The Cavs fired head coach David Blatt on Friday and reached agreement on a three-year deal with Tyronn Lue to replace him. Blatt went 83-40 in the regular season and 14-6 in the playoffs during his season and a half in charge of the Cavs, a team with the highest of expectations. James returned to Cleveland from his time with the Heat just weeks after the Cavs hired Blatt, and that drastically changed the nature of the job, which became a win-or-else proposition as the team moved away from rebuilding and positioned itself to win immediately.
The Cavs made Lue the highest-paid NBA assistant coach ever when they hired him to Blatt’s staff in 2014. He reportedly interviewed twice for the head coaching job before the team instead gave it to Blatt. Lue played 11 seasons in the NBA, the last of which was 2008/09. He joined the Celtics staff the next season and followed Doc Rivers to the Clippers where he continued as an assistant coach before heading to Cleveland. This will be his first job as a head coach.
Here’s more from the week that was…
Miscellaneous News
- The league announced the starters for the 2016 NBA All-Star game.
- The Nuggets and GM Tim Connelly agreed to a multi-year contract extension.
- Grizzlies small forward/power forward Matt Barnes was issued a $35K fine from the league for his comments about Knicks coach Derek Fisher.
- Avery Bradley hired Landmark Sports agent Rob Pelinka. The Celtics combo guard had been with former NBA player Mitchell Butler of the Vanguard Sports Group and Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports.
- Bulls center Joakim Noah will be out of action for four to six months after suffering a dislocated left shoulder and undergoing surgery.
- The Nuggets are reportedly actively in pursuit of trades that would send out J.J. Hickson.
- Pelicans shooting guard Eric Gordon suffered a broken right ring finger and will be out for four to six weeks.
- The Nets hired well-known shooting coach David Nurse to work with their players.
- Pau Gasol signed with the Creative Artists Agency.
Signings
- The Magic signed Keith Appling to a 10-day contract.
- The Grizzlies signed Ryan Hollins to a 10-day deal.
- The Suns signed Lorenzo Brown to a second 10-day contract.
- Former Nuggets and Rockets combo forward Kostas Papanikolaou signed with Olympiacos of his native Greece.
- The Suns signed Cory Jefferson to a 10-day contract.
- The Pelicans signed Bryce Dejean-Jones to a 10-day contract.
- Free agent shooting guard Elijah Millsap signed with the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
- The Clippers signed Jeff Ayres to a 10-day contract.
You can stay up to date on all the 10-day deals handed out with our 10-day contract tracker.
Trades
- The Clippers traded Josh Smith, the draft rights to Sergei Lishouk and cash to the Rockets in exchange for the draft rights to Maarty Leunen.
D-League News
You can stay up to date on all the D-League assignments and recalls for the season here.