Cavaliers fire David Blatt, sign Tyronn Lue to multi-year deal as new head coach

David Blatt’s departure was surprising for practically everyone. Even the Cleveland Cavaliers were shocked. Yes, they were aware that the situation was tense, especially after losing to the Warriors by 34 points, but they didn’t expect Blatt to be fired.

They were expecting a change to take place. According to Brian Windhorst, the team thought a trade involving Kevin Love had been made. After all, Kevin Love’s defense around the rim has been costing the Cavs.

Blatt confirmed the news in a statement through his agency.

Players were so surprised that they thought a different major shakeup was happening.

The Warriors’ dominance of every team in the NBA has been fun to watch, partly due to the way Steph Curry and company have changed the way we watch basketball.

The teams in the West who are in line to make the playoffs should fear for their head coaches now. Talk about mind games, Warriors.

There are many reasons the Cavaliers elected to fire head coach David Blatt, but overall team success couldn’t have been one of them. The Cavaliers were on pace to easily win the Eastern Conference and finish with exactly 60 wins. That’s the best winning percentage of any coach ever fired in the middle of the season.

The Cavaliers’ record is even more impressive when you consider the team’s injury situation. They amassed a 30-11 record despite three of their five normal starters struggling due to injury. All-Star Kyrie Irving missed the season’s first 24 games with a knee injury dating back to last year’s Finals, while starting shooting guard Iman Shumpert missed 22 games due to a fractured wrist. Center Timofey Mozgov has returned slowly due to a knee issue of his own and lost his starting spot to Tristan Thompson, who himself arrived late to training camp as he negotiated a new contract. Given those issues, it’s impressive the Cavaliers have such a great record.