma City, which can be an asset in a future move, probably in bringing a big man, which the Cavaliers also need.

Which brings us to Samuel Dalembert, who was released by the Knicks as part of this trade. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Dalembert, who is a solid, defensive oriented big man, eventually winds up in Cleveland for the veteran minimum.

He’s a “rim protector”, the new lexicon for a guy who can block shots and rebounds.

The deal will likely put Shumpert in the starting lineup at the two guard with Miller going back to a reserve role, along with Smith to provide shooting. If they sign Dalembert, it would give the coach four solid players off the bench along with Matthew Dellavedova.

And Shumpert and Dalembert should also improve the defense which has been the main weakness for the Cavs over the last month.

With the trade exemptions and the first round picks Cleveland possesses (Memphis and Oklahoma City), Griffin still has ammunition to go out and get yet another big man. Even when Anderson Varejao was healthy, the wine and gold was one big short, so there is still a need to add another.

Yes, the adjustment period will probably get longer now with new players coming aboard, but if the Cavs are clicking in March, they will be the team no one wants to face in the playoffs. And with the core still being LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, they can still make a long run in the East.

Cavs’ Griffin A Man of His Word, So Far

When he was hired as Cavaliers’ GM, David Griffin said the team needed to improve its basketball IQ, and get some players who can make shots.

So far, Griffin is a man true to his word.

Of course, it helps a great deal when the best player in the league decides he wants to come home and play for your team.

LeBron James was the smartest basketball player on the court when he was here previously, and with even more experience, it is doubtful he has lost his ability to play the game the correct way.

James took a lot of heat early in his career so making the right basketball play, that is to say, he hit the open man rather than force up a bad shot.

We can remember times when James wasn’t in the game where the Cavaliers took poor shots when the team needed a basket. We said at that time the rest of the Cavs could have learned from watching the younger LeBron play basketball.

His younger teammates should be in learning mode, and when the teacher happens to be a four-time league MVP, if they aren’t willing to gain knowledge from James on how to play the right way, they likely will not be in the wine and gold for long.

Griffin’s other two free agent signings help with the shooting problem the team had last season.

Last year, Cleveland didn’t have a lot of consistent shooters from the perimeter. Yes, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters had their moments from outside, but their strength is more taking the ball to the basket.

Signing Mike Miller and James Jones as free agents addresses the need for players who can put the ball through the hoop from outside.

And they should get plenty of open looks with the way James, Irving, Waiters, and rookie Andrew Wiggins can go to the basket.

Miller, now 34 years old, enjoyed a bit of a career renaissance this year, playing his most minutes since 2009-10. He’s a lifetime 46% shooter from the floor, including 41% from beyond the three-point circle.

Last season with Memphis, he shot 46% on three pointers.

Jones is more of a three-point specialist, with more than half of his shots in his career coming from behind the arc.

He will be 34 years before the season starts and he’s made 40% of his threes over his career.

Neither Miller nor Jones will be starters.

Miller will probably be a rotation player, backing up at both the off guard and the small forward spots.

Jones only played in 20 games for the Heat last season, so he will probably be used as a specialist, playing in situation where three-point shooting is needed, maybe for plays at the end of a quarter.

The point is, both of these signings are minor in terms of neither player will be getting 30 minutes per night, but they are bringing a skill set needed on the wine and gold, and also another veteran presence for a team that doesn’t have many experienced players.

They will help James get the message to the young players and relate what is needed to win an NBA title.

Neither player is killing the Cavs in terms of salary cap space.

So far, Griffin is keeping his word in terms of rebuilding this franchise. It helped immensely that James returned to the franchise, but getting shooters, something lacking for Cleveland, is a great help too.

No Big Trades Yet for Cavs, But a Solid Draft Night

Many basketball fans in Cleveland thought draft night was going to be something monumental for the Cavaliers.

While it was an important night for the franchise, they simply used the draft picks at their disposal and apparently made one minor trade.

They used the first overall pick to draft Andrew Wiggins out of Kansas. Now, we would have picked Jabari Parker, because he is the more polished basketball player, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like the pick.

In four years, Wiggins could be one of the best players in the league. Our opinion is simply that for a team that claims to want to win now, they took a guy who could be much better down the road than he will be next season.

The newest Cavalier has a lot going for him. He’s an athletic freak and can probably play on the defensive end effectively as a rookie. He won’t be exposed when the other team has the basketball.

Another thing he has going for him is the new coach. The last head coach of the wine and gold didn’t like to play rookies and didn’t know how to handle them or develop their talent.

We have faith that David Blatt will put Wiggins in situations where he will have success. In fact, it’s almost like Blatt will have two high first round choices to coach because of the way last year’s choice, Anthony Bennett was handled.

On the second round, GM David Griffin addressed one of the team’s needs in getting a shooter, Joe Harris of Virginia. It will be interesting to see who wins the battle for playing time in training camp, Harris or Sergey Karasev, another first rounder buried on the bench by the old regime.

Remember that the latter played for the new coach on the Russian National Team a year ago, so he is well aware of his ability. Still, shooting was a big problem for the wine and gold, so the more they bring in the better. It is likely both youngster could figure into the mix as early as next season.

Harris looks like he has a quick release which is important in the NBA with defenders flying at you.

Later in the second round, it has been reported that Cleveland acquired another big man in 6’10” Dwight Powell from Stanford. The scouting report on him is he is a good defender and has a high basketball IQ, which is another thing Griffin mentioned when he was hired. He wanted smart players.

To get Powell, and veteran big man Brendan Haywood from Charlotte, the Cavs gave up Alonzo Gee, a small forward who didn’t have much of an offensive game, and had fallen out of the rotation for an extended period last season.

