After the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach David Blatt, players around the league reacted to the news.
Huge news came down in the NBA on Friday, when the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that they were firing head coach David Blatt. In his season-and-a-half with the Cavaliers, Blatt coached the Cavaliers to a trip to the NBA Finals and his Cavaliers had the best record in the Eastern Conference this season as the All-Star Game approached.
Still, it was clear that something wasn’t right in Cleveland and that the Cavaliers weren’t playing their best basketball. They recently got blown out at home by the Golden State Warriors and it was evident that something was off.
It was also strange timing for the Cavaliers to fire Blatt, as they still maintained the best record in the East and had time to get things corrected on the court. They went for a change in direction and decided to turn the reigns over to Tyronn Lue.
With such big news coming down, players reacted on Twitter to the firing of Blatt.
Rick Carlisle has high praise for David Blatt. "I'm embarrassed for our league that something like this could happen. It's just bizarre."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 23, 2016
Charles Barkley on David Blatt firing: 'The Cavaliers set him up for failure'
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) January 23, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/2jcWN0aOPe pic.twitter.com/qpTlPlVLq8
While J.R. Smith is being his usual off-the-wall self, it’s easy to see that among former players and coaches, Blatt was a respected individual. He’s a good coach and will likely get another go around.
With the way everyone is coming to his aid over the ordeal and how he got sent packing by Cleveland, it’s clear that he has a lot more supporters on this issue then Cleveland does.
It’s a strange firing at a strange time.