ok this is the interview of David Blatt from today in radio 103fm,sorry for the translation.
Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt , we feel strange saying this, good luck?
Yes it is a bit strange truth, thank you very much.
How did you hear about the appointment and how it happened?
I actually did the interview and I was supposed to fly the next day and they asked me to stay another day because they wanted to sit down and discuss all the candidates, I stayed and I got a call the next day to come, they said we will enter into negotiations with the agent, they said we want you to look the workouts we did for one of our candidates in the draft , and a few hours later I got a call from my agent that said Hello to the next coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The American media was very interested in you at the weekend, they already asked you about the fact that you are the first coach without experience in the NBA as a player or as a coach ?
Not so much, they asked me not to talk to the media until the press conference on Wednesday.
But the people,the american media and the NBA management are aware that I'm not some rookie coach coming into the NBA, I coached for 20 years at the highest levels in Europe.
The NBA style is very different style European style.....?
The game is different in many ways but if you pay attention to clubs that succeed especially a team like San Antonio, who succeeds most is who plays European style and this may be one of the reasons I am now the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But perhaps the problem is that the players are not used to playing this game and you are a new coach to begin making changes is not a simple?
I'll tell you what I said in an interview with the owner, if I went to coach the Russian national team as a jew and American and an Israeli, and I managed to persuade the players to go to my method so I believe that as American that understand and very familiar with this world and these players I'll be able also to convince them to go my way .
David, you're not afraid to accept this enormous challenge?
When I was in Sweden and I thought the whole thing of the NBA i received SMS from my son saying: Dangerous real, fear is a choice.
When you ask me a question like this is something very far away from me, I was never afraid of challenging, never ran from criticism or those who did not believe, and maybe that's why I succeeded in the end.
How long you will have to adjust to the NBA?
It's true, I have a process of learning that I have to go through and I learn well, thankfully I got a good education and I'm not afraid of sitting and ask questions and get help, I decided already to coach in the Summer League to enter right down and learn the business closely and have the rest of the summer to catch up. I'll take a team of highly experienced with more knowledge than I have in the NBA, and it will take me a while, I know it will take me some time and I know that people doesn't have a lot of patience but believe me after what I experienced in Israel and what you did to me I'm not afraid of anything (laughter). I signed a contract for 3 years and I want already in 30 days to justify myself.
About the draft pick they already talked to you about this?
We were sitting, it's not a decision I take, it is a decision of the Griffin and the rest of the staff, I have some part in giving my opinion especially the method that I want to play and actually i did it and will continue to do in the coming days because many things happen in the last days before the draft and right away after the draft it's the opening of the free market players, we can if we want to make moves it also has to do with the draft decision.
Overall situation is in your favor, the club is after a bad period and you get a young team and you can prove yourself?
I hope to be successful, the job is not easy, but our goal to return to a winning team and be a legitimate playoff team and they brought me for this, I know where I'm going and I'm not afraid of it and I look forward to it.
