While Scott, the coach of the Lakers, who was last in the Western Conference, was still firmly in charge, Blatt, the coach of the Cavaliers, who was the top player in the Eastern Conference, was fired.

On January 23, the Cavaliers officially announced the dismissal of head coach David Blatt and signed a three-year coaching contract with chief assistant coach Tyronn Lue.

In the season and a half that Blatt coached the Cavaliers, he led the team to a high winning rate of 73.2%. He also embarrassingly became the coach with the highest winning rate in NBA history who was fired during the season.

Although LeBron James immediately stated that "he was not involved in the decision to fire", the media and experts still pointed the finger at the "Emperor".

In the eight and a half seasons that James has worn the Cavaliers jersey, he has "sent away" four coaches.

Bratt specifically thanked James in a personal statement.

How difficult is it to be a coach next to the "Emperor"?

Although compared with "predecessors" Paul Silas, Brandon Malone and Mike Brown, Blatt not only led the Cavaliers to the Finals, but also maintained a very high winning rate, but This data doesn't seem to be of much use.

If you look at Blatter's resume, you will find that he led the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv to win the European Basketball Champions League championship, and also led the Russian men's basketball team to win the European Championship in 2007. championship; but the Cavaliers are the first stop of his NBA coaching career.

According to the American media "Sports Illustrated", when the Cavaliers fell into a slow start at the beginning of last season, James expressed through his agent Rich Paul that he would prefer The team is coached by a coach who is prestigious in the league and has played or coached in the NBA.

In the comics, James is the real boss of the Cavaliers.

Bratt has also worked hard. He arranged tactics for Kevin Love according to James' "will", allocated players' playing time, and even paused and arranged according to James's rhythm in many games. tactics.

The "crisis of trust" between the two completely broke out in last season's finals.

According to ESPN reporter Marc Stein, the Cavaliers were in unfavorable situations many times in last season's finals, and James used many methods to question Blatt's timeout and substitution strategies.

During a timeout in Game 5 of the Finals, Blatt had already drawn the tactics, but James yelled at Blatt in front of the entire team, forcing him to erase the tactical drawing and start again. Draw a tactic that James thinks is appropriate.

"I believe James was not involved in the decision to fire Blatt, but if James had always trusted Blatt, the latter would not have fired him at this time." ESPN Insider commentator Kevin Pelton said .

This can’t help but remind people that in the recent defeat to the Warriors, James sat directly in coach Blatt’s seat in the last quarter, and assistant coach Tyronn Lue next to him Chatting incessantly; while Bratt could only stand awkwardly with his arms crossed.

Perhaps, this somewhat implies that Bratt's trust in James is far less than that of assistant coach Tyronn Lue.

James sometimes changes the coach's tactics.

Can’t control the locker room? That’s James’ territory

At the press conference, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin explained coach Blatt’s departure, “James did the right thing to support Blatt. , but this is a problem in the entire locker room, and the relationship between Blatt and everyone is not good.”

You know, the Cavaliers’ locker room is James’ territory.

In the view of center Haywood, who left the Cavaliers at the end of last season, Blatt's inability to manage the Cavaliers' locker room is partly related to his inability to "get" James.

"In the locker room, Blatt hardly dared to challenge James' authority." Haywood recalled in an interview with Bleacher Report. "In many cases, he was too hesitant to do things in front of James. This makes the players disrespect him more and more."

Haywood gave an example of how in the team's screening room, Blatt would make mistakes about each player's movement on the field. When it comes to criticism, Blatt will skip directly when it comes to James' questions.

Not only that, during team training, almost any physical contact with James by others will be called a foul by Blatt.

"Both James Jones and Thompson have questioned Blatt more than once, but Blatt always refused to respond."

James was "cussing" and sitting next to him. Assistant coach Tyronn Lue.

Unfortunately, Blatt's behavior in the locker room did not "please" James, but instead annoyed other players.

The "Akron Beacon" revealed at the beginning of this season that Blatt has long been unable to control the Cavaliers' veteran players. They did not have enough playing time, which caused the atmosphere in the team to become worse and worse. Among them, Including Varejao, Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson.

“Look at the people who don’t support Blatt, they are all very loyal players to James.

"ESPN Insider commentator David Thorpe said.

"Many of the veteran players on the team are James' confidants. If he can play a role in the locker room, then the mess in the locker room will not be serious. to this extent. ”

In Blatt’s personal statement, he wrote: “I am honored to be able to work with these players including LeBron James, Irving and Love, and I want to thank Their professionalism, fighting spirit, loyalty and friendship. ”

In NBA history, only three teams still won the championship after changing coaches midway through the season.

What's the future for the Cavaliers?