Kyle Terada-USA Today Sports
In all of my years of watching and covering the NBA, never have I seen a coach get so ridiculed as David Blatt.
After leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their second NBA Finals berth despite being ravaged by injuries throughout the playoffs, there are now rumors flying around that Blatt could be canned for not delivering the hardware to title starved Cleveland.
All of this talk about Blatt getting the boot is ridiculous.
Blatt has been hearing the jeers from critics throughout the season, and quite frankly, a lot of the criticism that Blatt has had to endure has been unfair. He had to adjust to the NBA game, and he had the toilsome task of coaching the best player on the planet in LeBron James.
Blatt did a tremendous job keeping the Cavs in tow when the team was two games below .500, and it seemed like LeBron made a huge mistake leaving South Beach and taking his talents back to Lake Erie. He also got Cleveland to buy into playing defense. A lot of people tend to forget that the Cavs were the best defensive team in the playoffs.
Who really expected that after Kyrie Irving went down in Game 1 of the Finals that the Cavs really had a shot at upsetting the Golden State Warriors? I mean, it was a success that Blatt and LeBron got two wins out of the series.
So now, all of a sudden, after a season when he led the franchise to near glory after spending the season getting acclimated to the NBA, he deserves to be fired? This has to be a joke, and if it is, it’s a very bad joke.
Blatt will — and deserves — to be on the sidelines as the Cavs’ coach next season. If he could get an injury ravaged team to the finals, imagine what he can do with a full season under his belt, and a healthy Irving and (possibly) Kevin Love in the mix?
Blatt will be a great coach in Cleveland, and he and LeBron are going to be a power tandem in the Eastern Conference for years to come. Don’t believe otherwise.
Kareem Gantt covers the NBA for Rant Sports. For more from this author, follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.
