Two days removed from losing the NBA Finals, stories are again seeping out regarding the coach-player relationship between the Cleveland Cavaliers' David Blatt and LeBron James.
James waved off a play Blatt drew up in the third quarter of Game 5 on Sunday, according to ESPN's Marc Stein. From his account:
There was LeBron, in one instance I witnessed from right behind the bench, shaking his head vociferously in protest after one play Blatt drew up in the third quarter of Game 5, amounting to the loudest nonverbal scolding you could imagine. Which forced Blatt, in front of his whole team, to wipe the board clean and draw up something else.
Here we go again.
In Game 4 of the Cavs' second-round series against the Chicago Bulls, James admitted to overruling Blatt's play call which would have had James inbounding with 1.5 seconds left in a tied contest. Instead, James took the ball and drained a game-winning jumper that turned the series in Cleveland's favor.
In January, when the Cavs were in a funk that had them one game under .500 through 39 games, reports surfaced that players had tuned rookie NBA boss Blatt out, and that assistant Tyronn Lue was calling timeouts behind his back.
Those stories were forgotten as the Cavs gained steam and finished the season 34-9.
However, Stein's report seems to conclude that James doesn't respect Blatt. The defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors was clearly trying for LeBron, carrying the team with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love out.
If this chatter comes from more than simple frustration, is there another coach in the offing?
Blatt's growing pains in an NBA vastly different from the leagues where he gained his comprehensive international experience were evident at times - specifically, when he almost called a timeout the Cavaliers didn't have in the aforementioned Game 4 of the Bulls series.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has been steadfast in his support for Blatt, although the decision to hire him was made prior to James re-signing in Cleveland last summer. It's an open secret that LeBron is literally the king of the Cavaliers organization, and if he wanted a coaching change, he'd get one.
Stein's account of James and Blatt's relationship came just before the Cavs' season-ending news conference with the coach and general manager David Griffin on Thursday, where Blatt said he would "absolutely" coach the team next season.
"This was a very new kind of thing for me," Blatt told reporters. "I went through a highly radical learning curve."
Blatt added he has no problem with LeBron offering opinions on play calls. "I think it's important he feels empowered ... his heart was in the right place."
Stein suggests that Lue is a likely candidate should a change be made, while ESPN's Brian Windhorst told the radio show "SVP & Russillo" Wednesday that James "likes having Blatt to kick around."
For public consumption, James praised Blatt earlier this month. If you want in on some action related to the drama, Bovada is offering better odds that Blatt stays put, according to CBS Sports.
