Originally Posted by Bob Finnan

Burden is on Grant: GM has worked 15 years toward current job — rebuilding the Cavaliers' roster

Chris Grant has come a long way from being an unpaid intern with the Atlanta Hawks.

He was named the Cavaliers' ninth general manager on June 4. Grant is entrusted with the task of rebuilding the franchise after its ugly divorce from LeBron James in July.

Grant, 38, worked for three general managers in his NBA career. All three helped shape his existence. He hopes to draw a little from each one.

"I worked with three GMs — Pete Babcock, Billy Knight and Danny Ferry," Grant said. "They were three very ethical, honest, passionate human beings."

Grant hopes to do business much the same way.

"You want to do it the right way," Grant said. "I work hard every day and try to get better every day. I want to lean on some of the same infrastructure they had."

It's been a summer of departures for the Cavs. Three front-office executives left the organization. That just started the ball rolling. James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal followed path in free agency.

Ferry resigned as the Cavs' GM and has returned to the San Antonio Spurs as their vice president of basketball operations. Grant was Ferry's first hire when he was assembling the Cavs' front office in 2005.

"Over the past 15 or so years, Chris has worked his tail off and established himself as a detail-oriented, intelligent and well-rounded front-office guy in the NBA," Ferry said. "He wore a lot of hats in Atlanta, and he played a big leadership role for the Cavs over the past five years. I really enjoyed working with him."

Babcock, now a scout for the Cavs, ran the Hawks' organization from 1990-2003.

He brought Grant to the Hawks in 1996 as an unpaid intern. The job probably fell short of paying Grant's bills, but his work ethic helped open some doors.

"Chris is not only one of the up-and-coming NBA executives, he has paid his dues by starting as an unpaid intern," Babcock said. "He worked to become a paid intern, then worked his way up from the video room to scouting, and then into management.

"When he was an unpaid intern with us, he was the hardest-working member on our entire staff, assisting everyone in basketball, our trainer, the coaching staff, the video coordinator, our personnel staff, everyone. He impressed all of us with his attitude and ability."

Ex-Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens, who spent seven years as the Cavs' head coach, was one of those people who were smitten by Grant's willingness to roll up his sleeves and work.

"After doing an outstanding job in the video room and working out our players on the side, Lenny wanted to make him our advance scout," Babcock said. "He worked closely with Lenny and his staff and excelled with every task he undertook."

Gary Wortman, the Hawks' former director of scouting, soon recruited Grant to their college scouting department where — once again — he thrived.

Babcock knew he had a future star on his hands.

"He worked closely with me throughout the entire process and quickly became our most valuable staff member," he said. "He took the initiative on many fronts, doing studies on trends on the draft, player tendencies, etc.

"He demonstrated early on that he had the motivation and the instincts to do well in the NBA. He sought out as many learning experiences as possible by attending Tim Grgurich's camps in Las Vegas to learn his teaching techniques and programs to train players. He spent time with us in the front office on (salary) cap issues, trade mechanics, basically learning the collective bargaining agreement and how the league functioned. He sat in on everything we did."

Rebuilding front office

Grant is now piecing together his front office, much like Ferry did in 2005. Ferry wasn't the only departure, though. Assistant GM Lance Blanks left to become the Suns' GM, while capologist/legal counsel Mike Winger bolted for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Grant promoted Wes Wilcox to pro personnel director and Trent Redden to basketball operations manager/scout. Grant has already interviewed several candidates for Blanks' old spot, including former Nuggets GM Mark Warkentien, who was recently let go by Denver.

"I'm looking for fit more than anything," he said. "Lance has left. Lance is almost irreplaceable. He was a phenomenal guy and did a phenomenal job for us. We're looking more for fit in relationship with me, in relationship with (Coach) Byron (Scott), in relationship with players, in relationship with the business side, with the PR department, all the way around.

"I don't like to put limits on things, with one person, two people, three people. Let's find the right fit and hire the best people available."

Warkentien was the Cavs' interim GM in 2004 after Jim Paxson was fired.

"I've talked to a lot of guys," Grant said. "It's not something I'm going to rush into. I want to make sure we have the right people. I've talked to a lot of people inside and outside of sports."

With Ferry's and Blanks' departures, it seems like Grant is standing alone in a very vulnerable time.

"He's on his own, so to speak, but the one thing about C.G. is he's an intelligent guy," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "He's been doing this for a while. I have all the confidence in the world in him."

Grant said he doesn't look at it that way.

"It's not one person doing all these things," he said. "It's a combination of a lot of people working together to figure it out."

Still, Ferry and Blanks will be missed. The fact they moved onto other front-office positions is a testament to the Cavs' culture.

"Those guys did some amazing things here," Grant said. "We'll move forward. We'll adjust. We'll evolve. We still have some very talented guys here."

Babcock said he told Grant to be true to his own instincts.

"I told Chris to always do what you believe is right regardless of outside influences, be yourself, and surround yourself with people who are good at what they do, are trustworthy and honest," he said.

News has emerged Grant was given a two-year extension by Cavs majority owner Dan Gilbert. He'll be under contract for a reported five years at close to $1 million a season.

"I don't want to get into any details about that," Grant said. "Dan and his group have been supportive."

Grant's first coaching search took many twists and turns. He said he talked to fewer than 10 candidates.

League sources say Gilbert was infatuated in hiring Michigan State's Tom Izzo. He made him a staggering financial offer of $30 million over five years, which Izzo turned down.

They touched bases with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had no interest of leaving the comfy confines of Durham, N.C.

