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Tag Archives: NBA
RODA REPLAY – MY 1 ON 1 INTERVIEW WITH MARK PRICE FROM 11-15-13
Back on November 15, 2013 when the Charlotte Bobcats were in town to play the Cavaliers I caught up with former Cavs point guard Mark Price, an assistant coach with Charlotte and we talked about whether or not he wanted to be a head coach in the NBA and why maybe he felt he was ready. I’m sure he shared some of the same things he shared with me then, with the Cavaliers yesterday, when he met with team officials about the open head coaching job. Here’s that interview:
CAVS FIRE HEAD COACH MIKE BROWN A SECOND TIME
After one season in his second stint as Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown has been fired once again by owner Dan Gilbert.
Mike Brown press conference (4-16-14) after Cavs final game of the season on his future.
Brown was brought in a second time because Gilbert wanted him to reinstitute his defensive game plan and mindset with a Cavaliers basketball team that had no interest in playing defense under Byron Scott. While the Cavs made some progress defensively and improved their win total by nine games at (33-49) in a under Brown, not making the playoffs in a year Gilbert and many expected the Cavs to be in the post-season probably cost Brown his job for the second time in Cleveland.
While Brown is on his way out, interim GM David Griffin was promoted today to full-time general manager of the team and his first task will be to begin the coaching search for Mike Brown’s replacement.
Potential candidates the Cavs and Griffin could be interested in are Mark Jackson, Fred Hoiberg, Stan Van Gundy, Steve Kerr, George Karl, Lionel Hollins, Adrian Griffin, Nate McMillan, David Fizdale, Alvin Gentry Tom Izzo and John Calipari to name a few.
Griffin will hold an official press conference tomorrow morning at 11am at Cleveland Clinic Courts to address the changes.
CAVS FIRE MIKE BROWN and HIRE DAVID GRIFFIN AS GM – PRESS RELEASE
DAVID GRIFFIN NAMED GENERAL MANAGER OF THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS MIKE BROWN RELEASED AS HEAD COACH
-Offical Cavs Press Release- 5-12-14
CLEVELAND, OH – David Griffin has been named General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Mike Brown has been released as Head Coach, the team announced today. Griffin had been acting General Manager since February 6th, 2014. Brown was hired as Head Coach on April 24th, 2013.
“Our ownership group is looking forward to David Griffin leading the basketball side of our business. We interviewed several strong candidates for the GM position including Griff. We chose David as our GM because we believe he is the best person to lead our franchise at this critical time and into the future. David brings over two decades of experience. He knows the ins and outs of this league as well as anyone and is also an outstanding talent evaluator.
More importantly, he is a General Manager who is aligned with our culture and philosophy which is the foundation of how we do business. David is not only passionate about his own job but also cares deeply about the success of everyone around him. His presence alone creates an infectious positive environment with players, coaches, front office people and even our fan base. We already saw some progress in the short time David led our basketball side in the latter part of this past season. Clearly, we have substantial work ahead of us and I am confident that Griff will play an essential part of the growth and success of our organization,” said Dan Gilbert, Majority Owner of the Cavaliers.
The Cavs record was 16-33 (.326) when Griffin became acting GM, then went on to close the season with a 17-16 (.520) record following his appointment. Griffin and the Cavaliers basketball front office staff remain focused on reviewing the past season and preparing for the draft, including the pre-draft player combine in Chicago this week, as well as preparing for the upcoming NBA free agency period.
“Our ownership’s commitment to this franchise and the fans of Cleveland is absolute. I feel that commitment, not only by the resources they make available but also with their tireless passion for delivering a championship-caliber team. Our entire organization reflects that passion and commitment. I am humbled and honored to be put in position to aggressively work with them, all of our front office staff and anyone who can contribute to achieving that vision,” said Griffin.
Griffin joined the Cavaliers as vice president of basketball operations in September 2010. Prior to joining the Cavaliers, he spent 17 seasons with the Phoenix Suns, the last three as the club’s senior vice president of basketball operations after being named to the position in June 2007. Griffin joined the Suns basketball operations group in 1997 and performed various roles with the team including assistant general manager of player personnel, director of player personnel and assistant director of player personnel.
“Over the last several months it has become clear to me that the Cavaliers are on the cusp of reaching the higher level of success that we all want and our fans so greatly deserve. At the same time, it has become apparent that certain changes are needed. We now have the assets to make those necessary changes and additions to our team,” Griffin stated.
