David Blatt is a former NBA coach

kip stabone said:

Every time I think of LBJ drawing up plays it reminds me of the old Slam Dumb cartoon with Mike Brown.

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That was always one of my favorites.

It also reminded me of this one:



LeBron really loves that play.

There are many stories of kobe and jordan taking the clipboard or talking to the team instead of Phil, so its not that uncommon among superstars. I also agree that it was more likely he said let me get a pick and drive, while kevin fades and ill hit him for the open shot. May even have just called a variation of a play blatt has installed, and it worked that one time.

If blatt let lebron draw up plays then he's very shrewd. Best way to secure leadership of a group is to give your biggest critic responsibility and respect especially if he's a potential first follower

Omg those cartoons are fuking hilarious just keep em coming lmfao

As I've previously mentioned, I'm no basketball expert, just an idiot staying up too late every night, but I wanna throw an outsiders perspective out there. It goes without saying that while a big part of coaching basketball (as with any sport) is drawing up the x and o's, there are also some management fundamentals that apply to any kind of management, be it sport, business or whatever...

David Blatt knows he has not only the most talented basketball player in the world on his team - not only physically but also in terms of his insane basketball IQ. More than that, he's actually on the court; and in the middle of a game what's so bizarre about him just feeling something in the flow and drawing up a play for Love? It takes a far bigger man to let LeBron just go with it and trust his top guy, than to need to assert his authority for the hell of it.

A great manager lets his top players/staff/colleagues give everything they have to offer, regardless of whatever click bait story can made of it the next day.

new here Hi all

Hear all this talk about how smart David is. how come 50+ games into his first season he cannot get some sort of rotations down by now ?

As a near 50 years of NBA fandom have not seen anything like this.

imo
players need to know their roles both starters and bench. the coach must Trust the bench players in the same way team mates trust each other on the court.
thanks for reading

madmadworld said:

new here Hi all

Hear all this talk about how smart David is. how come 50+ games into his first season he cannot get some sort of rotations down by now ?

As a near 50 years of NBA fandom have not seen anything like this.

imo
players need to know their roles both starters and bench. the coach must Trust the bench players in the same way team mates trust each other on the court.
thanks for reading

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Welcome. Not sure if you've been watching the games lately, but the rotations are set and have been set since the Charlotte game when Shumpert came back from injury. Injuries played a large part in the slowing down of the permanent rotation being set and a lot of people seem to forget about that, but it has been set in stone now for almost a month now.

As for the roles...how have the roles not been set? Kyrie, JR, LeBron, K Love, Mozgov start...Shumpert is the first wing off the bench, Tristan is the 1st big, and Delly comes in for Kyrie. Marion is there for defensive matchups as your 9th man, Miller for shooting as your 10th. Been like that for a while.

madmadworld said:

new here Hi all

Hear all this talk about how smart David is. how come 50+ games into his first season he cannot get some sort of rotations down by now ?

As a near 50 years of NBA fandom have not seen anything like this.

imo
players need to know their roles both starters and bench. the coach must Trust the bench players in the same way team mates trust each other on the court.
thanks for reading

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Welcome to the board first of all. That said if you look at the rotation used around this time of the season they tighten big time. Other than a few slips they have been very good. The problem is we our one rotation player away from complete. In other words Blatt has done very well with what he had and to throw the BS when the injuries his and have him make a good rotation was near impossible when it included a second round draft pick and old aging players who seem to be losing it.

Finally he has the smarts of a NBA coach some plays I seen wowed me when the players run and trust in them. Blatt has made major progress and I know LeBron helps. Just think add LeBrons plays and mix them with Blatts plays and you got a very unpredictable offense. Blatt made defensive adjustments and seems to have his team under control. Love is the only player right now who is not fully in. That is the reason for the Tweet nonsense. If Love gets it then watch out for this team for years to come.

First of all the rotations are pretty much set.
Second, Blatt will change rotations throughout the game not because he's not set on them, but because he reacts to what is actually happening on the court. And more NBA coaches should adopt this kind of thinking.

Coach Blatt speaking to a 340 people crowd at the JCC dinner. Interesting read:
http://www.ohio.com/sports/cavs/cav...65670?cache=18961415304345%25252525252525252f

Some key points:
- Blatt recalled his first season at Maccabi, when his team lost a couple games one month, which Blatt called “a national disaster.” Says he met a man named Bob who called him and said "David, I want to tell you a story. When I was going through some problems my first year my dad called me and said, ‘Son, the moment you start listening to the guy in the third row, very quickly you’re going to find yourself sitting right next to him."

- Blatt was asked what happened when LeBron James shoved him back toward the bench.
“LeBron saved me from a technical,” Blatt said, “He’s saved me a few other times, too,”

- "As much as I knew about the game and as many different places I’ve been, this is a different world. The NBA game is different."

- Blatt said he guides the Cavs with the same four principles he used in his 33 years abroad. “Know the material. You have to know what you’re talking about,” Blatt said. “Have a philosophy you believe in. Be a leader and get people to follow you. And you have to be a human being. You have to know and respect and work with people to help people be the best they can be.”

- “I never had a team that was good that didn’t think team first,” he said. “I never had a thing that was bad that didn’t think team first. That’s what we’re to institute in this Cavs team.”

One thing to admire about Blatt is he's a very determined guy. He's dead-set on instilling a culture, and he's not going to let any outside distractions get to him.

Always fun:

1. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOIxRBjsw0s


"We're not.. STOP TALKING. Both of you guys [are] out."
- 0:10

"Hey! That's a bull$#!+ timeout!"
- 0:28

2. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmlXPip1D1Q


"Listen. STOP. Shut the #@%* up!

3. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5SHSLOsjjE


"I'm really not happy about answering your guys' questions. [...] Nothing personal. [...] I just don't like where you work and the things you guys have been trying to do to me and my team. [...] I really don't want to cooperate with you guys because it's ugly what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you very much."

Blatt is an EXTREMELY nice guy off court, getting him to the point where he just refuses to answer and has no patience for your shit is a very rare thing.

This was after Blatt started last season really bad and lost games both in the Euroleague and in the domestic league. This website ONE.co.il just trashed him all the way and basically speculated about him being fired after every game. And when I say speculated I mean they stopped just short of writing "Blatt should be fired ASAP". Not only that, they kept criticizing and shitting on the players Blatt (and the rest of the staff) brought in and how they are a complete bust (Tyrese Rice in particular). That pissed him off seriously.
In the end you know the story, Blatt is the big winner with Rice being the final-4 MVP.

Seriously we are talking about a guy who would stop in the middle of a meal to get up and take photos with fans, always smiling and thanking everybody. Getting him to tell you to fuck off basically is extremely hard. Just goes to show you the kind of pressure and the kind of shit Blatt had to take as Maccabi's coach. Each loss is a shitfest. I'm not surprised he wasn't fazed by the reports about his job this year.

Russian fans meet coach Blatt in Tel Aviv:

Blatt on Mike & Mike this morning:

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=mikeandmike&id=12304690&src=desktop

Once Blatt got those players in that trade, he's been able to run the team the way it is intended to run.
The key was getting a center and a spot up shooter.