By Larry Durstin
These are the times that try Cleveland fans’ souls. The Browns are once again lost in the Ozone; the Indians’ spectacular season last year has done nothing but increase anxiety regarding a collapse this year; and the Cavaliers are less than 40 games away from sinking into oblivion in the eyes of lots and lots of fans.
The clock is ticking for General Manager Chris Grant, who took over midst the rubble of LeBron’s departure four years ago and since then has had a bundle of draft choices, made a number of trades and hired two head coaches. In other words, the Cavaliers are his team – a fact that will likely cost him his job come April unless a dramatic turnaround occurs over the next three months.
Since the King bolted in 2010, the Cleveland fans have been remarkably supportive of an inept team that has averaged 25 wins for the three seasons leading into this year, which was supposed to find them flirting with the playoffs and a .500 record.
Understanding the deep hole left by James, Cavalier fans have kept attending games in sufficient numbers to put the team in the middle of the NBA in attendance. The remainder of this season could put an end to that and begin a franchise downturn comparable to that of the pre-LeBron era.
In the past three drafts, Grant has had two overall number-one picks (Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett), two number-four overall picks (Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters) and two more top-19 choices (Tyler Zeller and Sergey Karasev).
Of these picks, Bennett, Thompson and Waiters were considered to be “reaches” by Grant and were the subject of considerable criticism at the time they were made. That criticism has risen with the abysmal first half of this year and will become deafening should the Cavs continue to implode.
With the acquisition of two-time all-star small forward Luol Deng from the Chicago Bulls, Grant has been able to make chicken salad out his failed gamble of signing oft-injured head case Andrew Bynum. Deng’s presence in the line-up should dramatically improve the Cavs’ chances of sneaking into the playoffs in the dismal Eastern Conference, but even that might not be enough to convince Deng – a free agent at the end of this season – to sign a long-term contract with Cleveland. Should he go elsewhere, the Cavs will have taken a giant step in the wrong direction.
And then there’s Irving, a player with superstar talent who has not shown improvement thus far in this his third year. He was supposed to be the franchise player that the Cavs could build around but – given the ongoing disorder of the team – Kyrie could very well play out his contract with Cleveland and take his skills elsewhere sooner rather than later.
And then there’s Waiters, a dynamic and talented scorer whose “roughness around the edges” has too often resulted in sloppy play marked by pouting, arguing with refs, poor shot selection, loafing back on defense and ill-timed turnovers. The fact that Waiters was taken by Grant (who never interviewed Dion prior to the draft) before Harrison Barnes and, especially, Andre Drummond has gotten the GM a torrent of criticism that will only increase should the Cavs flounder and Dion remain a model of moody inconsistency.
And then there’s the off-season acquisitions of Earl Clark and Jarrett Jack. Clark has been, at best, a non-factor while Jack, coming off a terrific “Sixth Man of the Year” caliber season with Golden State, has not performed anywhere near that level with the Cavs. Also, Cleveland’s two first-round drafts picks this season, Bennett and Karasev, have contributed absolutely nothing to the team and Bennett is already being touted as perhaps the worst overall number one pick in the history of the NBA.
And then there’s the re-hiring of former Cavalier coach Mike Brown, whose defensive-mindedness was supposed to create a hard-nosed culture for the team. Well, as the season has progressed, the Cavs seem to be getting softer defensively while their offensive execution has remained erratic and inefficient.
All of these moves were made by the angular Grant, who must answer to an impatient and steaming Dan Gilbert. With the trade deadline less than a month away, Grant may have his last chance to improve the team and possibly save his own behind. Perhaps he moves Waiters who, for a variety of reasons, doesn’t seem to be a good fit with the Cavs and appears to be practically begging to be traded. Perhaps Grant packages a player or two and a draft choice to bolster the roster with a three-point shooter or a rim-protecting big man.
Whatever move or moves Grant makes over the next few weeks, it’s highly unlikely he can improve the team to a level that will satisfy Gilbert and overcome the questionable choices Chris has made over the past four years. At that point, not only will Grant be out of a job, but the support of Cavalier fans will rapidly dwindle and the franchise itself will be shaken to its core.
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. He is the author of the novel The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com