Cleveland Cavaliers A.M. Links: Izzo should only go if LeBron stays;

It would be a mistake for Tom Izzo to leave Michigan State for the Cleveland Cavaliers, unless LeBron James remains with the Cavaliers writes Dick Weiss of The New York Daily News. The Cavs are an Eastern Conference contender with the King. They will be a sinking franchise in Lake Erie if this Elvis leaves the building for good....

APTom Izzo

The Cavs are an Eastern Conference contender with the King. They will be a sinking franchise in Lake Erie if this Elvis leaves the building for good.

Weiss goes on to write that Izzo has never coached the heavily hyped franchise players and why start now if he joins the Cavaliers and if LeBron remains. Izzo should be cautious. He has job security in East Lansing. That could all change with one bad season in the NBA.

Sure, East Lansing is no Durham, N.C., but it's also no Cleveland. And if Izzo leaves Michigan State without the guarantee of coaching the King, he could end with a royal mess on his hands.

The new GM

Rick Noland writes on Medina-Gazette.com that new General Manager Chris Grant, unlike the eight general managers before him, is in a situation where the stakes have never been higher.

The organization doesn't know what LeBron James is going to do this summer. The Cavaliers don't have any draft picks. The team doesn't have a coach.

Other than that, the 38-year­-old Grant is walking into his dream job.

Grant, who previously worked for the Atlanta Hawks before becoming an assistant to former GM Danny Ferry in Cleveland, is highly respected around the league and ready to make the leap, but he’s fac­ing a lot of tough questions that don’t really have answers at the moment.

It all begins — and ends — with James, the two-time league MVP who, even if unin­tentionally, basically has tied the franchise’s hands behind its back.

LeBron and business

We all know LeBron James will have an impact on and off the court on whichever team he signs with this summer. The arena will sell out, the businesses close to the arena will see more profit and everyone associated will enjoy the economic impact.

But what will James get out of it, writes Neil Best of Newsday.

In free agency, though, the ball is in the player’s court, and thus the courting of James must focus on what is in it for him. Presumably, money matters to a man who openly aspires to become a $1-billion athlete.

But every team other than the Cavaliers can offer him the same salary terms, so the focus has been on the endorsement end of his portfolio.

Best writes that New York is not the key to riches. 

“The knee-jerk reaction and conventional wisdom is that by coming to New York, he would further his chances for endorsements,” said Andrew Forman, an associate professor of marketing at Hofstra. “He’s already the highest-earning endorser in the NBA without being in New York. It’s hard to say he’s been hurt by being in Cleveland to this point.”