The Cavaliers posted a 30-11 record thus far this season under Blatt,which was the best record in the Eastern Conference,so on the surface-one could wonder just what the hell is going on in Cleveland.
However,if you have watched the team under Blatt over his tenure with the team,you can understand it pretty quickly.
David Blatt never seemed to grasp what type of team that he had in Cleveland and this goes all the way to when he was hired.
Please recall that David Blatt was hired before the return of LeBron James,so Blatt accepted a job that was offered that was still a rebuilding effort built around Kyrie Irving,Tristan Thompson,the departed Dion Waiters and the just drafted Andrew Wiggins.
Compare that to the setup that he would wind up with-LeBron James,Kevin Love etc and you can see that Blatt was far better suited to coach a young team in the beginning stages of development than one loaded with veteran talent with the potential to win a championship.
I loved Andrew Wiggins from day one and was against the Cavaliers trading him for Kevin Love,although I understood considering the credentials of Love- especially if they could re-sign him to a deal (They didn't right after the swap,but would after the season).
I believe it was that trade that began the eventual destruction of David Blatt as the Cavaliers just never seemed to mesh between the pair.
I don't think it is much of a stretch to say that Kevin Love has been a disappointment,but calling him a bust as some have is an even bigger reach.
Kevin Love is the player most on the spot now (in my opinion) even more than LeBron James as he will have a chance to overcome the perception of Blatt's inability to make the best of Love's skills.
In other words-Love is out of excuses.
Blatt at his core is a coach that believes in keeping the basketball moving and the team he was hired to coach might have been able to develop into that type of team.
Instead,he had a clear the floor squad with three talents that may not need to have the ball in their hands at all times,but certainly aren't the types to avoid having it there often.
Blatt seemed to struggle with X's and O's,which was the opposite of the reputation that he came in with and often seemed to be a wallflower when dealing with his star players.
I'm not going to speculate on the locker room because I'm not there and no matter what you read-it's all speculation,but it seems by almost all accounts that there was issues and respect had been lost.
It isn't very often that a successful team makes this sort of move,but I can see why the move is made.
Clearly,the Cavaliers have work to do in order to defeat Golden State,San Antonio or any other Western survivor in a possible NBA finals and with only one slot available for an upgrade (a possible buyout free agent),this move might be the only one that has the potential to make the type of progress needed....
As far as Tyronn Lue goes,he is reported to have the respect that Blatt lacked as a former player,Doc Rivers protege' and assistant,Lue has been one of the top assistants mentioned that would be ready to make the jump to head man.Lue was hired at head coach dollars to be the top assistant in case that the Blatt experiment went awry and he'll need to do a Pat Riley level ascension in order for the team to top a finals visit.
Only in Cleveland,could a first place team create such drama,but any observer could see that change had become needed,if not mandatory.
David Blatt is not a bad coach and I don't hold him accountable for some of the shortcomings.
However,LeBron James is only getting older and I don't want to waste chances-I'm OK with it,even if it wasn't all David Blatt's fault.....
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