Reshaping the Cavaliers FRONT-OFFICE

[heathmalc]

The original plan seemed so simple; so process-like. It appeared to be the natural order of things. Danny Ferry would move from the General Manager's position, to President of the Cavaliers, while Chris Grant would become the new General Manager with Lance Blanks becoming the new assistant GM, and Chris Jent would become co-assistant GM and maintain his position of Director of player development. The plan seemed so natural. Then hell broke loose.

The Cavaliers suffered another let-down in the playoffs, defeated by the underdog Celtics in 6 games of the second round. Rumors of arguments between the head coach, Mike Brown, and superstar LeBron James, made the media circuit. More rumors of locker-room unrest and dissent would follow. Mike Brown would be fired a week after the agonizing loss. Front office personnel were split on this decision. The biggest supporter of retaining Brown as the head coach was General Manager Danny Ferry. But, Owner Dan Gilbert rallied the front office hold-outs to his side, and Ferry grudgingly agreed that it was time for Brown to go, and for the Cavaliers to go in a new direction.

But Danny Ferry's agreement to Brown's dismissal was not without reservations. Ferry felt that his authority to do his job was being usurped by owner Dan Gilbert. His job was being reduced to being a front-man for Gilbert, a position that Ferry could not abide by. Ferry confronted Gilbert and they talked (or argued, as some who were near has said), and when the talking was finished, the direction of the Cavaliers was set: Ferry would resign, and Chris Grant would take over as General Manager, as the original plan had suggested. But Chris wasn't given the authority of finalization. That was a power that Gilbert had decided would rest elsewhere within the organization.

Was this a way for Gilbert to become a Cuban/Jerry Jones-like owner, and meddle in the affairs of their team more directly? It certainly appeared (appears?) so. Yet, Dan Gilbert has never been talked about as a guy who doesn't understand the business he is in. When people speak of Gilbert, it is with reverence and respect. I am not talking about his employees, who would only speak well of him because they really had no choice; I am talking about people who have never worked for Gilbert, and are as powerful, or even richer than he is. People like Paul Allen, Warren Buffett, Lawrence Ellison, The Walton family... and others outside the country, who's names may be less unrecognizable, but no less powerful or rich. Gilbert is not the type of person who decides to take a half a billion dollar business, and play with it, regardless of what it does to the corporation. Dan Gilbert is the type of man that plans out what he is going to plan for. He considers every possibility, and then makes decisions based on past successes, trends, and information provided to him by his advisers.

The truth of the matter is that Dan Gilbert very likely knew that Ferry wouldn't be working for him past this summer, as long as a year ago (or maybe even more?). But whether Gilbert is a smart man or not, and regardless of his connections to other billionaires and World leaders, Cavalier fans want to know what is going to happen to their team. Well, I think there is a plan. There is a plan that is being followed very deliberately. What that plan entails, I am not privy to, so I can only guess; like you. But, it wouldn't surprise me one iota if Jerry Colangelo was brought in as President of basketball operations, and someone else, perhaps Kevin Pritchard was brought in as his heir, perhaps V.P. of basketball operations. This is the type of thing that would follow Gilbert's modus operandi.

Whatever may be the case, you can rest assured that regardless of what you read in the newspapers over the following days & months, and regardless of what happens with LeBron, that there is always a plan... and that the one thing Dan Gilbert hates more than anything, is to lose!

[Niko23]

They continue to speak about "a plan" but we have yet to hear one thing. On a side note, as I posted in the GB - whatever happened to the elbow talk with LeBron? And why he appeared as if he quit on this team. He seems to be able to get all of these meeting set, but I am still waiting on those two answers.

[gflem]

Clearly, Gilbert didnt get to where he is by being an idiot. Hiring the right person for the job is essential to success in any business, and obviously Gilbert has been doing that for a while in his non NBA businesses.
However, professional sports are a different animal. Ownership is usually ego driven in professional sports, and many high powered businessmen have failed in sports ownership by letting their emotions (egos) get the better of them, by not letting the people they hired to do the jobs that they were hired for.
I dont believe Pritchard would take a backseat, meaning taking a VP position and waiting for a few years for someone else to retire. I believe he has enough standing in the NBA that he would get a better offer than that without even trying. Also, his ego is probably a little sore from the way he was just done in Portland.
I dont see the need to bring in someone like Colangelo and Pritchard, I believe it would be an either or situation. Heath, did you bring up Colangelo due to the fact that Lebron seems to respect him and the job he has done for team USA? I could see the Cavs offering him a position based on that alone, but do you really thing he would come here?
Colangelo seems to have the perfect job, its not a 24/7, 365 a year job that being an NBA GM has become. I for one would love to see Pritchard here, he did a great job in rebuilding Portland in a short amount of time, and that may well be what we need to do in the very near future.

[jnester71]

IMHO it looks like Gilbert's current plan is go to church.


Often.

[H00PDREAMS]

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