ESPN story on Chauncey Billups unfairly portrays Cavs in bad light

A recent ESPN story leaves the impression that the Cleveland Cavaliers lowballed Chauncey Billups  Is it a fair assessment?

Chauncey Billups, “Future front-office star.”

That’s what Marc J. Spears and Chris Haynes wrote in their ESPN.com story, which makes Cavs owner Dan Gilbert look cheap (he’s not), because Cleveland’s owner  offered $2 million in an attempt to lure Billups out of his plush analyst job with the four-letter network.

Spears and Haynes are good reporters, and they wrote that league sources view Billups with future star potential.

But where was this talk when the Cavs were moving past David Griffin? Gilbert must’ve known all along he wanted to interview Billups, a candidate we’re now being told is so loaded with potential.

Gilbert got bashed for moving past Griffin, instead being on the cusp of hiring the next great front office star.

AmicoHoops.net founder and Fox Sports Ohio analyst Sam Amico has his own sources, and nobody’s he’s spoken with is calling Billups a “future front-office star”

"No one I’ve talked to around the NBA has said that about him. “I think most people consider him a future front-office unknown,” one West Coast GM told Amico Hoops via text. But the report was accurate in that $2 million a year is low for a GM, even one with no prior experience."

OK, so Gilbert’s offer to Billups was low, how else could explain the Lakers giving Rob Pelinka, someone with no previous GM experience, $5 million a year? Gilbert just doesn’t value front office executives. Is it right or wrong? I don’t know. But moving past Griffin and not offering Billups a higher salary is how he operates.

It doesn’t make him cheap. You can’t say that about an owner who reportedly lost $40 million during a championship season because he paid $54 million into the luxury tax.

The big problem the Cavaliers fan base should have with Spears’ and Haynes’ story is that it makes Cleveland look dysfunctional.

Assistant execs Koby Altman and Mike Gansey have done an excellent job running the team. Ask yourself, have they made it worse?

So they didn’t get Jimmy Butler or Paul George. You must understand, the Cavaliers have little to no assets to work with. Not everyone wants a 28-year-old Kevin Love. Why? Because when the team that acquires him is ready to win, Love will be 30 and in the last year of his contract.

Don’t think that David Griffin would’ve magically pulled a trade out of his hat. He was working with the same players, assets and restricted cap space  Altman and Gansey are working with when he and Gilbert parted ways.

After the craziness that’s been the start of NBA free agency, the Cavaliers are still the team to beat in the East. Boston got closer with the signing of Gordon Hayward, but I can stand stand on a ladder and be closer to the moon, too. It’s still 238,900 thousand miles away.

And what about LeBron? Yahoo columnist Dan Wentzel would lead us to believe its because LeBron is already out the door after this season.

But what doesn’t get talked about a lot? James actually has been an active participant in the Cavs’ offseason. He made calls to Paul George, and discussed what it would be like to play together, according to ESPN’s Brian Windorst, via Mike and Mike.

"“He doesn’t necessarily call up Jose Calderon before they sign him, but, before when they were in trade talks with Paul George, Lebron was talking to Paul George. Both of them have one year year left on their contract and Lebron would talk to him about their future.”"

Windy also made the point that LeBron’s future wasn’t going to sway Billups’ decision one way or the other, while emphasizing the point that Dan Gilbert doesn’t look for James’ opinion on who to hire for the front office, nor the narrative that James “runs” the Cavs is correct.

"Before Chauncey interviewed for the job, I knew Chauncey was going to interview for the job…he told me, I normally wouldn’t share this but I think it’s relevant now, he told me it was not a concern for him. That of all the concerns he would have of taking a GM job in Cleveland or anywhere else, the idea that he would have to build over from scratch if LeBronn left was not a deterrent. Not necessarily on the record, but now that it’s over, I”ll say that and I was saying that during the process."

The offseason might not have worked out the way Cavs’ fans might have wanted it, but Cleveland is still the top dawg in the East.

Next: 5 free agents Cavs should over mid-level exception to

And the Finals are still 11 months away. A lot can happen between now and then. Just stay tuned.