In a “Chalk Talk” event for Cavs’ season ticket holders before last night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, a game which the Cavs lost in part because of an emotionally detached Luol Deng and a withering 3rd quarter team effort, GM Chris Grant fielded questions from Wine & Gold United members about the team’s performance thus far and his goals for the rest of the season.
Among other things, it was the first time Grant appeared before fans and answered questions directly about Anthony Bennett.
Grant was by the way almost cartoonishly gaunt, his chest literally concave, and he admitted that he’s had a number of late nights this season. He claimed he’d put his three sons to bed “just once since Christmas.” The pressure to win and to achieve a berth in the postseason is beginning to weigh on him in a physical way, clearly. Nonetheless, he responded to fans’ inquiries easily and with only a hint of PR-speak.
He admitted that number-one-overall pick Anthony Bennett “obviously” hasn’t been playing how the organization had been hoping, but urged patience from fans. He likened Bennett’s critical reception to Tristan Thompson’s and reminded fans that big, young players take longer to develop and that Bennett is the guy who has been working hardest to improve his body at practices.
One fan asked why the Cavs haven’t shipped Bennett to the D-league, a question which has been posed with increasing confusion and urgency by local and national media outlets recently.
Grant replied that as long as Bennett was in Coach Brown’s regular rotation, which he had been until the Deng trade, he thought it was much more valuable for the rookie to get NBA minutes, playing against “stronger, faster” competition. He did acknowledge the value of the NBDL as a player development tool for untested and veteran players alike. Grant said he intends to begin using the Canton Charge even more to rehab injured players.
Yesterday, it was reported that Luol Deng scoffed at the three-year, $30-million offer the Bulls offered him this past summer. When Grant was asked how much it would realistically take to keep Deng, he said only “a lot,” but did say they didn’t view Deng as a rental. The organization traded for him with the intent to keep him. He said that he believed it would be possible to retain Deng and lure another big-ticket free agent and that owner Dan Gilbert traditionally has no qualms about the luxury tax, as long as moves make basketball sense.
Near the end of the session, when Grant kept insisting that the goal this year was to make the playoffs, it felt almost like a personal prayer. His job will most certainly be in jeopardy if this improved squad (complete with multiple very high lottery picks) fails to reach the postseason in the depleted — “confusing,” as Grant says — Eastern Conference.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2014.
Bennett is a bust, pure and simple; and it isn’t as if he is in the “development” phase in learning the game, with a high ceiling to improve — what you see is the finished product and it appears he is unwilling to get out of the comfort zone of cashing paychecks every two weeks & relaxing on the bench during games. The acquisition of Deng will simply be a rent-a-player unless the team starts showing more heart…..the thunderous thud after the road trip shows a roster that is light years from being a playoff contender; Deng will not ink a deal to be part of this ongoing rebuilding project.
There is absolutely nothing Chris Grant can say in defense of the Anthony “Fat Tony” Bennett pick at number one. Everyone and their mother saw him as a safe pick at maybe 7 or 8 but Chris Grant, like just about every other Cleveland sports exec, thought he was smarter than the room and took a complete and total bust. Pair that with the terrible re-hiring of Mike “LeBron James made me look like a real coach” Brown and I really think he should pack his bags.
mike brown is a horrible coach. he had kobe bryant and couldnt win.
Spin, spin, spin, that’s what all Cleveland sport GMs do. They stress patience, how much more patience does CLE fans have to have? That’s all we do. Grant continues to show why he’s not NBA GM material. Re-hiring a coach who couldn’t win with James or Kolbe, resigning Gee to a big contract, Clark as a free agent is a bust, Bynum debacle, and of course the wasted 1st round pick of Bennett, and a 4th on Thompson. Grant is trying to make people think he’s smarter than them with these stupid picks, like the Clowns. Grant wants to build through the draft but, is striking out.
We get the crap that no one else wants, and have them run our teams. Then we wonder why our teams suck ass and draft players like Bennett. I think a speed bump would be more useful on the floor than Bennett is.