Brown finished the 2013-14 season with a 33-49 record and 10th place in the Eastern Conference. He also served as Head Coach of the Cavaliers from 2005-2010 and his life time record with the Cavs was 305-187.
“This is a very tough business. It pains all of us here that we needed to make the difficult decision of releasing Mike Brown. Mike worked hard over this last season to move our team in the right direction. Although, there was some progress from our finish over the few prior seasons, we believe we need to head in a different direction. We wish Mike and his family nothing but the best,” said Gilbert.
“Our ownership support provides the highest level of resources, flexibility and commitment to aggressively do whatever we believe needs to be done in order to win. There is no harder working or better human being in our league than Mike,” Griffin added. “This was not an easy decision. We thank Mike for his efforts and wish him, his wife Carolyn, and their family only the best.”
Griffin is leading an immediate search for the Cavaliers’ new Head Coach. The current Cavaliers assistant coaches remain under contract and working with the team.
STATEMENT FROM CAVS OWNER DAN GILBERT ON COMMENTS ALLEGEDLY MADE BY CLIPPERS OWNER DONALD STERLING
“It is shocking that anyone could hold the kind of offensive and feeble minded views that are being attributed allegedly to the Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. The diverse staff members of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise are unified in encouraging Commissioner Silver and the NBA to respond with swift and appropriate action consistent with a strong zero tolerance approach to this type of reprehensible behavior.”
–cavs.com–
Bennett’s Struggles Continue For Cavs
As I finished up my one-on-one interview with Anderson Varejao and the “Wild Thing” was heading out the door after last night’s 98-91 loss to the Wizards I looked around the locker room and noticed that I was the last reporter left and there was only one player left as well, Anthony Bennett.
The number one overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft was still sitting at his locker, no shirt on, just shorts, staring at the wall. He looked dejected, confused and bewildered because of another night of ineffectiveness and very little playing time. The hometown fans had just booed him earlier in the night after he shot another air ball from long range. I’ve covered the NBA for over 20 years now, and yes they get paid a lot of money to play a game and it’s hard to feel sorry for them because of that, but as I made my way out of the locker room, that’s exactly how I felt for Bennett.
I disagreed and was shocked when the Cavaliers selected Bennett with the first pick. I would have taken Ben McLemore or Otto Porter Jr. or Alex Len over Bennett and I have voiced my displeasure about it numerous times. So far it looks like a horrible selection by Cavs G.M. Chris Grant. Bennett is so bad through the first 12 games of this season, that undrafted players like Henry Simms and Mathew Dellavedova are playing more minutes now and averaging more points per game than the top “Lottery Pick”!
Bennett’s numbers are frighteningly bad – 1.3 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game. His shooting numbers are even worse, a dismal 13% from the field, only 7% from 3-point range and just 50% from the free throw line. Those shooting numbers are all last on the team in every category. Hard to fathom from the top player picked in the draft.
Because of his struggles Mike Brown has pretty much taken him out of the rotation at this point, and it’s the right move. This kid’s head is spinning right now. He’s working hard, trying hard, but nothing is going right. No athlete wants to fail, or wants to lose, so it’s not like he’s playing poorly on purpose, he’s just not good right now and there aren’t any signs that he’s going to get better any time soon.
So what should the Cavs do with him? I talked to a few people last night to see if the D-League was an option, but everyone agreed that’s not the answer at this point. It may do more harm than good to his already fragile psyche. So all the Cavs can do is tell him how important practice is. Tell him to keep working hard. Tell him to get in better shape and that it’s going to get better. Hell, it can’t get any worse! There’s only one way to go and that’s up. Mike Brown needs to pick his spots for Bennett in games so he can have some success. Either in a blowout win or loss, make Bennett the focal point on offense in garbage time just so he can see the ball go through the hoop and maybe gain some confidence back.
There’s a long way to go in this season and in Bennett’s career, and while it’s not time to panic, it is time to be very concerned about the short comings so far of Anthony Bennett’s game. I really don’t want to say I told you so on draft night and maybe 12 games is too small of a sample size, but so far it’s looking that way. Here’s hoping that Bennett is just a slow starter and learner and will eventually figure this thing out for his sake and the Cavaliers sake. If not he’ll been mentioned forever with the likes of Kwame Brown and Michael Olowokandi and LaRue Martin as complete busts in the NBA. But more importantly he’ll set the Cavs organization back a number of years as they try and become relevant again and challenge for an NBA championship. If that happens, there’s no way anyone, including myself, will feel sorry for Anthony Bennett.