You see, even J.R Smith thinks it is wrong and he has the moral compass of a coyote on bath salts. I think previous posts have put it well. It is respect. How would Phil have reacted? Phil would never be in this situation as Lebron knows better and how it would look. It is a patronizing attitude and even with the best intentions it is Lebron knows best. "Leave it to me." Just like Lebron saying he didn't need permission to take a more dominant role with the Cavs. Blatt is not getting the chance to share his vast coaching knowledge and his job becomes all about preserving his job. The players can see this and I feel Blatt is gone in Bron's mind anyhow. It is a pity he will not get the chance. The only way to maximize coach Blatt is to give him complete control and respect like he received outside of the NBA. Something Bron will not do. I hope he does it to Mark Jackson next year and Mark Jackson dry gulches him. When Lebron pushes you it is hard to resist without being overpowered or loading up so much you make a bigger scene. I think most coaches would have had to done what Blatt did. Like when Spoelstra just claimed Lebump was an accident. Of all coaches I could see maybe Pat Riley, SVG and MDA going back at the refs and not letting Lebron manhandle them. This needs to be dealt with one on one and in house. No media circus.
Brian Windhorst just wrote an article about how the players are running different plays from what is being called on the sidelines, Lue is calling timeouts without Blatt knowing, players talking to other players about Blatt. It's a train wreck. I hope they keep losing. I feel bad for Blatt but between Gilbert and Lebron, I want that team down in flames.
Maybe if/when Blatt is let go we could bring him here. Give him a shot to learn the ropes of coaching in the NBA as an assistant first to Byron. Blatt is a highly successful international coach so he clearly knows his stuff, but the NBA is about massaging egos. The Xs and Os come second these days.
Yeah they were saying on some sports talk shows today that LeBron annointed himself pg of the team, and yes, calls different plays from the coach right after they were called. If true, it doesn't surprise me, and if it were Kobe or some others doing this they'd be getting tons of crap for it. But, it's the King, and the King apparently knows better than the coach. Or really, he is the coach, and GM, and owner.
as an israeli guy, I tell you, Blatt is a genius. actually here he was famous as a serious guy, who didn't like the media, and was focused only about working hard in coaching. this season it looks like he spent alot of time being nice to everyone in the NBA world - the players, the media, the organization. you can't be nice to everyone and gain respect. especially not from guys like Lebron and Love. and you need to be smarter with the media, because every word that comes out of youre mouth can have serious effect. Blatt just shows us that the Popovich approach to the media is brilliant, it really takes the focus of the media on the team from gossip to basketball. lately I can see on his face he's done being the nice guy. and thats good. you can see hes starting to gain respect in the last 2 games. he is a great coach. once he will get a little bit of NBA experience to lower his pressure, everyone will see he's potential. championship not gonna happen this year. the team needs more time together. I just hope he will get the chance, because the rumurs are Mark Jackson is replacing him in the summer. as a "not wanting Lebron to succeed" fan, I hope he will have a real chance on another team.
@ShowTime_IR It's a lot easier to not focus on gossip with the media when your superstar is Tim Duncan as opposed to LeBron James
The difference with Spoelstra vs Blatt in dealing with Lebron and Big 3 was that he was Riley's pick and had his support. No way Riles was going to let James run the show when he got there. He straightened that out quick. LBJ and crew might have been thinking Riley would come out of head office and coach them again. Riley had too much juice with his standing in the game and power under Arison for the players, even with "the King", to dictate.