“Sometimes you can win games in the regular season and get worse. We were regressing over a period of time.”
"Regressing" Ooh, squirm, aah, 30-11, ooh, squirm, "not progressing?" The blowout to the "Warriors," okay, "regressing," I'll go with that.
“I’m in our locker room a lot. There’s just a disconnect there right now. Halfway through the season I think we have the time to right the ship and I know that’s crazy with a 30-11 record. [Yeah, it is sort of crazy.] We were 30-11 with a schedule reasonably easy and I’m judging a lot more than wins and losses.”
-The Missoulian.
“We are a team that struggles more than any good team I’ve been with — and this is my 24th year in the N.B.A. — with prosperity. I’ve never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be.”
I think that's nuanced and insightful, Griffin has observed a lot and thought a lot and I trust that observation.
“I’m not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all the efforts of everyone in this organization to chance.”
Yes, that is logical. It also follows that Griffin acted now to forestall his own execution.
Blatt later defended himself and his record, saying his team was still in a “pretty good position.” On Friday, Griffin disagreed with that assessment.
“Frankly,” Griffin said, “pretty good is not what we’re here for.”
That is arch.
“LeBron doesn’t run this organization. This narrative that somehow we’re taking direction from him, it’s just not fair.”-The New York Times.
That is a little too defensive by half.
"Every decision that is made is an answer to the following question: 'Does it put us in the best position to deliver championships to Northeast Ohio?' And every decision is made with that question in mind. I go to bed every night thinking about that question. All the time. This decision's made and brought out of the lack of connectedness I see in our team. I've witnessed this over the last couple weeks -- really over the last month or so. There is a lack of spirit."
I trust those observations and I think they are true.
"What I see is that we need to build a collective spirit, a strength of spirit and a collective will. Elite teams in this league always have that and you see it everywhere. To be truly elite, we have to buy into a set of values and principles that we believe in. That becomes our identity and if we can do that day in and day out, that becomes who we are. Halfway through the season, we have not yet developed this identity and each step forward, unfortunately, I think you've seen we've taken two steps back."
There was something missing, as even I have felt, having no more knowledge of the innards of the "Cavaliers" than I do the innards of the GOP. "Two steps back:" No, not two steps back. I can live with regressing, would prefer not progressing, but you're not taking two steps back when you're 30-11 this year and were 19-18 last year before you made a push all the way to the Finals and had a 2-1 lead!!!!!!
"I'm focusing on a bigger picture in my evaluation. I'm doing this because I believe in this team, maybe more than they believe in themselves sometimes. Frankly 'pretty good' is not what we're here for. That's not what we're in the business to be."
That is nuanced, optimistic, and takes a bit of the sting out of "Frankly 'pretty good'" is not good enough.
"We are a team, unfortunately, that struggles more than any good team I've ever been with -- and this is my 24th year in the NBA -- with prosperity. I've never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be. We've only been galvanized when expectations were not high and circumstances were somewhat artificial. Otherwise, we've been a group of tremendous individual talent with individual hopes and dreams. That's not a winning formula. I'm not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all of the efforts of everybody that works in this organization to chance."
"I don't think the Golden State game by itself did very much."
I don't think that's true. If the Golden State game didn't do very much it should have.
"I think it's over time you start to see the types of things that you want to be doing habitually start to erode a little bit. And sometimes you can win games in this league in the regular season and get worse. I think we were regressing over a period of time.
"And frankly, halfway through the season, I think we have the time to right the ship."
Yep.
"He [new permanent coach Tyronn Lue, Blatt's former assistant and runner-up for the job when Blatt got it.] has the pulse of our team."
I think that's true.
"I've gotten to see Ty interact with players and I've gotten to talk to people who have been with him other places and one of the things that's fascinating, and a lot of you that travel with us get to see this, you'll see Ty sit courtside at a game somewhere and a player on the other team will sprint from one end of the floor to the other to Ty. He doesn't seek that out. The people that he's been with have a deep connectedness to him and an appreciation for who he is. Our team needs an appreciation for what they're doing. They need an appreciation for one another."
