David Blatt is a former NBA coach

Guys, LBJ himself said that part of being the leader of the team is being an extension of the coaches during the games. I don't see how LeBron's leadership is anything but a massive demonstration of Blatt's success...

Now as far as the media goes, I am in the "who cares?" camp. There will always be eyeballs to be had, negative story lines to be told, bad things that happen along the way. That's just part of being an NBA basketball team, from coaches to players, and being put under the microscope is a significant part of being great. It comes with the territory, but I find it so surprising that the sophisticated fans of RCF want to discuss who said what versus the actual x's & o's of the game.

I am huge pro-Blatt guy, but I am no basketball expert. From this layman's point of view, when you see role players put in positions to take advantage of their strengths, and these randoms are winning us games, to me, that is largely coaching. It's like the Spurs team last year - randoms just coming in and playing BIG TIME. It's awesome to watch, and I hope that whether you are hot or cold on David Blatt, you all are enjoying the ride.

NasstyNate said:

Sure. Again, Blatt is a good coach. But your question really just shows that the talent is the real, or biggest, reason for our success, right?

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Absolutely. I think in most circumstances, a really good coach may win you an extra 5-7 games over the course of a season you might otherwise have lost, and a bad coach might lose an extra 5-7. And yeah, I pulled those numbers out of my sphincter. All the other games are just talent winning out regardless of coaching.

I do think coaching becomes a bit more important as the playoffs go on, if only because as teams become more evenly matched (good teams no longer playing scrubs), every little advantage (both talent and coaching wise) may make a difference.

Clearly, we wouldn't be where we are right now but for our talent. But I do think that the ability of the coaches to adjust so well to the loss of Love, and then the effective loss of Kyrie, has been impressive. I think they've made some pretty bold decisions regarding pace of play, etc.. to try to make defense even more important. Great in game/between game adjustments, particularly on the defensive end.

And credit also goes to the leadership of the team overall, which includes both LBJ and the other vets, as well as the coaching staff, for maintaining this incredible level of focus despite bad luck that might have discouraged a lot of other teams.

Honestly, when the playoffs began, I was going to be disappointed in this group if they didn't win the whole thing. But as hard and smart as these guys have played, if we make it to the Finals and don't get embarrassed, they really deserve a lot of respect.

Blatt almost always tries to be humorous with his light-hearted banter at pressers but imo he just isn't that funny (some people don't have that gene). However, his banter isn't mean-spirited and at worst it's a harmless waste of 15 seconds. I don't know why anyone in the media would waste the mental energy to get wound up about it. It's who he is and, at least in his press conferences, he's not anywhere near as rudely dismissive as Popovich can be, nor as colossally arrogant as Phil Jackson. He's just one of those guys who seems to like to relate conversationally.

Lookit, Blatt is getting next-to-zero credit from the media (Save for Chris Parker, our man!), that much is clear. IMHO most posters here fighting to credit him respond to that. However, he gets some love over this forum, and certainly this thread, to the point it seems excessive to some. In this situation it's easy to see the source of the "disagreement".

I'd say that Blatt is a positive on this team. My thought experiment is that put any coach outside your personal top-5 list and try to see if you have them go as far. I have a lot of coaches taking the bulls to 7 and going home.

I really don't like going into EXACTLY how much credit he deserves (Or not), because we know next to nothing about the inner workings of the team, and are fed by TMZ-styled media.

As a Blatt guy, here's what I know about him in the Euro scene:
- Defense first. He'd even be criticized for not letting solid guys get into their offensive rhythm by pulling them out if they slack on defense. Thank god he doesn't have the balls for that in the NBA (Yet). May explain Miller tough.
- Likes highly athletic PG's and full court pressure when possible. (Watch Delly)
- Varying offense, nothing set in stone.
- Short leash on young guys. He'll play the cream of the crop, but the rest would have to absolutely shine in limited minutes, or leave their heart out on the hardwood to see more time.
- Control freak. LBJ kinda prevents that. I think Blatt will either change, or be kicked out by a superstar eventually.
- Never says anything bad about anyone (Opponents, coaches, players). Kinda boring in his "respect everyone", so he's low on entertainment value.
- However, you can be sure he'll call players and staff out on their shortcomings in private. You can tell by his special smirk and polite say-nothing answer that, when asked about a bad play in pressers, later he'll have a word with the player.
- The negatives here are pretty much all the bad things I can say about him.

Edit: This is not to say he's a bad coach, these are just the contention points I remember about him. 99% of coaches have a much longer list of problems IMO.

Go Cavs.

The Human Q-Tip said:

Absolutely. I think in most circumstances, a really good coach may win you an extra 5-7 games over the course of a season you might otherwise have lost, and a bad coach might lose an extra 5-7. And yeah, I pulled those numbers out of my sphincter. All the other games are just talent winning out regardless of coaching.

