In a shocking move by the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office, the team has fired head coach Tyronn Lue and promoted Larry Drew to be interim coach. Cavs All-Star Kevin Love quickly reacted to the news:
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After some time of struggling with finding his niche with the Cavs, Love finally got into his comfort zone during Lue’s second year at the helm. He averaged 19.0 points and 11.1 rebounds that year, his most productive season as a Cavalier.
But most importantly, Lue became an important figure during a time when Love was dealing with anxiety problems. Both men have dealt with anxiety issues, a common factor that brought them even closer to each other.
At the time when Love’s teammates questioned him on suddenly leaving a regular season game last year, Lue took it upon himself to bring up his power forward’s anxiety attacks.
Via Michael Singer of USA TODAY Sports:
With the Cavs, then 27-18, mired in an extended losing stretch, Love’s absence was questioned by some of his teammates at a contentious team meeting. Love said Wednesday that coach Ty Lue mentioned his panic attack at that meeting.
“One of the things that was brought up was Ty Lue had mentioned the panic attack (from) early in the season,” he said. “And I wasn’t aware how many people knew. I kind of buried it and put it off to the side. And that kind of started a big push in the back to why I wanted to write this article.”
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the 41-year-old Lue, but his ability to connect with his players goes a long way. He will likely get another gig soon.