The NBA announced Wednesday evening that Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and his staff will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the 2016 NBA All-Star game.
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Instead of coach killer, why don’t we talk about the championships, games and all the awards these coaches have won “with” LeBron James.
While James feels he can’t do much about the shots that are taken against him in regards to his ability to kill the careers of coaches, he did try to defend himself against the “coach killer” label.
The 115-93 victory over Phoenix assured the Cavaliers (32-12) of owning the conference’s best record at the end of the month.
Speculation about tensions between Blatt and James has bubbled since last season, when there were clear signs of friction between the two men during the Cavs run to the National Basketball Association finals.
A destroyed Phoenix Suns (14-33) team hung with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first 24 minutes of the contest.
James’ recent performances have re-energized a Cleveland team that shot 37.2 percent in a 96-83 home loss to Chicago in Lue’s debut Saturday. Ranaan Katz later retracted his statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Van Gundy said James’ “athletic legacy is secure” as one of the greatest players in National Basketball Association history, and added that, given the Cavs’ status atop the Eastern Conference, “if David Blatt should’ve been fired, and Kevin Love isn’t an All-Star, and Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert were hurt for most of the season, then James should be the MVP”.
Many reports have linked Blatt’s firing to James and his lack of respect for the coach, which has helped to permeate the narrative that James isn’t coachable and will only listen to a specific list of coaches that he wants around.
Now, Popovich is probably the best coach in the National Basketball Association and his Spurs are the second-best team in the National Basketball Association, so he is definitely deserving.
Lue wants the Cavs to play much faster than they did under Blatt, pushing the ball up the floor and running whenever possible to take advantage of their athleticism.
“Having a chance to do this, I know my (assistant) coaches are excited, and I know it’s going to be a surreal moment”.
“The first half I thought we were slow”, Lue said. But, I don’t know. “I think that’s the way we want to play is fun, everybody gets involved”.
“I think it does suck that people want to throw my name in the dirt“, James said.
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“I’ve never met that guy”. Silas taught James to be a pro and protected him. Atlanta got it back with 6.7 seconds left and inbounded to Paul Millsap, who drove against Luc Mbah a Moute and got a good look at the basket, but came up short on a running one-hander. But both coaches ultimately experienced huge success with James; Spoelstra won two titles and Krzyzewski won two gold medals.
