Best of NBA: Bulls beat Cavs to spoil Tyronn Lue’s debut

The NBA superstar LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers denied any involvement with the Cavs’ decision to fire head coach David Blatt, telling on Saturday that he was “surprised and caught off guard” by the said significant move.

I do have issue with both the timing of the firing, and the cover-up behind it. But I guess as long as LeBron has a chance of taking his talents away from Cleveland again, the Cavs really had no choice.

“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape”, Lue said, via scout.com’s Hayden Grove.

“I think (Griffin) was right on everything he said…” But despite injuries and a team learning to mesh with stars James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the Cavs still made it to the finals before losing to the Warriors in six games.

Lue will make his debut Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls, who will challenge the Cavs for their Eastern Conference crown.

LeBron James responded to his new coaches criticism with agreement, “Yup, we got to get in better shape”, he said.

Lue, who will turn 39 on May 3, spoke reverently about his predecessor as a man. Blatt said the same about him one day earlier – shortly after getting the ax – in a statement released by his agent. “We’ve got to get back on defense”. Perhaps they were pressing; perhaps they got discouraged when things weren’t going their way; perhaps, like Lue said, they just need to be in better condition. Lue admitted being nervous about sliding into Blatt’s seat, and while his team gave effort, the Cavaliers didn’t win.

Lue thought a large part of the reason was because the players are out of shape – a fairly surprising announcement at the halfway point of the season.

At Friday’s news conference, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said the four-time MVP “doesn’t run this organization”.

“Me and ‘Bron were friends before when I played”. “Every time I go to Philly I get booed, so, you know, that’s not a big deal”. Griffin noted the history of great coaches whom Lue played under, including Phil Jackson, Rivers, Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Van Gundy.

Blatt said all these things to his players, as Lue said, but the theory is Lue will be a better communicator.

Click on the video to see more of Van Gundy unplugged on the Blatt firing. Though Cleveland went 30-11 under Blatt, its players were often more morose than motivated. They’re 19 in the National Basketball Association in scoring (101 ppg), but are 5 in offensive efficiency with 105.2 points per 100 possessions.

Cavaliers: Smith played in his 800th career game….