Woj: Chris Grant fired (1-year anniversary)

I like the way Woj writes his articles...

:hide:

Edit: Thoughts moved to a more lively thread

If only Ava Devine had spoke sooner. Chris Grant would still have a job

I just feel bad for Grant. You see the moves he's made and they, for the most part, look good. In three terrible drafts, he's managed to find players. Good players, players with hustle, players with big upside. Ive been down on Bennett, but out of the top 6 guys who were in the running for the number 1 selection (not counting Noel, who we haven't seen) Bennett does look like he has the most upside. And that's good on Grant. Dellevadova out of the bargain bin. That's all Chris Grant. All the trades that he won on.

Something kicked in with these guys after Grant was fired, this is just odd that the team would turn it around after the GM is fired. The coach? Sure. But the GM?

Were all these guys on eggshells, wondering what their futures here held? Did Grant have too much of a voice in the locker room?

It's odd that the team would all of a sudden show so much effort & look like their even buying into Brown's philosophies more than ever, with Grant gone..

Even Griffin telling them to play relaxed.. that alone wouldn't have this much of a 180..

MoFlo said:

Something kicked in with these guys after Grant was fired, this is just odd that the team would turn it around after the GM is fired. The coach? Sure. But the GM?

Were all these guys on eggshells, wondering what their futures here held? Did Grant have too much of a voice in the locker room?

It's odd that the team would all of a sudden show so much effort & look like their even buying into Brown's philosophies more than ever, with Grant gone..

Even Griffin telling them to play relaxed.. that alone wouldn't have this much of a 180..

Click to expand...

I was talking about this with my brother last night. I really think that is inconsequential as it should seem when a GM is fired, for this group of entitled, young kids to see someone's head roll as a result of their play was eye-opening for them.

I know you could point to Byron being shit-canned last year, but they had a whole summer to get over that. This caused an immediate reaction because he had drafted or brought in all these guys and they obviously had a bond with him because of it.

We needed a sacrificial lamb for both the fans and obviously the players, and unfortunately (for Grant and his family) that ended up being Grant. Maybe this is all wrong, but as you say, something made these kids put aside the bullshit and start playing to their potential. I'm just kind of pissed we are leaving this all so late.

MoFlo said:

Something kicked in with these guys after Grant was fired, this is just odd that the team would turn it around after the GM is fired. The coach? Sure. But the GM?

Were all these guys on eggshells, wondering what their futures here held? Did Grant have too much of a voice in the locker room?

It's odd that the team would all of a sudden show so much effort & look like their even buying into Brown's philosophies more than ever, with Grant gone..

Even Griffin telling them to play relaxed.. that alone wouldn't have this much of a 180..

Click to expand...

Lloyd has a article coming on Friday..I wonder, because it is odd that they would all of a sudden start playing..perhaps from all the embarrassing things that happened and so on but there's something else at the bottom of this.
Did Grant have a negative influence perhaps indirectly?
Players feeling they would be traded and being nervous?

Green Lantern said:

Lloyd has a article coming on Friday..I wonder, because it is odd that they would all of a sudden start playing..perhaps from all the embarrassing things that happened and so on but there's something else at the bottom of this.
Did Grant have a negative influence perhaps indirectly?
Players feeling they would be traded and being nervous?

Click to expand...

I doubt we'll ever know the truth behind the story, but it only takes one guy. If, for whatever reason, Kyrie had issues with Grant or some friendship with Griffin it would make all the difference. This won't be the first team that figured it out once the star player decided to buy in.

Of course it could be unrelated: shots started falling, the team put together a couple of wins and as a result started playing confidently. If that's the case, it's really a shame Grant for canned when he did.

MoFlo said:

Something kicked in with these guys after Grant was fired, this is just odd that the team would turn it around after the GM is fired. The coach? Sure. But the GM?

Were all these guys on eggshells, wondering what their futures here held? Did Grant have too much of a voice in the locker room?

It's odd that the team would all of a sudden show so much effort & look like their even buying into Brown's philosophies more than ever, with Grant gone..

Even Griffin telling them to play relaxed.. that alone wouldn't have this much of a 180..

Click to expand...

