Cleveland Cavaliers: Did They Make The Right Decision In Firing David Blatt?

The Cleveland Cavaliers decided it was time to fire David Blatt, but was it the right decision and will it pay off in June?

We now know how much David Blatt was an absolute non-factor in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room.

We know that he was afraid of LeBron James and that he often placated to the stars on the team. We know that he struggled drawing up plays and that he would perhaps freeze during in-game situations. We also know that the team had been entertaining the idea of firing Blatt for quite some time.

Heck, replacements aren’t usually found 20 minutes after a head coach his fired.

We knew that LeBron James never wanted Blatt as the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers; the other players on the team weren’t far behind with that belief.

We also know that this team is now Ty Lue’s.

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But, was it the right decision?

And perhaps the only thing we need to answer before figuring out if the move will pay off or not is whether a head coach is worth two NBA Finals games, because under Blatt the Cavs were two wins away from winning last year’s NBA Championship.

Now, was that despite the former Cavaliers coach, or are we seeing a different Blatt this season than the one we saw last season? We really don’t know, and will probably never know.

This is what we did know this season:

• While the Cleveland Cavaliers have a slightly worse offensive rating this season (from 107.7 last year to 105.6 this year), they do have a much-improved defense this season (from 104.1 last year to 99.7 this year).
• The Cavs were only 1-5 against the Warriors, Spurs and Raptors (arguably the three best teams in the NBA) this season.
• The combination of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love still doesn’t look fluid in the offense.

If LeBron is going to go down, losing another NBA Finals, he may as well go down with his guys

Perhaps the final bullet is the biggest reason why Blatt is no longer coaching the Cavaliers. When it’s all said and done, and when you look at the evidence in hand, if Love, LeBron and Kyrie would look like a well-oiled machine, Blatt still probably has a job right now.

If this team would be doing what the LeBron James led Miami Heat looked like, flanked by Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, would had made it work by this time in their journey, Blatt would not have been fired.

LeBron James won his first NBA Championship in year 2 of the experiment in Miami. It’s year 2 in his return to Cleveland. He knows that as currently equipped, the Cleveland Cavaliers were not going to beat either the Spurs or Warriors – and he got a first-hand look at that during the last few weeks.

A change was needed. And if Blatt is accurate with what he told friends in Israel, it might really have come down to Blatt or Love.

LeBron chose Love, which makes sense.

Why would LeBron choose a coach that he never really wanted in Cleveland?

Why would LeBron choose a coach that never challenge him or the rest of the team in the locker room?

Why would LeBron choose a coach that was hand-picked by the ownership in Cleveland instead of one of his own?

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LeBron James finally has HIS guy coaching his Cleveland Cavaliers team. If LeBron is going to go down, losing another NBA Finals, he may as well go down with his guys.

And it looks like that’s just what he plans on doing.

Was it the right decision, though? We’ll find out in a few months.