Why did Lebron James hate Erik Spoelstra and David Blatt?

[Cyrusman122000]

LeBron wasn't terribly fond of Blatt from the start, and Blatt dug himself deeper and deeper with others as time went on.

The fact that it took a season and a half for him to get fired is evidence that LeBron had little to do with it. If he did it'd have happened 12mos earlier - certainly before the second season at the latest.

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

He likes former players.

Regardless, whatever chance LeBron was giving him, if any, was soon out the window as Blatt displayed his arrogance and showed he was in well over his head.

What's weird is Mike brown wasn't a former player and it didn't appear Lebron had any issues with him.
People say Blatt was in way over his head but it doesn't make sense that they don't say that about Lue considering Lue had never been a head coach

Just a head scratcher for me

[RELL_MARLEE]

We're calling a guy that took four different coaches to the finals a coach killer? Lol comical

To address OP's point though, I don't think Lebron disliked Spo. I think he wasn't ready for the militant like culture in Miami but it helped him mature physically and mentally and he won 2 titles.

I don't think he was a fan of Blatt though. Blatt as great of a coach as he was in Europe, he was not ready to coach at an NBA level with a title or bust type of team. He was hired before Lebron came back.

Last thing I want to say is Lue is a great coach. I think he doesnt get enough credit for the adjustments he made in last years finals. He utilized Love better than Blatt ever did (after Blatt was fired.)He's also a genius when it comes to ATO plays and I wouldn't be surprised if he's ranked up there with the best of them when it comes to the success of them.

[laika]

LeBron wasn't terribly fond of Blatt from the start, and Blatt dug himself deeper and deeper with others as time went on.

The fact that it took a season and a half for him to get fired is evidence that LeBron had little to do with it. If he did it'd have happened 12mos earlier - certainly before the second season at the latest.

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

Do people need a reason to be prejudiced?
The most likely explanations- Never played or coached in the NBA, a "foreigner" and/or a white intellectual.

As for lack of success, that is a total BS excuse. Cleveland did as well as they reasonably could have done in the finals and were #1 in the East. Blatt might have been the most successful coach ever to be fired.

[ChartFiction]

Given Shaq's account of Mike Browns/Lebron's dynamic when he was in Cleveland, I'm guessing for Lebron, it's his way or the highway and that causes him to buttheads a lot with his coaches. I also doubt he has much or any patience for coach's because of that tension and because he has the ability to boot them any time he wants.

[BigtimeNBAfan]

LeBron wasn't terribly fond of Blatt from the start, and Blatt dug himself deeper and deeper with others as time went on.

The fact that it took a season and a half for him to get fired is evidence that LeBron had little to do with it. If he did it'd have happened 12mos earlier - certainly before the second season at the latest.

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

Do people need a reason to be prejudiced?
The most likely explanations- Never played or coached in the NBA, a "foreigner" and/or a white intellectual.

As for lack of success, that is a total BS excuse. Cleveland did as well as they reasonably could have done in the finals and were #1 in the East. Blatt might have been the most successful coach ever to be fired.

Yeah Blatt was very successful in Cleveland. Didn't they finish the 2015 season like 27-3 when Lebron, Love and Irving all played? Then they made it to game 6 of the Finals despite having Love out for the playoffs and Irving missing considerable playoff time. Next year the team is 30-11 on pace for 60 wins and has the best record in the East. Pretty crazy he got fired. You pretty much can't have a better 1 1/2 as a coach. He got fired for one reason; Lebron didn't like him.

[RCM88x]

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

Do people need a reason to be prejudiced?
The most likely explanations- Never played or coached in the NBA, a "foreigner" and/or a white intellectual.

As for lack of success, that is a total BS excuse. Cleveland did as well as they reasonably could have done in the finals and were #1 in the East. Blatt might have been the most successful coach ever to be fired.

