Thursday, April 21, 2011
By Mary Schmitt Boyer
Cleveland Plain Dealer
INDEPENDENCE
In spite of everything, Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant thinks his team is in a great spot.
In spite of the NBA-record 26-game losing streak, the 63 losses, the fact that five players will be coming off surgeries next season and several highly touted college players are electing to stay in school, Grant likes the Cavs’ options.
“From our standpoint, we’re in a really good position: high picks, trade exception, flexible contracts,” Grant said.
“We can make a lot of different things happen. On top of that, as you all know, our ownership group is very supportive and aggressive, which puts us in a position where we can go out and attack things but also with the understanding it’s got to be sustainable and successful.”
There are, of course, many unknowns, starting with the May 17 lottery to determine just how high the two first-round picks will be. The Cavaliers have their own draft choice and one from the Los Angeles Clippers. The best-case scenario would be that they get the first two choices. The worst case is they get the fifth (three teams move ahead in the lottery) and 11th.
Grant was undaunted by Monday’s news that North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes will return to school, as will Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.
“It’s not something we can control,” Grant said when asked if the talent pool was getting smaller. “What we can control are the guys who are ultimately in the draft and then try to figure out who that group is.
“So, from our standpoint, we know we’re going to add two good players to our team, not even considering the trade exception and some other tools. So I feel like we’re in a good spot, regardless of who’s in the draft.
“Every year we know one thing: We know there’s 10-15, 12-15 good players. Our job is to figure out who those guys are. Those are the marching orders we give our scouts: Go figure out who those guys are.”
Grant said it often takes two or three seasons to accurately judge the depth of a particular draft. He pointed to Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, who was not highly touted coming out of UCLA but developed into one of the league’s top point guards.
“You just don’t know how it’s going to play out,” Grant said. “How it looks today may look totally different three years from now. Our job is to identify those guys, find out as much as we can about them, do our research, do our work and then try to get as many of them as we possibly can.”
Grant said he and his staff will meet with coach Byron Scott and his staff to determine a course of action moving forward. Asked whether he anticipated drafting to fill a need or to acquire the best player available, Grant did not hesitate.
“My philosophy, best available,” he said, “particularly when you’re drafting high, you want to look for the best talent and human beings. The human being part is very important.”
He also reiterated the Cavs intent to use the $14.5 million trade exception obtained in the deal that sent LeBron James to Miami — if it makes sense.
“I’m hopeful,” said Grant, noting that the exception could be worth up to $14.6 million. “I’d like to use it. ... There are worse things [than not using it]. We don’t want to take on a bad contract. We don’t want to put ourselves in a spot where we lose flexibility, but certainly we are hopeful and we are going to try to use it.”