Game 16 | Bucks (10-8) @ Cavs (8-7) | Dec. 2, 2014 | 7:00pm EST

[rabman_gold]

Looking at the box score... two things stand out... 7 turnovers each from Love and LBJ, and Blatt really shortened the bench. He basically went with a 7 man rotation (tho if you combine Harris and Dion's minutes = about 15 minutes, so I guess it's like an 8 man rotation).

He really has to get a handle on this. Lebron had almost as many minutes as some of the Dallas starters who played a 2 OT game! It should help with Delly coming back... but the bench has been so up and down a solid rotation is a real stretch some games.

I don't disagree with this, but I do feel it needs some context.

Dave Blatt is the first official European coach to move to the NBA. There are no case studies to determine how a successful coach from a international league would fare in a longer (minute-wise and season-wise) and more separated (talent-wise) basketball league.

Still, Mike D'Antoni was the first coach in Europe to take his expertise to the NBA. That's it.

1. D'Antoni started out with Denver in 1999. For such a successful coach in Europe, he had a measly 14-26 record that lasted for 1 year.
2. He also had plenty of new pieces (McDyess, Van Exel, Billups, LaFrentz) and attempted to bring a mini-European system (6th fastest pace in league and 2nd most 3 point attempts).
3. He didn't fully break in until 2004 when he replaced Frank Johnson. With what he had in place, began utilizing his faster paced system to the fullest. For a 2000s NBA team, they were fast and outran other teams with this pace.

He kept this philosophy beyond its expiration date, which usually meant a few select players playing heavy minutes.

Now, let's compare that to Blatt.

Last year, Blatt employed 9 different players for at least 25 games out of 31 total Euro League games. All except one of them played more than 15 minutes a game (465+ total minutes). He isn't exactly a high-octane offensive coach, but he sticks to his guns and held every team down when it mattered.

Yet, I think we're holding Coach Blatt to some lofty expectations due to also having great achievements in Europe. But he's shown to be way more flexible when it gets down to it.

1. He's finally starting to learn how to stagger his best player's minutes.
2. That said, LeBron was needed at the beginning of the 4th. Blatt will pick and choose his rotations in close games, but it was a far above the last close game (Spurs).

It's starting to come around a little. But we'll need to see how he handles an extended season, which usually becomes the case in January.

 

[Rich]

Look, I'm concerned with the minutes the starters are playing as well, but I watched that last game and Blatt didn't feel like just watching a train wreck happen w/o doing something about it. He put the bench in to start the second and they went about immediately losing the 7 point lead. Personally I'm still ok with losing games if it means developing some bench players (like Harris) and letting them ride it out during a bad stretch. But Blatt isn't, and if he had just sat there and watched that group continue to lose the game he would have been killed for not doing something.

Now, maybe you can argue he should have tried them again in the second half, but the game was dead even up until the last 3 or so minutes. He apparently didn't want to risk them doing exactly the same thing they did in the 1st half when they had no cushion to work with.

 

[MikeOC33]

This early in the season, and this early in the process of developing basically a new team, and this early in the learning curve for Blatt... I don't think they should be "throwing" games... but now is when you develop and tinker.

The Cavs are going to make the playoffs, but do they really need to fight and claw early in a long season for 60+ wins or overall home court advantage on the backs and legs of the Big 3?

This is a team full of veterans... they know to pace themselves. Get the bench in and develop it now, because the deeper bench will help the team achieve the 60+ wins or home court advantage in the regular season.

Come playoffs, the bench will be shortened anyway... so develop the backups to play now- during the season when they are needed, especially with all the back-to-backs.

 

[Damien O'Connel]

We need to be a top 3 seed guys...

 

[shoes22]

We need to be a top 3 seed guys...

I'd be very surprised if we weren't, unless there was a major injury.

 

[crowned1]

This early in the season, and this early in the process of developing basically a new team, and this early in the learning curve for Blatt... I don't think they should be "throwing" games... but now is when you develop and tinker.

The Cavs are going to make the playoffs, but do they really need to fight and claw early in a long season for 60+ wins or overall home court advantage on the backs and legs of the Big 3?

This is a team full of veterans... they know to pace themselves. Get the bench in and develop it now, because the deeper bench will help the team achieve the 60+ wins or home court advantage in the regular season.

Come playoffs, the bench will be shortened anyway... so develop the backups to play now- during the season when they are needed, especially with all the back-to-backs.

Every time Blatt puts on the bench they screw up the lead, everytime.