Stein: Blatt's Job Could Be In Trouble

[Kabookalu]

LeBron just needs to come out and admit he wants to coach the team.

[J Dilla]

This is why you hire an experienced coach with a roster like this, but if I have the world's best player on my team, I should be doing a lot better than I am now.

Even Ettore Messina is an assistant right now. Blatt should've taken a slower route towards becoming an NBA head coach. His success in some graveyard league is irrelevant.

[Bertoo]

[Raps in 4]

Lebron seems to have aged a lot in the last few years.

He dropped a lot of weight (presumably in order to extend his career) in the offseason which has hurt his game.

[Raps in 4]

This is why you hire an experienced coach with a roster like this, but if I have the world's best player on my team, I should be doing a lot better than I am now.

Even Ettore Messina is an assistant right now. Blatt should've taken a slower route towards becoming an NBA head coach. His success in some graveyard league is irrelevant.

Lebron certainly isn't playing like the best player in the world right now. And the rest of the team is very flawed.

[Dr Octagon]

[Inevitable]

Kyrie, Love and Waiters are the main problems they simply aren't winners and can't play a lick of defense.

[tms]

sure seems recycled to me:

ESPN reports that Miami Heat players are now openly questioning coach Erik Spoelstra and his ability to guide them to an NBA title.

http://www.businessinsider.com/miami-heat-want-coach-erik-spoelstra-fired-because-he-yells-at-them-2010-11

The Miami Heat's players are frustrated with Erik Spoelstra and some are questioning whether he is the right coach for their team, according to people close to the situation... Sources say the players believe he is not letting them be themselves, that they are questioning his offensive strategies, and that they think he is panicking because he fears losing his job.

-Broussard http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=5862172

Whether or not the contact from LeBron was intentional or inadvertent, big deal or no deal, Miami’s increasingly vacant performances suggest that Spoelstra’s players aren’t responding, listening or caring much for what he’s trying to tell them. Which can obviously be fatal for a young (and still learning) coach in the crosshairs like he is.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/1807/spoelstra-watch-alert-level-bumped-up

surprise surprise, the last one was posted by Marc Stein.

the worst thing about signing Lebron is that these rumours always follow him. the media is addicted. they put these bullets in the chamber months in advance and frame them later as breaking news

[ATLTimekeeper]

I don't know which part of this to attack first.

Rewinding tape? Spo was the Heat's Director of Scouting from 2001.

That's the job Jim Kelly had here. Next.

A doormat? Do you really think Pat Riley would trust his team and his legacy to a guy he didn't respect as a coach? Maybe he also felt like he could control him, but that's not the same thing.

You interpreting a doormat to be a coach that Riley doesn't respect is incorrect. I think Spoelstra is a good coach, but he was also a doormat to Riley. I think Blatt is a great coach, but it's unlikely he's comfortable playing doormat to anyone.

LeBron tuned out Spo? When? Was it before or after they got to the NBA Finals last year? Was it in Game 5 when he was the only player to really show up for the Heat?

Sloppy comment on my part. But LeBron definitely cared less about Riley's leadership after he won some rings and had some freedom.

[LLJ]

No team would panic after 30 games like this....unless they had Lebron. Blatt is a proven coach, maybe not in this league but its a learning experience for him too and the Cavs should have known that. Its not his fault the team has no depth, no rim protection and a bunch of chuckers, though he should be coaching them on what shots to take and not to take.

30 games is almost 40% of the NBA season. It certainly is a good time to panic if you're still floundering at this point.

[orbesnet]

Return of the "Player Coach"?

I was one of those who questioned this squad's defense in the offseason, with Varejoa out it's even more apparent.

Still wouldn't put it past them to make the ECF but without defense you win no 'ships.

LBJ has appeared way too passive but I guess he gets tired of doing all the heavy lifting... that ego must be a drag to carry around all the time.

[Free CDR]

They are still 6 games over 500, this is a bit ridiculous.

[Scarface844]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/mcten/status/549649921616670720[/tweet]

[hell_razor]

[hankscorpioLA]

They are still 6 games over 500, this is a bit ridiculous.

