David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[tocov]

Blatt after shootaround today:
http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video/2015/04/23/150423shootaroundcoachmov-3580317

- The margin of error is going to be smaller on the road. We need to keep handle of the ball better.

- Blatt says he's been in more than his share of playoffs, high pressure environments and high stakes. He's used to it.

- The positives of having an inexperienced team is that the guys are excited and embrace the chance to raise their level. It could have the positive effect but so far they've been great.

- Good basketball has been played by both teams. Talent is an advantage if you have it. But it's unfair to Boston to say they don't have talent. Talent is a factor but not the whole story.

- Kevin has been great. Playing both ends of the court extremely well. It's a good thing that these guys have the first playoff experience under their belt and they now are ready to play and locked in. I just want Kevin to be exactly what he has been for us.

- Saw his friends and family a little bit, but says it's playoff time and all of us, including coached, are locked in on a mission.

 

[cavsfever]

People saw Mike Brown coach Lebron + Old Shaq + Mo Williams to 61 regular season wins; they aren't going to be rushing to award David Blatt coach of the year for coaching Lebron + Kyrie + Kevin Love to 52 wins. Once Blatt builds more respect with a good playoff record people will judge him differently.

 

[MaccabiCavs]

Pop coached a team with less talent to a better record in an infinitely better conference.

Just because a team doesnt have a Lebron doesn't mean it has less talent. This is the same team that crushed Lebron4-1
just a year ago in the finals. If they didn't have that record it would be a failure and just 2 month ago everyone was saying how bad this season has been for the Spurs.

If MVP is chosen for a year long performence, than coaches should not be judged for 2 month as well.

Are you saying that coaching a brand new roster that has never played together before is easier than coaching a team thats been playing together for a 1000 years?

 

[Helium filament]

If MVP is chosen for a year long performence, than coaches should not be judged for 2 month as well.

I think that's exactly why Blatt didn't get voted higher- the slow start by the Cavs and losing record with LBJ out despite having Kyrie and Kevin probably had something to do with it. We all know the roster was severely flawed at that point, but they were really in a dark place at that time despite having 2 all stars. Like other posters have said, I think that post-season will do a lot for Blatt's reputation, and if they get the number 1 record in the East with Blatt next year, I'm sure he'll get a lot more votes (or win).

 

[Paul]

Pop coached a team with less talent to a better record in an infinitely better conference.

I love how the Spurs have Jedi-mind-tricked the world into believing that they are not particularly talented or dangerous. Yet just about every year they contend for the title. Their trick is that they have 5 guys who could probably put up 25 points per game as a focal point in an offense, how K Love was in Minnesota. But since they are all together it's of course impossible and the stats all get watered down, but to say the Spurs have less talent than the Cavs I think is incorrect. Our top 2 beat their top 2 , but after that the Spurs would be more talented.

 

[Paul]

View: https://twitter.com/FOXSportsOH/status/591367362978283520


Blatt daughters lol

 

[pinoycavsfan]

great coaching by blatt at the end of the half.. subbed kyrie who has been exposed defensively and put it shumpert.. the cavs went on a 8-0 run with that move..

 

[*L-Train*]

View: https://twitter.com/FOXSportsOH/status/591367362978283520


Blatt daughters lol

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - It was the first taste of U.S. playoff basketball for Cavaliers coach David Blatt on Sunday. His three daughters made it extra special by surprising him with a visit from Israel.
It's been a while since we've seen the Cavs in the post season. Most fans look at the big three: LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving. But as the chase for a championship continues, Blatt had his own big three to worry about: Shani, Adi and Ela. The twins are 22 and the youngest is 16.

"They had a little break from the university and my high school daughter decided to take a few days off from high school, which I'm not thrilled about," said Blatt.

But he is thrilled to have his girls in Cleveland to see his team in the playoffs.

"Them having the chance to share the experience first hand. It's very meaningful to us," said Blatt.

Blatt's son, Tamir, is a talented basketball player. Blatt said he would love for Tamir to play ball in the states, but he has several offers to play International Basketball. He still dreams of the two being on the same team some day.

"That's how I want to finish my career, yes. I want to coach him one game and quit," said Blatt.

Coach Blatt is dedicated and fierce on the court. But as a father, he glows, smiles, and beams when he speaks of his kids. He also shared how challenging it is keeping his beautiful daughters away from all this, including Kevin Love.

"Oh yeah. They have mentioned Kev and Kyrie, and a few other guys. Yeah, you know. But I try to stay away from that conversation," said Blatt. "I say, 'Enjoy them on TV and from a distance.'"

(hoop idea: Kevin Love should marry the oldest one)

http://www.19actionnews.com/story/28851358/coach-blatts-real-big-three-are-his-daughters

 

[roozy]

Hope people stop whining about Mozgov not getting minutes late in the 4th claiming bad coaching, with TT playing like this on the boards its pretty easy to understand.

