One of the signs of success is needing to replace up-and-coming members of both the coaching staff and the front office who get better jobs elsewhere.
Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Jordan Ott, a valuable assistant coach, to the Phoenix Suns when he was appointed head coach last summer. Now, they’re losing general manager Mike Gansey to the Philadelphia 76ers. He will lead basketball operations for Philadelphia.
Gansey is a native of Olmstead Falls. After his playing career ended professionally overseas, he took a front office position with the then Canton Charge, the Cavs’ G League team. He was with the Charge from 2012 to 2017, before taking on the assistant general manager role with the Cavs in 2017, shortly after Koby Altman took over basketball operations from David Griffin.
Gansey continued to work his way up the staff. He served as assistant general manager until February 2022, when he was promoted to general manager.
It’s difficult to parse out what to attribute to members of a coaching staff or front office. Not every one of those groups acts the same from team to team, and oftentimes decisions can be made collectively. We can’t always point to a signing or trade happening or not happening because of the work of one member of the front office.
What we can say is that Gansey is very well respected within the organization. His voice carried weight and will be missed.
The Cavs may look to fill the role Gansey vacated internally. Based solely on the organizational hierarchy and how they’ve done things in the past, Brandon Weems is the internal candidate who seems most likely to take that role. The St. Vincent-St. Mary alum is currently serving as assistant general manager.
