Cavs fire head coach

“I guess you could say I frustrated him because he didn’t get a lot of touches”.

Playing for eight National Basketball Association teams, Lue spent almost 11 years on the court as a player, averaging 8.5 points and 3.1 assists in 22.7 minutes per game amidst his career. I’m in a very strong position here with a long contract that’s fully guaranteed, in large part because of the relationship that we’ve built and his belief in me.

Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin insists LeBron James had nothing to do with the decision to sack coach David Blatt.

With Blatt as head coach, Cleveland went to the NBA Finals previous year.

“I think we have a group that understands what’s at stake”, Griffin said.

But at a certain point, they need to find a coach they can listen to, someone who can install a system that works … even when James isn’t playing at his best.

Griffin said Lue has the “pulse of our team”. In November, James said Blatt “does his job as great as any coach can do in this league”. “We are far from flawless and we are still not at our best, but it’s not for lack of effort and it’s not for lack of good group of guys that want to do their job as best as they possibly can and I think have done pretty well so far”, he said. According to a source close to James, he “didn’t know this was coming” before Griffin gathered the Cavs at the practice facility to inform them that Blatt had been fired.

Blatt had an 83-40 regular-season record as coach of the Cavaliers.

James was not asked for his opinion nor was he involved in the decision to replace Blatt with Lue, a person familiar with situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Nevertheless, the Cavaliers enter the Bulls’ matchup atop the Eastern Conference at 30-11, winners of 11 of 13 including a blowout of the red-hot Clippers and their only two losses in that span to the Spurs and Warriors.

Less than a week removed from an absolute embarrassment of a home loss to the Golden State Warriors in an NBA Finals rematch, Griffin was adamant the loss had very little to do with his decision to move on from Blatt and hand the keys to the franchise to Tyronn Lue.

The predominant rumor behind the head coaches firing has been that Blatt had lost the locker room, and on a team full of stars, it certainly can be hard balancing all of the big personaliies and egos.

Tyronn Lue as head coach could turn out to be a great move, but it still opens the door for disaster.

“I didn’t talk to any of the players before this decision”, Griffin said, flatly.

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.

Lue is in his second season with the Cavaliers after being hired as the associate head coach in June 2014. He argued that his team deserved more credit than it was getting and said he was doing so because “it’s about my guys”.