The problems in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room apparently ran quite deep.
According to a report, David Blatt had the respect of virtually no one in the team’s locker room, and none of the team’s veteran players liked him.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, appearing on ESPN’s TrueHoop podcast, explained the scope of the dysfunction in the Cleveland locker room under Blatt.
“I’ve never seen a coach dynamic with a team like I saw with David Blatt,” Windhorst said, via ProBasketballTalk’s Dan Feldman.
“All I know is what I saw,” Windhorst continued, “And I saw a guy who completely was unable to get even a modicum of respect from a majority of his players.
“And I also saw star players and veteran players – not just LeBron, OK. We know LeBron had issues with him. But basically any player that had any sort of veteran status in the league, more than Joe Harris and Matthew Dellavedova – all the veterans didn’t like him, either. He wasn’t able to win over about anybody.”
We already knew that the team’s veterans struggled to respect Blatt because he was reportedly soft on them during practices. His inability to gain respect and connect with players sounds like another recently-fired coach in the NFL. That one got another job in the league, though, and Blatt will be hoping he is afforded the same chance.
