The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised the basketball world with news that they had fired David Blatt as head coach less than two weeks before he was set to coach the Eastern Conference team at this year’s All-Star game. There is good reason to believe the Cavaliers will regret firing David Blatt.
The Cavaliers were blown away by the Golden State Warriors only days earlier but they had responded with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers and Blatt’s overall resume as the team’s head coach was excellent. General Manager David Griffin is confident that he made the right decision by moving on from Blatt and replacing him with former assistant Tyronn Lue but in the end only time will tell whether he should have made the move and there is reason to believe it wasn’t the right move at the time. Here is a look at the four biggest reasons why the Cavaliers will regret firing Blatt as head coach.
Blatt Was Successful
The obvious starting point and most important factor will have to be the success that Blatt had as the head coach in Cleveland as he helped them reach the NBA Finals a year ago despite significant injuries and then followed that up by guiding them to the best record in the Eastern Conference at 30-11 through the first half of this year. It would be stupid to blame their loss to the Warriors in last year’s NBA Finals on Blatt when the Cavaliers were without both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving and while they were beaten up by Golden State in their latest regular season rematch that likely had a lot more to do with the rosters than the coaching. Ultimately, the fact that Cleveland is likely the third or fourth-best team in the NBA right now has little to do with coaching and everything to do with the level of talent on their roster so it will be hard to top what Blatt did as the head coach.
Lue’s Lack Of Experience
Blatt was fired due to a “lack of fit with our personnel and vision” according to Griffin and while he might feel Lue is a better fit he certainly doesn’t have the level of experience that Blatt does because he has never been an NBA head coach before. Lue’s lack of experience could be a problem come playoff time when the Cavaliers try to find a way to navigate their way to an NBA championship. Blatt’s inability to beat the Warriors ultimately appeared to be a big part of the reason he was fired but even with Love and Irving healthy it will be tough for Cleveland to win an NBA championship and Lue’s lack of experience could come back to haunt them at some point.
Change Is Difficult In Season
The fact that the move was made right before Blatt was set to coach in this year’s All-Star game was criticized by a number of coaches around the association and the timing could also come back to hurt the Cavaliers. It isn’t easy to make a change like Cleveland did at this point and any lack of immediate results or further stumbles the rest of the way will stand out that much more as a result of the coaching change. The Cavaliers talked about needing a change in direction with a coach that better fits their overall plans but they could regret making the move in the middle of the season once it is all said and done.
Alters Tone For Players
One of the underlying storylines over the past couple of weeks has been the role that LeBron played in Blatt’s dismissal and while the team continues to hold firm on the idea that he knew nothing about the firing the majority of NBA experts will not buy in to that. The entire franchise is built around LeBron and his desire to bring an NBA championship to Cleveland so it would be ridiculous to think that he didn’t have some input in their decision to turn to Lue. The players will undoubtedly have their opinion on the decision as well and while every single player on the Cavaliers’ roster will remain focused on doing what it takes to win an NBA title it will be very interesting to see how this team responds and their ability to play for one another with a new voice of authority on the bench understanding everything that led to Blatt’s dismissal.
