Cavs GM Says David Blatt Will 'Remain Our Coach,' but That May Not Stop Noise

CLEVELAND — Everything changed for David Griffin, David Blatt and the Cleveland Cavaliers with an essay. That's when they ceased being a peripheral NBA curiosity—young general manager, first-time NBA head coach, underachieving collection of highly picked prospects—and became the most scrutinized team in the sport, all because LeBron James had returned. 

Then the Cavaliers did the worst thing possible, as far as avoiding the brunt of the media storm: they started slow. They did so while often looking lost on defense, and getting caught looking at assistants for assistance, rather than consulting Blatt. Add James' lukewarm support of Blatt in his press briefings, and the presence of viable head coaching candidates on the Cavaliers' staff, including job search runner-up Tyronn Lue, and the result was rampant speculation about Blatt's future.

Nor did anyone in the Cavaliers organization seem be doing anything to counter that chatter. No statement from Gilbert, whose credibility is challenged after firing two coaches (one of them twice) over the past four years. No leaks that anyone, behind the scenes, had assured Blatt of his status, backing him in the way that Pat Riley had backed Erik Spoelstra when the Heat struggled at the start of the 2010-11 season, which empowered Spoelstra to put more on his stamp on the star-studded team. 

That Heat team then ripped off a 21-1 run, propelling it to a No. 2 seed, and ultimately the NBA Finals.

It's hard to imagine that what David Griffin did publicly, prior to Sunday's 109-90 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks, will have quite the same effect, because some of the circumstances are different.

The timing of his impromptu press conference was odd, even though he'd received plenty of requests for interviews, simply because, with James out until mid-January with knee and back strains, Blatt was actually likely to get a brief respite from the media glare. It was also risky, since there's always a chance that the impulsive Gilbert ultimately makes a different call. If so, Griffin's words could come back to haunt, unfairly viewed as disingenuous, or perhaps correctly perceived as meaningless because he was powerless.

Still, give him credit for this much: 

He did not equivocate. 

Instead, he attacked. 

As defenses of coaches go, few in recent memory have been stronger.  

"Listen, this narrative of our coaching situation is truly ridiculous," Griffin said. "It is a non-story. It is a non-narrative. Coach Blatt is our coach. He's going to remain our coach. Do not write that as a vote of confidence. He never needed one. It was never a question. So don't write it that way." 

Griffin said he listened to the audio tape of James' recent comments about Blatt and identified "three different times" when the star forward talked about how the team is growing together, while also talking about being happy with his coach. 

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"But that wasn't a sexy pull quote, so (the media) kept looking for something else," Griffin said. "Until we could pull something that sounded negative. That narrative is done. No change is being made, period. What we've got is exactly what we talked about, guys. We came into the year, and I knew it wasn't a sexy story: growth and development in the long haul is what this was about. Every member of our organization, from top to bottom, ownership, myself, the players, the coaches, LeBron himself, signed on for the long haul. This is something we're doing over time. And yes, we've had some bumps; we've looked really, really bad at times. We've also beaten every team ahead of us in the Eastern Conference." 

Cleveland is 5-4 against Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta and Washington, but 3.5 games out of the fourth spot, which could mean starting every playoff series on the road. 

Griffin pointed to playing the toughest schedule in the East so far, as well as playing 15 games without backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova, recently losing starting center Anderson Varejao for the season and also missing James, Shawn Marion and Kevin Love for a game here and there. It should be noted, however, that Washington played the first nine games without Bradley Beal and several others without Nene, Toronto has been without DeMar DeRozan for more than a month and Chicago has been without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah at times.

All have overcome, to some degree. 

So, until James' recent absence, the injury excuses ring a bit hollow.

The call for time to develop continuity, since all of the East's top four teams returned more players from last season?

Griffin is on more solid ground there. 

"Guys, this is a really difficult recipe to get right," Griffin said. "Everybody needs to just settle down and let it happen. But I can promise you, that's not a narrative that has validity at all, nor will it." 

Griffin said all of that, prior to taking a single question.

Then he answered several of those. 

The highlights from his responses:

• James' two-week timetable, which was established on Jan. 1, is "not hard and fast. If it's a little bit less or a little bit more, that's not alarm. It's just how things are progressing." James will be re-evaluated Wednesday. Griffin said if it was up to James, he would play right away, but the medical team wants to be cautious. 
• Griffin recognizes that the Cavaliers could use at least one more rim protector as well as depth at point guard, but that other teams aren't necessarily on his timetable. He does have a couple of chips, with a traded-player exception of $5.2 million and a disabled-player exception of $4.9 million, and he said "they give us incredible flexibility." 

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• Griffin said Kevin Love has been "fantastic," adding, "I absolutely believe Kevin is about the right stuff. I think Kevin has been making the hardest sacrifice probably of anybody, by being asked to go from being the No. 1 option to sometimes the third. I think that's very difficult." Griffin also said he was pleased with Love's recent effort on the defensive end, taking more charges. 
• Griffin said he wasn't especially concerned about James' minute count: "The guy has already played 41,000 minutes. If he goes from 37 to 34, we're not saving his life. That's not how it's gonna work. What we have to do is get him into a space where he can play the number of minutes that he feels good playing, that his body responds to well." He said the team has tapered James back in practice and that it's on him, as the general manager, to give Blatt more options.
• Has James always appeared as engaged in huddles as Griffin would like? "I think (he) has been at times," Griffin said. "I think there have been times where he has been frustrated with our play, and I think you see that. I'm not saying that everybody has been the embodiment of what you would hope they would be, in their outward appearance. But I know what's being said. I know what Kyrie (Irving) said to all of you. I know what the belief structure is here. And so those are not signs of that. Those are signs of, 'I really want to win basketball games.'" 

Griffin said he wasn't surprised that there's been such extreme analysis of his team, "because we're like traveling with the Beatles." Yet he added that he was "disappointed" that the slant has been so negative.  

It's not likely to get any less so, anytime soon. This is the bargain when you're one of the NBA's big boys, and you're led by the league's biggest name. People watch, parse, poke. And when not enough winning is done, someone pays, fairly or not. Yes, Blatt has appeared to struggle to click with his team at times, without holding the same sort of hammer that he had in coach-centric Europe. 

But no, it hasn't been long enough to make a definitive assessment of his adequacy. 

Sunday was neither the best nor the worst of Blatt's days this season. 

It's just that more of the positive stuff occurred off the court. 

He was strongly endorsed before tipoff not only by Griffin, but by his counterpart, Rick Carlisle, coach of the rolling Mavericks and President of the NBA Coaches Association. Carlisle called Blatt "one of the best coaches in the world. He proved that long before he got to the NBA. I knew it was just a matter of time before he became not only an NBA coach but a top NBA coach." Carlisle also spoke about how he was supposed to attend a coaching clinic with Blatt in Europe in 2007, but that current top NBA coaches Dwyane Casey and Terry Stotts, and came back raving that "the three days they spent in Russia were three of the best days to prepare them for coaching in this league that they've ever spent. And that's a really high compliment."

Carlisle said all that, before the Mavericks held the Cavaliers without a single fast-break point, and controlled the contest from the second quarter forward, even as Love scored 30 points. That defeat dropped the Cavaliers to 19-15, still firmly in fifth in the Eastern Conference, but now also worried about Kyrie Irving, whose back stiffened up and who did not make the trip to Philadelphia, where the Cavaliers will face the league-worst 76ers on Monday. 

Blatt did board the plane, without his best, and arguably second-most, important player. 

Undermanned, for sure. But don't underestimate, at this stage, what a win will mean. It may not matter what anyone has said on his behalf, if he can't get one there.