Cavs GM David Griffin: Trade market not in favor of point guard search
LeBron James wants the Cavaliers to pick up a "reliable, veteran backup point guard" and GM David Griffin wants to give his superstar what he desires - but it isn't that easy.
The Cavs have struggled to find a replacement for Matthew Dellavedova, who left the defending champs in the off-season for a much heartier paycheck from the Milwaukee Bucks. Cleveland has been forced to run out rookie Kay Felder and second-year guard Jordan McRae as the primary backups to Kyrie Irving, which isn't exactly reassuring for a team hoping for a long playoff run.
Griffin is doing what he can to give the King what he wants, but with so many squads still in the hunt for the playoffs, teams are wary of trading an asset.
“It’s very difficult right now to make trades,” Griffin told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. “There’s so many teams that are still in it in both conferences in terms of those final playoff spots, that they’re really aren’t teams that identify themselves as sellers right now. And the teams that are identified as sellers probably didn’t have what fit us real well, so I think there are far fewer opportunities right now to make trades than there have been in the past for our team, just in terms of fit."
Griffin has a reputation for mid-season pickups that help enhance the rotation for the Cavaliers, most recently adding sharpshooter Kyle Korver, and in the past adding J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Channing Frye - all essential parts of the Cavs' core - during the season.
With such a small amount of games separating the fringe playoff teams from the bottom dwellers in each conference, many will hold on to their assets until they can see exactly where they stand once the season progresses further.
The Cavs are pretty much set in the first spot in the Eastern Conference, so Griffin has time to wait out the market.
“Maybe some teams that are still playing for right now may end up being in a situation where they start to set the deck for the future,” Griffin continued. “We need more teams to be out of the playoff picture to really be able to get business done.”