David Blatt could be coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals right now.
Instead, the organization felt like it needed to move on from Blatt during the regular season, replacing him with someone who could better control LeBron James and demand the respect of the players, not to mention get the most out of them on the court. That man wound up being Tyronn Lue.
Transitioning to the ways of the NBA proved more difficult than most could have imagined for Blatt, who recently fessed up to mistakes in an interview with Ynet.com (h/t Kurt Henlin of NBCSports.com):
You have to learn to work with people like him, not manage him. This takes time. There are a lot of things I would have done differently, with him included. In the reality of the NBA and this team, there is no doubt that Lebron is the center. He is the cornerstone of the club, there is no doubt that Lebron was more important to the system than me.
Blatt also talked about why the Cavaliers decided to let him go:
I can’t think of any reason in the world. Maybe for them, thinking forward, I wasn’t the person to lead. It hurt me very bad. It surprised me, I didn’t feel well, but you move on. There are disappointment in life, the question is what do you do when you take a blow. I could have coached in the NBA next season. It’s more about timing . Sometimes great coaches have to sit outside.
Blatt has since moved on from the NBA and the Cavaliers did seem to turn a corner once Lue took over the job. Much of Cleveland’s playoff success has simply come from LeBron doing what he does best, but there was a marked improvement once the front office made its move.
This is yet another example of how different a beast the NBA is compared to other leagues. Not only does all of this show just how difficult it is to coach in the Association, it casts the Cavaliers in a great light for realizing something had to be done.
In the end, Blatt has seemed to reach the same conclusion as everyone else—it’s a star-driven league and LeBron remains the center of it all.
