David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[JPK]

I have been preaching patience so far this year, but my patience is starting to run thin after embarrassing losses to Philadelphia and Sacramento. Blatt was a great hire when he was going to be in charge of a team building towards the playoffs. Obviously, he would have never been our hire had we known Lebron and Kevin Love were coming here. I think it is fair to say he was the right coach for the team we had in June and the complete wrong coach for the team we have in January. This team needs a coach who can demand respect and attention, not one who is learning the ropes, which would have been fine with the team we had in June. It may make us look silly to fire 3 coaches in 3 years, but it is less silly than watching a team play uninspired, overmatched, .500 basketball.

 

[Rich]

LeBron is standing over Blatt at this point look at the crowd and it won't be long before he drops the People's Elbow.

 

[cavsfever]

Forget .500 basketball. This team without Lebron is now 1-9. (Remember the two losses we had earlier in the year when he was out). One and nine. If the Cavs without Lebron could play .500 basketball we'd be in good shape.

[Correction -- I think we are 1-8 without him, forgot he played in the NO game after he sat out at OKC. The point still holds though]

 

[godfather]

Ironically, LeBron might be the only one saving his ass from being fired. Blatt at this point, can't have LeBron back quicker.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Lebron has made his point loud and clear with this 2 week absence, let me just put it that way. I rushed to judgment on LBJ's behavior with his horrific body language, but perhaps he knew what we are finding out the hard way from the start. I'm sure Blatt is a good basketball mind, and I really like him personality wise, but this is a results business and he just might not be ready for this right now...

 

[KentuckyCav]

Admittedly, I didn't watch tonight's game, but I read about the gory details.

But I don't know why Blatt is being thrown under the bus by some for all the team's problems. Yeah maybe he's having a tough time motivating the guys to play defense or whatever.. but come on, some of the blame has to rest on the players. Those guys are grown men. Have some freakin' pride... getting blown out by the Kings? really??

Just embarassing. Hey Kyrie, what's up bro? JR Smith.. what was that? It doesn't help that the team is missing LeBron, Varejao, Shumpert, and Marion (whom are all key parts of the rotation when healthy). Blatt is a rookie NBA coach learning his way and the team is not helping him at all.

 

[MH32246]

Blatt isn't as enthusiastic as he use to be post game. He is feeling the pressure and I'm not sure he knows what the answer is.

 

[Ruggeder]

The coach can bitch to people to play defense, but if they don't, theres nothing he can do. Do you want him to start punching guys? The crybaby bullshit athletes do is part of the problem.

 

[MH32246]

The coach can bitch to people to play defense, but if they don't, theres nothing he can do. Do you want him to start punching guys? The crybaby bullshit athletes do is part of the problem.

He could start by putting them on the bench and letting them watch the game.

 

[bobcat22]

Interesting response from Blatt on Kevin Love in the postgame presser. Joe Vardon mentioned Love and Irving are two max players and Blatt stopped Vardon and said "Kev's not a max player yet is he? What does that mean?" Vardon corrected him and said it meant they are two of the top players in the league. Really odd, he knows what that means.

 

[kookoo]

Wait, was it us or the Kings who were supposed to try playing 4 on 5 on defense?

 

[Ruggeder]

He could start by putting them on the bench and letting them watch the game.

I absolutely agree he needs to do something. I am fine with him benching people then calling them out in the post game. Something has to change, but at the end of the day the players are responsible.

 

[Kizzle]

After this shit it wouldn't surprise me if Lebron ignores Blatt all season. This is embarrassing

 

[stoike]

Interesting response from Blatt on Kevin Love in the postgame presser. Joe Vardon mentioned Love and Irving are two max players and Blatt stopped Vardon and said "Kev's not a max player yet is he? What does that mean?" Vardon corrected him and said it meant they are two of the top players in the league. Really odd, he knows what that means.

I was thinking about that too. He is feeling the pressure. BIG TIME. If this road trip ends up being an 0-fer, I can see him being replaced upon the return home.

 

[JPK]

Players at all levels of sports quit on coaches. We are not in practices or the locker room, so we never fully know why players quit on their coach. It could just be that Lebron is the leader of this team and the rest of the players have modeled his behavior. The players just may not respond to his personality or respect Lue more than him. Either way, it is painfully clear that this team has quit on Blatt and a healthy roster is not going to fix that problem. I do not view it as throwing him under the bus, as much as it is just saying circumstances changed between his hiring and now, and it is not working out for anyone. I think he could develop into a very good NBA coach. It is just not going to be with this team under these circumstances.