David Blatt is no longer the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers despite being in first place in the East; here is what Twitter though about the firing.
Friday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to part ways with head coach David Blatt, despite being 30-11 and in first place in the Eastern Conference by 3.5 games. Blatt helped get the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals for the second time in team history in 2015 and now he is out of a job in favor of top assistant and former player Tyronn Lue less than two years after initially taking the job.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Blatt’s strange and abrupt firing Friday afternoon. Former NBA point guard, superstar at Duke, and television personality Jay Williams believes it was a matter of time before Tyronn Lue was going to overtake Blatt on the Cleveland sidelines.
It was the right move for the @Cavs to let go of David Blatt. It's about time they promoted Tyronn Lou. #TheRightMove #NBA
— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) January 22, 2016
ESPN’s Ethan Skolnick believes that this “was brewing for some time this season” and that it “wasn’t tied to a certain game.”
My understanding is David Blatt situation was brewing for some time this season. Timing wasn't tied to certain game.
— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) January 22, 2016
Comedian Frank Caliendo is pretty much bummed that he no longer gets to use his “perfected” David Blatt impersonation. How will comedy’s greatest impressionist do with a Tyronn Lue imitation?
Oh man. I had just perfected my David Blatt impression.#WhateverIsBestForThemIGuess
— Frank Caliendo (@FrankCaliendo) January 22, 2016
ESPN’s Jonah Keri thinks that Blatt’s firing “is exciting for the 12 people on social media with fluent knowledge of Hebrew curse words.” All the choice words that will echo the loyal fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv…
Overall, this is one of the weirder firings in recent sports history. While there may have been some turmoil behind closed doors, Cleveland was still winning, and it looks like the team to beat again in the East in 2016.
Perhaps either owner Dan Gilbert and/or general manager David Griffin didn’t believe that Blatt could end up beating the Golden State Warriors, the Oklahoma City Thunder, or the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals this summer and wanted to promote an assistant whom they believe can.