I'm not sure I agree. The thing is that they were absolutely rolling earlier this month on an 8 game winning streak including two wins against Toronto and one against Washington.

But now they are 5-5 over their last 10. Their only "quality" win came against Memphis who is without Zach Randolph. And then came last night against the Pistons which they lost by 23 points despite being up by 11 after the first quarter.

Looking ahead, they are now going to play 5 games in 7 nights against a broad spectrum of opponents. Then they play Houston at home followed by a 5 game Western Conference swing. If they want to stop the panic from spreading, they will need a strong showing over these 11 games.

The other factor to consider here is the impact of nationally televised games. So far, 8 of the Cavs 30 games have been broadcast nationally. Beginning on January 5th against the Rockets, the Cavs will have 13 out of 24 games broadcast nationally on ESPN, TNT or ABC including one stretch where 5 straight games are national broadcasts. If they have not sorted things out by then, the scrutiny is just going to grow and grow. And if they start losing more now that Varejao is out, it could get ugly.

[Clementine9]

sure seems recycled to me:

ESPN reports that Miami Heat players are now openly questioning coach Erik Spoelstra and his ability to guide them to an NBA title.

http://www.businessinsider.com/miami-heat-want-coach-erik-spoelstra-fired-because-he-yells-at-them-2010-11

The Miami Heat's players are frustrated with Erik Spoelstra and some are questioning whether he is the right coach for their team, according to people close to the situation... Sources say the players believe he is not letting them be themselves, that they are questioning his offensive strategies, and that they think he is panicking because he fears losing his job.

-Broussard http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=5862172

Whether or not the contact from LeBron was intentional or inadvertent, big deal or no deal, Miami’s increasingly vacant performances suggest that Spoelstra’s players aren’t responding, listening or caring much for what he’s trying to tell them. Which can obviously be fatal for a young (and still learning) coach in the crosshairs like he is.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/1807/spoelstra-watch-alert-level-bumped-up

surprise surprise, the last one was posted by Marc Stein.

the worst thing about signing Lebron is that these rumours always follow him. the media is addicted. they put these bullets in the chamber months in advance and frame them later as breaking news

Whether Blatt gets fired or not I think the discussion is basically pointless after this post. Sports reporting is all just a bunch of bull.

[Scarface844]

Whether Blatt gets fired or not I think the discussion is basically pointless after this post. Sports reporting is all just a bunch of bull.

What? Pat Riley came out and said, Spolestra is our guy, deal with it. Wade came out and said, this is on all of us, not just Spo. The rumors weren't wrong, Miami just had a very respected and organized FO. They backed their guy, regardless of the scrutiny.

It's not like that in Cleveland. The FO is inept. The players are inept. Lebron has full control. Lebron can opt out of his contract, and leave. Cleveland knows that. They don't have the same leadership that Miami had.

The Heat in 2010 didn't lose their 12th game until January 15th (30-12 at the time). That article came out after 17 games, not 30 games. People need to stop comparing the Heat big 3 to the Cavs big 3. They have nothing in common except for 3 stars forming a team together.

[dacrusha]

Even before the season started, people were saying how the Cavs roster was flawed, that defence would be an issue. It is.

Now Varajeo is out. Miller and Marion are pale imitations of what they used to be - that's another factor people don't realize: the Cavs bench is butt ugly, some well-known names, but aside from Tristan Thompson, not playing out of position, and Delladova who is like a college walk-on made good, they lack scoring power.

Came in here to echo the same sentiment.

The Cavs roster has one superstar (LBJ) , a tier 1 one-dimensional star (Love) and a tier 2 one-dimensional star (Irving). Outside of that, there's mostly garbage for Blatt to mold into a contender that can play defense.

If anything, their GM should be the one whose job is in jeopardy.

[knickerbocker2k2]

LeBron is probably angling for Mark Jackson who is represented by his agency. Probably left Heat because they wouldn't let him run the whole organization.

Blatt was destined to fail. His arrogant personality would not even work on team full of rookies yet alone on a team led by LeBron

[Scarface844]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/549611229405528064[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/549612263314042880[/tweet]