Busted Coverage discusses their site, and sports media culture – WFNY Podcast – 2014-07-16
July 16, 2014The Heat fans are mad, express it via t-shirt
July 16, 2014Zach Lowe has a really great interview with David Blatt over at Grantland. It’s well worth your time to read the whole thing, but I was pretty surprised to hear just how little Blatt knew about the LeBron James situation before it became official in Lee Jenkins’ post at SI’s website.
For one thing, Blatt tells Lowe that they didn’t even use LeBron’s name when discussing him internally, instead referring to him as “the guy.” I guess if treating LeBron James like Beetlejuice resulted in him coming then it was a good strategy.
The most interesting part of the interview to me was when Blatt was talking about his coaching style.
There are two schools of thought in coaching, and neither one is more right than the other. There are coaches that have their system, and they are gonna use that regardless of what the team makeup is. And there are coaches that are adaptive, and take their roster, and play according to their skill set.
I’m more from the adaptive school, with a few principles that are consistent throughout my career. But we have to see what the team looks like before I can tell you exactly how we’re gonna play.
This is good to hear. Across all sports, I’ve grown to despise “system” guys that aren’t adaptable. Whether we’re talking about the NBA or even former Browns honchos like Mike Holmgren with their “West Coast Offense,” I’m sick to death of talking about systems. Even if the Cavaliers run some form of the “Princeton” offense, I hope they don’t actually call it that. Call it “The Offense.” Just please keep the memories of Byron Scott’s statuesque arms-folded sideline stance out of my brain.
When pressed for details about how Blatt would run his version of the system, he answered in a way that got me really psyched. It really gave me insight as to why a super-positive, philosophical guy like David Griffin would want to hire him. Blatt said, “I got hired to find solutions. You know what I mean? I’ve been finding solutions my whole life. We’ll figure it out.”
That’d be so much more refreshing than leaving fans to wonder where the next fatal flaw in the roster might be. It’s nice to know that the new head coach of the Cavaliers will attempt to be at least as adaptable as Cavs fans have had to be over the last two coaches.
20 Comments
That’s so refreshing to hear, especially based on previous coaches.
I hope to call his offense “The Rug” because it really ties everything together.
Loved Blatt’s discussion surrounding offense and Dion Waiters in addition to his injections of English lit. Man, I hope he pans out.
best response from Blatt in this interview (including the not so subtle dig on SVG):
We say in Hebrew the world changed from katze to katze, which means “from end to end.” Watching last year’s games doesn’t help me a whole lot. What I did more of was to look at clips of individual players — to understand what they can and can’t do. And now I’m locking in on how we’re gonna move forward with the present group.
Between the Pettine interview, and now the Blatt interview, I’m feeling that the Cavs and Browns may be in good hands.
I loved this whole interview. I love this guy already.
no love for Tito?
love the dry wit
Watch random callouts during games “KEITZ L’KEITZ! KEITZ L’KEITZ! No stopping boys!”
Cavs, Browns, AND Tribe all with good leaders? Potentially heading in the right direction?? Say it ain’t so!*
*I understand there really is only one direction** for 2/3 of those teams.
**Not the band***.
***Are they really a band?
I was talking about the new guys, Francona is a given.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4TpW9w6sVk
Agree about rigid coaching systems, Craig. The hallmark of almost all the great modern coaches, like great generals, is the ability to adapt to the environment at hand. Popovich’s changing his offense away from just throwing it to Timmy in the paint led directly to the 2014 ring and almost in 2013 as well, Pat Riley successfully coached showtime with the Lakers and plodding thug time with the Knicks, Belichik has morphed from defense to offense. Coaches seeking comfort in what they were taught or what worked before fall off as soon as the game morphs or their personnel changes.
Always remember the famous Bum Phillips compliment about Don Shula: “He can take his’n and beat your’n and take your’n and beat his’n.”
this is Cleveland sports. since when is anything a given 😉
What a great interviewer and interviewee. Lowe knows his stuff. And Blatt’s relaxed honesty, confidence and candor is disarming. He’s like the anti-Mangini.
My fav Blatt quote among so many: “The things you do from moment to moment, in practice and in games, are habit-forming. We are what we do. It’s not what we talk about, and it’s not what other people perceive us to be. We are what we do, and when you’re doing things right all the time, it adds up. That’s where the micro-focus on each possession comes from. I know I’m gonna get old faster and die young because of that, but that’s OK. That’s the way I am.”
With that attitude, how can Wiggins and Bennett not develop, especially if LeBron is enforcing that philosophy on the practice courts? And I really hope that three years in all-star Kyrie doesn’t think he already has it all figured out.
He’s not the problem it’s the two guys above him.
Remember, he’s the guy who quoted Steve Jobs’ book in his championship interview. This guy reads!
I’m just hoping it doesn’t devolve into the stupid arguments like under the Brown era where every win seemed to be credited to Lebron’s brilliance and every loss to Brown’s buffoonery. I’m very worried that the leash got a little tighter around Blatt’s neck when he may be the type of guy who needs a bit longer to adjust to the NBA locker room.
that was my downtick.
And it stands in such stark, welcome relief to the idiocy of Pat Shurmur. “The system works,” he told us over and over again. He’s probably still muttering that to himself somewhere.