Cleveland Cavaliers Fire Head Coach David Blatt

The Cavs had their head coach all along in Tyronn Lue and didn’t wait to name him as such once Blatt was out the door.

“(Blatt) handled himself, I thought, with great grace all the way through”, Stevens said. During timeouts, James often spoke to Lue without making eye contact with Blatt. “I’d like to thank (owner) Dan Gilbert and David Griffin for giving me this opportunity and am honored to have worked with an incredible group of players from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love through our entire roster”.

Lue will get his first chance at changing the culture of the team and getting the Cavs on the right track Saturday against the Chicago Bulls. I think the results and what we have done to this point speaks for themselves, but every situation calls for something unique.

“Blatt alienated players trying to kiss up to LeBron, and never won over his biggest star, who was dissatisfied with many of Blatt’s coaching moves and his European pedigree”, the article stated. “So, I’ve got a problem in general with this narrative, and those of you that have been with us for a while understand this”.

As a result, coach David Blatt was sacked Friday despite the Cavs’ 30-11 mark and top spot in the Eastern Conference. You come across guys that you coach that you know are going to be special in coaching, and he was one of them.

Prior to joining Blatt’s staff in 2014, he was in Los Angeles and Boston learning from Doc Rivers, who knows Lue’s first head coaching gig will be challenging, just as it was for Blatt.

“I think it was pretty evident”, the source said. Griffin stressed that Lue is not an interim coach and said the team is discussing a contract with him.

As early as Monday this week, when they lost that game to the Warriors, LeBron was pulling reporters aside saying ‘don’t you write a report saying I’m not supporting David Blatt or going against his game plan’. “There’s just a disconnect there right now”, Griffin said.

During the news conference a reporter asked Griffin if LeBron James had anything to do with the decision to fire Blatt.

Brendan Haywood explains Blatt’s issues connecting with the team.

His first win, they win the second game of his first season (as coach), all the players jump on him in the locker room, give him the game ball, mush his hair and he was angry.

“If you look at his record, this is freakish”. He is just the 3rd coach in the last 40 years to be fired after leading his team to the National Basketball Association the year prior, the others being Byron Scott of the 2004 New Jersey Nets and Gene Shue of the 1977 Philadelphia 76ers. With that being said, it could only happen as it did for Bryant, with his team genuinely needing him to continue to score.

Mike Brown was sacked as coach of the Cavs about two months before James shocked the world and left for Miami in 2010, despite being the winningest coach in Cavaliers history. I know integrity, I know knowledge.

Griffin says the Cavaliers will not “miss a lot, but we gain a lot in some areas that are critical to us” with the promotion of Lue.