Yeah Blatt was very successful in Cleveland. Didn't they finish the 2015 season like 27-3 when Lebron, Love and Irving all played? Then they made it to game 6 of the Finals despite having Love out for the playoffs and Irving missing considerable playoff time. Next year the team is 30-11 on pace for 60 wins and has the best record in the East. Pretty crazy he got fired. You pretty much can't have a better 1 1/2 as a coach. He got fired for one reason; Lebron didn't like him.

He got fired because none of the players liked him, he was often late for practices and team events, and made multiple in game mistakes regarding timeouts.

Guess it was the wrong decisions though, definitely haven't been successful since.

[homecourtloss]

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

Do people need a reason to be prejudiced?
The most likely explanations- Never played or coached in the NBA, a "foreigner" and/or a white intellectual.

As for lack of success, that is a total BS excuse. Cleveland did as well as they reasonably could have done in the finals and were #1 in the East. Blatt might have been the most successful coach ever to be fired.

Yeah Blatt was very successful in Cleveland. Didn't they finish the 2015 season like 27-3 when Lebron, Love and Irving all played? Then they made it to game 6 of the Finals despite having Love out for the playoffs and Irving missing considerable playoff time. Next year the team is 30-11 on pace for 60 wins and has the best record in the East. Pretty crazy he got fired. You pretty much can't have a better 1 1/2 as a coach. He got fired for one reason; Lebron didn't like him.

True, but the main reason they were 33-3 with everyone playing down the stretch of 2015 and were 30-11 in 2016 was BECAUSE of James himself so he didn't put stock into that.

[Saint_Killa]

I think it was power struggle thing between player vision and a coach's vision.

In Spo's case, he had Pat Riley's support all the way and has since gone on to grow much more as coach post-Big 3 Heat era. In Blatt's case, nobody really knew what he would do in the NBA and was always going to be a scape goat (LeBron gets the last word, let's all be real about that) despite the fact I thought he did a fantastic job in the 14/15 season and playoffs given the circumstances.

I'm hoping Blatt can find a job in the NBA again.

He might, cuz his team is not going to play in Euroleague next season, so he might look for a change of scenery.

[Cyrusman122000]

We're calling a guy that took four different coaches to the finals a coach killer? Lol comical

To address OP's point though, I don't think Lebron disliked Spo. I think he wasn't ready for the militant like culture in Miami but it helped him mature physically and mentally and he won 2 titles.

I don't think he was a fan of Blatt though. Blatt as great of a coach as he was in Europe, he was not ready to coach at an NBA level with a title or bust type of team. He was hired before Lebron came back.

Last thing I want to say is Lue is a great coach. I think he doesnt get enough credit for the adjustments he made in last years finals. He utilized Love better than Blatt ever did (after Blatt was fired.)He's also a genius when it comes to ATO plays and I wouldn't be surprised if he's ranked up there with the best of them when it comes to the success of them.

Absolutely. He didn't like Spo or Blatt, and didn't listen or take them seriously despite the fact that both are good coaches, who are classy men, and have gained reputations of being a good coach. How is that a coachable player? For lebron its his way or no way. If it wasn't for Wade, and someone powerful like Riley Spo would have gotten fired, and because Lebron disliked Blatt that rubbed off on the rest of the team, and they tuned him out. Eventually he got fired.

Also its beyond comical you think Lue is a great coach. Put Lue on the Celtics instead of Brad Stevens or on the Hawks instead of Bud and there is NO way they are as good as they are. Lue has had success solely because of Lebron nothing else.

[yesh]

So let's suppose the Warriors crush the Cavs in the finals.
Lue would most likely get fired by Lebron.

At that point, would any good coaches be willing to coach the Cavs?

A 7 game series for the championship for the next couple of years? Yeah, there'll be takers.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

We're calling a guy that took four different coaches to the finals a coach killer? Lol comical

To address OP's point though, I don't think Lebron disliked Spo. I think he wasn't ready for the militant like culture in Miami but it helped him mature physically and mentally and he won 2 titles.

I don't think he was a fan of Blatt though. Blatt as great of a coach as he was in Europe, he was not ready to coach at an NBA level with a title or bust type of team. He was hired before Lebron came back.

