Dan Gilbert tells management to turn Cavs into a playoff team
There is no NBA fan more impatient than a NBA owner.
Once a NBA owner grows unsettled with the teams current landscape, they push for management to immediately field a contender, no matter the price or rigorousness of the process. We saw that with Tom Benson and the New Orleans Pelicans these last two seasons as they traded several picks for players-marginal players at that-who could make an impact now,and now, according to ESPN, Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers is doing the same.
"Furthermore, owner Dan Gilbert has given a mandate to ownership to turn this roster into a playoff squad this season. Parker is, by virtually all accounts, the most NBA-ready prospect in the draft."
Considering how well this franchise has been ran in the past, this could create a cause for concern for Cleveland. Remember when they prepared to win now last season by bringing in Andrew Bynum and forcing him to be a starting player despite the team playing better once the seven-footer was removed from the equation? Of course, there’s a new general manager in town by the name of David Griffin, but history precedes itself in these situations.
This could also impact how the Cavaliers enter the 2014 NBA Draft. With Joel Embiid out of the equation due to a foot and back injury, the decision of what to do with the number one overall pick becomes a lot more difficult. If Gilbert truly wants to win now, trading the pick for an All-Star big man. Or this course could push the Cavaliers to take whom many think is the “best player available” in Jabari Parker despite Andrew Wiggins being the better fit for the current roster build.
Gilbert hasn’t shown to be the brightest owner of the bunch. Hopefully, for the Cleveland Cavaliers sake, David Griffin keeps things on track instead of attempting to accelerating the rebuild as they’ve attempted to do in the past.