10:31am: Lue will be on a one-week plan to address his health issues, a source tells TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). For now, the hope is that Lue will be able to return to coaching next week.
10:04am: Tyronn Lue is taking a leave of absence from his job as the Cavaliers’ head coach for health reasons, he announced today in a statement. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), Lue had been considering this option for several weeks, but had resisted until now. Associate head coach Larry Drew will take over for Lue on an interim basis, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“After many conversations with our doctors and [GM] Koby [Altman] and much thought given to what is best for the team and my health, I need to step back from coaching for the time being and focus on trying to establish a stronger and healthier foundation from which to coach for the rest of the season,” Lue said in a statement. “I have had chest pains and other troubling symptoms, compounded by a loss of sleep, throughout the year. Despite a battery of tests, there have been no conclusions as to what the exact issue is.
“While I have tried to work through it, the last thing I want is for it to affect the team,” Lue continued. “I am going to use this time to focus on a prescribed routine and medication, which has previously been difficult to start in the midst of a season. My goal is to come out of it a stronger and healthier version of myself so I can continue to lead this team to the Championship we are all working towards.”
As Lue noted in his statement, he has been battling health problems for several months. The Cavs’ head coach didn’t return to Cleveland’s bench during the second half of Saturday’s game against the Bulls — he has now missed multiple shootarounds, parts of multiple games, and at least one practice this season due to his illness, per Cleveland.com.
It’s not clear at this point how much time Lue will have to miss. We wish him the best during his recovery.
I’d be sick of watching that team play too. This is his get out of jail free card for when Lebron leaves after this year!!
I’d be sick of watching this team too. This is his get out of jail free card to pull for when Lebron leaves!!!
Lebron is the coach anyway
I guess the team struggling will do that to him. I agree Lebron is the coach there. Lue is just there for some input lol
I hope he gets better and that they find out what’s going on with him. Honestly with the job he has there’s probably a lot of stress he has to deal with all the time. As much as I think got the job from a coach who didn’t deserve to be fired, this isn’t the time to say Lebron is the coach and stuff like that. Yes the Cavs will be fine but this is about T. Lue’s health. Get better soon
Tyronn taking a leave of absence from LeBron
On the Herd today they said Tyron is expected to be off a week or two. They said it is probably stress related from LeBron’s championship or bust attitude. They showed LeBron going off on Tyron on the bench and said it was probably daily. Said he was playing great when Dave Blatt got fired.
Reasons: 1) Eroding Cavs business. They will not be playing for a finals this year. 2) A constantly changing roster. 3) Rumors of LeBron leaving.
4) Kevin Love being out with broken hand and stress related panic attacks. 5) They brought in the young guys and their defense has actually gotten worse. I like Chris Broussard. He’s from Akron.
I love how everyone wants to blame LeBron right away.
That’s because it’s his fault. LeBron and his fans never want to blame him for anything. He’s causing his coach and best teammate to have serious health problems and you still can’t deal with it. He’s a great player, but he’s hell to play with!!!!!!
LeBron is not the reason his teammates get injured and it’s not his fault K Love has problems.
If you read what they said on the Herd today, the stuff causing the stress, LeBron’s championship or bust atitude, IS LeBron’s fault. The constantly changing roster, the salaries (LeBron insisting they keep Tristan and J.R.), and they showed LeBron YELLING at Tyronn more than once on the sidelines. They said they expected it was a daily thing. Anyone else would be suspended. Like I said if LeBron leaves the stress in the Cavs lockerroom will go away. Like the Pacers, Gilbert will have to put together a roster that can compete. The Pacers have the same record as the Cavs after a complete rebuild after losing Paul George. That’s pretty good. Everybody knows Gilbert and LeBron have problems. we’ll see how serious. If you don’t think LeBron puts stress on other players, you should read a book on stress. Bullying causes stress!!!
Really? You know enough to know that after years and years in the NBA, the psyche of both Love and Lue are so fragile that LBJ’s demanding nature has crushed them? Pathetic. Give both guys more credit than that.
I’m not saying there isn’t stress on this team but that’s the nature of all superstar players whose legacy is to win, win win. If you guys don’t think that MJ, Kobe and Bird were just as intense when it comes to demanding the most of their teammates then you don’t know sports history. Ppl forget that Magic got his church fired in his 2nd year. Furthermore, these aren’t delicate snowflake. These are men that have been playing comparatively since high school and can handle it. From what I’ve heard LBJ is pretty much highly regarded as a teammate. Even a guy like Bosh speaks well of him.