Things got a bit more serious with Lakers assistant Brian Shaw. But they finally landed on Scott.

"We got the right guy," Grant said.

Grant said he enjoyed the process.

"No, it wasn't nerve-wracking," he said. "Obviously, I'm very excited and happy with Byron. I guess I would classify it as successful. He fits our culture. He's unwavering in the face of adversity. He's easy to work with.

"With anything we do, we're a process-oriented group. With the draft, or free agency or trades, we do a lot of background work. We approached it much like that. Through a lot of discussions, talk, research, interviewing and questions, we got the right guy."

Retooling the franchise

"The Decision" was one of the most-watched shows on ESPN this year. In Cleveland, more than one in four homes tuned in, according to reports.

James has taken his talents to South Beach. The Cavs might not ever find a player like him again.

Grant said the organization has moved on.

"I'm past it now," he said. "He's no longer part of our team. We've moved forward."

Like many of the people who work for the team, Grant thought James was going to return. But they found out on July 8 that wasn't the case.

"Obviously, we got a call right at 9 o'clock," he said. "We felt strong about who we were as an organization and the things we had built together.

"I also understand he was a free agent and he got to make that decision. For us, we have moved forward and have continued to move forward. We have moved on."

They'll have to get lucky to find a superstar talent. Grant has prepared for this undertaking his entire professional career. He has some assets, including all but $500,000 of the Cavs' $5.8 million mid-level exception and a $14.5 million trade exception. They signed free agent forward/center Samardo Samuels to a three-year deal starting at $500,000 this season.

"The franchise is in a pretty good spot moving forward," Grant said. "We worked hard over the last few years to get it to that point. Unless you're locked in and winning the championship year after year, you have to be flexible and be able to change pieces to get better."

Grant calls the trade exception a "powerful tool." They hope to be able to pounce on a very good player when he becomes available, possibly near the trade deadline.

"It creates more opportunity," Grant said. "It's like having $14.5 million in cap space, except you can't actually go sign a player with it. You can only sign a player into it. It helps you facilitate trades. If a team is in the luxury tax and they want to get out of it, they might give you an asset to do a deal. Maybe you can't quite make a deal work because the numbers don't work, you can use that to put players into a trade. It's a pretty powerful tool. We'll be aggressive with it as we go into the season.

"We want to be flexible, strategic and not be emotional," he said.

Ferry has confidence Grant can get the job done.

"Like all teams, it will take both good decisions and good fortune going forward," he said. "Chris is ready for the opportunity and challenge in front of him."

The right stuff

Gilbert said it was almost a no-brainer having Grant replace Ferry.

"We thought he was ready for the challenge," Gilbert said. "We didn't have to go on some massive search. The candidate pool wasn't that deep anyway. We got the best guy.

"Chris and Danny worked like a partnership. Danny was the front guy from a PR standpoint. We realized how strong Chris was over the years with his depth of experience and his overall skill level. I've always been impressed. In reality, he had more experience than Danny or Lance. He's been doing it for almost 15 years."

Gilbert has found Grant is very cerebral and philosophical.

"Things don't shake him up based on the public nature of this," Gilbert said. "He realizes he might have to take some short-term hits for long-term gains.

"His emotional makeup is calm, cool and collected."

Gilbert said Ferry was the one who spoke for the organization in major matters and negotiated the trades.

"But Grant was the guy who went deep on the research with the numbers, facts and figures," Gilbert said.

Gilbert is a very hands-on owner. Gilbert will sign off on any major deal, but Grant said he'll make the basketball decisions.

"That whole final say thing, I don't know if that's the way to term those things," Grant said. "Ultimately, the owner always has the final say in any professional team. My dealings with Dan have been extremely positive and supportive. You guys are the basketball guys. You guys make these decisions. Does that mean we don't have debate, discussions and talks? Absolutely not. That's part of the reason I like that collaborative approach.

"He lets the basketball people make the basketball decisions. No question about that."

Gilbert said now that James is history, the Cavs will do things the right way.

"We weren't as focused on the long term (before James left)," he said. "We'll build the right way. It's absolutely refreshing and challenging and we're all looking forward to building the Cleveland Cavaliers into a premier team.

"We didn't achieve the ultimate goal (with James). It can't be a one-person show. We have to have a team approach and a team effort to make it happen."

Gilbert might second-guess himself as to what happened and why James decided to leave. But he's ready for the challenge that lies ahead.

"I think the organization is in a much better place than what the pundits think," he said. "We won 66 and 61 games the last two years. It didn't happen alone. We still have lofty expectations. This wasn't a one-man show. We have a lot of good, young, athletic players."



Grant has the knack of getting along well with people in every level of the organization. Scott realized that right away.

"The one thing I have with him that I haven't had with any other GM is a rapport," Scott said. "We have an unbelievable relationship and we get along extremely well. We both want the same thing, and that's to be very successful."

That's not always the case in the NBA. There have been times, even on the Cavs in years past, the GM and coach didn't get along at all.

"They don't always see eye to eye," Scott said.

Scott said he loves working with Grant.

"I love Chris to death," he said. "I saw something in Chris in summer league that I really, really liked. He's a very good communicator with players. He has a great work ethic. He's not a yes man. When he has an opinion, he lets me know about it. I want that from all my assistant coaches (too).

"I don't have an ego where I think everything I do is the right way. I'm willing to learn and listen. The final decision is always mine."

Grant said people shouldn't sell the Cavs short.

"We have a good coaching staff," he said. "We have youth on our team. Who knows what it's going to turn into?"