Chauncey Billups was a much-talked about candidate for the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager's job, but he pulled out, apparently over money.
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But Billups, in an interview with the Vic Lombardi show in Denver, went further in explaining why he didn't take the job. First, he's flummoxed by Kyrie Irving's behavior and his desire to get away from playing with LeBron James; and secondly, he sees a terrible future for the Cavaliers, who he believes are devoid of meaningful assets. First, on Irving:
You're getting everything you want. You're getting all the shots you want, you're playing for a great coach, when the game is on the line they're coming to you, you're playing on national TV every week. To me, I don't get it. Everybody has their own desires. Maybe he wants to be Russell Westbrook and go try to win the MVP and get all the shots. That's the only thing sense I can make of it, and to me that doesn't make sense.
But then he dished on the Cavaliers lack of assets, and how he sees a rebuilding job as very, very difficult to achieve:
The whole LeBron leaving the next year, to be honest that didn't bother me that much. Here's why: When you have an opportunity to really put something together and put your imprint on it — rebuilding is a beautiful thing if the [owner] is going to have the patience with you. What bothered me more than if LeBron left or not was I didn't think they had great assets if you have to do a rebuild. It was more that than Bron. Bron and I have always had an amazing relationship.
It's hard to argue on either point. Irving's insistence that he get away from the greatest basketball player in the world to join, potentially, the incredible bad New York Knicks is a head-scratcher, and that's putting it mildly. And the Cavs are not built for the long run.
