Gund, Silas and now Paxson?

ESPN is reporting that Jim Paxson will be fired soon (as in within the next 48 hours).

Really, I'm not too upset at the firing, we all knew he was going to be gone after the season anyway. Owner Dan Gilbert can just get a head start on GM (and coach) canidates for next year.

I don't think that this could really affect the playoff push much, the team has good and bad days, and Paxson isn't going to have much affect if he stays. I'm pretty sure the Cavs don't have a draft pick this draft. And I'm sure we don't have a first round pick this or next year, because of the Sasha Pavlovic and Jiri Welsch trades. So I guess the Paxson firing is justified. No first round picks the next two years? For Sasha and Jiri? Sweet.

In his defense, Paxson did get rid of Shawn Kemp, Bob Sura, Lamond Murray and to a certain extent Kevin Ollie and their contracts. And we will be under the cap this summer. One rumor I heard was the Cavs offering Phil Jackson the GM and coaching jobs. I'm not sure how I feel about this, I mean, if we could get Jackson, it'd be sweet, but has he ever been a GM before?

Other rumors I hear (mentioned in the link above) are ESPNs Greg Anthony getting the Cavs job. I do not aprove of this, if the Cavs (and Gilbert) want to keep LeBron after his rookie contract is up, I would suggest getting a GM with experience. Not a first timer who looks good on TV.

Also, another coaches name has been mentioned for the Cavs job. Tom Izzo. This is another move I hate. The Cavs (and LeBron) need a coach who's won before (at least NBA playoff games, if not the finals). Izzo is a great coach, and he might be a good pro coach. But especially after the Browns failure with Butch Davis, I don't Cleveland will be the right place for a rookie NBA coach to get his feet wet.

Another rumor I heard from (from my roommate Ben Warburton, and I'm not sure where he picked it up, it could be from either ESPN's Stephan A. Smith or his own ass) was that the Cavs are going after the assistant GM to the Heat and he will try to get current Heat GM Pat Riley to return to coaching with the Cavaliers. I would pursue this, Riles is awesome, and I think he would be a great fit with this team.

To me, LeBron is most like Magic Johnson, only much more athletic. Riley would be a great coach for him. But who knows how true this is and how interested Riley is in coaching again. Personally, I would be extremely surprised if Riley doesn't coach again.