Haywood, originally a first round pick by Cleveland in 2001, but dealt for Michael Doleac, was probably included for salary reasons, but he’s a veteran big man. He missed all of last season with an injury. At 34 years old, it is doubtful he has anything left in the tank.

Now comes the trading season. The guess here is Griffin will deal Dion Waiters and one of his collection of power forwards, probably Tristan Thompson in the coming weeks to add more talent to this season’s roster.

Remember, Cleveland has a lot of available cap space. So, even though there was no blockbuster deal on draft night, it doesn’t mean there won’t be one when the league calendar flips the page in the next couple of weeks.

The restructuring has begun. Sit back and enjoy the excitement coming.

Big Night Looms for Cavs Tomorrow.

Tomorrow night could be a huge new beginning for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have a new GM in David Griffin making the selections, including the first pick in the draft.

They also introduced a new coach in David Blatt. In his introductory press conference today, he proclaimed himself, not an offensive coach or a defensive coach, but a basketball coach. That is music to the ears of all critics of Mike Brown.

We still remember Brown’s ridiculous comment when the Cavs were struggling on the offensive end early in the year, and he said they didn’t spend any time on offense during training camp.

The new head coach realizes you have to play well on both ends of the court.

We believe the new team of Griffin and Blatt will make wholesale changes to the current roster, with at least 1/3 of the players (that’s at least five guys) being turned over this summer, and it could all start tomorrow night.

Will the wine and gold hold on to the pick or will they make a deal to bring in a proven young player to add to Kyrie Irving.

If they keep the number one choice, we feel they should take Duke forward Jabari Parker.

Parker, listed at 6’8″ and 241 pounds (although it has been reported he weighs 15 more than that) averaged 19.1 points and almost nine rebounds for the Blue Devils last season.

Why take him over Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins? Because although Wiggins is the better athlete, Parker is the better basketball player.

Many experts say Wiggins has a huge upside, but will he reach that vast potential? He shot just 44.1% from the floor for the Jayhawks last season. Parker shot 47% from the floor and has a better mid-range and post up game than his Kansas counterpart.

Of course, if Joel Embiid hadn’t broken his foot, it would be a moot point. Embiid might be the best big man to enter the league in many years, but the injury factor is too much to ignore. He also missed time this season due to a stress fracture in his back.

Still, Embiid may have impressed Griffin enough that he would trade down to the 4th to 6th pick range, pick up another young player and still take the big man later in the first round.

If the Cavs’ brass truly think the injuries are not career threatening, then they may do just that, thus having their cake and eating it too.

One thing the front office needs to ignore is the temptation to make moves on draft day to entice LeBron James to come back to Cleveland, because if he doesn’t sign with the Cavaliers, it could set the franchise back a few more years.

If James wants to come back to the Cavs, and we feel he will either do that or go back to Miami, then that will just be icing on that cake.

Cleveland has several good young players and could move some depth at the power forward and point guard spots to get another big man and a shooting guard. Even if James doesn’t return, they would still be set for the future.

After having the top choice in the draft in three of the last four seasons, here’s hoping we don’t have it again for a long, long time. That is, of course unless James leaves the Heat and we get it again through their first round pick.

Lost Season With Brown Hurting Cavs Now

New Cavaliers’ GM David Griffin has a very difficult job. We aren’t talking about how his boss seems to want to be involved in the basketball operations, including trying to hire a coach behind his back.

His real problem is evaluating the talent on this team after last season.

We really believe that you have to throw away the seasons that some of the players who have been on the roster for more than two years, particularly Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.

You also have to discard any evaluation of last year’s first round draft pick, Anthony Bennett.

Irving and Thompson weren’t helped by Mike Brown’s coaching and it was obvious to everyone that the point guard didn’t trust his coach, and it affected his attitude.

That’s why talking about moving Irving is premature, unless he doesn’t sign a contract extension with the wine and gold.

We feel that Irving’s attitude will be much better with a new coaching staff this season. Thompson also leveled out under Brown’s tutelage.

What happens when a coach puts together sets and plays that don’t work, the players lose confidence in him. We all saw the difficulty the Cavs had last season with in bounds plays and plays at the end of games.

It’s easy to see why players like the two third-year players tuned out the head coach, and because of that, it is difficult for Griffin to evaluate both players going forward.

As for Bennett, yes he came to training camp out of shape due to off-season shoulder surgery, but since Brown found little time for Bennett to play, and when he did, he was put into schemes that didn’t put him into situations where he could succeed.

So, that’s three players that the new GM really can’t get a good read on. And he also doesn’t have a good gage on whether or not Dion Waiters can play with Irving because of last year’s coaching staff.

Tyler Zeller? Who knows? Brown hardly played him last season.

Outside of Waiters, what player who was here in 2012-13 made any progress in their game? You can’t name any. That’s why it is a difficult job for Griffin.

He does have to hire a coach soon, if only to get the new headman’s opinion on possible moves in free agency and in the draft. Whatever personnel moves they are considering, isn’t it better to find out what the guy who will be dealing with the players on a day in, day out basis is thinking?

We would support the hiring of either David Blatt or Lionel Hollins, who hasn’t received a second interview as of yet.

Blatt appears to be a true coach, a teacher, someone who will put players in a system that will take advantage of their abilities. That’s what this group needs. If his stuff works, the players will have confidence in him and play for him. That’s how it works.

As for Hollins, he would bring an attitude of winning. He would make it clear that losing is no longer tolerated. That change in culture is also needed. In the past few years, winning hasn’t been the first priority for the Cavs.

To be sure, Griffin didn’t take the gig because he thought it would be easy, he obviously loves a challenge.

However, what happened last year probably set the franchise back a year in the rebuilding effort. That’s something he has to overcome.