I do think coaching becomes a bit more important as the playoffs go on, if only because as teams become more evenly matched (good teams no longer playing scrubs), every little advantage (both talent and coaching wise) may make a difference.

Clearly, we wouldn't be where we are right now but for our talent. But I do think that the ability of the coaches to adjust so well to the loss of Love, and then the effective loss of Kyrie, has been impressive. I think they've made some pretty bold decisions regarding pace of play, etc.. to try to make defense even more important. Great in game/between game adjustments, particularly on the defensive end.

And credit also goes to the leadership of the team overall, which includes both LBJ and the other vets, as well as the coaching staff, for maintaining this incredible level of focus despite bad luck that might have discouraged a lot of other teams.

Honestly, when the playoffs began, I was going to be disappointed in this group if they didn't win the whole thing. But as hard and smart as these guys have played, if we make it to the Finals and don't get embarrassed, they really deserve a lot of respect.

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My impression of the Cavs in the Bulls and Hawks series so far is that the Cavs just want this more. There's almost a warzone mentality that they seem to be embodying. It's pretty inspiring. I have no real reason to believe that we are the more talented team than Atlanta, given Love being out and Kyrie playing essentially like Aaron Brooks. The difference I see is desire. There's a will to find a way even if it means transforming how the team plays. It's been amazing to follow.

I think LeBron, Tristan and Delly have kind of formed this "never say die" core, and that energy has transferred to the rest of the team. Tristan has been amazing. If I was Dan Gilbert I'd be ready to sign that 15 mil a year contract. As much as it hurts the Cavs payroll, how do we not keep this guy after what we've witnessed?!

And by the way, for those asking how Mike Brown would be handling rotations, my guess is that Lebron and Thompson would be playing 48 mins/gm. He'd call an occasional timeout to spell them. Mike Brown seems like a great guy but thankful he's not the Cavs coach. Rotations certainly weren't a strong suit.

Edit: As for the Lloyd article, I didn't find it particularly nasty toward Blatt. I did think it was kind of funny that he consulted Isiah Thomas, one of the worst Basketball Ops guys in recent memory. Who cares who he thinks is a good coach?

I have said since January that I don't think there are 5 coaches in the NBA who could have done what Blatt has done in their first year with the same situations and problems put in front of them, and I stand by that. When you consider all the things Blatt has had going against him throughout this season, from nonsensical rosters (Lou Amundson says hello), to major injuries, to Superstar egos running rampant, to borderline character assassinations in the press, to major roster overhauls, inexperience, more injuries... 8/10 coaches would've curled up in fetal position and wept in the shower, but Blatt has turned it all around, despite all the adversity and has proven himself to be incredibly adaptable in the face of adversity. To say any coach would have been able to do the same is borderline insane to me. I can't understand how anyone who followed this team all season could reach that conclusion.

Paul said:

My best guess is that we will win this series and lose in the finals. If it plays out that way, I think everyone in the Cleveland organization should be praised for an amazing run and never giving up despite the adversity. And if we win it all, it would surely be LeBron's most remarkable championship ever.

Come what may, I am very happy to have Blatt on our side for this year and going forward.

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If we win it all, after all the injuries and adversity we have faced, it will be the biggest NBA finals upset since the Pistons over the Lakers in 2004. (Would be a much bigger upset than Dallas over Miami I think -- Dallas and Miami had almost identical regular season records that year).

Pro basketball, unlike say baseball, is NOT a sport where upsets happen a lot at the highest level. If we do win it all --

1) Lebron instantly becomes immortal and seals his claim to being one of the top five players of all time.
2) Everyone acknowledges Blatt as at least a very good coach

Honestly, it's hard to see how we could beat the Warriors in the finals. They just have too many guns and we don't have enough. If Kyrie was 100% I'd give us a punchers chance, but he's not...if we lose I don't think it would be the fault of Blatt or Lebron though.

The Human Q-Tip said:

Absolutely. I think in most circumstances, a really good coach may win you an extra 5-7 games over the course of a season you might otherwise have lost, and a bad coach might lose an extra 5-7. And yeah, I pulled those numbers out of my sphincter. All the other games are just talent winning out regardless of coaching.

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I agree with what you're saying in the aspect of direct game coaching,
but there is another aspect of coaching that is in developing the talent of the younger or less developed players, this aspect has a impact on even more games in the end of the day, (just to mention Delly again on this team),
and then even a third aspect in putting existing talents into the best position and comfort level to be able to fully use and display their talents.

So even though on the court we might at times see pure talent winning the game, rather than coaching, there is still some coaching involved even in the talent aspect.

