David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[David.]

The answer is Shump. He's gonna play 45 mpg. He's gonna guard Rose, and then Butler, and then anyone else who gets hot. And he's gonna be great at it. And he's gonna be the 3rd option on offense, and he'll do that good too. In Shump we trust.

No way is he third option on offense

 

[enigmatic]

I know that Blatt is not perfect and I'm only going to touch on this on a surface level but it was just funny to me to read about how much Brad Stevens outcoached Blatt.

-The Celtics didn't win a game
-The Celtics led for 0 seconds of the collective 8 second half quarters.
-The Cavs won every game by 8 or more points.

So if Blatt was just enormously outcoached by Stevens as I read in several big time NBA writers columns, then what exactly is happening to coaching media goldenboys Thibodau & Budenholzer?

And I even like Stevens a lot as a coach. But the level that has been fellated over the past week is absurd, as is the notion that he ran circles around Blatt.

I like Stevens too but the idea that Stevens coached circles around Blatt is crazytalk, and a prime example of how these guys create a narrative that has zero basis in reality to drive their own axe grinding.

Spo got more respect that Blatt in his first year, and that was with Riley hovering over his shoulder at all times.

 

[enigmatic]

I would find it hard to accept that his job is anywhere near in danger. I think after this playoff run whatever it holds, the team will be stronger and more cohesive. Blatt will know his guys and begin to tinker with systems etc..Kyrie loves him, lebron is almost positive now. Cavs need stability know all the pieces are in place.

I've realised that against chicago its not going to be the offensive side thats the issue. If we can keep the game in the 90's we can get the wins we need to progress. Lets see if blatt and lue can get a defensive system in place that will survive a series

The only way Blatt's job is remotely in danger is if the Cavs get swept by the Bulls or in the ECF. Otherwise, zero chance.

 

[bjunior]

blatt is 2nd behind pop and i dont give a f**k what someone else or so called nba experts think and i dont waste my time to read their crap

 

[tocov]

Saying Stevens outcoached Blatt is absolute horseshit.
Stevens did NOTHING exceptional that even remotely troubled the Cavs throughout the series. His most memorable moments were Hack-a-Tristan in the first half, timeout with more than 10 minutes on the clock in the 1st quarter when the score is 7-4 and hacking TT to give us an easy 2 for 1 at the end of the first half.

Nothing he did was super intelligent, tricky or interesting. They ran their sets, took a whole load of timeouts early in the game, and played overly physical. GENIUS!

 

[bjunior]

also the cavs are in danger to lose blatt in two years and not the other way around, lebron better stay fit, otherwise blatt will take his talents elsewhere

 

[MirORich]

also the cavs are in danger to lose blatt in two years and not the other way around, lebron better stay fit, otherwise blatt will take his talents elsewhere

Look I like Blatt and am happy to have him here as our coach.

As for your take, stop. We can do great things as a team with or without Blatt. Thats not a knock on him. There are other coaches besides Phil who could have gotten prime Kobe and Shaq to win a few rings and prime Michael/Scottie to do the same. The Cavs as presently constituted when healthy could be led by a number of coaches. I like that Blatt's the guy, but he is far from the only one. And sure, by the same token and by his track record, if/when Blatt goes somewhere else, he will likely be successful.

Coaching matters, but talent trumps all and even the greatest coaches(Pop and Blatt included) will always tell you that.

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

Lol Stevens was thoroughly out coached by Blatt

Wtf are people talking about

Stevens has been out coached by Lionel Hollins and Jason Kidd

Amazing what being the lovable white boy does to you

 

[MirORich]

Lol Stevens was thoroughly out coached by Blatt

Wtf are people talking about

Stevens has been out coached by Lionel Hollins and Jason Kidd

Amazing what being the lovable white boy does to you

I thought of it as more of a wash. We do have far superior talent to them. I was surprised that we did not completely blow them out in at least one of the games.

So my issue is not with calling Stevens a good coach. I think he is. To trade your to best veteran players in Rondo and Green, while also dumping Brandan Wright after just a few weeks, and then win the second most games in the NBA post all star break is impressive. I thought he did a decent job schematically and a very good job of keeping his players engaged the whole series.

