Cleveland fires coach Lue after 0-6 start
Jeff Zillgitt: Cavaliers must rethink approach in post-LeBron era
No one will dispute the possibility that Tyronn Lue was not the right coach for this Cavaliers team, the one looking to rebound after four consecutive NBA Finals appearances and the loss of LeBron James to the Lakers in the offseason.
It’s also accurate to acknowledge that Dan Gilbert’s tenure as owner of the Cavaliers has been marked just as much by an improbable 2016 NBA championship as it has been by frequent coaching and front office turnover.
There is a macro and micro approach when looking at the decision to fire Lue six games into a winless 2018-19 season.
The micro is that the Cavs are worse than expected. They have not had a halftime lead and have not led in the second half of any game this season.
The Cavs have the second-worst defense in the league, allowing 118.3 points per 100 possessions, and the 23rdranked offense, scoring 105.7 points per 100 possessions.
Exacerbating the situation is the lack of player development, especially for rookie Collin Sexton when compared to strong performances by other rookies this season.
Lue replaced David Blatt midway through the 2015-16 season to get the Cavs across the finish line. But the team Lue took over (featuring James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love) was not the one he has now (Love, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, George Hill and young players the Cavs want to develop).
The Cavs perhaps should’ve seen this coming in the offseason and made the coaching change then. But they wanted to give Lue a chance. Is six games enough to determine if Lue was the right coach for this team? Debatable, but general manager Koby Altman, and ultimately Gilbert, decided there were too many early-season issues.
In a vacuum, you can at least understand why the Cavs made the decision even if it feels unfair to Lue, who will be just fine with the $15 million owed to him.
In a statement, Altman called the firing a difficult decision and praised Lue’s accomplishments but concluded, “This is a different team equation, though, and one that we felt needed a different voice and approach that required this change.”
Associate head coach Larry Drew has been promoted to interim head coach, and Drew, who was a former head coach with Atlanta and Milwaukee and went 9-1 in Lue’s health-related absence last season, will have a chance at the fulltime gig.
There is push within the organization to reach a long-term deal with Drew. If Gilbert is looking for another coach, it likely will have to wait until the season is over. The best other potential hires are with opposing teams right now.
In the macro, the coaching and front office turnover is a problem.
Cleveland’s next coach will be the seventh in Gilbert’s tenure as owner since 2005, and Altman is the fifth GM in that same period. Not one of Gilbert’s GMs have received an extension, not even David Griffin, who built a championship team.
Gilbert even once said that a GM’s tenure is worth one presidential term, four years. That means Altman is headed toward his midterm, and if the trend continues, Cleveland will be looking for another GM and soon after that another coach, because GMs like to bring in their own coaches.
One former Cavs employee texted, “Groundhog Day.” The same scene repeats itself.
So, Gilbert can keep cycling through coaches and general managers. Or Gilbert can take a cue from some of the league’s more long-term successful franchises.
Look at San Antonio, Boston, Miami, Dallas. The one thing they have is continuity, especially in the front office but also with the head coach, too. There is trust, a shared vision and lessons to be learned.
Other teams are trying to go that route, too: Golden State, Houston, Utah, Toronto, Oklahoma City and Indiana.
The one constant in Gilbert’s success as owner of the Cavs has been one person: James. And if James had not been born in nearby Akron, he would have never returned to Cleveland in 2014 and carried the Cavs to a championship.
In the four years James didn’t play for Cleveland, the Cavs won 31 percent of their games. The winning percentage with James: 65 percent with five Finals appearances and one title.
There’s no shame in losing without a player like James, but if Gilbert wants to distance himself from that narrative, he must reconsider his approach to team building.
Right now, Gilbert has an opportunity to develop a long-term plan that includes front office and coaching stability while giving Cleveland a chance to build something that is sustainable.