Former Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach David Blatt, who now coaches in the Turkish Basketball Super League with Darüşşafaka Spor Külübu, recently sat down for an interview over the phone with Bleacher Report’s Amos Barshad to discuss his coaching stint with the defending NBA champions.
A lot has been said of Blatt’s tenure and subsequent departure from the Cavaliers franchise. What was the reasoning behind his termination? Was it a lack of coaching leadership? Was there a sort of disconnect between players and coach?
In his article with Bleacher Report, Barshad asked Blatt a series of similar questions.
Barshad bluntly asks Blatt:
Do you think LeBron James is coachable?”
Blatt replied with a grin:
Hey, listen: How many championships has he won? Obviously, he’s coachable. I can name you 30 NBA coaches right now that would love to have him.”
Barshad, pressing further, asked Blatt:
Do you think LeBron James fired you?”
Without hesitation, Blatt replied, saying:
I don’t think that. Of course he didn’t fire me. He’s not the one to do that. That was the management decision.”
Barshad touched on the timing of Blatt’s firing, saying:
You were on top of the Eastern Conference the day you lost your job. Do you remember how you were feeling about the direction of the team that day?”
Blatt gave a direct response:
Look: I understand you’re leading toward things, but that’s in the past. I’ve chosen to leave it in the past. I try not to do too much thinking about that anymore. It is what it is, and it was what it was. I have a lot of memories and a lot of thoughts that are tucked away for me now. I’ve got other things to do. And that’s what I’ve chosen.”
Coach Blatt values his time spent in Cleveland, no doubt. But it just seems as though he’s ready to turn that page.
