I liked Blatt a lot -- he is, after all, a landsman, plus a buddy who works in the Euroleague had good things to say about him when the Cavs hired him -- and I'm guessing LBJ (and Love and a host of others on the team and in the organization), are not in deep mourning. The odds were against him, the expectations and sense of urgency high.
But while there's a rush to put this all in simplistic terms and go to the it's-all-LeBron's-fault card, what's noticeably missing in the discussion so far is maybe, just maybe, Blatt deserves some responsibility for being shown the door.
One Cleveland reporter very close to the scene has some interesting insights.
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index...d_blatt_got_fired_and.html#incart_maj-story-1
A couple of excerpts: "During the first portion of the 2014-15 season, film sessions were a topic of discussion among the players. Blatt was reluctant to criticize star players even when they clearly messed up a play. This became routine. It got so bad that I'm told that Lue finally intervened, stood up and demanded that somebody rewind the footage so that he could get on members of The Big 3."
"Word circulated to cleveland.com that Blatt had trouble drawing up plays out of timeouts. He would freeze up and waste precious seconds, one player said. He would even draw up plays for players who weren't in the game, another player said."
And, for those who want to put this all on LeBron and claim he doesn't want a coach to stand up to him, there's this:
"Blatt didn't have the necessary relationship with his guys to get players to buy in.
Lue is expected to hold players accountable. He's not afraid to give James a piece of his mind. Players from 1 down to 15 will be held responsible.".
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