The Cleveland Cavaliers fired Israeli American head coach David Blatt, who led the team to the NBA Finals last season and to the best record in the Eastern Conference midway through this one.
Blatt confirmed on Jan. 22 that he was fired four days after the Cavaliers were routed on their home court by the Golden State Warriors. Assistant coach Tyronn Lue will succeed Blatt, having agreed to a three-year deal, according to Yahoo Sports.
Blatt took Maccabi Tel Aviv to an improbable Euroleague championship in 2014 before becoming the first coach to leap from that league to an NBA head coaching position later in the year.
Growing up a Boston Celtics fan in Framingham, Massachusetts, Blatt played high school basketball and attended Hebrew school at Temple Beth Am. He went on to play point guard at Princeton University.
During college, Blatt played for a kibbutz basketball team in the summer. He won a gold medal in the 1981 Maccabi Games with the U.S. basketball team.
Blatt played nine of the next 12 years in Israel before retiring in 1993 to become a coach. He coached in Israel, Russia and around Europe. As head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel’s dominant professional basketball team, Blatt became a local celebrity and won respect around the world.
Blatt’s Israeli wife and four children live in Tel Aviv.
After Blatt initially struggled to adapt to the NBA game, the Cavaliers under Blatt made it to the 2015 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Warriors in six games. So far this season, they have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
In a season and a half at the helm, Blatt guided the Cavaliers to an 83-40 record. His .675 winning percentage was the best of any coach in franchise history. — jta