Last thing I want to say is Lue is a great coach. I think he doesnt get enough credit for the adjustments he made in last years finals. He utilized Love better than Blatt ever did (after Blatt was fired.)He's also a genius when it comes to ATO plays and I wouldn't be surprised if he's ranked up there with the best of them when it comes to the success of them.

Absolutely. He didn't like Spo or Blatt, and didn't listen or take them seriously despite the fact that both are good coaches, who are classy men, and have gained reputations of being a good coach. How is that a coachable player? For lebron its his way or no way. If it wasn't for Wade, and someone powerful like Riley Spo would have gotten fired, and because Lebron disliked Blatt that rubbed off on the rest of the team, and they tuned him out. Eventually he got fired.

Also its beyond comical you think Lue is a great coach. Put Lue on the Celtics instead of Brad Stevens or on the Hawks instead of Bud and there is NO way they are as good as they are. Lue has had success solely because of Lebron nothing else.

LeBron and Spo had issues very early on, and then it was all good after that. He definitely listened and took him seriously. The funny thing is if you listen to his postgame pressers, he picked up some of Spo's mannerisms in the way he describes the game.

Blatt I can't comment on, didn't follow that situation closely. But in Miami things were fine in years 2, 3 and 4. LeBron went to Cleveland for 2 reasons, he felt the roster was ready to take off, and the massive PR boost from coming home. 2.5 if you count that he wanted more control of the franchise, but he did seem to like the professional atmosphere in Miami and tried to instill some of that with the Cavs.

[jokeboy86]

Lebron is going to stand out as one of the few legendary championship players that you dont know which coach to associate with him. Or even a gm to link him with like Bird/Auerbach and Wade/Riley. When's he inducted in the Hall of Fame I would love to hear which coach he's felt has had the most impact or influence on him. Maybe Brown or Joyce?

[XxIronChainzxX]

This is something I don't know too much back story about, but why did Lebron James dislike Erik Spoelstra and David Blatt so much? He clearly has gained a reputation for not being a very coachable player in the sense that he doesn't like to take direction from coaches, but what happened with these two?
He clearly didn't like Spo despite Spo being a fine coach, but in Miami Wade and more so Pat Riley put their foot down so Lebron just had to suck it up.
In Cleveland that wasn't the case. James put his foot down and out David Blatt went. Blatt and Spo are better coaches than Tyron Lue, but you don't see Lebron clashing with Lue ever.
So why did he hate those 2 coaches so much? Both guys seem like very respectful, classy coaches who have had success.

LeBron wasn't terribly fond of Blatt from the start, and Blatt dug himself deeper and deeper with others as time went on.

The fact that it took a season and a half for him to get fired is evidence that LeBron had little to do with it. If he did it'd have happened 12mos earlier - certainly before the second season at the latest.

Why? This is what I'm trying to figure out

Didn't the Cavs hire Blatt before they got Lebron?

[Hornet Mania]

Lebron has a very specific idea of how he wants to play, and he resents anyone trying to overrule him. It works for the most part because Lebron is awesome, but he's definitely incredibly demanding and not really malleable at this stage.

"Coach killer" is a degree too harsh, but "borderline uncoachable" is fair. Unless you're an NBA coaching legend with pedigree independent of Lebron, than Lebron is not going to respect you.

[jbk1234]

So many bad takes in this thread. LBJ is difficult to coach but Blatt was hired to coach a young team around his system. The entire plan got blown up once LBJ agreed to come back. Neither Mike Brown nor Blatt ever tried to hold LBJ accountable. Lue has. LBJ still has more control over his minutes than I'm comfortable with but everything that got reported out after Blatt was fired indicated that Blatt did nothing but blow smoke up LBJ's rear end his entire time in Cleveland.

[Peja Stojakovic]

has it come out somewhere that lebron had a problem with spo? blatt was a bad hire for a team that expected to contend immediately. didn't they get him when they still didn't know lebron was coming, so they figured him for a development coach for a rebuilding team with kyrie/wiggins and scrubs?