Okay! Very good observation, well-explained.
-cleveland.com
[Griffin] fielded a question regarding James potentially being labeled a "coach killer" for his perceived involvement in the move.
"I certainly can [answer that]," Griffin said. "So, I've got a problem in general with this narrative -- and those of you that have been with us for a while understand this -- LeBron plays for this team. And he's the leader of this team. And he desperately wants to bring a championship to this team. LeBron doesn't run this organization. LeBron is about this organization and he is of this organization and he's of our community. But this narrative that somehow we're taking direction from him, it's just not fair. It's not fair to him in particular. But frankly, it's kind of not fair to me and our group anymore."
No, I don't entirely buy that. The personnel decisions were James', Griffin has stated that before, he did run by James this player or that player to acquire or discard. LeBron James built this team.
According to a source close to James, the four-time MVP "didn't know this was coming" [Now this source could be Chris Haynes or ESPN's Brian Windhorst, or LeBron James' closest confidant and agent. The way it's phrased, I would lean to James' confidant and agent.] before Griffin gathered the Cavs at the practice facility to inform them that Blatt had been fired. Sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst that although James' fondness for Lue and his desire to be coached by a former player were well-known throughout Cleveland's organization, James was not directly consulted Friday on the Cavs' decision. [Or it could be Windhorst!]
"I'm not somebody who believes we don't talk to the family before we make changes. We do. And I've told you that. I talk to many players when we make decisions of magnitude that will change the locker room.
"This was one where I didn't need to ask them because I've watched them interact with each other for a very long period of time under a lot of different circumstances. I know what something that's not right looks like, and I believe this was the right decision to make. And it's very possible that it's the wrong decision to make. You may hear that from our players tomorrow. And I'm open-minded to that. They don't have to like it. They have to respect that this is what we're trying to do."
I believe that.
James' public statements about Blatt this season have been mostly positive. In November, James said Blatt "does his job as great as any coach can do in this league."
James did say that.
On a recent road trip, James told ESPN.com of Blatt: "One thing he tries to do is just put us in a position to win, and then it's up to us."
And even after the Cavs' win over the Clippers on Thursday night, in what turned out to be Blatt's last game coaching the team, James credited him for emphasizing quickened pace, which paid off against Los Angeles.
"It's been something Coach has been harping on us about," James said. "He stayed on us as of late, and we need to do that."
-ESPN.
The following is by Chris Haynes of cleveland.com. Mr. Haynes is supposedly the most connected among the "Cavaliers" beat writers to LeBron James' camp. I don't like when writers, and it is endemic in sports writing, reveal the "inside" to a decision after the fact, when they knew the inside before the fact and didn't reveal it.
Player accountability, mismanaging, a building frustration and the absence of hope led to David Blatt's ouster as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite a 30-11 record, the defending Eastern Conference champs lost belief.
A team that loses faith in the leader on the sidelines is destined to eventually fail. But management recognized it and was forced to make the jaw-dropping decision that ended Blatt's tenure with the organization after an 83-40 record in one and a half seasons.
The record doesn't illustrate the turmoil and animosity that went on behind the scenes and how it ultimately led to Tyronn Lue becoming head coach. It all stemmed from issues from last year which were never quite resolved.
During the first portion of the 2014-15 season, film sessions were a topic of discussion among the players. Blatt was reluctant to criticize star players even when they clearly messed up a play. This became routine. It got so bad that I'm told that Lue finally intervened, stood up and demanded that somebody rewind the footage so that he could get on members of The Big 3.
Never heard this before. NEVER heard it before. When did you know about this Mr. Haynes? It sounds like last year. Why didn't you tell us last year?
During team scrimmages, players competed aggressively but bit their tongues as Blatt frequently blew his whistle to call ticky-tack or phantom fouls for his go-to players. One player said sometimes Blatt didn't even have a whistle and would yell at the top of his lungs to stop play and call a foul if one of his stars acted as if he was hit.
Ditto.
