Cavs interested in making David Blatt their next head coach?

[RedBlackAttack]

Remember how the Mavs lost Deron Williams to the Nets?

... ?

[All Net]

Hope Blatt is their man.

[1~Gibson~1]

Let me just say that if the Cavs choose the less experienced coach whether it be T. Lue or Alvin Gentry.. I will be pissed.

From what ive been hearing David Blatt is a great coach, but sometimes Cleveland's front office decisions canbe questionabLe.

[Euroleague]

yo euroleague, trolling aside, i know youre one of few knowledgeable poster in this site

who's the best coach right now? is that pop?

who's the best euroleague coach right now?

and whos the best euroleague coach right now who is available for cavs?

Best NBA coach is probably Popovich. He's very overrated though. Every single US sports writer and analyst takes that to "best coach in the world", which is just ridiculous.

Best coach in Euroleague for me would be Dusan Ivkovic.

Best Euroleague coach that is available right now? Hard to say. I mean, I'm not sure about availability issues.

The only reason Blatt and Messina are getting all this hype in US sports media is because CLEAR AS HELL they want to coach in the NBA, so they are doing everything they can to get to that point.

And so they are obviously just having their agents load the hell out of US media with this endless hype and bullshit, and pushing themselves like crazy and trying at every possible chance to push their names and go for every job.

I think Zeljko Obradovic is pretty damn aggressive in it also, because the last couple of years, he's been doing the same stuff.

All this "best coaches in Europe" bullshit just translates to, "guys with agencies that are paying us the most money to write fluff pieces".

The same as all the "Rubio is the next Maravich or Nash" articles, "Mirotic is the next Dirk", etc. crap that the same exact people have said similar such bullshit.

You know they are TOTALLY FULL OF SHIT, because for example, these ESPN articles have now called both Blatt and Messina, "offensive innovators" and said that they are coaches that are primarily known for the offense.

That's absolutely laughable, since they are almost 100% defense only coaches.

I'm not saying Blatt is a bad coach, he's a good coach and everything, but these articles and the stuff being said is just comical. It's almost like an intentional setup or something.

Like the NBA wants to bring some "elite Euroleague coaches" in and have them bust and fire them, and use it as more NBA gimmick marketing or something about best in the world, blah, blah, blah.

No one could possibly think Blatt or Messina are offensive innovators. They are purely nothing but defense coaches.

So already we see from NBA only fans tons of stuff about Blatt being said in NBA sites that is complete imaginary made up bullshit.

[Euroleague]

I don't know how much people here know about him but he isn't that strict of a coach. In fact he is a very relaxed person who has friendly relationship with his players and the media.

From what I heard his practices are very short and easy so in short the way NBA players are used to.

His teams don't always play good as espected during the season but when playoff comes they start playing much better which is the case with many great coaches.
He isn't that good of a tactical coach in my oppinion but the thing he is great at is feel for the game. He just knows when to call a time out, play small ball, make a subbstitution, change defense.

I think Clevland is very good fit for him because his game is almost always centered around a slashing pg and Irving is perfect for that role.

You have to remember though that Blatt's whole coaching is on defense and stopping penetration and having guards that defend.

None of that happens in the NBA, where with the rules and refs, and just style of the game there is almost zero defense. Even these days in the NBA finals there is basically zero defense for the most part.

So basically every single thing Blatt does or knows as a coach is complete useless and gone from his style and system in the NBA. Which is totally defense based, despite what clowns at ESPN are claiming in saying he's an offensive guru.

So none of anything that teams like Russia or Maccabi did is going to work in an NBA team. It's simply impossible to do that in the NBA.

The closest thing to it would be the Bulls with Thibodeau, which would be his most similar coaching comparison, but the Cavs do not have the players like that for such a style, and someone like Irving is a horrific defender, even by NBA point guard standards.

And even then, what the Bulls do, only works to a certain point because of the NBA rules. Every year they eventually can't go past a certain point because playing as a defense first team isn't going to work in the NBA, which is fully an offense based league.

So the style he has is not what works in the NBA, and the players he has won't even work for his style, if he does coach the Cavs.

