Almost seven years have passed since the most disappointing and sour moment in David Blatt’s illustrious coaching career – the moment he was fired from Cleveland, even though he had an 11:30 record and was two wins away from a championship the previous season, which was also his first in the NBA.
Before Orlando’s game against the New York Knicks Monday through Tuesday, Magic assistant coach Bret Brillmeyer who was on Blatt’s coaching staff in Cleveland (and Tyronn Lue’s in the championship) – talked to the “Sports Channel” about the Israeli coach’s tenure with the Cubs.
“I had the pleasure of working with Blatt,” Brillmayer said. “I talk to him here and there, I need to talk to him more. I remember very well our journey to the NBA finals, I learned a lot from David, he is an outstanding coach. He opened my eyes to European basketball and thanks to him I look at basketball in a different way to this day “.
He said about the surprising dismissals: “The NBA is a tough business, Blatt did a wonderful job in the opportunity he was given. Blatt was the one who built the foundation for the Cubs’ championship, every coach who led this group gave something to the organization and the one who replaced him continued his work all the way to the ring. Blatt helped create a certain culture and style of basketball in the club.”
“I can’t say if Blatt would have remained Cleveland’s coach assuming they kept Andrew Wiggins in the summer of 2014 and Baron James and Kevin Love never joined. It’s hard to know. He coached who he coached and did an outstanding job. Why Blatt was fired even though he was Does he have an excellent record? I don’t know, I have nothing to do with his dismissal. To your question, I didn’t see anything unusual in the relationship between Blatt and LeBron.”