LeBron James on firing Coach David Blatt! - Cleveland Cavaliers
BOSTON It isnt often that an NBA coach with a 30-11 record, as well as coming off a Finals appearance the season before, is fired, but the Friday news that Cleveland had moved on from David Blatt was just further evidence of how fragile coaching jobs have become.
Theres all kinds of pressure in this league, whatever job you have, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. But when you take over a job where championship is what youre shooting for and the way your roster is built, theres always extra pressure, sure.
Hoiberg also called it a tough day, especially because of how Blatt treated him while Hoiberg was still at Iowa State last season.
Yeah, such a good man, Hoiberg said of Blatt. Last year at Iowa State, he welcomed me to his training camp, and I went there, sat in his office. He talked to me, gave me film on a bunch of stuff. Just a really good person, and I think a helluva basketball coach. Its a tough day. He was great to me when I got into this league, so its tough news.
Hoiberg said he really never had any interaction with Blatt before that, and thats why the meeting was so memorable last season.
Yeah, well I was there [in Cleveland] recruiting, so we stopped by, spent the day with him at training camp, and again he went out of his way to really show me a lot of the things that they were doing and had success with, and gave me DVDs, Hoiberg said. Just a really good man.
Coincidentally, the Bulls will travel to Cleveland for a Saturday night game, marking the debut of new Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue.
Thibs will have to wait
The Cavaliers wasted very little time promoting Lue to the head coaching vacancy, quickly putting to rest the idea that former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau would be in the mix to coach LeBron James.
Multiple sources indicated late last season that with Thibodeau knowing his fate was already sealed, Cleveland was one of the places Thibodeau had interest in landing if there was a coaching change.
David Blatt fired as Cleveland Cavaliers coach - Full Press Conference! - 01.22.2016
AP 9:57 p.m. EST January 22, 2016
(Photo: The Associated Press)
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) Even after wins, and there were a bunch of them, the Cavaliers didn"t celebrate. Everything was too easy for them, way too easy.
Loaded with talent, they"re lacking chemistry and cohesion. A championship roster without championship heart.
David Blatt took the fall.
The second-year coach, who guided the Cavs to the NBA Finals in 2015 and had them sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings this season, was shockingly fired on Friday by general manager David Griffin.
Griffin didn"t think the title-chasing Cavaliers were handling prosperity, expectations or acting like a championship team under Blatt, who was 83-40 in less than two seasons. Griffin saw a team going in the wrong direction.
"Sometimes you can win games in this league in the regular season and get worse," Griffin said at a hastily-arranged news conference at the team"s practice facility. "We were regressing over a period of time. I"m in our locker room a lot, and I knew that there"s just a disconnect there right now. There"s a lack of spirit and connectedness that I just couldn"t accept. And frankly, halfway through the season, I think we have the time to right the ship.
"I know that sounds crazy when we"re sitting with a 30-11 record. I understand that. But we were 30-11 with a schedule that was reasonably easy. And I"m judging a lot more than wins and losses."
Griffin said he did not consult superstar LeBron James, who never seemed comfortable with Blatt in charge, or any of Cleveland"s other players.
"This is my decision, this is our basketball staff"s decision," said Griffin, who released Blatt just days after an embarrassing home loss to Golden State. "I"m not taking a poll; my job is to lead a franchise and to lead an organization to where it needs to go. I"m in the locker room. I"ve done this for a long time and I know what it"s supposed to feel like. I didn"t need to ask questions."
Griffin did meet with owner Dan Gilbert, who supported the move to fire his third coach in four seasons.
"Over the course of my business career I have learned that sometimes the hardest thing to do is also the right thing to do," Gilbert said.
Blatt"s firing stunned Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, president of National Basketball Coaches Association.
"It"s just a real shocker," Carlisle said. "I"ve gotten to know David in the last year and a half since he came over. He"s one of the greatest coaches in European history. The ironic thing about all this is that he adjusted and adapted to the NBA game in my opinion, much quicker than any of us ever could have adjusted and adapted to the European game. He did a tremendous job just from a strategic standpoint. If you look at his record, this is bizarre."
Lue, who was hired as the team"s associate head coach shortly after Blatt came to Cleveland and was the highest-paid assistant in the league, will make his debut Saturday night when the Cavs host the Chicago Bulls. Griffin stressed that Lue is not an interim coach and said the team is discussing a contract with him.
"He has the pulse of our team," he said.
As social networks hummed with speculation and opinion about James" role in Blatt"s removal, Griffin dismissed the notion that the four-time league MVP is a "coach killer."
