When LeBron James decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he knew who the head coach, David Blatt, was going to be, but it didn't necessarily mean he was happy with who was calling the plays.
James and Blatt's relationship may have hit an all-time low with the shove heard around the NBA world that occurred in Tuesday's game against the Phoenix Suns.
James made his return from a two week absence with quite a performance, scoring 33 points with seven rebounds and five assists but the highlight of the game had nothing to do with his actions on the scoreboard. Instead, this game will best be known for James pushing Blatt as he was complaining to the refs about an offensive foul called on James during the second quarter.
After the game, James and Blatt insisted that James was simply trying to get his coach out of the way and prevent him from picking up a technical foul. If this was Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich or Chris Paul and Doc Rivers many could accept such an explanation, but it's not. It's been no secret that James hasn't exactly been Blatt's biggest supporter this season, and it has trickled down to many if not all the veterans on the team.
With the loss against the Suns, the Cavs have now dropped to below .500 and marks the latest a LeBron James team has been below .500 since his rookie season. The Cavs have been atrocious on defense and some of that falls on Blatt but some also falls on the personnel.
There aren't many great defensive players on this Cavaliers team besides James and even he hasn't looked like himself on the defensive end compared to prior years. That's the major reason the Cavaliers pulled off the trade to acquire Iman Shumpert who's very good on perimeter defense but also it was a win-now move for the Cavs. There's no guarantee that James stays in Cleveland past this season and anything short of a title or deep playoff run is a massive failure for a team with championship aspirations.
The Cavs need to turn this season around sooner rather than later and the only way that'll happen is if LeBron James buys into Blatt's system. Assistant coach Tyronn Lue has had the respect of the players and has even been calling timeouts and plays without Blatt's approval, a clear sign of who the players favor right now. However, if James could somehow find a way to work with Blatt, the rest of the team would follow suit, even Kevin Love who has had people questioning his relationship with Blatt as well.
Love was benched in the fourth quarter against the Suns after a poor offensive and defensive game. Blatt has failed to properly use Love's talents early on in the season and has resulted in Love posting career lows across the board, not exactly what he imagined when he decided to team up with James and Kyrie Irving. Blatt's issues with Love may result in him leaving during costless agency and if Love leaves and Blatt's still the head coach, does LeBron James leave as well?
The Cleveland front office have already expressed their support for coach Blatt publicly, so it seems as there won't be a coaching change, at least this season. If that's the case, the only way this Cavs team can meet their high expectations is if LeBron James strengthens his relationship with Blatt. If that doesn't happen, Cleveland can kiss goodbye any chance of advancing past the first round of the playoffs, much less the NBA finals.