But the notion that he coached circles around Blatt as an ESPN.com story(go figure) quoted an anon NBA GM as saying is just ridiculous.

And as for the loveable "white boy" quote, not really sure that plays into it or serves much of a purpose to bring up. I think Kidd has done an amazing job with the Bucks and he will start getting that praise once this series is over. He had some obvious missteps in year one with Brooklyn, but he's really impressed me in Milwaukee this year. I thought that was a sure fire 25 win team before Parker was lost for the season.

 

[Green Lantern]

The issue with the Celtic series is the market..I mentioned this in the game thread.
Doug Collins and the announcers(I don't care to throw their names in) spent likely 5-8 minutes during the 3rd-4th quarters talking about how the playoffs would benefit the Celtics.
Yet before the playoffs started there was all the media talk about the inexperience of Irving/Love and the other Cavs in the playoffs.
So what happened ?
If it were reversed , it would have been said the Cavs need a lot more time, yada, yada.
So I'm not shocked the media slanted it against Blatt, who countered everything Stevens did and IMO outcoached him.

 

[supermario21]

It's funny checking out twitter during the games and all the know-it-alls are on there blasting Blatt for playing LBJ big minutes but then for the most part crickets during the Bulls games. Rose who literally just came off an injury has seen 40+ minutes in virtually every game, including a back to back 48 and 42! You don't think the 8 days off we have are a reason lol?

 

[Green Lantern]

It's funny checking out twitter during the games and all the know-it-alls are on there blasting Blatt for playing LBJ big minutes but then for the most part crickets during the Bulls games. Rose who literally just came off an injury has seen 40+ minutes in virtually every game, including a back to back 48 and 42! You don't think the 8 days off we have are a reason lol?

Oh but the Bulls would sweep the Bucks..wouldn't shock me if it goes 7 .
Had the Celts won a game, the media would be blasting the Cavs.
Chicago better watch out.

 

[mhi]

Zach Lowe agrees with my assessment.

But the Cavs will need these lineups without Love, and achieving peak small-ball power means excising Jones, a stationary shooter who can’t defend anyone. LeBron can check Noah, Mirotic, and Gibson without any problem, and Cleveland could even get away slotting a smaller wing player — Iman Shumpert, maybe — on the first two. The best chance any opponent has to contain Cleveland is when David Blatt plays Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov together.

Full Article:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/winners-and-losers-in-the-nba-playoffs/

 

[idmartin]

Attempting to find something positive to take out of a very shitty situation with Love going down, and not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet....

In hindsight, for all the criticism Blatt was receiving for routinely not playing Love in crunch time in some reguar season games may have provided the team with the confidence that they can succeed under pressure without him. It could also provide the entire staff with enough real game film to have a better grasp on the different lineups strengths and weaknesses without it being a total assumption.

 

[kookoo]

Lots of flaws with the roster that the next round and our circumstances will expose.

1) Our backup PG is M.Delly.
2) Duplication: 3 backup wings who play no defense (Jones, Miller, Harris)
3) Way too many centers. 2 of which should never see the floor. (Perkins and Haywood).

Also re: Blatt, it's unfair to expect him to turn into Pop overnight in terms of lineups, matchups and hitting the right buttons. We haven't seen anything from him like that this year (when we dealt with multiple injuries), and this series is much more likely to expose him that it is, make him. I, however, do expect him to turn into 2014 Finals Spo who threw everything at the wall hoping for something to stick.

@Chris Parker I still maintain that our best shot is LJ at the 4, I believe he can guard ANYONE on the Bulls. As far as JJ, I would rather Marion plays next to LJ and we pray to God he can hit the open 3s. For the first two games, you can go with Miller at the 2. Beg Irving to at least deny Rose's first step and live with Butler going off on Miller. Basically, it's not looking good.

A macro thing to watch is whether or not this "adversity" increases or decreases the player's buyin into Blatt.

Yeah, but the biggest mistake I mentioned was the most recent. But yeah, we're not very deep with players who can give good extended minutes if guys go down. If god forbid LeBron goes down, what the hell would we do? Luckily we have TT to backup Love, but next season will hopefully give us a ton of usable depth. Right now we just have guys who used to have names.