David Blatt is a good coach, incredible underrated

[Merc_Porto]

I also doubt you or anyone else hear have watched one of the games he coached.

In Europe ?

I mean, i am European, doesn't mean anything.
But i watched a lot of games of Blatt teams.

That is why i think the guy is a genius.

Is not even because of what he done so far in the NBA.

[Seralin]

It seems Blatt and James had reached an agreement on separating offense and defense duties...Seems to be working so far.

[yoyoboy]

So that's not LeBron's failure since he is the only one who matters? Was the loss of the better preseason ball movement Blatt's fault somehow?

Who said LeBron was the only one that matters and why are you bringing up the changes to the offense? All I'm saying is that it's foolish to try and discredit LeBron's ability to elevate his teammates' play by bringing up Dion Waiters, a terrible basketball player and one that refused to fit into the offense.

How do you know for sure that the power of the Bron made the new guys perform better?

Umm...because they were terrible/below average players before and now with LeBron drawing the defense, getting them open shots, instructing and guiding them, and letting them stick to their roles, they're playing better than they ever have before in their careers. Obviously I'm going to give Blatt some credit for the role players succeeding, but LeBron has undoubtedly helped them take their games to new levels.

[BKing10]

The East. They've walked through some pretty bad teams. Let's see what he does against GS. Oh how great it is to be Lebron. Free trip to the finals and only have to beat 1 team from the west 4 times.

[TimRobbins]

The East. They've walked through some pretty bad teams. Let's see what he does against GS. Oh how great it is to be Lebron. Free trip to the finals and only have to beat 1 team from the west 4 times.

The real test will come in the GS series. If he can disrupt their offense, he's earned it.

[Flopper]

The Cavs recent resurgence has more to do with Lebron than Blatt. What other superstar can turn a group of role players (rim protectors/rebounders and shooters) into a contending team? The offense is really just Lebron isos/post-ups and kick-outs for 3. It works because no defenders in the EC playoffs can contain Lebron 1 on 1 when the floor opened up with 3-4 shooters.

It's also worth noting that having 2 slightly above average defenders on the floor with Dellavedova and Thompson intead of the porous Irving and Love duo has made a huge difference defensively. Plus you have the added benefit of letting Lebron conserve energy on the defensive end instead of having to guard tougher players to cover for those weak links.

I give credit to Blatt for recognizing what works and sticking with it, but lets not pretend like there aren't at least 15 other coaches in the league who could do as well or better with this team.

what "team" exactly?

TT, Shump, JR Smith, Mozgov, Delly were all labeled bums prior to this year, and that's literally the entire team.

why didn't your Bulls beat us then? why aren't Hawks beating us? because of this great supporting cast lead by a guy who was the 4th pick and is widely considered a huge reach/bust?

if LeBron is really THAT good then why doesn't he get that credit? surely he's greater than MJ if he can do so much with so little?

It's like you Bulls fans just refuse to deal with reality.

- you won't give LeBron credit for being that great.

- you won't give any individual Cavs player too much credit, surely it's all just a by product of LeBron's greatness, which isn't too great, catch 22.

- you won't give the Cavs coach credit, because Cavs organization couldn't ever do anything right, and it's all by product of LeBron's greatness, which isn't too great, not enough to threaten your god.

so it all just becomes a mixture of, the east is weak but the reason why Bulls didn't do good is because of this reason, excuses, blah blah, but it could never be Cavs being that good, it could never be LeBron that great.

Did you read someone else's post and then respond to mine? I basically said that the reason the Cavs have been rolling is because Lebron is insanely good. I honestly have no idea how my post could be interpreted as a negative remark against your team. Lebron is one of my favorite players, so spare me your MJ insecurities and just enjoy the fact that you have one of the all-time greats playing for your team.

[contentode]

Lebron makes any coach or scrub look good ...

Nah, Blatt is really good.
The way he won the Euroleague last year against the super favorites Real Madrid is just one of many examples of how good this guys is.

Take away Lebron this team is contending for the top 3 pick this years draft, remove Blatt Cavs are still contending for title... Blatt might be great coach in Europe, but in the NBA he has done nothing.. But Lebron on the other hand every team he goes to instantly contends for title and every team he leaves becomes lottery team instantly...

Take away Shaq, Kobe, Wade, Jordan, Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Pippen, Rodman etc. and what have Riley and Phil Jackson ever won?

[ChosunX]

Who said LeBron was the only one that matters and why are you bringing up the changes to the offense? All I'm saying is that it's foolish to try and discredit LeBron's ability to elevate his teammates' play by bringing up Dion Waiters, a terrible basketball player and one that refused to fit into the offense.

How do you know for sure that the power of the Bron made the new guys perform better?

Umm...because they were terrible/below average players before and now with LeBron drawing the defense, getting them open shots, instructing and guiding them, and letting them stick to their roles, they're playing better than they ever have before in their careers. Obviously I'm going to give Blatt some credit for the role players succeeding, but LeBron has undoubtedly helped them take their games to new levels.

How does having double standards help that? No one else can just decide to play a different position.

[playoffs]

The East. They've walked through some pretty bad teams. Let's see what he does against GS. Oh how great it is to be Lebron. Free trip to the finals and only have to beat 1 team from the west 4 times.

They made them look bad, but they weren't bad teams. Cavs had to go through Celtics, Bulls, Atlanta. GSW had to go through Pelicans, Memphis, Houston. Celtics had the 2nd best record in the league post ASB - coming into the playoffs they were better than the Pelicans. Bulls and Memphis most would argue are around the same level. Atlanta was a 60 win team and was considered much more of a contender than Houston throughout the season.

