Breaking: Cavs Zeroing in on David Blatt
2014-06-19
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports.
Euroleague icon David Blatt has emerged as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ choice to become head coach, league sources told Yahoo Sports on Thursday.
Contract discussions are expected to begin soon and could result in a deal, league sources said…
The field had been narrowed to Tyron Lue and Blatt, and Dan Gilbert and David Griffin reportedly chose Blatt. David Blatt has coached in Russia, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and most recently at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Blatt coached Maccabi to an upset over Spain in the 2014 Euroleague championship, and also guided Russia to a bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics. We will report more news as it becomes available.
Crazy Trade Du Jour: Trade down to three with Philly, for the #3, the #10 and Thad Young. Maybe the Cavs give something back in that deal. Maybe not. If Parker slips to third (doubtful), trade back to 5 for the 5 and the 23. Draft Marcus Smart, Exum, or Embiid at 5, trade 10, 23, TT, Favors, and a future #1 for Love and Kevin Martin. (Does that trump GS’s deal? Probably not, but I don’t think they’re moving Klay). Watch Dion lose his mind in Minny.
Great picture with this post. Craig Sager needs Blatt’s jacket.
Bear with me here for a second, but if the Cavs were indeed sold on Embiid, why should they settle for Wiggins or Parker? Listening to folks here, Parker doesn’t have a spot on the team, and Wiggins seems to have just as many negatives or positives. This is supposedly a deep draft with many solid players. Why wouldn’t we take a 3 and a 10, grab best available at three and maybe hop Embiid lasts until 10? Is he now worth a 10 as opposed to a one? And the comment about Z’s foot doctors is spot on. If… Read more »
Hopefully the Cavs just take the best guy available and stop D’ing around like Grant trying to outwit everyone. And if they don’t like anyone trade down for more first rounders.
Here’s a link to an interesting interview with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian guard who played 3 years in the NBA. He talks about the difference between European and American players. Basically, he says that American players are more interested in hogging the ball, piling up their stats, selling their brand and tuning out their coaches. He says the coaches don’t control anything, the inmates are running the asylum. Europeans play more team oriented basketball with good ball movement being the essential ingredient. With San Antonio’s demolition of the “3 amigos”, it will be interesting to see if their finals victory has… Read more »
Love the Blatt hire! A guy who stresses ball movement and thinks outside of the box, but even more importantly, a guy who coached big money/big ego Euro teams. The fact that the kids won’t need to learn a brand new offense is a big win also…
Also, still on board with Embiid, don’t be surprised if the Cavs are also…
I think Wiggins is the pick. He doesn’t need to be ball dominant and that is exactly what the CAVS need. The thing I do not like about Wiggins is that he weighs only 200lbs…Paul George is 24 and weighs 220, Kawhi weighs 230, and Durant at 240….at 200 he better put on about 25lbs and roid it out. Or else he will get eaten alive…he doesn’t have the ball skills to play the two.
Blatt is the man, if you believe the Spurs were the better team. I really don’t think Miami had a chance and really don’t care it was their fourth straight finals appearance. They really didn’t have a bench last year as well and it took a miracle for them to win. No disrespect to Lebron, but he is very lucky to have two titles.
I am taking Blatt and the Euro style he brings.
George Karl , Mark Price, Mark Jackson are available and we are picking Blatt over Lue. Is it me or it is Cleveland? Blatt will stops the momentum that Cavs have now for at least two years. This team needs a Karl type coach who knows how to deal with today’s players. I wish Blatt success in Ctown. I go with Wiggins if Embiid has medical issues. That is just my opinion. Go Cavs.
I’m not sure about Blatt, but I like him better then Lue
Anyone know who Z’s foot docs were and if they are still with the team?
Like this hire if it happens.
About the draft though: Just take Wiggins. I can’t believe a ball-dominant PF who doesn’t play great defense is even in the conversation for this pick with Wiggins sitting there.
I’m so depressed about Embiid…ya gotta take Parker now…
I don’t see why. Parker doesn’t fill a positional need, doesn’t really play well without the ball and isn’t a great defender or athlete. I believe Wiggins is clearly the better fit, not just now but in the future.
