Griffin: 'Shame on us' if Cavs can't maximize LeBron's remaining years
The pressure Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin felt when Akron native LeBron James elected to rejoin the franchise back in 2014 was enormous, knowing full well that with a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player on his roster, it was going to be championship or bust however long James stuck around.
The King is a transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime athlete that Cleveland has been fortunate to have on not one, but two different ocassions. Making sure LeBron's remaining time doesn't go to waste falls on Griffin's shoulders, and it's safe to say - given the Cavs' championship title in 2016 - that Griffin has gotten quite the favorable return on investment.
"I’ve said this several times since, but you’re basically charged with the legacy of Babe Ruth, and it’s our responsibility to allow that legacy to grow and evolve," Griffin told The Vertical's Michael Lee.
"So it’s almost like a sacred trust that the kid gives you. He’s so good, in his own right, by himself, that he sort of mandates you have to be a title contender just by his presence alone … and if you don’t capitalize on the years he has left, then shame on us."
James' decision to make his way back to the team that originally drafted him in 2003 forced Griffin to reconstruct his roster on the fly, catering to his new star. The Cavaliers were no longer in rebuilding mode, so instead of investing prime LeBron years in a surrounding core featuring two other No. 1 overall picks in Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins, Griffin did some fine-tuning and moved his youngsters to acquire Kevin Love, who's currently playing some of his best basketball since coming over from Minnesota.
The idea that James is the one calling the shots behind the scenes, though, and acting as Griffin's puppeteer to assemble a core unit to his liking is something the GM can't wrap his mind around.
"I take offense to it on (James’) behalf at times," Griffin said. "He doesn’t like that image. I don’t think he wants that image. He wants to lead his troops. He wants to be a player. He wants to lead the guys from within. He never tried to do any more than that. I think for him, it’s almost an unfair characterization of him, that he’s some kind of overlord. That’s not at all what he does."
Cleveland has won over 50 games each of the last two seasons after failing to win more than 33 during the four-year span James was in South Beach. The Cavs made the Finals in both seasons, and recently ended the city's infamous title drought by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to the 73-win Golden State Warriors.