What does Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach David Blatt bring to the table? By Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough
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| Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach David Blatt |
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By Karl Kimbrough, Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter (kimbrough@clevelandurbannews.com). Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Leaders In Black Digital News . Tel: 216-659-0473
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| Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough |
New Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt was hired on June 20. Since that day there have been many people, both locally and nationally, that have questioned the hire, asking why? Then there are others who support the Blatt hire, and say why not? But just what does he bring to the table that makes him a good choice for the Cavaliers?
Well, after just his first month of coaching in the NBA it is already obvious that Blatt brings a lot. He has implemented most of his offensive and defensive plays. But he has indicated that there is so much to his offensive play book that he will not get a chance to install everything due to so little time being available now that training camp is over and the regular season has begun.This is understandable because there is only a day or two between most games when the season starts.
Judging by how far the new Cavaliers team has come since the beginning of training camp, there is work to be done, but they no longer look overwhelmed.
When asked his opinion of the new offense after the first day of camp LeBron James said that "it's going to be challenging for the guys and I think when we get it, it's so many different options. " He went on to say that "it's live at every position, and it's a counter for everything a defense can do.”
Forward Mike Miller, who has played 14 years in the NBA ,echoed James about Blatt's offense when he said that "his offensive stuff is borderline genius, so it takes us a little time to get to it."
James also said that Blatt has done a great job of leading teams to championships before he came to Cleveland because "he's a good coach." And he said that he believes that the Cavaliers will improve overtime under the guidance of Blatt.
"It's a lot more movement stuff and it's not your typical NBA sets," said James."This is completely different, so once we get a hold of it, its going to be a big weapon."
"It's got some Princeton qualities to it," said James.
As Miller mentioned, Blatt's offense is based on the famous 'Princeton Offense,' and
that his former Hall of Fame college coach Pete Carril created. Blatt has added his own twist to it, but ball movement is the key.
Blatt's ability to teach his unique offensive concepts that create problems for defenses, is one of the reasons that Cavalier's General Manager David Griffin chose him as head coach over accomplished NBA veteran coaches like Lionel Hollins and Avin Gentry ,who have both led their previous teams to the Western Conference Finals in the last five years.
Griffin leans to the offensive side of the game more than defense. He wants a team that can light up the score board. Those who question Blatt being hired for this Cavaliers team point to his lack of NBA experience. Griffin and team owner Dan Gilbert responded to that analogy by pointing out that Blatt's history of winning everywhere he has coached, and his ability to adapt to different talent and players personalities are assets.
But the fact remains that Blatt has not won in great length at the highest level, which is the NBA, though he won Friday night against the Bulls. It is a good sign though that we can already see that Cavaliers players are buying into his offensive and defensive schemes, and have a lot of respect for him.
Blatt is a former point guard who not only played at Princeton for Pete Carril, but took his talents to Israel after college where he played professionally for 13 years. After his playing career ended Blatt began coaching in Israel in 1993. Over his 21 years of coaching Blatt has had great success in the Euroleague. In his last year of coaching Maccabi Tel Aviv, they won the Israeli League, the Israeli Cup and the Euroleague Championship.
During his six years as head coach Blatt led his teams to five Israeli League Championships and six Israeli Cup Championships, and over the last four seasons Blatt's teams went 225-55, which is a .804 winning percentage. Blatt also spent six years as head coach of the Russian National Team and in 2007 he led them to a FIBA European Championship over Spain, the previous World Champions. Moreover, In the 2012 Olympics, Blatt led Russia to the Bronze Medal.
To coach an NBA team to a championship, a coach must excel in in game coaching, and must make adjustments at the right time, and call the right plays. Blatt has shown a talent for calling plays at time outs that are very effective. This is an aspect of coaching that Cavaliers fans have not seen since Lenny Wilkens coached in Cleveland many many years ago.
Great play calling ability from the bench will be a great asset, especially in close games against very good teams. The ability to communicate well with his players is a quality that is essential as well. It is something that is especially important in the game of basketball. Communicating is said to be another major strength of Blatt's. In addition, Blatt has a reputation of taking teams with less talent and beating teams with more talent by adapting his system to maximize the talents or skill sets of each player.
Although he often displays an affable, quick wit and humorous disposition, Blatt can abruptly do an about face and appear down right surly when coaching his team. Like many successful leaders, he will do what is needed to get his point across. But it is also obvious that a great chemistry is developing between Blatt and his players, as they rewarded him with the game ball after their first win of the season against Chicago on Friday night. Offense has been the focus of many people on the outside looking in at this Cavalier team. But defense has been the main concern of Blatt and his coaches during training camp, and his championship teams where very good on the defensive end. Blatt has expressed the need of this team to improve it's defense.
So as we can see, Blatt has a lengthy and impressive resume, but knows that there are areas going into his first NBA season that he knows little about. Blatt has admitted that the NBA schedule, playing multiple games in the same week with very few practices and having a different recovery process is unknown territory. That is why he hired assistant's who have been successful head coaches in the NBA in the past.
In assistants Jim Boylan, Larry Drew, and Tyronn Lue, the Cavaliers have over 45 years of NBA coaching experience. It is ironic that all three along with Blatt, played the point guard position.. Both Lue and Drew played several years in the NBA at the point guard position and Boylan played in college on Marquette's 1977 NCAA Championship team. So they all have experience in running a team from the floor as well as the bench. Lue was a finalist with Blatt for the Cavaliers head coaching position. After the Cavaliers chose Blatt, he reached out to Lue, who had been an assistant under Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.
In assistants Jim Boylan, Larry Drew, and Tyronn Lue, the Cavaliers have over 45 years of NBA coaching experience. It is ironic that all three along with Blatt, played the point guard position.. Both Lue and Drew played several years in the NBA at the point guard position and Boylan played in college on Marquette's 1977 NCAA Championship team. So they all have experience in running a team from the floor as well as the bench. Lue was a finalist with Blatt for the Cavaliers head coaching position. After the Cavaliers chose Blatt, he reached out to Lue, who had been an assistant under Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.
Lue is considered to be one of the up and coming NBA coaches. Both Boylan and Drew have head coaching experience in the NBA. Although people often do, it is not appropriate to talk about a head coach's talents without including his assistants, primarily because they are there to lend him what he doesn't have. Unlike some other NBA coaches, Blatt is already asking these assistant's for input in game planning.
During a recent game against Chicago, Drew could be seen drawing up plays in the latter part of the game during time outs. Due to the fact that this Cavaliers team has 10 new faces this season, there are most certainly going to be ups and downs and growing pains, even with a former NBA MVP in James as their coach on the floor.
It remains to be seen if Blatt and his staff can over come those growing pains to lead this Cavaliers team on a championship run this season. But it does appear that Blatt and his crew bring a lot of knowledge and ability to the table in this quest to be the best. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
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