[Cyrusman122000]

So many bad takes in this thread. LBJ is difficult to coach but Blatt was hired to coach a young team around his system. The entire plan got blown up once LBJ agreed to come back. Neither Mike Brown nor Blatt ever tried to hold LBJ accountable. Lue has. LBJ still has more control over his minutes than I'm comfortable with but everything that got reported out after Blatt was fired indicated that Blatt did nothing but blow smoke up LBJ's rear end his entire time in Cleveland.

There's videos of Lebron pushing Blatt out of the way in the middle of the game. He clearly had no respect for him. Obviously I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but Blatt was a credible, classy, and tough coach who has success previously in his coaching career. What I don't get is why Lebron is so difficult to coach

[The4thHorseman]

We're calling a guy that took four different coaches to the finals a coach killer? Lol comical

To address OP's point though, I don't think Lebron disliked Spo. I think he wasn't ready for the militant like culture in Miami but it helped him mature physically and mentally and he won 2 titles.

I don't think he was a fan of Blatt though. Blatt as great of a coach as he was in Europe, he was not ready to coach at an NBA level with a title or bust type of team. He was hired before Lebron came back.

Last thing I want to say is Lue is a great coach. I think he doesnt get enough credit for the adjustments he made in last years finals. He utilized Love better than Blatt ever did (after Blatt was fired.)He's also a genius when it comes to ATO plays and I wouldn't be surprised if he's ranked up there with the best of them when it comes to the success of them.

Absolutely. He didn't like Spo or Blatt, and didn't listen or take them seriously despite the fact that both are good coaches, who are classy men, and have gained reputations of being a good coach. How is that a coachable player? For lebron its his way or no way. If it wasn't for Wade, and someone powerful like Riley Spo would have gotten fired, and because Lebron disliked Blatt that rubbed off on the rest of the team, and they tuned him out. Eventually he got fired.

Also its beyond comical you think Lue is a great coach. Put Lue on the Celtics instead of Brad Stevens or on the Hawks instead of Bud and there is NO way they are as good as they are. Lue has had success solely because of Lebron nothing else.

That's complete speculation on your part with no facts to back it up.

No proof that James teammates wanted Blatt out also. Besides, if Blatt was so great, then his phone would have been ringing from many NBA GM's and Owners trying to get a hold of him.

[jbk1234]

So many bad takes in this thread. LBJ is difficult to coach but Blatt was hired to coach a young team around his system. The entire plan got blown up once LBJ agreed to come back. Neither Mike Brown nor Blatt ever tried to hold LBJ accountable. Lue has. LBJ still has more control over his minutes than I'm comfortable with but everything that got reported out after Blatt was fired indicated that Blatt did nothing but blow smoke up LBJ's rear end his entire time in Cleveland.

There's videos of Lebron pushing Blatt out of the way in the middle of the game. He clearly had no respect for him. Obviously I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but Blatt was a credible, classy, and tough coach who has success previously in his coaching career. What I don't get is why Lebron is so difficult to coach

A lot of it comes down to whether coach A's system lends itself to player B's strengths. When player B is LBJ, it better. I'm not convinced that either Brown or Blatt were good at in-game, or even in-series, adjustments. There weren't a lot o plan Bs with those guys. I like Blatt as a person and think he can be a good coach in the NBA but it was a bad situation for him.

[The4thHorseman]

So many bad takes in this thread. LBJ is difficult to coach but Blatt was hired to coach a young team around his system. The entire plan got blown up once LBJ agreed to come back. Neither Mike Brown nor Blatt ever tried to hold LBJ accountable. Lue has. LBJ still has more control over his minutes than I'm comfortable with but everything that got reported out after Blatt was fired indicated that Blatt did nothing but blow smoke up LBJ's rear end his entire time in Cleveland.

There's videos of Lebron pushing Blatt out of the way in the middle of the game. He clearly had no respect for him. Obviously I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but Blatt was a credible, classy, and tough coach who has success previously in his coaching career. What I don't get is why Lebron is so difficult to coach

Now you're making sense.

None of us know. That's why it's better not to speculate.