앤서니 데이비스가 뉴올에 잔류할 수도 있다고 생각하는 데이비드 그리핀

In the meantime, Pels fans, you should know a few things about the man who’ll pull the trigger on this trade.

Griffin is a two-time cancer survivor, having started chemotherapy the day the Cavs realized they’d won the lottery (by way of the Clippers) in 2011. It was the pick Cleveland used on Kyrie Irving.

Words like “spirit” and “fit” are biggies with Griff. The first trade he made as Cavs’ GM (having taken over for Grant before the trade deadline in 2014) was for Spencer Hawes, a stretch-5 to play with Irving.

Griffin was once video coordinator for the Phoenix Suns when Danny Ainge was the coach. Griffin is as close to Ainge as anyone in the NBA can be (Ainge typically keeps his distance). So if it’s Ainge who comes calling with a monster offer for Davis — a combo of picks and young talent — Griffin will at least have had a personal history with Ainge and the past experience of those earlier trades in the summer of 2014.

Steve Kerr, the Warriors’ coach, is one of Griffin’s closest friends and mentors. Griffin oversaw day-to-day basketball operations in Phoenix while Kerr was president there; the two resigned together on the same day in June 2010. Alvin Gentry, the Pelicans’ coach now, was a head coach in Phoenix while Griffin was there. Griff interviewed Gentry for the Cavs’ job before hiring Blatt (Gilbert had a lot to do with the hire).

Also, Griffin has pieced together a trade to move a superstar before. In June 2017, suspecting that Irving wanted out of Cleveland, Griffin had the framework of a deal done that not only would have brought Paul George to Cleveland from Indiana, but additional pieces from at least one other team in exchange for Irving and other Cavs.

But Griffin wanted to talk to Irving and his agent, Jeff Wechsler, before making the trade, and Irving’s camp wouldn’t take the meeting until Griffin had a new contract from the Cavs. When Griffin’s deal expired and he couldn’t come to an agreement with Gilbert, the deal he’d outlined for Irving died.

Griffin’s tenure in Cleveland was not perfect. He was on staff when the Cavs took Bennett No. 1 in 2013. He’s one of the greatest flops in NBA history. Griffin’s front office didn’t make first-round picks in 2016 or 2017, and traded the 2015 first-rounder for Cedi Osman. Asset acquisition was not Griffin’s business with LeBron in town.

Oh, and the contracts given to the other two of Rich Paul’s clients — Tristan Thompson’s five-year, $82 million deal; Smith’s four-year, $57 million deal — handcuffed what the Cavs could do in 2017, after Griffin left, and last summer after LeBron moved on, again. You could say those contracts were the price of doing business with LeBron, but that wouldn’t be fair to Thompson and Smith, who both started in every Finals in Cleveland and played huge roles in the 2016 title.

There were days (and weeks) where Griffin and Paul drove each other nuts. Remember, LeBron’s first two seasons back with Cleveland were played on one-year deals, which the Cavs felt really hamstrung their ability to plan long term.

But Griff and his staff built a winner around LeBron, anyway. Paul remembers. And now, he has Davis’ ear.

https://theathletic.com/927000/2019/04/17/its-all-about-relationships-why-new-pelicans-gm-david-griffin-may-be-able-to-keep-anthony-davis-in-new-orleans/