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If we haven’t learned by now how much the world of NBA coaching revolves around the phrase “what have you done for me lately,” the latest rumors regarding David Blatt should be all you need to know.
The Cleveland Cavaliers coach is conducting his season-ending presser today. His team, which essentially saw a massive talent drop-off on the roster after LeBron James, was eliminated in the Finals by the Golden State Warriors Tuesday. The Cavs forced the series to six games, a valiant effort considering the injuries they dealt with. Yes, a lot of credit is due to the astounding numbers James put up, but you can’t ignore Blatt’s impact with the team.
This, of course, makes it confusing to hear Cleveland’s coach is still in danger of losing his job.
There seems to be plenty of insiders claiming Blatt may be on shaky ground, that Cavs upper management may decide to part ways with him. NBA writer Chris Sheridan is of the mind assistant coach Tyronn Lue may be running the show for Cleveland next year.
Lue is the highest paid assistant in the league, so the assumption he would overtake Blatt’s job has always hovered over this team. However, that it would happen after Blatt helped bring the Cavs within two games of a title? That sounds relatively insane.
I understand some of the reasoning behind why people would question Blatt. He wasn’t James’ choice. He had an incredibly rocky transition into the world of NBA coaching, and was hardly humble about it. His refusal to utilize veterans on the Cavs’ bench during the Finals was a hot-button topic, especially after the starters showed visible fatigue late in games.
At the same time, let’s look at this as surface level as possible. A rookie NBA coach was within grasp of a championship while taking an injury-riddled roster up against the juggernaut Warriors, and his job is rumored to be on the line.
I’m sorry, I just don’t get it. No, Blatt wasn’t perfect this season, as his adjustment to a new league clearly wasn’t seamless. Despite this, how can you hold this over his head, all the while ignoring what he did with this Cavs team?
Again, Cleveland won two games over a superior Golden State team. They did so while missing two All-Stars. They hung with the Warriors despite everyone thinking the series was over the second Kyrie Irving went down. After the Finals, many people were left to say it really wasn’t feasible to believe this Cavs team was going to be able to beat Golden State.
Despite all of this, Blatt is apparently still on the hot seat? There was no way to expect a short-handed Cleveland team would eventually overcome the Warriors, they didn’t, so the coach clearly has to go?
What else could he have done? Put any other coach in this situation. Take away two of his best players and say “go win a championship.” How many actually even make it to the conference finals?
What would make this even stranger is the fact owner Dan Gilbert recently went to bat for Blatt, saying it wouldn’t make sense to boot him after one year.
How would he go about spinning this if, just a couple weeks later, he sent Blatt packing?
It all paints for a weird situation. Had Blatt somehow won a title with this slim deck, the praise would be pouring in left and right. It sure seemed to be coming in fast when the Cavs were up 2-1. They eventually lost the series, so now it’s apparently time to switch back to #FireBlatt yet again.
If Cleveland does end up relieving Blatt of his duties, expect a different story than just “he was fired.” I’ve heard many would see it as a “I have to go back home to my family” move, as he left them behind in Israel when coming to coach the Cavs. Such an excuse would be tough to judge. At the same time, anyone close to the situation would know there was much more to it.
I wrote after Cleveland made the Finals I thought Blatt was officially off the hot seat. After winning two games without two-thirds of his Big Three, you’d think the situation would remain the same. However, it appears Blatt will never live life outside of the microscope, not with James on his roster.
Because of this, Blatt is once again supposedly in danger of losing his job. If someone can make sense of this, by all means do so. At the end of the day, though, it’s easier to dump on someone when his team is coming off a loss.
After a full year in Cleveland, nobody knows more about this than Blatt.
Casey Drottar is the Cleveland Beat Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook
