keynote wrote:I dunno about Blatt. That Lowe/Windhorst conversation was rather damning. He couldn't establish credibility in the locker room *and* was defensive about it. Perhaps after this humbling experience, he'll be less defensive about his status in the coaching pecking order -- but I'm not sure our vet-filled locker room will view his non-NBA experience any differently.
Either way: I think we won't formally pick our HC until mid-July at the earliest. I know we wanted to sell Durant on our organizational stability, but if we're going to clean house, we might as well use it to our advantage, and sell ourselves as the one place where KD gets direct input on choosing his next coach. Presti was rather coy about whether he consulted KD and Westbrook before hiring Donovan; perhaps Durant would value having a more formal seat at the table. As far as leverage goes, all we have is that + homecoming + average roster.
If EG/EG's successor hires a new coach before July, then the most we could do would be to float prospective candidates past a Durant surrogate in a clandestine manner.
The thing about Blatt in Cleveland was that everything he did was poisoned by Lebron's agenda to have Mark Jackson be his coach. Had Lebron bought in, things would have turned out differently.
That said, it is possible that Lebron sniffed out a phony immediately, and was correct in overriding Blatt and wanting him gone. Given Blatt's success coaching elsewhere, I think that's unlikely. It is possible, though.
That said, it's sorta academic to the exercise I went through with each team. I considered Wittman vs. Lue for a "trade" -- not Blatt.
