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After meeting with former Pistons guard and current ESPN Chauncey Billups on Tuesday, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert will talk to Billups for a second straight day Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman:
Conversations between Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and Chauncey Billups expected to continue today, source told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 21, 2017
After the Cavs and David Griffin parted ways, Billups quickly emerged as Gilbert’s choice to take over the team’s front office. If hired, Billups is expected to become Cleveland’s president of basketball operations and the team will hire a GM to work under him.
Billups, 40, retired from the NBA in 2014. He has no previous front office experience.
If today’s meetings go well for Billups, it’s entirely possible that the Cavs could sign him to a deal immediately and get him started before tomorrow night’s NBA Draft. Currently, Koby Altman, an assistant GM under Griffin, is taking phone calls from other teams, as both Griffin and ex-president vice president of basketball operations Trent Redden are no longer with the organization.
If Billups get hired today or tomorrow, he will have to hit the ground running on the Cavs’ offseason. Although Griffin worked up until his departure, deals for either Jimmy Butler or Paul George have reportedly stalled out. And if the Cavs want to surround him with an experienced staff, those moves will be have to made quickly too. It’s also interesting, and worth questioning, that the Cavs may only interview one candidate to replace Griffin.