I'm not sure why anyone in this thread is bashing Blatt. We headed into the playoffs firing on all cylinders. The next thing we know, Love is out, JR is suspended, Kyrie and Shumpert are hobbling and LeBron's outside shooting is the worst it's been. Tell anyone all of that would happen and they'd say we get crushed by the Bull. Instead we just keep winning.

Sure, LeBron gets some credit for that. But it's not all him, last night we blew the game open while he was resting. And Blatt is the one who has to figure out the adjustments for players being injured.

We lose the first game when Jr and Love are out. We lose another tight game by a buzzer beater after some bad off possessions.

That's amazing so far. I just cant wait to see what's next. Watching our role players fail in the past when the chips are down, has me firmly in Blatt's camp.

gigabyte056 said:

So , the same team with Mike Brown would be up one game on a road trip in the ECF?

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They might be. Mike Brown gets a raw deal but Mo Williams and LeBron have both said Mike Brown is a really good coach.

Less talented teams with LeBron James on the roster and Mike Brown as coach have gone far together.

The Human Q-Tip said:

Absolutely. I think in most circumstances, a really good coach may win you an extra 5-7 games over the course of a season you might otherwise have lost, and a bad coach might lose an extra 5-7. And yeah, I pulled those numbers out of my sphincter. All the other games are just talent winning out regardless of coaching.

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The regular season is irrelevant. A bad coach could actually win more games in the regular season (see D'Antoni). Once you have sufficient talent, preparing your team for the playoffs is the only purpose of the regular season. Some great coaches will even sacrifice regular season wins if he thinks it gives his team a better chance to win in the playoffs (see Pop).

Like players, coaches should be judged on their team's playoff performance. Did they meet or exceed expectations or did they fall short.

KI4MVP said:

The regular season is irrelevant. A bad coach could actually win more games in the regular season (see D'Antoni). Once you have sufficient talent, preparing your team for the playoffs is the only purpose of the regular season. Some great coaches will even sacrifice regular season wins if he thinks it gives his team a better chance to win in the playoffs (see Pop).

Like players, coaches should be judged on their team's playoff performance. Did they meet or exceed expectations or did they fall short.

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I do believe Blatt sacrificed wins "searching" for a rotation. It maddened us time after time, but he was giving guys who had produced in the past time to prove themselves. Not playing Miller has really made that more obvious. As bad as Jones has been, he has probably won us 2 games when he was hot.

The Human Q-Tip said:

Clearly, we wouldn't be where we are right now but for our talent. But I do think that the ability of the coaches to adjust so well to the loss of Love, and then the effective loss of Kyrie, has been impressive. I think they've made some pretty bold decisions regarding pace of play, etc.. to try to make defense even more important. Great in game/between game adjustments, particularly on the defensive end.

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Everything you wrote is fair and I agree with it. The part I quoted is what I have been interested in discussing. I'm not so sure that we have made that many adjustments. Douglar asked for specifics on this question, and despite all of the Blatt fanatics in this thread, only MrMsix6 was able to give it a shot. I think that is telling. Our new friends are very interested in giving us never-ending details of Blatt's coaching history overseas, but never talk basketball here with the Cavs outside of impossible to define things like nurturing talent or managing egos. That's also telling.

Yes, we are down Love and have a hobbled Kyrie, but Love was never really part of the offensive plan anyway. We basically played pickup ball against Boston with Kyrie and Lebron alternating iso and then came out with a pretty embarrassing performance against Chicago after a week off to game plan. We started a guy who will not see any more minutes for the rest of playoffs! Credit to Blatt for realizing his mistake, but it was a mistake nonetheless and hardly an inspiring adjustment. Our offense is still as simple as it gets, which is give Lebron the ball and let him make things happen. So what are the offensive adjustments from the coach? As I've said all year, Blatt continues to impress with plays out of timeouts. But then we go right back to Lebron freelancing.

What are we doing differently on defense? That is a real question, because I am not seeing anything when it comes to our scheme. What I see is Lebron finally locked in and Shumpert finally getting the minutes some of us said he should have been getting months ago (and who only started because of the JR suspension). I also see Love and Jones, not exactly defensive stoppers, not playing big minutes and getting attacked on every possession. Delly has really stepped up, but who else is Blatt going to play? So from here it looks like the injuries/suspension have helped our defense, not coaching adjustments. If people disagree, what are you seeing?

Edit - I just want to add, it is not logical to state that because we are doing well, it is Blatt's fault. While it is similarly illogical to state the same of Lebron, I think the evidence supports that claim. I am simply asking for specifics for those who see nothing but positives from Blatt. Saying he overcame injuries is not being specific. This is a basketball discussion forum, not a fan club.

Finally, if you read this as an attack on Blatt, then you need to either re-read it or just move on. I think Blatt is an excellent coach.