David Blatt may be on the hot seat.
The NBA and city of Cleveland, OH was abuzz after superstar LeBron James decided to return to the Cavaliers in the month of July. Soon after, fellow all-star Kevin Love was traded to the team, officially making them a contender for the Eastern Conference title with James, Love and Kyrie Irving. Rookie head coach David Blatt was in an enviable position with the task of leading the now favorites to the finals.
As it stands now, the Cavaliers currently sit a 18-12 record and have been thoroughly underperforming. Even LeBron James hasn’t looked quite like the King James we’ve all been accustomed to. According to reports, the onus has fell squarely on coach Blatt, who has not been able to galvanize his players into winning shape. James also doesn’t seem to be a fan of the coach, telling reporters “Yeah, I mean, he’s our coach, what other coach do we have?”. Now there rumblings that the coach’s job may be on the hot seat due to the lack of productivity.
ESPN:
The Cavs would prefer not to be forced into evaluating their new coach just 30 games into Blatt’s NBA career, cognizant that the job has quickly evolved into a much different one — after James stunningly decided in July to return to his home-state team in free agency — than it was when Blatt was hired from Israeli power Maccabi Tel Aviv in June with no NBA experience.
Blatt has had a tremendous amount of success coaching overseas but is mostly unknown in NBA circles. His hire definitely caught some of the NBA insiders off guard. Free agent coaches around the league are probably salivating at the thought of taking on the Cleveland coach gig.
