David Blatt is a former NBA coach

Kbiz8288 said:

On paper, that is a pretty solid rotation. My issue is that I have little faith in Blast to manage the minutes effectively to create cohesion within that unit.

His decision making continues to puzzle me. TT in the whole 4th last night? It was obvious to me that Love looked more comfortable playing alongside Moz. With Moz in, he was rarely double teamed down low and had a nice little run towards the end of the first quarter... but lets just keep TT in when the game is close. Him getting stuffed at the rim and bricking awkward lay-ups really contributed to the team.

I have almost lost all faith in Blatt... almost.

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The Sacramento game on Sunday will be a good test. We should have enough talent available to win that game.

cavsfever said:

All the stuff about Blatt being a genius and Lebron being some kind of idiot who just needed to obey Blatt and run his 'system' was borderline racist actually, especially given that anyone with eyes should understand by now that Lebron James has an extremely high basketball IQ.

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The defensive scheme needs to be scratched. Kyrie isn't putting the necessary pressure on the ball handler so until Lebron and Shump come back we just need to play some sort of zone.

What ticked me off last night was the fact that GS was shooting and shooting and when they started pulling ahead and the Cavs needed shooters he wouldn't use his bench outside of Jones/Miller..why not use Harris more?
All GS does is throw shooters at you.

Green Lantern said:

What ticked me off last night was the fact that GS was shooting and shooting and when they started pulling ahead and the Cavs needed shooters he wouldn't use his bench outside of Jones/Miller..why not use Harris more?
All GS does is throw shooters at you.

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That's because their shooters have other skills. Klay defends. Green defends.

Harris, Jones, and Miller are liabilities.

tedginnjr said:

That's because their shooters have other skills. Klay defends. Green defends.

Harris, Jones, and Miller are liabilities.

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That and they haven't been great at the one job they do have lately. Lots of open misses. Lots.

Hit a damn shot. Please.

I agree with Wuck. Blatt seems like a system coach with players who either don't fit his system or who don't want to play in his system.

I like Blatt and think he can be a good NBA coach. But he is a rookie and he is not making the adjustments he needs to make with the squad. Our fourth quarters are terrible. Love isn't being used properly or enough. The effort isn't there night after night.

I give Blatt something of a pass because the roster has been hurt and just not very good.

As I said earlier in the thread, I don't want Mark Jackson anywhere near this team. He is not a good coach and he doesn't hire good assistants. I don't care if Jackson is working with LeBron's management team. Keep him away.

One problem with Blatt is that his ego seems as big as some of the players. This isn't Europe, just like it's not the NCAA. Just because you can coach well in college doesn't mean you can coach well in the NBA.

I'm really getting tired of our underachieving. Yes things will get better when we are at full health. But I would really like to see what the team could do if coached by a good and experienced NBA coach. I don't want Mike Brown 2. Blatt is better than Brown, but he also has a lot to learn and this roster is not built to wait.

At some point I hope Gilbert swallows his pride and makes a move. I've gone from supporting Blatt completely to honestly wanting him to be replaced by someone who will connect better with the players and who is prepared to run effective, system independent sets and plays for our guys to maximize their ability.

George Karl? Sure, I would take George Karl. And I'm sure there are other good candidates (I like Lue but he's a rookie head coach also) as well.

I am on the fence about if we should fire Blatt. Our players do get open looks that they seem to be missing - If that aspect can be greatly eliminated god know how much better we will be - Is that coaching? I think not. On the other hand - our defense is pathetic and that too is an integral part of the game -and I don't see Blatt doing anything to improve that.

Blatt at least deserves another run of games with this roster plus a fully fit LeBron. Till then, any talk of sacking him would be harsh and unfair IMO.

