Hoops Habit
Fansided

Hard Screens Podcast Talking East, West, And Blatt Firing

By Colby Giacubeno

Jun 7, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt (left) looks at forward LeBron James (23) during the first quarter in game two of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 95-93. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 7, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt (left) looks at forward LeBron James (23) during the first quarter in game two of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 95-93. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

On the Hard Screens podcast, Shane Young and Colby Giacubeno talk NBA topics including Spurs/Warriors, David Blatt being fired, and All-Star issues.

Yesterday on the Hard Screens podcast Shane Young, former HoopsHabit columnist, and I discussed a great deal of NBA topics including the dominance of the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, what is happening with the Washington Wizards, All-Star beef, and firing of Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt.

The news about Blatt’s firing came at the 11:55 mark to send the scheduled topics off track, but it would’ve been criminal to let it fall to the wayside. At 30-11, the firing came as a complete shock to the majority of the basketball world. Blatt put together an impressive 80-43 record as head coach for a season and a half.

In today’s NBA, it doesn’t seem to matter whether or not your record is respectable.

Blatt coached the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals only to be defeated by the buzzsaw that is the Warriors, but LeBron James and Blatt never saw eye-to-eye and that was likely the biggest reason he was dismissed.

Although Cleveland was having another great year putting together a 30-11 record, GM David Griffin felt as if the locker room vibe wasn’t where it needed to be, and a change at head coach would help solve those issues:

"“I’ve never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be. We’ve only been galvanized when expectations were not high and circumstances were somewhat artificial. Otherwise, we’ve been a group of tremendous individual talent with individual hopes and dreams. That’s not a winning formula. I’m not leaving an unprecedented team payroll and all of the efforts of everybody that works in this organization to chance.”"

The Warriors and Spurs face off Monday in the first meeting between the two this season. The two teams currently have a combined record of 78-10 as they go head-to-head in one of–if not the– most anticipated regular season matchup in NBA history.

Don’t be shocked if Gregg Popovich decides to completely ignore any strategy ideas the Spurs will use if the two juggernauts meet in the playoffs.

Be sure to follow Shane (@YoungNBA) and I (@ColbyG33) on Twitter to stay alert for when the next podcast releases. Please leave comments as well if you could.