Cavs want Kiki Vandewhege

[FADERPROOF]

News here is reporting that the Cleveland Cavs are now turning their attention to Kiki Vendewhege as their new president of operations. Apparently, the Larry Brown to Cleveland news is not a done deal at all as the Cavs are growing impatient with him as he is not giving them an answer about the job, so now they are looking at other candidates.

My guess is that he'll stay with the Nuggets, but it wouldn't be bad to have him here in Cleveland.

[Crushaholic]

The Cavs need to give Larry a break. He's only trying to defend a championship. I still think it could happen, but his team is still playing.

[Nuggets4]

Knowing the Nuggets luck, and Kroenke's skill, they'll let Kiki walk.

My entire life, any time the damn franchise does something promising, they do something to kill it dead. I will not be surprised when this happens again.

[bendog]

I dunno. The way stan the man made the strife between kiki and Bzdelik linger so long, I can see kiki moving on. But, he's also got a challange in the nuggets, and Karl should be able to get the team to play some d and carmello to take it up a notch.

Lebron though.

[Tredici]

The Cavs need to give Larry a break. He's only trying to defend a championship. I still think it could happen, but his team is still playing.

I think it has happened. Kroenke gave Kiki a pass after it was too late to get on the ride.

[FADERPROOF]

Here's an article on it...

Source: Vandeweghe is allowed to look
Nuggets general manager could be in hot demand

By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News
June 6, 2005

The door is open for Kiki Vandeweghe to pursue opportunities outside Denver.

Whether the Denver Nuggets general manager decides to cross the threshold remains up in the air.

According to an NBA source close to the situation, Vandeweghe is free to talk with other teams about current and future job openings.

The revelation comes almost three weeks after Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke denied the Cleveland Cavaliers permission to speak with Vandeweghe about their top front-office position.

The Cavaliers are pursuing Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown to be their president of basketball operations, but both sides have said no deal is in place.

If Brown does not join the Cavaliers, Vandeweghe reportedly is near the top of Cleveland's short list.

Asked about the Cleveland job Sunday, Vandeweghe said, "My focus is on the draft and improving this team."

Vandeweghe, hired as Nuggets general manager in 2001, has one year remaining on his contract. Negotiations on an extension are not expected to happen anytime soon.

In the past three weeks, Boston Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge and Portland Trail Blazers general manager John Nash have received contract extensions.

Vandeweghe's agent, Warren LeGarie, did not return phone messages. Kroenke has declined to discuss Vandeweghe's contract status.

In a perfect world, Vandeweghe would sign a long-term deal to stay in Denver for the rest of his career, but he might decide to look elsewhere should a lucrative offer become available after the 2005-06 season.

A source said he would not expect Vandeweghe to leave Denver with one year remaining on his contract.

Vandeweghe, who will make a base salary of about $800,000 next season, has become a respected front-office executive since returning to Denver, where he spent four seasons as a player.

After clearing salary-cap room through various trades in his first two seasons, Vandeweghe has signed marquee free agents Kenyon Martin and Andre Miller and drafted budding star Carmelo Anthony in 2003.

The result has been consecutive playoff appearances after a nine- year absence from the postseason.

Vandeweghe's tenure has not been without mistakes, something he freely admits.

He selected Nikoloz Tskitishvili fifth in the 2002 draft. Tskitishvili averaged 3.2 points in two-plus seasons before being traded to the Golden State Warriors four months ago.

Promising young players Carlos Arroyo and Devin Brown also spent time with the Nuggets in the past four seasons but were not re-signed.

Each has gone on to make significant contributions for the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs.

[Tredici]

Yeah, it's been hashed ad nauseum on jocktalk here. Pretty much the concensus is Kroenke gave Kiki the green light after he knew the bus had left.

Don't know what is going on in Nuggetville though. Karl's success may come at a price. -- Well, in addition to the $200K....

[epicSocialism4tw]

Kiki would have more resources to pad his resume in Cleveland. Players are going to want to play with James, and they will be playing in the weak eastern conference. It's nice not to have to grind your way uphill against 10 quality teams. Just ask Kiki about that who's team had a great second half of the season only to get put in their place by the Spurs in round one. A good team in the east is guaranteed a legit shot at the conference finals.

[Dudeskey]

Knowing the Nuggets luck, and Kroenke's skill, they'll let Kiki walk.



I forget which other team was trying to talk to Kiki, but Kroenke turned them down flat.

[Nuggets4]

It was the Cavs. Obviously he's since reconsidered.

[Dudeskey]

Kroenke would never let that happen w/ Lacroix, wtf.

[FADERPROOF]

Now the new rumor/news is that Cavs are still pursuing Larry Brown as President of Basketball Operations, and want Kiki as the GM. If Brown decides to turn down the Cavs offer, then the Cavs will offer the Pres. of basketball operations job to Kiki.

So curently he's runner-up as Cavs new President of Basketball Operations, and 1st candidate as the Cavs new General Manager.

[Darkhawk24]

I'm not sure what makes the Cavs such an attractive spot... They act like they can just pick and choose who they want.

Denver isn't much better...

[FADERPROOF]

I'm not sure what makes the Cavs such an attractive spot... They act like they can just pick and choose who they want.

Denver isn't much better...

These two guys make both franchises pretty attractive...

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