[contentode]

The anti Europe bias is strong.

The guy is coaching brilliantly, because he is a brilliant, and experienced, coach.

I absolutely agree. As has been mentioned earlier, Riley and Phil Jackson won nothing without teams loaded with the likes of Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Magic, Worthy, Shaq, Kareem, Kobe and Wade. By way of further example, Bill Fitch coached Larry Bird for four years in Boston with a winning percentage of.738. During his previous nine years with Cleveland his winning percentage was .412. Obviously having good players is an advantage and generally speaking, a good coach will do only as well as his complement of available players allows.

Blatt's coaching credentials in European leagues are stellar. But this is the NBA and no one is going to allow him to sit on his laurels. Granted, Blatt has Lebron, thus he certainly has an advantage. But even If his team wins, it will only be considered as the expected outcome. On the other hand, should he not win, win big mind you, his NBA coaching debut would be considered a failure.

Well, the results are almost in. In his rookie NBA coaching season, Blatt's team is very close to representing the East in the NBA finals. Although the Cavs may not get by the juggernaut Golden State Warriors, I would say Blatt is passing muster with flying colors. Like his famous contemporaries, Riley and Jackson, and even the less celebrated Eric Spoelstra, David Blatt has taken the gifts given to him and has performed exceptionally.

[JonFromVA]

We all know what LeBron can do, he's been doing it for years. When a team exceeds expectations, however, you typically credit the coach. Even moreso when the team steps-up in the playoffs and seems to have the answer against much hyped coaches like Stevens, Thibs, and Bud.

Does Blatt have help? Of course he does. Finding the best assistants, developing, integrating, and leveraging that help is part of being a head coach. So is managing egos on the team.

Ironically, none of this would be recognized if Irving, and Love didn't get hurt. Then Blatt would have just been fullfilling expectations and fans on the board would be insisting they could have coached the Cavs to the finals.

[gustofwind]

The East. They've walked through some pretty bad teams. Let's see what he does against GS. Oh how great it is to be Lebron. Free trip to the finals and only have to beat 1 team from the west 4 times.

They made them look bad, but they weren't bad teams. Cavs had to go through Celtics, Bulls, Atlanta. GSW had to go through Pelicans, Memphis, Houston. Celtics had the 2nd best record in the league post ASB - coming into the playoffs they were better than the Pelicans. Bulls and Memphis most would argue are around the same level. Atlanta was a 60 win team and was considered much more of a contender than Houston throughout the season.

Completely agree. Perfectly said.

This should be its own thread.

[improper]

You have one a guy that's famous for messing with other players shoelaces and being suspended for decking guys. God, a lot of you Cavs fan are the biggest entitled fair weather fans. You call out the Celtics for playing ugly ball after Olynik(who Cavs fans think went in there looking to rip Loves arm out and beat him with it) made the first dirty play of his career, which was bad, but something that happens fifty times a game. Meanwhile you have two of the dirtiest players in the game leveling guys in the face and clothes lining them, yet the homerism makes you blind to that.

You do realize that Perkins wouldn't have been put into the game to level someone if Olynyk hadn't injured Love, right? One was the direct result of the other. Further, I think it's doubtful that JR would have punched Crowder had he not seen the video of Olynyk pulling Love's arm out of the socket at half time. Again, one was the direct result of the other. The Celtics played dirty all series, the refs let it happen, a Cavalier got hurt, and then his teammates retaliated. That's on the Celtics, not the Cavs.

[inquisitive]

well, if he had a lot of input into those midseason trades, then yeah....those trades saved the cavs and took that team to another level.

[nbafan38]

Lebron is also still underrated, he's just so great that a lot of the flaws of a team aren't recognized because of him.

The question is can Lebron give GS a series, if he can with this banged up Cleveland team that would be really impressive.

[Chris1]

They made them look bad, but they weren't bad teams. Cavs had to go through Celtics, Bulls, Atlanta. GSW had to go through Pelicans, Memphis, Houston. Celtics had the 2nd best record in the league post ASB - coming into the playoffs they were better than the Pelicans. Bulls and Memphis most would argue are around the same level. Atlanta was a 60 win team and was considered much more of a contender than Houston throughout the season.

This is so true, no one expected the Rockets to be in the Final Four at all this season.

[Madhouse]

Cavs had tougher road to Finals than GSW

Hawks/Bulls/Celtics combined are better than Rockets/Grizzlies/Pelicans

If Cavs get Irving back anything is possible for them bc of their shutdown defense.

[j_n]

Blatt isnt even the coach, Lebron has the power to call plays and change them, when has that ever happend that a player would just decide what to do in the middle of a play? do you think Pop would just allow Parker to run a pick n roll with Duncan and simplyt decide to pull up for a jumper if the defense stay on Duncan? Blatt shouldnt even get a salary.

[playoffs]

Blatt isnt even the coach, Lebron has the power to call plays and change them, when has that ever happend that a player would just decide what to do in the middle of a play? do you think Pop would just allow Parker to run a pick n roll with Duncan and simplyt decide to pull up for a jumper if the defense stay on Duncan? Blatt shouldnt even get a salary.

Yes, because MJ, Magic, Bird, Kobe, etc. always asked their coaches for permission before deciding what to do on the court...

How long have you been watching basketball?

[Madhouse]

Blatt isnt even the coach, Lebron has the power to call plays and change them, when has that ever happend that a player would just decide what to do in the middle of a play? do you think Pop would just allow Parker to run a pick n roll with Duncan and simplyt decide to pull up for a jumper if the defense stay on Duncan? Blatt shouldnt even get a salary.

Blatt > Pop