CLEVELAND: Tyronn Lue believes David Blatt should get one more game as an NBA coach this season.
Lue said Blatt should be allowed to coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars next month since he was in charge while the Cavs built a 30-11 record to lead the East before being fired Friday.
It’s unlikely the league would allow such a setup since it’s clear the head coaches of the conference-leading teams are the All-Star coaches. That’s now Lue. The Cavs’ staff will be eligible to go to Toronto as long as the team remains in first place in the East following the Jan. 31 deadline.
“The NBA has been trying to work around some different things for the All-Star Game,” Lue said. “[Blatt] has done a great job here. We’re first in the East and I think it’d be sweet if coach Blatt could coach the All-Star Game one last time.”
If the NBA prevents that from happening, Lue said he will do it.
“I think the rest of our staff deserves it,” Lue said. “We all put in hard work and we’ve all helped coach Blatt in every way we could. He was our leader. But if they wouldn’t let him do it, I think it’s deserving our coaching staff should be able to do it.”
Aftermath of firing
For some Cavs players, Blatt’s firing was a matter of business as usual in the NBA.
“This is how this league works sometimes,” forward Anderson Varejao said. “It’s tough to see him go because I like the man, but the organization thought it was the best thing for the team. Our job is to play basketball and we just have to focus on that and keep getting better as a team.”
James Jones, who played with LeBron James as member of the Miami Heat, dismissed the notion that James is a coach killer or that the players were behind the firing of Blatt.
“We’re players and to assume we have so much sway or dictate whatever, there are people who are paid to manage positions [who] are much higher than us and to build teams and acquire players. We do our job. We do what they ask us to do and we try to do it to the best of our ability,” Jones said.
Bulls coach’s view
Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was invited by Blatt to watch the Cavs practice in the summer of 2014 while Hoiberg was still the coach at Iowa State.
“I think the world of David Blatt as a person,” Hoiberg said. “He’s a hell of a basketball coach. It’s a tough part of this business when something like that happens. They’ve won 11-of-13 and their two losses are Golden State and San Antonio. That’s tough.”
No fun association
Lue was blunt when asked whether he thought the Cavs were having fun playing this season.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
It supported a point General Manager David Griffin made in his Friday night news conference announcing Blatt’s firing. Lue said the team needs to understand that the game can pass them by.
“We got a lot of young guys here that don’t really understand that,” he said. “All I know is basketball and I’m pretty sure a lot of those guys in the locker room, all they know is basketball, so they have to enjoy it.”
The Bulls coach agreed.
“It’s important,” Hoiberg said. “You go out there and have fun and put up a swagger. You play more confidently when you’re out there having fun. Obviously, when you’re playing well, it’s a lot easier to have fun. The last thing I say before we go out is, ‘Let’s have fun tonight.’ It’s too much of a grind if you’re out there and there’s no fun involved.”
Situational choices
Lue said that his plan for big men Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov will remain the same as Blatt’s. It will depend on the matchup.
“I don’t want Tristan going against Dwight Howard and [Brook] Lopez,” he said. “If there are smaller guys and shooting fours, then we want to go with Tristan. It’s going to be game-to-game with those two guys.”
He added that because of his defensive effort, shooting guard J.R. Smith will remain in the starting lineup ahead of Iman Shumpert.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.