It was viewed as a blatant attempt to get in the good graces of his top talent. [Nothin' wrong with that! Especially after last year when James was changing Blatt's called plays in timeouts. I advised over the summer Blatt spend a lot of time with James, cultivating him, winning his trust.] Blatt's leadership was in question. Players grew tired of this treatment. The locker room started resenting Blatt's handling, or lack thereof, when it came to dealing with his stars.
NEVER heard of this.
Word circulated to cleveland.com [That means you didn't know about this, Mr. Haynes, if "word circulated" to you.] that Blatt had trouble drawing up plays out of timeouts. He would freeze up and waste precious seconds, one player said. He would even draw up plays for players who weren't in the game, another player said.
When did this word circulate to you, Mr. Haynes? If that is true that is a very damning word to be circulating about Blatt.
In the closeout game of the Eastern Conference Finals, a game the Cavaliers trounced the Atlanta Hawks by 30 to sweep the series; Blatt had signaled for Tristan Thompson to reenter in the closing minutes with the game already wrapped up. This was when Thompson was the team's most valuable big man with Kevin Love out of commission with a dislocated shoulder.
The bench couldn't believe it. They were shocked, as was Thompson, who never questions authority. LeBron James told Blatt to put somebody else in the game, out of concern a key cog might get hurt before The Finals, a league source said. Kendrick Perkins got the nod, and a few minutes later, Brendan Haywood's number was called to finish it out.
When did you know? Yellow journalism, Mr. Haynes, yellow journalism.
This season, Blatt almost didn't make it past 2015. The 29-point road trouncing at the hands of the Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 26 was close to being his next-to-last game. If it wasn't for a unimpressive win over Phoenix two days later, Blatt would have been shown the door the following morning, cleveland.com has learned.
Blatt didn't have the necessary relationship with his guys to get players to buy in. Lue is expected to hold players accountable. He's not afraid to give James a piece of his mind. Players from 1 down to 15 will be held responsible.
You provide no evidence for this, Mr. Haynes. That is pollyannish boilerplate. Who fed you that?
"Regressing" Ooh, squirm, aah, 30-11, ooh, squirm, "not progressing?" The blowout to the "Warriors," okay, "regressing," I'll go with that.
“I’m in our locker room a lot. There’s just a disconnect there right now. Halfway through the season I think we have the time to right the ship and I know that’s crazy with a 30-11 record. [Yeah, it is sort of crazy.] We were 30-11 with a schedule reasonably easy and I’m judging a lot more than wins and losses.”
-The Missoulian.
“We are a team that struggles more than any good team I’ve been with — and this is my 24th year in the N.B.A. — with prosperity. I’ve never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be.”
I think that's nuanced and insightful, Griffin has observed a lot and thought a lot and I trust that observation.
“I’m not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all the efforts of everyone in this organization to chance.”
Yes, that is logical. It also follows that Griffin acted now to forestall his own execution.
Blatt later defended himself and his record, saying his team was still in a “pretty good position.” On Friday, Griffin disagreed with that assessment.
“Frankly,” Griffin said, “pretty good is not what we’re here for.”
That is arch.
“LeBron doesn’t run this organization. This narrative that somehow we’re taking direction from him, it’s just not fair.”-The New York Times.
That is a little too defensive by half.
"Every decision that is made is an answer to the following question: 'Does it put us in the best position to deliver championships to Northeast Ohio?' And every decision is made with that question in mind. I go to bed every night thinking about that question. All the time. This decision's made and brought out of the lack of connectedness I see in our team. I've witnessed this over the last couple weeks -- really over the last month or so. There is a lack of spirit."
I trust those observations and I think they are true.
"What I see is that we need to build a collective spirit, a strength of spirit and a collective will. Elite teams in this league always have that and you see it everywhere. To be truly elite, we have to buy into a set of values and principles that we believe in. That becomes our identity and if we can do that day in and day out, that becomes who we are. Halfway through the season, we have not yet developed this identity and each step forward, unfortunately, I think you've seen we've taken two steps back."
