Cavaliers star LeBron James widely is known to have preferred talking through Tyronn Lue – the assistant who replaced Blatt as head coach – rather than going to Blatt himself.
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One day after coach David Blatt was sacked despite taking the Cavs to the NBA Finals last season and guiding them into first place in the Eastern Conference, James said he was surprised by the bold move but supported general manager David Griffin’s rationale behind it. ESPN says players also generally had a better attitude coming into this season, as several of them earned monster contracts in the offseason – which Wojnarowski reports is part of LeBron’s overall control over the organization.
Griffin said it was “unfair” to imply James had any role in the choice.
“That’s not my concern”, he said.
“I found out about it just like every other player on this team at 3:30 yesterday”, James said. I think (Griffin) was right on everything he said … “Like it or love it or hate it or whatever, you’ve got to respect it and as professionals we’ve got to be ready for the game”. Now, its over. Blatt was sacked Friday by the title-chasing Cavaliers, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
James has a strong relationship with Lue and often consulted with him on strategy during games.
He also brought up the fact that a lot of his coaching style was instilled by former Bulls legend Phil Jackson when the two were player and coach in Los Angeles, as well as admitting that the current Cavs roster wasn’t having “fun”.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio – Both knees wrapped in ice, LeBron James walked in a circle, waiting for his turn to speak with a larger-than-usual media contingent.
“I talked to Bron”.
“The main thing for Ty Lue is relationships are really key to be in a leadership position, ” Fisher said. It’s the last thing I say before we go out, you know – ‘Let’s go out there and have fun tonight.’ And when we play well we seem to have fun.
“It’s unfortunate what happened … and the team, we just have to focus on what’s now in front of us … we’ve got to continue to get better”. He was incapable of creating a family atmosphere, even though it appeared there was one in last year’s NBA Finals.
The four-time MVP scored 26 seconds into the game, but then he and the Cavs went cold, missing 16 straight shots as the Bulls run off 13 straight points to end the first quarter. The timing was disgusting on many levels, and if the Cavaliers didn’t think Blatt was the man for the job, he should’ve been shown the door during the offseason.
“Steph hits half-court shots all the time in practice”, Kerr said.
Danilo Gallinari scored 30 points – including the go-ahead two with 23.8 seconds remaining – as the Denver Nuggets beat the Detroit Pistons 104-101.
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The NBA is a tough league.