Wiggins in no way worth the number one pick. EVERY ANALYTICS GUY going has him ranked far below the top 5 guys. Parker has much better advanced stats that project him a much better prospect. Oh and as so many folks are hyping a Wiggins as a great defended but YET AGAIN, the numbers don’t back that up at all. From the Dean on Draft site: “Based on every piece of information available and every angle from which it may be analyzed, Marcus Smart was a vastly superior NCAA defensive player to Andrew Wiggins. He was a one man wrecking… Read more »
No way the CAVS are taking Smart at number 1. This Embiid injury is really screwing things up. Like I mentioned before, watch Embiid fall to L.A. and become a HOFer.
KJ – I have been waiting all day for you to come with the Wiggins’ smack downs! Good stuff.
Like you, I am totally depressed. Parker is the guy, but his fit with our roster is not nearly as clean as Embiid. Totally sucks.
Fantastic review KJ. I concurr wth your assessment. I want so bad for Wiggins to be the real deal- and will still have some excitement if the Cavs draft him- but I just don’t see the evidence that he’s worth the #1 pick.
I’m fine with either, but completely don’t understand the argument that Parker doesn’t fit. Yes, his defense is a concern, but he can shoot. How many players do we need that can’t create their own shot? The Cavs need shooters, and from that standpoint, Parker fits much better than Wiggins. I love Wiggins potential, IF he can fix his issues, but Parker can play SF as well, and the team in it’s current formation could use his ability to create his own shot. It’d be nice to have more than 1 option to dish the ball to when Irving or… Read more »
Parker is unlikely to be able to effectively guard NBA SFs. What evidence is there that Parker can play SF effectively? Also, how does Parker fir the offense better? He would be a third ball dominant player – we have seen how hard it is to get two YOUNG ball dominant players to play off each other & complement each other. Wiggins game is based off of cuts, fast break points, and athleticism. That would seem to fit better if you ask me.
Why do you have to go Parker?
Why is my comment too short?
He runs a freaking Princeton? That’s the 3rd coach in a row running to Princeton. I hope that he does it better than the past two looney toons Grumpy and Dopey.
Looks like Blatt got offered the job.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11110548/cleveland-cavaliers-offer-head-coaching-job-david-blatt
and it looks like Pat Riley is trying his best to keep LeBron . “you’ve got to stick together, if you have the guts.” as opposed to 4 years ago where its “you can’t stay with that team.”
I’d love to sign Blatt. I hope he doesn’t choose the Warriors role, instead.
Meanwhile, the Embiid injury could give the Cavs leverage in a trade with the Sixers to get their #3 and #10. Then we can take Embiid at #3 and perhaps land another quality player in a deep draft.
Scott, while I understand the thought process there is no way we do that. Last year we took a player needing surgery missing all summer. This year we would be doing the same thing. Plus, clearly the dude is an injury risk. All 3 #1 picks since LeBron would then be injury risks … Kyrie, Bennett, Embiid. It’s not going to happen. The dude has had pretty substantial injuries the last 3 years. 2 from his back in HS and Kansas and now this with his foot. This is not a draft to strike out on where last year you… Read more »
I have to agree with Kojo, Embiid can’t even get through a summer of 1 vs 0 let alone a full NBA season. I think he falls like Noel did.
I keep trying to talk myself into Wiggans or Parker. In truth, we should feel lucky to even have a shot at a top player in a deep draft. Nevertheless, I was very comfortable with Embiid until this latest injury. He was the only guy I saw as a likely superstar. Wiggins is intruiging, but as hyped as he’s been, it scares me that he doesn’t have a left hand, despite his pedigree and the fact he’s played basketball forever. And then there are questions regarding his competitiveness and such. With Parker, I worry about his ability to find a… Read more »
Watch Embiid fall to the Lakers and become a HOFer!!!!!!!!!
I like it. Let’s hope they get him signed and can get on the same page for the draft. This is going to be a really fun year to be a Cavs fan, I think. Can’t wait for summer league to start.
One exciting thought on Blatt – I think he coached Karasev in 2012 Olympics. Maybe Karasev can make a jump if we get him.