David Blatt Safari (Officially named Head Coach)

[Jack Brickman]

Blatt is either going to be a rousing success... or fall flat on his face. I think his saving grace is that, despite the task masters that come from the college ranks, he can't use brute force like college coaches do since he has actual professionals.

Of course, is anyone taking the over/under on Dion punching him? And do we do a side bet on whether it is a Dion friend or Dion foe punch?

Personally, I think Dion will love the guy, as Dion's skill set is perfect for the type of offense Blatt runs.

 

[SteelSmack]

Personally, I think Dion will love the guy, as Dion's skill set is perfect for the type of offense Blatt runs.

Completely agree, which drives me crazy how many people are so ready to trade him. He's exactly the kind of guard you want on a Blatt team. Runs the pick and roll well, has good vision, and can knock down a catch and shoot 3.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Completely agree, which drives me crazy how many people are so ready to trade him. He's exactly the kind of guard you want on a Blatt team. Runs the pick and roll well, has good vision, and can knock down a catch and shoot 3.

Blatt will probably also make teaching Dion to move without the ball a priority, as that's a major part of his offense. That, to me, is Dion's main weakness right now, although he did get a little better at it during the course of last season.

 

[OptimusPrime]

The Princeton offense values ball handling and passing at every position, so Waiters is ideal for it. That's probably why Byron Scott wanted him so much, even though Scott never got his half ass Princeton installed and Kyrie wouldn't run it anyway.

 

[blackmagicGTI]

Completely agree, which drives me crazy how many people are so ready to trade him. He's exactly the kind of guard you want on a Blatt team. Runs the pick and roll well, has good vision, and can knock down a catch and shoot 3.

Exactly. Not to mention, he actually gives a shit. Dion's got the heart of a lion which cannot be said for quite a few of our other players. He might be immature but he made a huge leap last year in terms of mentality. If Kyrie had Dion's heart he'd be a top 2 point guard.

I don't think Blatt will have any issues with Dion since Dion is a competitor. I think trading him would make us regret it as I could easily see him flourish somewhere like Golden State.

 

[D10S]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Los Angeles Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue has accepted associate head coach job with Cleveland, sources tell Yahoo.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/481167244999663616">June 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Plaxicofan7]

This off-season seems to be getting better and better

 

[MirORich]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Los Angeles Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue has accepted associate head coach job with Cleveland, sources tell Yahoo.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/481167244999663616">June 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wow!

Ford had just said on his 850 interview that the Cavs desperately wanted to improve the image league wide of their FO and coaching staff. Blatt with Lue on board is huge. Kudos again to Dan G and Griff for spending money to put great people in place.

For Lue, this is a great opportunity. He's already learned under Doc for 5 years. That's enough time to pick up everything you can from one of the best coaches in the NBA. This gives him an opportunity to now diversify his learning experience and puts him in a prime spot to be a leading coaching candidate in 2015 or 2016

 

[Fuggles]

bonus!

 

[nikolajz1]

The Cavs and Browns have been killing it this offseason. Griffin will have a big test with the draft and free agency but I feel better already because of how great he's handled the coaching search.

 

[MirORich]

To me this confirms something else I mentioned in a previous post: I really believe that Griffin has had Blatt in mind for the last few years as the coach he would pursue if given a GM job and I truly believe he used the coaching head search process to identify potential assistant candidates to bring on board to help with Blatt's transitions.

The ability to identify and execute a plan is key. And it bodes well for the next two offseasons as far as trades and FA

 

[Plaxicofan7]

Just want to say:

We went from Mike Brown as coach to possibly Vinny Del Negro.

We end up with the best coaching hire of the off-season and a guy who was interviewing for a HC job who left DOC RIVERS to become an assistant.

Say what?

 

[Cavsfan1985]

I just love it, Knicks give Fisher 5 years - 25 million, never coached before. We give 3 years, 3.3 million (team option, plus incentives to 5 million) to Blatt, then get Lou at 3 years at 1.5.

Fisher - 5 million
Blatt/Lou - 4.8 million.

lol @ the Knicks.

 

[gopre]

Awesome...so we now have the coach that demands respect and holds everyone accountable AND the guy that is apparently great with the youngins and had an impressive plan for Kyrie and Dion.


Good work FO.

 

[Willard513]

I think the best part about the lue hiring is that it is reported he has been speaking to blatt for a while. There is clearly a mutual respect and desire to succeed by both. Lue will do wonders with the young guys while maintaining the respect of Blatt while ingesting everything he teaches. It is really exciting summer already and we haven't even signed a player or seen a summer league game yet.