Tyronn Lue may end up coaching the Eastern Conference All-Star team despite having less than a month of head coaching experience, if you can believe that. True story.
Current All-Star Game rules call for the coach of the team with the best record in the conference as of Jan. 31 to be the coach of his conference’s All-Star team. The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers lead their respective conferences, which would make Steve Kerr and Lue the All-Star Game coaches.
Lue, of course, would be inheriting the honor. He served as an assistant to David Blatt, who was fired Friday as head coach of the Cavaliers. Lue has been signed to a 3-year contract.
If Lue ends up being allowed to coach the All-Star Game with only a handful of games as a head coach under his belt, it would be like waking up on third base without even hitting a triple. The NBA might want to address its policy, perhaps by instituting a rule that states a coach must be the coach for a minimum amount of games to qualify.
The situation in the Western Conference is also controversial. Steve Kerr finally returned as head coach of the Warriors Friday, supplanting interim coach Luke Walton, who had taken over the post while Kerr recovered from multiple back surgeries. Kerr has been helping the Warriors this season despite not always being with the team, but he still gets credit for the team’s 39-4 start and the All-Star Game honor.
