David Blatt accepts 2015-2016 Cavs championship ring

Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt has accepted a championship ring.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a unique decision to make regarding their championship celebrations, whether or not to give NBA championship rings to key members of the team who did not finish the season with the franchise. Even though these players and personnel may have been sitting on their couch at home instead of getting a front-row view to shirtless JR Smith at the parade, Cleveland felt they were still an intricate part to their long and winding road towards the championship.

One of those members who was shipped out before celebration time, Andreson Varejao, declined his championship ring after finishing the 2016 season with the runner-up, the Golden State Warriors. Former head coach David Blatt on the other hand, didn’t feel the need to decline. Blatt was offered, and has accepted, a 2016 NBA Championship ring.

This may seem like a weird move, and it is, considering nothing like this has happened in years. Rewarding a coach who was fired mid-season is normally considered condoning the mediocre results that caused him to be fired, but this is far from a normal situation. If you take a step back, this makes the most sense possible.

Even if it is Tyronn Lue who will be remembered as the first head coach to bring an NBA Championship to Cleveland, it would be insane to ignore what Blatt did during his time there. During his first season as a head coach in the NBA, Blatt brought the Cavs to the NBA Finals after the Cavaliers watched the playoffs for four straight seasons during LeBron’s hiatus in Miami. Sure, he did it with a roster that featured James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, but the point remains the same. If reaching the Finals was easy, everybody would do it.

Even when he was fired, the Cavaliers were still in first place in the Eastern Conference. Blatt had a 30-11 record before he was unceremoniously fired.

If you look at people who influenced the Cavaliers’ season, Blatt has to be included. It was a good look by both Blatt and the Cavs, who left on fantastic terms considering the departure was certainly not mutual. Cleveland is acknowledging that Blatt did indeed affect the path that team took, in a positive way. All staff members receive at least some form of a championship ring, from the janitors to the higher-ups in the front office. Not including someone who posted a 83-40 record in just a season and a half would be a bigger crotch shot than Draymond Green’s “accident” towards LeBron James in Game 4.

The offering and acceptance of the championship ring brings a positive close to an otherwise peculiar NBA coaching career for David Blatt. A man who was once brought to Cleveland just two years ago for his unique European style was hired to get the team out of the lottery, found himself thrust into a situation where he could be the one to end a 50-year championship drought in the city of Cleveland. He posted the best record in his conference during his tenure as coach, yet still ended his career with what can only be considered as a consolation ring as he heads back overseas to Turkey to lead Darüşşafaka S.K.

The curious case of David Blatt may be officially over, but at least he ended his roller coaster story with a ring.