There was something missing, as even I have felt, having no more knowledge of the innards of the "Cavaliers" than I do the innards of the GOP. "Two steps back:" No, not two steps back. I can live with regressing, would prefer not progressing, but you're not taking two steps back when you're 30-11 this year and were 19-18 last year before you made a push all the way to the Finals and had a 2-1 lead!!!!!!
"I'm focusing on a bigger picture in my evaluation. I'm doing this because I believe in this team, maybe more than they believe in themselves sometimes. Frankly 'pretty good' is not what we're here for. That's not what we're in the business to be."
That is nuanced, optimistic, and takes a bit of the sting out of "Frankly 'pretty good'" is not good enough.
"We are a team, unfortunately, that struggles more than any good team I've ever been with -- and this is my 24th year in the NBA -- with prosperity. I've never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be. We've only been galvanized when expectations were not high and circumstances were somewhat artificial. Otherwise, we've been a group of tremendous individual talent with individual hopes and dreams. That's not a winning formula. I'm not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all of the efforts of everybody that works in this organization to chance."
"I don't think the Golden State game by itself did very much."
I don't think that's true. If the Golden State game didn't do very much it should have.
"I think it's over time you start to see the types of things that you want to be doing habitually start to erode a little bit. And sometimes you can win games in this league in the regular season and get worse. I think we were regressing over a period of time.
"And frankly, halfway through the season, I think we have the time to right the ship."
Yep.
"He [new permanent coach Tyronn Lue, Blatt's former assistant and runner-up for the job when Blatt got it.] has the pulse of our team."
I think that's true.
"I've gotten to see Ty interact with players and I've gotten to talk to people who have been with him other places and one of the things that's fascinating, and a lot of you that travel with us get to see this, you'll see Ty sit courtside at a game somewhere and a player on the other team will sprint from one end of the floor to the other to Ty. He doesn't seek that out. The people that he's been with have a deep connectedness to him and an appreciation for who he is. Our team needs an appreciation for what they're doing. They need an appreciation for one another."
Okay! Very good observation, well-explained.
-cleveland.com
[Griffin] fielded a question regarding James potentially being labeled a "coach killer" for his perceived involvement in the move.
"I certainly can [answer that]," Griffin said. "So, I've got a problem in general with this narrative -- and those of you that have been with us for a while understand this -- LeBron plays for this team. And he's the leader of this team. And he desperately wants to bring a championship to this team. LeBron doesn't run this organization. LeBron is about this organization and he is of this organization and he's of our community. But this narrative that somehow we're taking direction from him, it's just not fair. It's not fair to him in particular. But frankly, it's kind of not fair to me and our group anymore."
No, I don't entirely buy that. The personnel decisions were James', Griffin has stated that before, he did run by James this player or that player to acquire or discard. LeBron James built this team.
According to a source close to James, the four-time MVP "didn't know this was coming" [Now this source could be Chris Haynes or ESPN's Brian Windhorst, or LeBron James' closest confidant and agent. The way it's phrased, I would lean to James' confidant and agent.] before Griffin gathered the Cavs at the practice facility to inform them that Blatt had been fired. Sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst that although James' fondness for Lue and his desire to be coached by a former player were well-known throughout Cleveland's organization, James was not directly consulted Friday on the Cavs' decision. [Or it could be Windhorst!]
"I'm not somebody who believes we don't talk to the family before we make changes. We do. And I've told you that. I talk to many players when we make decisions of magnitude that will change the locker room.
"This was one where I didn't need to ask them because I've watched them interact with each other for a very long period of time under a lot of different circumstances. I know what something that's not right looks like, and I believe this was the right decision to make. And it's very possible that it's the wrong decision to make. You may hear that from our players tomorrow. And I'm open-minded to that. They don't have to like it. They have to respect that this is what we're trying to do."
I believe that.
James' public statements about Blatt this season have been mostly positive. In November, James said Blatt "does his job as great as any coach can do in this league."
James did say that.
