David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[Lee]

This isn't an accident or luck. We are NOT going to let the Hawks beat us with threes. They just asked LeBon about how the team has disrupted the Hawks' initial actions and forced them into ISO ball which in turn has taken away their ball movement which led to so many of their threes this year, and LeBon laughed as if saying, "I'm not going to tell you our gameplan."

The Cavs have the best three-point defense in the playoffs (29% allowed).

JR is allowing 19% (who the hell saw JR being one of the best if not THE best closeout wing defenders on threes??)

James is allowing 24%
Shump is allowing 26%

Blatt and staff have done a remarkable job establishing a defensive philosophy and then implementing it.

Shump has had the pleasure of guarding the teams best 3 point shooters, thus why he is higher than JR. Not to take away from JR, but lets not forget how amazing Shumps D has been.

 

[Ohio]

TT's gonna be getting a lot of money this summer, but no way in hell is it going to be a max contract.

Yeah it will. But Dan won't care, because when the new TV deal comes, the max contracts of this current CBA are going to look like bargain deals.

 

[MirORich]

There was a mutiny attempt lead by the best player on the team. It was somewhat passive, but it happened.

Accept it.

God knows the media can't accept the fact that it didn't work and they have to be reminded after every game how unqualified they are to make judgements on basketball.

This may be semantics but I think mutiny is too strong of a word.

To me, mutiny indicates a player took an active course of action with the desired short term effect of having the coach fired. I don't think that's what happened.

I think it was a combination of truly needing the physical rest and also of pouting/just not fully buying into some of the collaboration that was being requested/demanded by the coach.

That still was not a good thing way, way back in December but I just think that mutiny is the wrong word.

The combination of mental/physical rest for LeBron, talent infusion from Griffin, commitment to leading better by working with the coach better, and the resulting wins led to an almost immediate 180 degree turnaround.

 

[David.]

I'm sold.just now. Parker alluded to it and we've seen it play out.

The line ups we ran in the regular season were for points, not plus minus

Irving and love are gone.

They were also not in those ridiculous plus minus line ups.

We have defense now.

We still have spacing. We beat the shit out oftteams on the boards. We have a handful of scorers for blatt to search for the nights hot hand.. were basically as efficient on offense as we were and we're doing this against some syingey defenses.

I think the gs series will be more interesting than most ppl think.

 

[Rich]

This isn't an accident or luck. We are NOT going to let the Hawks beat us with threes. They just asked LeBon about how the team has disrupted the Hawks' initial actions and forced them into ISO ball which in turn has taken away their ball movement which led to so many of their threes this year, and LeBon laughed as if saying, "I'm not going to tell you our gameplan."

The Cavs have the best three-point defense in the playoffs (29% allowed).

JR is allowing 19% (who the hell saw JR being one of the best if not THE best closeout wing defenders on threes??)

James is allowing 24%
Shump is allowing 26%

Blatt and staff have done a remarkable job establishing a defensive philosophy and then implementing it.

I do not understand why Atlanta has yet to try and just run offense through Horford. If the Cavs are going to stay at home on all of the shooters and force you into 1on1 ball then why not actually try and play through your best 1on1 player?

 

[godfather]

David is just a beast. Love everything about him. Love his demeanor. The guy is cool as a cucumber. He just never seems to panic. Sometimes shit is going bad, and we see a camera cut to him, and he always seems cool under fire.

How many times do we see a camera cut to say Doc Rivers, when his team is looking like shit, and he's going ballistic, and screaming at refs, and basically throwing a temper tantrum?

Blatt seems to just always maintain control and doesn't let emotions overwhelm him.

The guy is an awesome coach. He's probably the first Cleveland coach I actually trust since Lenny Wilkens. I've broken too many things over the years from Cleveland coaches.

 

[KI4MVP]

There was a mutiny attempt lead by the best player on the team. It was somewhat passive, but it happened.

Accept it.

