One of the hottest conversations in NBA circles right now is whether or not the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to pull the trigger on a coaching switch. They’ve already lost 16 games and are coming off a demoralizing loss to the league-worst Philadelphia 76ers. They now find themselves 7.5 games out of first place in the East.
While there are a lot of different reasons, the man directly responsible for this team’s performance is the head coach. David Blatt was a bizarre hire right off the bat and people have been questioning him since day one. With recent reports surfacing that the team isn’t responding to him and that he’s on the hot seat, it got us thinking: what free agent head coaches could replace him? If the Cavs do end up firing Blatt, here are three qualified coaches that are capable of coming to the rescue.
George Karl
This is a coach who was pushed out in Denver after winning 57 games with the Nuggets. He has championship experience as he led a talented team to the NBA Finals, guiding the ego-driven Seattle Sonics to the 1996 Finals. He’s also taken numerous other teams to the conference finals round, having done so in both the West (with Seattle) and the East with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2001. Karl is very adept at getting talented offensive teams to run the floor and play with freedom, which is something Cleveland should consider since the Cavs have enormous upside on offense and need to find a way to use Kevin Love in a proper way. While the Cavs were supposed to be a Big Three, Blatt’s inability to get Love on track has really limited this team’s potential.
Karl is physically and mentally fresh, since he’s been working as an analyst and commentator for ESPN. He could come into a situation knowing what would need to be done and yet no one would come down too hard on him if he failed to rescue a situation in midstream. Karl’s experience is considerable and he’s got exactly the resume and track record that Blatt is lacking. That’s why the Cavs should consider Karl if they sack Blatt.
P.J. Carlesimo
It is true that Carlesimo didn’t work out as the coach of the Brooklyn Nets a few years ago but, then again, he inherited what was a broken situation with a roster of individually oriented players that didn’t blend well together. The Nets that Carlesimo coached really could have used Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, but Carlesimo didn’t have that advantage of some veteran experience in his lineup. Remember that Carlesimo was a former assistant to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio with Spurs championship teams. Carlesimo knows exactly what is needed to get to the NBA Finals. He would bring a voice of measured tones and considerable familiarity with the rigors of NBA basketball.
Carlesimo is also known as a defensive head coach, so he might be able to help the team in that regard. They’ve been very inconsistent at that end of the court and they could use some expert guidance in slowing opponents down.
Mike D’Antoni
D’Antoni is not as good as George Karl, but he does share one virtue with him: he knows how to enable a talented fast-break team to emphasize its talents. D’Antoni is actually even better than Karl at getting a team to shoot quickly on the shot clock and beating an opponent down the floor before that opponent can fully set its defense.
Cleveland’s defense is okay but one could make the argument that the Cavaliers should just try to be the best offensive team in the NBA by a mile, and try to average 115 points per game and stop worrying about defense. We saw D’Antoni have plenty of success employing this strategy with the Phoenix Suns, so if the Cavs want to go this path, D’Antoni would be their man.