So you could not make any correlation to Maccabi, nor anything like that, which is what everyone is trying to do.

[Euroleague]

About what ? The practice part ?

I read that in a column of best basketball reporter in ex Yugoslavia and he got that from players that played for Baltt ( One even said he never practiced less than during his time in Maccabi )

He's an American coach. Americans only practice about 1/5 as much as Europeans do on average.

You are talking ex Yugoslavia mentality? It's almost like a boot camp. American coaches would never in their lives even imagine anything like it.

Pat Riley would be something like a tyrant by American coach standards in that regard, and the practices he would have his teams do would be less than pretty much any European coach.

Blatt didn't come up through European basketball or in Israel, he was playing in USA, so that's what he probably believes in, which means way, way, way less practicing.

[Euroleague]

Here's the Woj article released today...



http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources...200546634.html


It doesn't sound like the Cavs will have much time to weigh their options following the meeting. I'm hoping they offer him the job on the spot. If they let him walk out the door, he's probably going to end up in Golden State.

On paper, this looks like a perfect fit. Blatt's offense is all about slashing guards putting pressure on a defense and getting them in scramble mode. We have arguably the best young tandem of slashing guards in the league. I would also expect Karasev to explode in his system.

Defensively, his teams are aggressive, relying on 7-footers to protect the rim if it breaks down.

Kyrie/Embiid/Waiters/Bennett/Thompson/Karasev + Blatt =

Blatt actually hates 7 footers with an extreme passion. He only likes incredibly mobile and agile centers. Other than that, he strictly uses power forwards, even undersized power forwards at the 5 position.

He also often uses shooting guards and small forwards at the power forward position.

Using NBA slow, stiff, non athletic can't play any defense NBA 7 footers will be one of the things he will have to adjust to, and it would be one of the things he would hate the most about coaching in the NBA.

Of all the coaches that absolutely HATE a 7 footer the most, he is #1. Hell, even normal 6-10 guys, by normal I mean 6-10 with average power forward starter NBA athleticism, would be a guy he would usually not want to play because they are too slow for his liking.

[BoutPractice]

Euroleague > That's also why he probably has a higher chance of succeeding than the average European coach. It's not just about how good you are... if there's too big a clash of personality/culture, a coaching experiment can fail horribly even with a very intelligent and hardworking coach.

If I'm primarily interested in results, I'd much rather have a decent coach who fits than a genius who will alienate the whole team in two weeks and have players asking for his head.

[Euroleague]

Plain Dealer:

Blatt, a Massachusetts native who played for Pete Carril at Princeton, led Maccabi Tel Aviv to a 54-18 record this past season

But according to ALL NBA only fans in this forum, Euroleague teams only play like 10-20 games in an entire season.

And if you ever tell them that's absurd bullshit, and just another made up NBA only fan myth and untrue legend, they attack you and call you a nutcase and a liar......

[Euroleague]

Let me just say that if the Cavs choose the less experienced coach whether it be T. Lue or Alvin Gentry.. I will be pissed.

From what ive been hearing David Blatt is a great coach, but sometimes Cleveland's front office decisions canbe questionabLe.

What you are hearing is NBA hype and bullshit gimmick marketing. The typical same bullshit as always as it relates to everything from the Euroleague.

Just all about gimmick marketing schemes and NBA bullshit.

He's not a great coach by a very long shot. But he would be a much better choice than Lue by a country mile and then some.

He would also be a better choice than Gentry, but he's going to need time to adapt to the NBA, because his style of coaching is never going to work in the NBA, where defense is negated with the rules and reffing.

So he has to start things completely over with his style, and the Cavs are a complete opposite team from any team he ever had success with.

In Europe, when he coached teams like the Cavs that are more traditional, he was an epic failure.

For example, he coached teams like Dynamo Moscow, Efes, and Aris, that were built as more traditional style teams (like the Cavs) than Maccabi or the Russian national team, and his failure was EPIC. I mean EPIC failure.

So he would need huge adjustments with the Cavs, and he could not just change the team to his system, because that won't work in the NBA, as I have already explained. All of that takes time, and he will need time to get used to all the issues of the NBA.

