On Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliersfired David Blatt and made Tyronn Lue their next head coach. In a season and a half as the Cavaliers head coach, Blatt went 83-40 and helped take an injury-riddled roster to the NBA Finals where they lost in five games to the Golden State Warriors. With a small sample size, Blatt appeared to be a solid coach, however, former Cavs center Brendan Haywood shed light on a problem that was going on behind closed doors.
Coach Blatt was very hesitant to challenge LeBron James. It was one of those situations where, being a rookie coach, and LeBron being bigger than life, it was a little too much for him. I remember we had James Jones [talk] to Coach about how, ‘Hey, you can’t just skip over when LeBron James makes a mistake in the film room.’ Because we all see it.
If you cannot get the respect of every player in the locker room, then you've already lost. Blatt's fate was a long time coming.
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[via NBA.com]