God knows the media can't accept the fact that it didn't work and they have to be reminded after every game how unqualified they are to make judgements on basketball.

whatever happened was over months ago, the media was still talking about firing Blatt as recently as last week, which is absurd.

 

[MaccabiCavs]

I don't understand how people can say it's all about talent and coaching doesnt matter when the Knicks had Sumpert, JR, Priogioni and Amara and they couldnt string 2 W's together...

 

[MirORich]

I don't understand how people can say it's all about talent and coaching doesnt matter when the Knicks had Sumpert, JR, Priogioni and Amara and they couldnt string 2 W's together...

There needs to be the head of the snake. A true two way star(or a few) who lead their teammates. The Knicks had a tons of guys who you would love to have as your 4th-8th best players, but no head of the snake. Yes Melo is a star but he only plays on end, he is a ball stopper, and he was injured much of the year.

Knicks, also had a ton of injuries early in the season, that helped shape them from the mediocre bad team they could have been to the downright awful disaster they became. They also received a message of non confidence in the offseason when Phil essentially started the tank early by trading away Tyson Chandler for nothing.

I have no love for the Knicks, but there early season failures just goes to show how important is is to have your stars in place, so that your role players can simplify their games and play within themselves.

 

[The Oi]

whatever happened was over months ago, the media was still talking about firing Blatt as recently as last week, which is absurd.

For sure.

I'm not sure what would even make it stop other than Blatt finally playing nice.

Because I don't see the Cavs having a season any worse than 60 wins and an ECF appearance, if most of the team is healthy all year. And I'd honestly be very surprised if they don't win it all in 15-16.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

There needs to be the head of the snake. A true two way star(or a few) who lead their teammates. The Knicks had a tons of guys who you would love to have as your 4th-8th best players, but no head of the snake. Yes Melo is a star but he only plays on end, he is a ball stopper, and he was injured much of the year.

Knicks, also had a ton of injuries early in the season, that helped shape them from the mediocre bad team they could have been to the downright awful disaster they became. They also received a message of non confidence in the offseason when Phil essentially started the tank early by trading away Tyson Chandler for nothing.

I have no love for the Knicks, but there early season failures just goes to show how important is is to have your stars in place, so that your role players can simplify their games and play within themselves.

Remember when we started the season by losing to the Knicks? Good times.

 

[Adam]

Although infuriating during the season for some vets, blatts insistence of playing the hot hand and his creative rotations has paid dividends in the post season with all the roster issues.

I'm glad hes managed to turn the team round. Next year is going to once they have an offseason to plan and recover. This season is not too shabby either

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Holy hell. I said max contract and TT in the same sentence....and I don't feel bad about it. What he brings is a complete difference maker. He is what is conducive to winning. Max players aren't superstars any more. This is a new era. I still hold out hope he gets less but that snake Rich Paul may pull a Bledsoe type situation on him. Right now he is earning a paycheck and I don't expect him to let up once he's paid.

Don't get me wrong - I love TT to death, and I totally want him back, but it's almost comical how often he gets his sh*t swatted. Go up strong, Son! And make your free throws!

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

According to James jones interview, eliminating the Hawks spacing is part of the game plan. It worked two times in a row, which is great. Wondering what do the Cavs do to execute this plan.

Well, part of it is a commitment to very good off-ball defense, and less double teaming. Really, the antithesis of the Hawks "every converge on LBJ if he's got the ball" defense. It's tough for the Hawks to break that because they don't have a dominant superstar that forces the defense to react. And their best penetrator -- Teague -- isn't a great jump shooter. So, they can sag off him a bit, which makes it tougher for him to penetrate.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Blatt...when he takes down media darlings Stevens, Thibs, and Bud, will he get any respect? No? Ok then Kerr is next.

That's a good point. Stevens, Thibs, and Bud had the media slobbering all over their knobs all year. The Cavs and Blatt, on the other hand, have gotten so little respect and so much bad press throughout the year. It's really unprofessional. It shows you how so many in the media really invent the narrative, rather than report it.