By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Cleveland Cavaliers hired David Blatt (pictured) on Friday to become the franchise's 20th head coach, replacing Mike Brown, who is Black and was ousted by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in May after the Cavs compiled a less than mediocre winning record and did not make the playoffs this year. He beat out closest contender Tyronn Lee, an assistant coach with the controversial Los Angeles Clippers.
Though Blatt, 55, has no NBA experience, he has experience as an international coach and coached over seas since 1993. He coached the Russian national team to the 2007 Eurobasket championship, and to a 2011 Eurobasket bronze medal. And at the 2012 London Olympics, he led his team to a bronze medal. Prior to joining the Cavaliers Blatt coached Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
"I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to come to Cleveland and lead the Cavaliers as their head coach," said Blatt in a press release. "After spending a great deal of time discussing the organization, the team and the head coach’s role with David Griffin, I feel strongly about my fit for the job and this team's potential. "
Blatt said his new job represents "an opportune time to join the Cleveland Cavaliers."
He went on to say that "we are going to work extremely hard to achieve the kind of results we all expect and know are possible.
David Platt
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Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown |
Brown had coached the Cavaliers before, during the Lebron James era, and was just a year into his $20 million five-year-contract this spring when he was let go, even though the Cavs fore-fitted $16 million owed to Brown on his prematurely non-renewed contract.
This last rip, Brown replaced former Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott, who is also Black.
The Cavs rank 10th of the 15 Eastern Conference teams for the 2013-2014 NBA season with a regular season win-loss record of 33-49. Indiana led the Eastern Conference fleet for regular season wins, with Miami in second place. And the five Eastern Conference teams ranking below Cleveland are Detroit, Boston, Orlando, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Those teams had win-loss records of 29-53, 25-57, 23-59, 19-93 and 15-67, respectively.
Whether franchise owner Dan Gilbert gave Brown a chance at success after canning him only a year into his contract is debatable, critics argue, while others are simply tired of a losing team.
James left the Cavs as a free agent after the 2010 NBA season, and after seven years and no playoff ring, and amid conference playoff losses that year and conflict with Gilbert. He signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Miami Heat in Florida that summer, thereafter leading the Heat to two of its three NBA championships, in 2012 and 2013. The other of the three championship titles won by the Heat was in 2006.
But James and his Miami Heat teammates fell short last week in game five to the San Antonio Spurs, who took home their fifth NBA championship title. And James, an Akron, Ohio native, is now a free agent who can likely return to the Cavs if he so chooses.
The Cavaliers have not won one NBA championship title in franchise history, and have appeared in the playoffs 17 times, the last time in 2010, with a second round playoffs exit after losing to the Boston Celtics four games to two games. That year James upset Cleveland fans and opted to join the Miami Heat as the team's most valuable player.
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Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott |
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LeBron James |
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Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert |
According to reliable sources, Blatt negotiated a four-year $20 million contact,
which includes incentives.
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Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin |
"David is a great basketball coach and a special person," said Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin in a press release. "His abilities to communicate, to build relationships with his players and to foster winning environments at several stops throughout Europe and across the highest levels of International competition speaks for itself. "
Griffin said that Blatt will bring fresh dynamics to a basketball franchise that has struggled to gain status in the NBA.
"He brings unbridled passion, energy and creativity to his craft," said Griffin. "These qualities have enabled David to reach a level of success that is truly unique."
The hiring of Blatt comes after Cuyahoga County voters in May renewed a sin tax that extends the tax on cigarettes and alcohol for 20 more years to help fund professional sports stadiums upkeep for the Cavaliers, the Cleveland Browns and the Cleveland Indians, and at a price tag of some $270 million.
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Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, |
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Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson |
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, has said that the sin tax monies should be distributed based upon whether the major pro sports teams of Cleveland, a largely Black major American city of some 400,000 people, win and return the investment on their monies to Cuyahoga County taxpayers, a posture that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson opposes.
Jackson, who is Black and campaigned for the sin tax with big business and a host of others, and who is nearly six months into his third four-year term as mayor, has called for the necessary and equitable distribution, where applicable, of the sin tax monies, regardless of the respective teams' win-loss record.
The county sin tax, nonetheless, got mixed reviews and was passed by voters this year by only a ten percentage points margin, with opponents, including restaurant store, and bar owners, calling it an unfair tax on small business owners.
Community activists called it a tax on the working class and the poor, a disproportionate number of them from communities of color, data show.
