LeBron James doesn’t hate Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt.
Phew. Glad we got that out of the way.
Is he 100 percent, without a shadow of a doubt, behind Blatt as head coach of his beloved, NBA Finals-bound Cavaliers?
Um, sure?
Speculation has run rampant all season long. The Cavaliers hired Blatt before LeBron announced his return, leaving room for anonymous sources to set the rookie head coach’s seat on fire time and again. And while all Blatt needed was for LeBron to come out and say “Hey, Dave and I are besties,” comments like the following only succeeded in throwing gallons of kerosene onto the already-brewing seat fire, per ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin:
LeBron James when asked if David Blatt is the "right" coach for the Cavs: "Yeah, I mean, he’s our coach, what other coach do we have?"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 29, 2014
Talk about your lukewarm, totally indifferent sentiments.
Fast forward to now, just ahead of the NBA Finals, and LeBron is kind-of-sort-of singing a different tune. From McMenamin:
Now? It all seems to be water under the bridge. When asked about Blatt on Monday, three days before Game 1 of the Finals against Golden State, James was effusive in his praise.
“Well, anytime someone is scrutinized really for nothing, I’m able to relate,” James said. “For him in this instance, obviously, we knew that a lot of people were going to say things that, you know, didn’t mean much, but that’s just what they have to do. That’s what helps sales. That’s the [business]. People love reading the negative things more than the positive things, so I think he’s handled his situation unbelievably. Being a rookie coach in the NBA, being able to take his team to the Finals, I think he’s done a hell of a job.”
Well, that’s kind of nice.
So too is this:
When he first came in he was an amazing players’ coach already. Being able to listen and be receptive to what the players are saying and going out and making changes. If he feels like it’s what’s best for the team, he’s the coach and he’s going to make a decision and we all respect that. It hasn’t been anyone stepping on anybody’s toes. Obviously there has been some disagreements here and there, but what team doesn’t have disagreements? For us it’s just about us growing daily and us getting better as a group.”
That last part sounds better than the first one. It makes you believe that things have been different behind closed doors.
But LeBron has also spent a great deal of this season offering “effusive praise” of himself, frequently touching upon his importance as a leader and how imperative he is to the Cavaliers’ collective development.
He’s right, of course, so I have no bones to pick. But you’d think he might one day spare the same kind of laudatory comments for Blatt, at least saying “Hey, it turns out he was the right man for the job.”
There’s no reason to think otherwise, after all. LeBron is credited with Cleveland’s uprising, as he should be. But Blatt made some tough decisions even certain veteran sideline stalkers wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on—playing Matthew Dellavedova heavy minutes, for one. Benching Kevin Love during certain fourth-quarter runs during the regular season is up there as well.
Truth told, Blatt will never actually be off the hot seat. That’s the burden of coaching LeBron, in his city, without that knowledge that you’re his guy.
Winning a title in your first year at the helm, though, is a pretty good way of quashing all chatter through at least the offseason.
Just saying.