The reffing is much different and the travel, the scheduling, all of it.

So even though he is a better coach than Gentry, it's not like he's going to be a more logical choice than Gentry. It's obviously more of an experiment if they hire him.

Guys like Messina and Quinn Snyder being hired by NBA teams...that makes more sense. Because while they coached in Europe, they also coached in NBA.

I mean Scott Skiles coached in Europe too, but he had NBA experience before he coached in NBA obviously as a player.

I don't think this stuff would matter that much if Blatt really was "a great coach" like they are claiming, but he's not at THAT level. If he had a year or two as an assistant in the NBA, then it would make a lot more sense to hire him over Gentry.

[BoutPractice]

Depends on what the Cavs' long term plan is, but the more I think about it, the more I think their priorities would be to select someone who:
- is Embiid-friendly, giving him opportunities to blossom
- is defensive minded
- stresses a team game
- has enough authority to be able to limit shotjacking by Kyrie and Dion and force them to play at least a bit harder on defense without causing a war

Not sure who would tick all the boxes.

[Euroleague]

Euroleague > That's also why he probably has a higher chance of succeeding than the average European coach. It's not just about how good you are... if there's too big a clash of personality/culture, a coaching experiment can fail horribly even with a very intelligent and hardworking coach.

If I'm primarily interested in results, I'd much rather have a decent coach who fits than a genius who will alienate the whole team in two weeks and have players asking for his head.

Dominique said he could not stand the practice of coach Malkovich at Panathinaikos. It was so extreme that he needed an oxygen tank to keep from passing out.

Finally he had to go to the doctor and get a not that he could not do the practices anymore because it was a health hazard.

In USA, he was like no practice was even difficult. The coach got angry about it and said NBA stars were weak minded and lazy or something like that.

So yeah, obviously some European coaches would never work in the NBA, because that kind of mentality just isn't seen in the same way in US sports culture.

NBA players are not used to training and practicing twice a day for hours on end, day after day after, every day, non stop, in a navy seal boot camp environment.

Which is what some of the European coaches demand.

Just the other day there was a story about Panathinaikos' new coach Ivanovic, where one of his old players said that he made Scola beg him to stop the training he was so tired and exhausted, and he showed no mercy and made him do an entire whole training more by HIMSELF after the team went home.

Same Scola that all his NBA coaches say is the hardest worker, most tireless worker, hardest worker in practice....they weer saying how he couldn't even handle the practice of that European coach.

So yeah, naturally this is an issue that some of the coaches in Europe can't come to the NBA, since they are too demanding on the players.

[Euroleague]

Depends on what the Cavs' long term plan is, but the more I think about it, the more I think their priorities would be to select someone who:
- is Embiid-friendly, giving him opportunities to blossom
- is defensive minded
- stresses a team game
- has enough authority to be able to limit shotjacking by Kyrie and Dion and force them to play at least a bit harder on defense without causing a war

Not sure who would tick all the boxes.

Blatt could in theory, but I really think he prefers a much more athletic and versatile team.

Russian national team and Maccabi were super, super athletic and super, super versatile teams. That's how they had success with what he is looking to do in his coaching philosophy.

I just think how he coached teams like Dynamo Moscow, Efes, and Aris that all had large budgets, and very good players in Europe, but were based with traditional rosters (teams he inherited and did not build) and he was a complete disaster with all of those teams.

Before he was coaching Maccabi, he coached in the Greek League with Aris, and they had a big budget then, with a lot of very good players and the team was a complete disaster.

He was running from Aris, and took a big pay cut to get to Maccabi, just because he was doing so bad in Aris. And after he did that - after the team bombed and then he quit on it, the ownership jumped from the team and it almost bankrupted the whole club. And that was after he bombed in Efes.

I can't remember him having any real success at all with any teams other than the ones he was allowed to build himself.

[Uncle Drew]

Adrian Wojnarowski‏@WojYahooNBA
David Blatt has emerged as strong frontrunner to become coach of Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

[Uncle Drew]

Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA
Cavaliers had narrowed list to Blatt and Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue, sources said. Offer to Blatt is imminent, league sources tell Yahoo.