Sources: Cavs Looking To Kelvin Sampson As A Replacement For Mike Brown

For now, the Cavaliers’ interest appears to be strictly in the fact-finding phase, but some league personnel believe it’s just a matter of time until Sampson becomes a legitimate head coaching candidate in the NBA.

Sampson is a favorite of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford, both close confidants of Ferry. Popovich coached on Team USA with Sampson in the 2002 World Championships and has stayed close with him. After Sampson’s firing for NCAA violations at Indiana in 2008, the Spurs staff brought him to San Antonio to spend the rest of the season with the team. After an abrupt and humiliating end to his college career, the embrace of the Spurs elders started to rebrand Sampson for the pro game.

Indeed, Cavs' beat writer Brian Windhorst confirmed the report, saying "I'm told he may be near top of list." And... Well, you how when someone senses a breakup coming, he or she does something designed to push the other person away? I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but if you wanted to see it that way, you could. It's your choice, LeBron: Derrick Rose in Chicago, Mikhail and Jay-Z in Brooklyn, or Kelvin Sampson and Antawn Jamison in Cleveland?