Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 bold predictions for 2018-19 NBA season

1. Tyronn Lue wins Coach of the Year

Raise your hand if you think Tyronn Lue is one of the best coaches in the NBA! Anyone? Come on, at least one of you has to think so.

When young coaches find early success while overseeing superstars, they rarely earn the respect they probably deserve. Hoops followers believed Erik Spoelstra rode the coattails of LeBron James to a pair of NBA titles, but then he earned NBCA co-Coach of the Year in 2017.

The common thought seems to be Lue’s success is a byproduct of coaching the generation’s best player. He walked into a perfect situation, inheriting a frustrated yet talented team after the failed David Blatt experiment. Even in that case, it can be argued he didn’t earn the right to coach that team.

So maybe it’s not so surprising you didn’t raise your hand.

This perception of Lue, if it is indeed a common one, may not be fair. After playing second fiddle to superstars throughout his career, Lue embarked on a coaching career that took him more than a half decade to graduate from assistant.

So many other payers-turned-coached were gifted cozy gigs soon after their playing careers ended. Jason Kidd retired as a New York Knick in 2013 and began coaching the Brooklyn Nets later that year. Steve Kerr never coached a day in his life before taking over as the Golden State Warriors’ head man.

Lue paid his dues, under Doc Rivers and other respected coaches. As a player he competed with legends and actually produced a respectable career, but he is most remembered for being stepped over by Allen Iverson.

Similarly, he is most known for something he had little control over, being LeBron’s coach. Now, like Spoelstra, he has a chance to shatter that image. And he will, because he has a plethora of young talent ripe for development.

His team faces low expectations, yet has the talent to produce a winning season. In turn, Lue will look good. He doesn’t have to win a title, or even make the Eastern Conference Finals to earn Coach of the Year. If his team finishes top-four in the conference, something that is very doable, he will likely be in the running.