Pardon typos
It’s not as simple as “it’s LeBron’s fault.”
The pressure to Win in CLE is higher than anywhere in the league. Their payroll is unimaginable, they are deep into repeat taxpayer territory and with that comes Championship or Bust expectations from the Ownership Level.
Second, they are trying to thread a needle in the dark playing to Win immediately whilst hedging. That’s a near-impossible ask of the Front Office who didn’t/couldn’t go all-in and trade the BKN pick for a serious asset. Plus, can you imagine the remorse over Kyrie? That doesn’t just disappear overnight. Every time IT went 2-for-13 and insulted his teammates, the remorse deepened over the Kyrie trade. Then blowing up the roster at the deadline signalled the ultimate Hail Mary. Desperate times calling for desperate measures.
Now put yourself in Ty Lue’s shoes. Championship or Failure. His star PG gone replaced by a bunch of junk who got replaced again by a bunch of ordinary NBA players. D Wade. IT. Quietly imploding Kevin Love. D Rose. The constant pressure from James. The 24×7 criticism and inference that LBJ is the real coach. He gets paid to do this job but holy hell, nobody plays D, nobody gets along, LBJ could end your career at any point and ok go spend 24×7 around these guys.
It all adds up to an on-court product that is joyless. Fans expect a championship. Players who don’t know their place. X’s and O’s don’t get executed. And The work environment just doesn’t sound like one of healthy continuous improvement and cohesion.
Good luck Larry Drew. You couldn’t handle an accidental Tank in MKE so this is your penance.
Good take. Plus, Lue gets a lot of blame and insults locally. He might have the hardest job in the league and he doesn’t have a lot of experience to draw on. The team pretty much quit on him at one point earlier, before the trades. Or else on James, which is worse really… (*hey I’m the coach! You’re supposed to quit on me!*)
About JRSmith, I don’t blame James for him being there (there was public demand to sign his demand, and he started trying on D afterwards). But it is surprising that he has been starting this year throughout. If James has been forcing that, that would be a major stress point by itself. But IDK & I doubt it. But earlier Lue indicated it was someone else’s call to keep Osman from much PT. A lot of ‘buts’. Get well soon
Chris Broussard is from Akron and is a very very good NBA analyst. His points are dead on. LeBron fans might not agree. If you saw LeBron yelling at Tyronn, They said this is what we think caused coach Lue to take the medical leave and was reason for the stress. For J.R., it is well known that J.R. and LeBron are friends. LeBron went on television to say he wanted the Cavs to make the trade to get J.R. and Shumpert. Was I right saying George Hill was no where worth $20 million. Broussard is a very very good reporter and I’m with him on this on. Like I was right on Hill, if LeBron leaves, like the Pacers without George, they’ll be expected to lose, but again like the Pacers they’ll be much more relaxed as a team.
The Pacers even went to Kevin Pritchard and asked him to keep the team together. Life has been good without George. George has the championship or bust attitude too. OKC is going through the stress the Cavs are. Indiana is just enjoying basketball.
The Cavs had a 61-21 record when LeBron left to go to Miami to play with wade and Bosh. I don’t think I’d be so bitter about LeBron if he’d stayed with the Cavs. Kyrie was the leader of one of the worst teams in NBA history. I don’t blame him for wanting to be the leader of a good team. LeBron never would have come back if not for Kyrie, Gilbert agreeing to trade for Love, and to spend whatever it takes. LeBron isn’t looking out for the Cavs, he’s looking out for LeBron. I’m really happy for Kyrie. Hope his knee is ok and Hayward comes back healthy.
If LeBron leaves, all the championship or bust stress goes away and goes to wherever he goes to.
Of course Lebron going to leave! The Cavs aren’t winning a championship with that team.
They won’t even win the eastern conference now!
They will? I’m not sold on Toronto or Boston
Nope! Toronto. Celts have too many injuries of their own. It’s 45 points from Derozan-Lowry vs. 30 from LeBron. Valancunas gets edge at center, Love at power forward, LeBron at small forward,
Derozan and Lowry at guards. LeBron vs. Ogunobi and Lowry vs. Hill are key matchups. Bench is Korver vs. C.J. Miles.
It will be kind of a shame if Cle/Tor is a 2nd round series, if Cle can’t hold on to 3rd, but that might be the best time to beat Tor. In the round of four they would have more confidence. Things are looking alright for Cle for there being so much bad news.