LeBron James Deserves Blame For Slow Start, Not David Blatt

By Josh Hill | Dec 30, 2014

LeBron James is the best player on the planet, so why is his first-year head coach taking so much blame for the slow start?

When LeBron James came back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, there was the immediate expectation that the team was going to be a title contender in 2014-15. That was not the case just a few hours earlier, when a LeBron-less Cavaliers team was nothing more than a project for new head coach David Blatt to morph into a winner.

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That was already a pretty desirable trajectory, as while Blatt has never been a head coach in the NBA before, he has over 20 years of international success under his belt that more than speaks for itself. The Phil Jackson of Israel coming to Cleveland was going to eventually turn the Cavaliers into a winning team, but the arrival of LeBron James expedited those plans in the minds of fans — and rightfully so.

So why is David Blatt the one taking all of the blame for the Cavaliers 18-12 start to the season? Last time we checked, that’s a winning record and a mark that sits six games above the .500 mark.

On Monday, an ESPN report stated that the Cleveland Cavaliers were losing faith in David Blatt and were worried he was losing the team. This is such an insanely stupid thing to be feeling because everyone is getting mad at the wrong guy. First off, there’s no one to solely blame for the mess the season has been so far but if there is a pecking order of blame, David Blatt is not at the top of the list.

LeBron James can’t just return home, slurp up the media attention and take his team back, then nonchalantly pass it off to David Blatt when sh-t hits the fan. That’s cowardly and LeBron James is everything but

LeBron James, the best player on the face of the earth, is numbero uno when it comes to people to blame for the ‘chill mode’ style of basketball the Cavaliers are playing through 30 games in the season.

Blatt deserves blame for not getting his team together, but it’s not his team. It’s always been LeBron’s team and his failures to get things meshed together and to support his head coach are critical failures that fall only on him. More than a handful of times this season, LeBron James has been given a chance to unconditionally support David Blatt and he’s only endorsed him to the most minimal extent possible whilst still endorsing someone.

None of this would be a problem if LeBron James has just come out and given his full support to his head coach and then listed examples of how the team supports and listens to him. That has not happened and it’s why the team is spinning it’s wheels with Blatt in the eyes of the media.

LeBron James can’t just return home, slurp up the media attention and take his team back, then nonchalantly pass it off to David Blatt when sh-t hits the fan. That’s cowardly and LeBron James is everything but, and we all know it. That’s why it’s even harder to fathom why he’s simply chilling his way through this entire mess, almost waiting for things to fix themselves.

Cleveland lost to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, that’s not a self-fixing problem. LeBron James doesn’t deserve all of the blame for that but he deserves most of it, as David Blatt needs him as his wingman more than ever before and the lack of enthusiastic support that he’s giving his head coach is the most disappointing thing about all of this.

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