LeBron James stardom both brightens and overshadows -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Chris “Birdman” Andersen is the Cavaliers latest free agent target.
The deal isn’t complete yet but we can say a couple things about it without fear of contradiction.
If the Cavs repeat as NBA champs, the Birdman body tattoo t-shirt will rival J.R. Smith’s in sales.
To guarantee that, Anderson might want to immediately start going shirtless, at least once Sunday church services conclude.
The other conclusion we can draw is Cavs GM David Griffin still won’t get as much credit as he deserves for his smart roster moves and decisions, not with the addition of yet another player with connections to LeBron James.
Tyronn Lue says Cavs have signed Birdman
Griffin finished seventh in executive of the year voting among peers in voting announced in May, a year after finishing second.
Was it because he fired a coach (David Blatt) hired under his watch? Was it because the Cavs didn’t blow away the competition in the regular season as the Warriors and Spurs did?
R.C. Buford of San Antonio won the award. Neil Olshey of Portland was second and Golden State’s Bob Myers third.
Griffin received three second-place votes and a one third – evidence perhaps that not everyone sees him as LeBron James’ chief recruiter.
In a recent interview with a South Florida radio station, the host asked me how much LeBron James dictated the front-office decisions.
I’m pretty sure that was never a recurring question the four years James played in Miami even though Pat Riley was as desperate to keep James as the Cavs were in 2010 and still are today.
My answer was that the Cavs would be crazy not to want James on board with big moves but it’s equally crazy to think James is working Griffin like a puppeteer.
Griffin in the past week turned Matthew Dellavedova’s departure into a trade exception that helped land Mike Dunleavy.
Either the Bucks owed the Cavs a favor or the Cavs will now owe the Bucks a favor. But in any case, I don’t believe that deal was triggered by James while he was sunning on a yacht off the coast of Mallorca.
Dunleavy fits what James wants and what Griffin knows works best in an offense that revolves around defenses collapsing on the Cavs superstar and protecting the paint against Kyrie Irving’s surgical strikes.
Dunleavy, like Channing Frye, is another long, tall sniper. Don’t think Griffin had to reach out to James to get his approval for continuing that strategy.
The Cavs title means Griffin got his biggest decision right, trumping even his acquisition of J.R. Smith last year and Richard Jefferson this season.
Whether or not Blatt could’ve taken the Cavs to the same heights we’ll never know. What we know is Griffin laid himself out in making the move and not only lived to talk about it but ended up with an audience of a million or so in a downtown parade.
Winning a championship, Griffin said at the parade after Fred McLeod’s complimentary words of introduction, means “everybody gets credit they don’t deserve.”
Being the GM of a team with a historically great player also has a flip side.
Having LeBron James means some people who deserve more credit don’t always get it
LeBron James stardom both brightens and overshadows -- Bud Shaw"s Sports Spin
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