For the Cavaliers, winning the lottery has proven to be the easy part. Figuring out what to do once they’ve won has proven far more difficult.
On Tuesday, Cleveland got another gift from the ping-pong ball gods, winning one of the most anticipated lotteries of the last decade, their third win in the past four years, setting the team up to land one of the draft’s top-notch prizes Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker or Joel Embiid.
“We’re going to try to get radically better much quicker,” said general manager David Griffin.
That effort could start with the coaching search. While the effort on that front has been deliberate to this point, it is expected to pick up now that the lottery has been settled.
A source told Sporting News that, after slogging through with Byron Scott and Mike Brown for the last nine seasons, the Cavaliers were, “looking to hit a home run,” with their next coaching hire, hoping to attract a big name to the job. The lottery result makes it that much easier to bring in a coach.
That means three names at the top: former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, former Nuggets coach George Karl and former Memphis coach Lionel Hollins. All won 50-plus games in the season they were let go. There has been talk that the Cavaliers would like to draw John Calipari away from Kentucky and hope that he could attract LeBron James in free agency, but that is almost pure imagination.
The Cavaliers will give consideration to respected assistants, though, like the Clippers’ Tyronn Lue and the Bulls’ Adrian Griffin.
But for now, the focus is on upgrading the roster. Griffin acknowledged that, even with the No. 1 pick, the team has a deeply flawed roster that needs to be remade. Griffin even discussed the possibility of trading the pick — might he take a chance on Kevin Love? — but that is a longshot.
Griffin was certainly in need of this stroke of luck, having taken over the front office after the firing of general manager Chris Grant three months ago.
Grant had also tried to get radically better quicker last year, but most of the moves he made — including the use of the top pick on forward Anthony Bennett and the signing of Andrew Bynum — proved to be miserable flops.
Griffin will be charged with helping the Cavaliers move on from those decisions. He also has to keep in mind the psyche of point guard Kyrie Irving, who could sign an extension this summer — but has been rumored to be unhappy with the direction of the team.
The Cavs can explore trade options with other assets, including center Anderson Varejao, whose contract is guaranteed for only $4 million next year.
There is also shooting guard Dion Waiters, drafted fourth in 2012, who has not looked compatible at all with Irving. Both — and others — are expected to be available by trade this offseason as Griffin seeks to find pieces that not only improve the roster, but that fit better.
That was Griffin’s word of the night — “fit.” It’s a lot easier to find the right fit, of course, when you’ve got the first pick.