David Griffin has been named General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Mike Brown has been released as Head Coach, the team announced today.
Griffin had been acting General Manager since February 6th, 2014. Brown was hired as Head Coach on April 24th, 2013.
The Cavs record was 16-33 (.326) when Griffin became acting GM, then went on to close the season with a 17-16 (.520) record following his appointment.
Griffin joined the Cavaliers as vice president of basketball operations in September 2010. Prior to joining the Cavaliers, he spent 17 seasons with the Phoenix Suns, the last three as the club’s senior vice president of basketball operations after being named to the position in June 2007.
Brown finished the 2013-14 season with a 33-49 record and 10th place in the Eastern Conference. He also served as Head Coach of the Cavaliers from 2005-2010 and his life time record with the Cavs was 305-187.
“This is a very tough business. It pains all of us here that we needed to make the difficult decision of releasing Mike Brown. Mike worked hard over this last season to move our team in the right direction. Although, there was some progress from our finish over the few prior seasons, we believe we need to head in a different direction. We wish Mike and his family nothing but the best,” said Dan Gilbert, Majority Owner of the Cavaliers.
Griffin is leading an immediate search for the Cavaliers’ new Head Coach. The current Cavaliers assistant coaches remain under contract and working with the team.