Updated 4:06pm EST, 01/22/16
Long considered a top head coaching candidate among NBA assistants, Cavs associate head coach Tyronn Lue has signed a multi-year deal as the new head coach of the Cavs:
Assistant Ty Lue has agreed to a multi-year deal as new Cavaliers head coach, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) January 22, 2016
Original Text
The Cleveland Cavs made a shocking move on Friday afternoon, firing head coach David Blatt.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Cleveland has fired coach David Blatt, sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) January 22, 2016
The Cavs are currently 30-11 and hold a 3.5 game lead for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland made the NBA Finals under Blatt in 2015, taking the Golden State Warriors to six games despite missing both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love due to injury. More on this story in the Chat Sports iPhone and Android apps.
Today's move comes at an interesting time, considering that the Cavs bounced back from a brutal 132-98 blowout loss to those same Warriors last week with wins over the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Blatt took over the Cavs' job before the 2014-15 season, but rumors of his departure weren't that far behind. There reports of a "divide" exisiting between him and the players starting in December of last year, leading to speculation that he would be fired after just months.
General manager David Griffin immediately squashed those rumors, but it became clear that Blatt didn't have the full respect of his players - especially LeBron James - as the season wore on. Players ignored Blatt's playcalls and instead took them from Lue, who many looked to for leadership instead of Blatt.
Those problems have persisted this year and came to a head in that blowout loss to the Warriors. Still, making the the move now is very, very surprising.
More info on this as it's made available.
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