Could it be possible that Blatt is similar to Mike D'Antoni and he only wants to play his system a certain way with certain players. D'Antoni wasn't using Pau Gasol effectively and spreading him in ways that wasn't suitable. Blatt isn't putting Love in the right position to be successful he has him in the post , posting up that lazy as far as offense go thats what Mike Brown use to do with Z. We don't run any weak side action or any diversions to draw the defense away to make them second guess the play. He has been stubborn with playing Delly extreme minutes now an article comes out that he doesn't know if Delly will even have a role on this team. He has no balance in the rotation so we can develop chemistry James Jone can literally hit 3 three pointers in the first half and Blatt will go with Joe Harris for 12 straight minutes in the second half. I know every game is its on, but Blatt even staggering Love and Kyrie minutes is bad. Before the game he should have minutes mapped out for the starters and it may change during the course but he hasn't learned that yet. The stuff that he is struggling with is troubling considering he has been coaching for 20+ years.

Blatt deserves a run with the new players. I have a feeling he has been involved with the decisions regarding our team's structure as well. Watching the GS game Friday, with the way their team's players know their roles, its obvious we lacked depth and structure.

My hope is that we will see guys who KNOW their roles and fill them admirably. A healthy LBJ helps too.

My biggest concern is Blatt's coaching in the playoffs. They are a different monster. He must know this, right? Effort and execution 100% of the time. That is the real test. If our players can't play with effort on D in the playoffs, we are a quick out. If that happens, the blame will be on Blatt.

If the Cavs feel the need to get rid of Blatt, my guess is it will be a "resignation" at the end of the season instead of a firing. They can use his family being in Isreal as an out and how it has been "a tough situation" blah, blah, blah. It would save Gilbert (a little) that he didn't "fire" 3 coaches in 3 years and Blatt is doing it for family reasons which everyone would acknowledge in a better way. Just my 2 cents.

I think Blatt's problem is his gameplan kinda took away the "I do my part and combined with the team it equals greatness" mindset ,and he replaced it with a "We do everything together, so if you personally fail its not you fault" mindset. Because over this season I have seen literally NO personal accountability from anyone but Waiters. everybody is always pointing at someone else and holding their head down in frusturation. Ill always respect Waiters because he just fought through that bullshit and took ownership over his game.

I mean I watch these games and an easy backdoor layup will be allowed and Mike fucking Miller has the nerve to have a scrunched up face. Like Mike bro you haven't guarded your man since that ONE GAME you cam eback off injury and played well. Why TF are looking at ANYBODY?


I know im not shit in the grand scheme of things but if I were a coach, id preach a team concept but I would definitely be in the family of coaches that thinks that a team is a 12 part machine. and NO part of the team is successful if even one part is bullshitting. Fuck all this we fail together shit, if Mozgov is playing D and Kyrie isn't ima be in Kyrie's ass all year. Fire me I don't give a fuck, ill get paid somewhere else as an assistant. But what I refuse to do is be in Blatt's current situation where the whole world thinks hes a POS because our players wont fucking compete at 100%

LeShaq said:

I agree with Wuck. Blatt seems like a system coach with players who either don't fit his system or who don't want to play in his system.

I like Blatt and think he can be a good NBA coach. But he is a rookie and he is not making the adjustments he needs to make with the squad. Our fourth quarters are terrible. Love isn't being used properly or enough. The effort isn't there night after night....

One problem with Blatt is that his ego seems as big as some of the players. This isn't Europe, just like it's not the NCAA. Just because you can coach well in college doesn't mean you can coach well in the NBA.

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Good post. I think we should see what Blatt can do with the new roster, so I don't agree with replacing him -- I think it would be disruptive. But I agree he has a lot to learn. Coaching is not about having a system that works in theory and getting ego invested in it -- it's about adjusting to fit your players and their skills and personalities. I think Blatt understands that though, and I think/hope we'll see improvement now that he has a more complete roster.

Communication between Lebron and Blatt should be better, because this team's road to a championship is through Lebron.

Before he can address his (sometimes obvious) shortcomings such as rotations, adjustments, etc. He needs to first work on developing a stronger relationship with his assistant coaches and then on the court with Lebron.

I believe if he does this, it will help him to learn the other things quicker.

Other than that, is anyone familiar with his work ethic ? Is he the type to be at the office until 3am on an off day reviewing film ?