I actually think it's possible Griffen has created this 180. Who knows how long it lasts however, as team philosophy should be coming from the head coach.

I'm not sure if anyone caught Phil Jackson's interview with Oprah last weekend but it was fantastic. Talked about his zen philosophies, finding your center, staying focused, and above all else having trust in your teammates. He used to make Chicago practice in the dark because if you can execute in 90% blackness and trust where your teammate is supposed to be without seeing him, when the lights are on you've got insane confidence.

Anyways, Phil was insane about the team concept and it took several years of buy-in from everyone including Michael Jordan before they were able to take that step to a championship team. I don't think it is coincidental that Griffen got a majority of his experience under Steve Kerr who also preached the team concept and built the Suns (a good Suns team at the time) with philosophies learned under Phil Jackson. In a way, I think Griffen is preaching the Phil Jackson juice right now. He told the team they needed to start trusting one another. Have fun on the court and play stress free.

It's that zen way, man.

spydy13 said:

I was talking about this with my brother last night. I really think that is inconsequential as it should seem when a GM is fired, for this group of entitled, young kids to see someone's head roll as a result of their play was eye-opening for them.

I know you could point to Byron being shit-canned last year, but they had a whole summer to get over that. This caused an immediate reaction because he had drafted or brought in all these guys and they obviously had a bond with him because of it.

We needed a sacrificial lamb for both the fans and obviously the players, and unfortunately (for Grant and his family) that ended up being Grant. Maybe this is all wrong, but as you say, something made these kids put aside the bullshit and start playing to their potential. I'm just kind of pissed we are leaving this all so late.

Click to expand...

Grant will never be an innocent victim, precisely because he brought in his best buddy to coach, without much of a search. That nullified so much good that he did, and was, in itself, a firable offense. In the end, Chris Grant got Chris Grant fired.

Griffin said he sat down with Kyrie and Dion and talked about things. One thing he told them was that neither of them was being traded, and I think that might have been important. Almost from moment they were drafted, people were questioning whether they were a "fit", and they cannot have been deaf to that. And if they think their relationship is only going to be temporary, then there's not as much incentive to work out problems. Once Griffin told them they weren't going anywhere, Kyrie probably figured that he ought to try to work more with Dion, and Dion decided he had to start doing what the coach wanted.

I still don't think they're an ideal fit, but just them trying to make the best of it is a huge improvement. At the very least, it removes a major distraction for the rest of the team.

yeah, i can't figure it out. i still don't understand what a GM would have to do with how players play, but the Grant firing seems to have done something. maybe it was just the fact that their play was so terrible that it got someone fired - not just anyone, but the guy who drafted them. maybe that was enough of a wakeup call for the players.

I've tried to justify it as this (it's already basically been said in here):

1. You and a lot of other people all get hired to do a job for a new organization. You're all hired around the same time as each other, and are all viewed as up and comers in your field. You've come to become fairly decent buddies outside of a rift here or there. Eventually, the guy in charge (your boss's boss) has deemed it time to really get things revved up at work.

2. The guy who hired you had 1 job all along. His job was to hire people to make the organization run smoothly and succeed.

3. As the organization begins to underachieve, your boss gets fired. Go back to number 2 - what does that say about you and your buddies?

No info besides what I've read as well, but I think it was probably a combination of someone being fired due to their own poor play as well as Grant having a role in players not named Irving always in trade rumors.

It seems that the best basketball teams are the ones that looked relaxed and are having fun, when there are constantly rumors of you being moved it's hard to relax and have fun. So now that the stress of possibly being traded is gone and the realization that no one is immune to the effects of their play on their court, they are starting to come together more. You then add on a winning streak from playing as your coach has been wanting you to and that it would start leading to wins, you see them buying into it even more. The game last night wasn't won by the offense, it was won by an overall team effort on defense when it mattered that had Detroit go 4 or 5 possessions without scoring and us slowly clawing our back into the game and then finally to victory.

I will miss the amazing Grant trades, but looks like this is what was needed for the team.

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Grave digging this thread to give you all an update on our former GM.

It seems as if he finally got a new job. Not with a basketball team, though. Just received an email from my CEO and we have hired him on as a contractor to come in and help change the organizational culture/structure of the company. Should be an interesting transition!