Dan Gilbert provides new Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin with a clean slate

I'm not an NBA general manager.

Were I to be hired as one, I would probably want a few things. Cap space would be nice. Some draft choices. Good players. A flexible roster. An owner with deep pockets. That would be a good start.

If you haven't caught on yet, those are all things that David Griffin's new employment includes.

The Cavaliers, as we know, can have a good 20 or so million dollars in cap space. Luol Deng, Spencer Hawes, and CJ Miles are free agents. Matthew Dellavedova, Scotty Hopson, Anderson Varejao, and Alonzo Gee are all on fully or partially non-guaranteed deals. Save Jarrett Jack, the entire remaining roster is young players on rookie contracts. There probably isnt a more malleable roster in the league as far as potential moves. Three first round picks in the next two years, and a potential fourth on the way from the Memphis Grizzlies just adds to that.

The important part though, is ownership. According to my twitter timeline, Dan Gilbert is a meddler. Is he? I dunno, he might be. But I don't think so. I mean, he just swallowed 4 years of guaranteed cash for Mike Brown to let David Griffin pick his own coach. He spent well into the luxury tax to let Danny Ferry acquire any and everyone he wanted. He paid Baron Davis in the neighborhood of $50 million to get a lottery pick. If you choose to believe columnists like Woj or Sam Amico, Dan Gilbert was Chris Grant's ardent supporter for just a little bit too long after most of the league got sick of him.

All that aside, here we are. David Griffin is the Cavs GM, and to quote ESPN's Marc Stein, has found himself in an enviable position.

But now you know why the Cavs' GM job, for all the skepticism (and worse) Gilbert routinely attracts, appealed to many candidates beyond Griffin. The Cavs not only have the mercurial Irving in place to try to (re)build around but also an owner who's willing to spend like few of his peers.

What comes next? Well, naming a coach. Given the level of respect Griffin has around the league, and his two degrees of separation from seemingly every name in the business, there is no shortage of candidates. Out of the gate former Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry has been mentioned alot, as has Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin. Griffin also used to work with Steve Kerr, so that is out there. Surely there will be a whole lot more names in the coming days. Hopefully one of them is not Mark Jackson.

For Griffin, the checks are blank, the cupboards are stocked, and just about any option is on the table. The season of "HUH?" has rolled seamlessly into the offseason of "wait, what?".