On a recent road trip, James told ESPN.com of Blatt: "One thing he tries to do is just put us in a position to win, and then it's up to us."
And even after the Cavs' win over the Clippers on Thursday night, in what turned out to be Blatt's last game coaching the team, James credited him for emphasizing quickened pace, which paid off against Los Angeles.
"It's been something Coach has been harping on us about," James said. "He stayed on us as of late, and we need to do that."
-ESPN.
The following is by Chris Haynes of cleveland.com. Mr. Haynes is supposedly the most connected among the "Cavaliers" beat writers to LeBron James' camp. I don't like when writers, and it is endemic in sports writing, reveal the "inside" to a decision after the fact, when they knew the inside before the fact and didn't reveal it.
Player accountability, mismanaging, a building frustration and the absence of hope led to David Blatt's ouster as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite a 30-11 record, the defending Eastern Conference champs lost belief.
A team that loses faith in the leader on the sidelines is destined to eventually fail. But management recognized it and was forced to make the jaw-dropping decision that ended Blatt's tenure with the organization after an 83-40 record in one and a half seasons.
The record doesn't illustrate the turmoil and animosity that went on behind the scenes and how it ultimately led to Tyronn Lue becoming head coach. It all stemmed from issues from last year which were never quite resolved.
During the first portion of the 2014-15 season, film sessions were a topic of discussion among the players. Blatt was reluctant to criticize star players even when they clearly messed up a play. This became routine. It got so bad that I'm told that Lue finally intervened, stood up and demanded that somebody rewind the footage so that he could get on members of The Big 3.
Never heard this before. NEVER heard it before. When did you know about this Mr. Haynes? It sounds like last year. Why didn't you tell us last year?
During team scrimmages, players competed aggressively but bit their tongues as Blatt frequently blew his whistle to call ticky-tack or phantom fouls for his go-to players. One player said sometimes Blatt didn't even have a whistle and would yell at the top of his lungs to stop play and call a foul if one of his stars acted as if he was hit.
Ditto.
It was viewed as a blatant attempt to get in the good graces of his top talent. [Nothin' wrong with that! Especially after last year when James was changing Blatt's called plays in timeouts. I advised over the summer Blatt spend a lot of time with James, cultivating him, winning his trust.] Blatt's leadership was in question. Players grew tired of this treatment. The locker room started resenting Blatt's handling, or lack thereof, when it came to dealing with his stars.
NEVER heard of this.
Word circulated to cleveland.com [That means you didn't know about this, Mr. Haynes, if "word circulated" to you.] that Blatt had trouble drawing up plays out of timeouts. He would freeze up and waste precious seconds, one player said. He would even draw up plays for players who weren't in the game, another player said.
When did this word circulate to you, Mr. Haynes? If that is true that is a very damning word to be circulating about Blatt.
In the closeout game of the Eastern Conference Finals, a game the Cavaliers trounced the Atlanta Hawks by 30 to sweep the series; Blatt had signaled for Tristan Thompson to reenter in the closing minutes with the game already wrapped up. This was when Thompson was the team's most valuable big man with Kevin Love out of commission with a dislocated shoulder.
The bench couldn't believe it. They were shocked, as was Thompson, who never questions authority. LeBron James told Blatt to put somebody else in the game, out of concern a key cog might get hurt before The Finals, a league source said. Kendrick Perkins got the nod, and a few minutes later, Brendan Haywood's number was called to finish it out.
When did you know? Yellow journalism, Mr. Haynes, yellow journalism.
This season, Blatt almost didn't make it past 2015. The 29-point road trouncing at the hands of the Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 26 was close to being his next-to-last game. If it wasn't for a unimpressive win over Phoenix two days later, Blatt would have been shown the door the following morning, cleveland.com has learned.
Blatt didn't have the necessary relationship with his guys to get players to buy in. Lue is expected to hold players accountable. He's not afraid to give James a piece of his mind. Players from 1 down to 15 will be held responsible.
You provide no evidence for this, Mr. Haynes. That is pollyannish boilerplate. Who fed you that?