"LeBron doesn"t run this organization," Griffin said. "LeBron is about this organization. This narrative that somehow we"re taking direction from him, it"s just not fair. It"s not fair to him, in particular, but frankly, it"s kind of not fair to me and our group anymore. I know what something that"s not right looks like and I believe this was the right decision to make and it"s very possible that it"s the wrong decision to make. You may hear that from our players. They don"t have to like it. They have to respect that this is what we"re trying to do."
Griffin said the home loss to the Warriors was not a "last straw" for Blatt. Before and after Cleveland"s win on Thursday over the Los Angeles Clippers, Blatt said he was bothered by criticism directed at him and his team.
Blatt seemed to be adjusting to the NBA game following his well-documented struggles in 2015 James" first season back in Cleveland. One of the most successful coaches in European history, Blatt was feeling good about the way his team was performing amid overwhelming expectations. However, there was a discord he couldn"t seem to fix.
His rapport with James was a running saga last season as the Cavs got off to a disappointing 19-20 start. However, the two seemed to work through their differences and the Cavs won the Eastern Conference title before losing to the Warriors in the Finals, where they played without injured All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
Following Thursday night"s win over the Clippers, Blatt, who had defended his team amid recent criticism, shared a moment with James at his corner locker. The pair shared a smile, an innocent exchange without any hint of forthcoming change.
A day later, they"re on separate paths.
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Cavaliers Fire David Blatt! | Is This The Answer? More
June 21, 2014: The Cleveland Cavaliers hire David Blatt at their new head coach.
July 11, 2014: LeBron James announces he is leaving the Miami Heat to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That timeline says it all. Why is David Blatt no longer the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite leading the Cavs to the NBA Finals a year ago, and guiding the team, which has played without star point guard Kyrie Irving much of the season, to a 30-11 record, best in the Eastern Conference? Why is one of the NBAs All-Star coaches now out of a job?
He wasnt hired to coach LeBron James.
Its no secret: superstars rule the NBA. And before the LeBron finger-wagging begins, all the groaning about how spoiled millionaires have usurped all the authority grows louder, consider: the NBA is a great meritocracy, really. Those that deserve the power have it. One player alone can radically alter a teams fortunes. Its not like that in baseball, where an ace starting pitcher gets the ball every five days, or a top hitter steps to the plate once, before eight other teammates cycle through. Or in football, which is a violent, chaotic chessboard, often beyond the control of even the most gilded quarterback arm. In basketball, just give it to your LeBron James. Every possession if you must. The Cavs were 33-49 before LeBrons return. They were 53-29 in 2014-2015. No offense against Kevin Love, the other All-Star whom Cleveland acquired in the summer of 2014. LeBron James saved the team. So why shouldnt he call the shots?
The Cavs hired Blatt, a respected tactician who coached several teams to championships in Europe, but never worked in the NBA, for a rebuilding job. It was an innovative choice: maybe Clevelands young players could learn from a skilled teacher. But just a few weeks later, the best player on the planet landed in Blatts lap. If LeBron arrived in Cleveland first, theres not a chance that Blatt, with no NBA playing or coaching experience, gets the Cavs job.
So it was an odd fit from the start. Despite Clevelands success, cracks in their relationship showed up in plain sight. Remember when LeBron announced, after a playoff game, that he changed one of Blatts plays? Most players downplay their influence in the huddle; with Blatt, James trumpeted his power.
Blatts not blameless. He preached ball movement and offensive flow in Europe. With James and Love, two players with gifted court vision and passing abilities, on the same team, hoop purists thought the Cavs would play beautiful ball. But too often, the Cavs were stagnant. For an aesthetic kick, fans knew to watch the Warriors and Spurs.
He never figured out how to incorporate Love, whos regressed, into the gameplan on a consistent basis. Thats a shame. In the Blatt era, Love will be remembered as a wasted asset. Whether or not James has resisted giving Love a bigger role is irrelevant at this point. Blatt was the coach. If an All-Star flounders, its on him.
So despite the odd timing the Cavs have won 8 of their last 10 games, Cleveland beat a strong LA Clippers team on national television last night, and Blatt has to cancel his All-Star plans Blatts firing isnt entirely unexpected. And its not totally unfair. Still, while were on the subject of the NBA meritocracy: just take a look at Blatts record. The Cavs just fired someone who won 67% of his regular season games, in his first NBA coaching job. A man who came within two games of snapping Clevelands 51-year pro sports championship drought, despite injuries to both Irving and Love.
If the Cavs dont top this accomplishment this season? Its no longer on Blatt. Thats impossible at this point.
