Griffin: Cavs challenge about 'noise,' not LeBron

New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin clarified comments he made about the challenges of building a title contender around LeBron James during their three seasons in Cleveland together, saying Friday that he maintains a "positive relationship" with James.

In a Sports Illustrated story published Thursday, the former Cleveland general manager called his experience with those James-led Cavaliers teams "miserable" and questioned James' desire to win.

On ESPN's The Jump on Friday, Griffin said he did a poor job of framing a conversation about dealing with the "noise" surrounding those teams.

"The fact that there was so much scrutiny in everything that we did, when I was…