 

[Lee]

(hoop idea: Kevin Love should marry the oldest one)

http://www.19actionnews.com/story/28851358/coach-blatts-real-big-three-are-his-daughters

Better idea, Jr Smith should double up with the twins.

 

[Paul]

Hope people stop whining about Mozgov not getting minutes late in the 4th claiming bad coaching, with TT playing like this on the boards its pretty easy to understand.

Yes if Pop does it, it's maximizing the team's potential or playing the hot hand...if Blatt does it, he's being inconsistent or insulting his players or creating a bad locker room. Blatt will have to I guess earn everything he gets in this league.

 

[Helium filament]

Hope people stop whining about Mozgov not getting minutes late in the 4th claiming bad coaching, with TT playing like this on the boards its pretty easy to understand.

Moz had a terrible game tonight. I hope Blatt makes decisions based off of each individual game.

 

[Chris Parker]

The one positive change for us, in regards to playoff coaching, is not only the game-to-game adjustments, but also Blatt's knack for in-game adjustments, which was a huge problem for Mike Brown.

All things considered, there are very few coaches LBJ would come in and respect initially. Coach K, Popovich, Carlisle, and Doc Rivers come to mind, only because they've won championships in recent history (Olympic and NBA)

LBJ does his fair share of player coaching each game, which projects this image that LBJ clashes with his coach, which is just not the case. By setting the tone, from an effort level, as well as keeping his players at ease (all LBJ soundbites this year, in particular Game 1 when he was telling ass't coaches that everyone just needs to relax in the 2nd half) LBJ can get the best out of his teammates because of his natural leadership ability. While he may not have the X's and O's knowledge (yet), the way he brings his teammates together and elevates their game, is tantamount to a team's success. When you couple that with Blatt's attention to detail, it should create a pretty naturally-fitting partnership for years to come.

I think this is where everyone missed what was going on. There were two/three unrelated things IMO.

1) LeBron won't play for coach. Listen, every star has a bit of ego. Collins clashed with Jordan, Bryant chafed at Jackson early. But I don't think LeBron had a real issue with Blatt vis-a-vis himself. He bought in and wanted the team to play defense.

2) LeBron is human. He has a hypocritical streak and sometimes he's exempted himself from criticism. It's really just a blind spot that he seems to eventually address. You don't become a great player, I suspect, without being able to look critically at your game. LeBron wanted people to lose "bad habits" and play hard, but he has his own bad habits as well, and he acknowledged his body language wasn't always good.

3) I spoke to a confidant of James who said James spoke to him during the christmas break and was frustrated the team didn't play defense and was concerned that the Coach couldn't get them to play defense. This person asked him if he like playing for his high school coaches Dru Joyce and Keith Dambrot. Did he think they were good coaches? Did they have an NBA pedigree? They also challenged LeBron saying that nobody was going to play defense hard unless he did, because he set the example for the team. If we were ever able to get a good answer (I'll try) I'll bet one thing they talked about at UCLA when the BIG 3 had their convo, was the effort they expended. Because from that point forward Kyrie played defense at a different level than I had ever seen him sustain. He'd actually played pretty well against Stephen Curry a few days earlier for self=evident reasons, then, typically, backslid against the Kings. Anyway, his D-play (and just check the synergy up to 1/15 and from 1/15 to 2/23 or so. Come March he backslid again, but that's another story. Part of it was obviously the addition of Timofey, but a lot of it was effort and how aware he was of picks, which prior to this he seemed to view as random occurrences that were an excuse to show up an hour late to work.

as Blatt alluded to in the post-game press tonight, the different players, the different attitudes, created a differentt energy. Maybe the Cavs were losing but they sure as hell weren't the Knicks. I haven't talked to Smith, but Shumpert didn't have anything bad to say about the Knicks but good goddamn how hard is it to lose every then come somewhere to actually play for something. I bet that fed into the different energy. But part of it was accountability, which I think both Love and Irving had to get used to. that's the message James conveyed, this team rises or falls on us. I read between the lines of Blatt's comments and Smith/Shump/TMo vs. Waiters must've been going from Reign in Blood to TiptoeThrough the Tulips.

 

[MirORich]

.......Part of it was obviously the addition of Timofey, but a lot of it was effort and how aware he [Kyrie] was of picks, which prior to this he seemed to view as random occurrences that were an excuse to show up an hour late to work.

as Blatt alluded to in the post-game press tonight, the different players, the different attitudes, created a differentt energy........... I read between the lines of Blatt's comments and Smith/Shump/TMo vs. Waiters must've been going from Reign in Blood to TiptoeThrough the Tulips.

Both of these are gold, though I suspect there will be a lot of googling to sort out the references in the second bolded part.

 

[scopedog]

Both of these are gold, though I suspect there will be a lot of googling to sort out the references in the second bolded part.

I sure as heck don't need to google anything to know about Reign in Blood. I don't know about this tip toe through the tulips though, heh... Sounded like he was just having a bit of fun there.

Was informative.