NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Cavs Pursuing Blatt as Head Coach
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have gone international to look for a new coach.
The team has contacted Maccabi Tel Aviv coach David Blatt about its coaching vacancy, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday.
David Blatt, head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, is in high demand right now among NBA teams, but mainly as an assistant coach. However, it seems that the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested hiring Blatt as their next head coach after firing Mike Brown for the second time.
Blatt recently led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the European Championship, upsetting CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague semifinal game and subsequently beating Real Madrid in the finals. Blatt is highly regarded as an offensive coach, and is being sought as an assistant by Steve Kerr in Golden State and Flip Saunders in Minnesota.
The Cavs are also considering Clippers assistant coaches Alvin Gentry and Tyronn Lue, along with Lionel Hollins, Adrian Griffin and Vinny Del Negro.
Whoever is hired will be tasked with turning around a team laced with young talent, but one that has underperformed and dealt with chemistry issues the last few seasons.
The Cavaliers have the first pick in the upcoming draft, and are reportedly interested in trading for Kevin Love and pursuing LeBron James whenever he hits free agency.
Rubio said one of the first things he will do upon returning to the United States is call Love and try to convince the All-Star power forward to keep an open mind about the Timberwolves.
“He’s my teammate and I want to know how he feels and if he wants to stay or whatever,” Rubio told NBA.com on Sunday at La Ghirada Sports Complex in an appearance as part of the adidas Eurocamp, the real reason he was in Treviso. “But it’s something that I think we had a good relationship and we can talk as friends. Of course I want him to stay.”
Are you going to tell him?
“Yeah,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to convince him if he doesn’t want to stay. But I want him to stay and I’m going to tell him what I think, which is we’ve been improving every year and he’s a great player, he helps us a lot. I think we need to make the next step. … The media says it’s pretty settled, but I don’t know what he thinks. What I’ve been hearing is from the media, not from him, so I don’t trust that. It can be an opinion from you guys. I just really want to talk to him as a teammate.”
The newest wrinkle in the Kevin Love saga is teammate Ricky Rubio stating that he wants to talk to Love directly about returning to Minnesota next season. Rubio believes that the Timberwolves have been steadily improving and that losing Love would undo the progress the team has made over the last few seasons.
While Rubio is skeptical about the media’s general insistence that Love is likely to leave Minnesota, all indications continue to point to Love being set on joining a new team. The recent hiring of team president Flip Saunders as head coach reportedly has no effect on Love’s current status and it is unlikely that a conversation with Rubio will change Love’s stance either.
Teams are already calling the Timberwolves and discussing potential deals for the star power forward. With the draft quickly approaching, the discussions will likely become more substantive soon.
For more from Rubio in Treviso, check out his interview with Basketball Insiders:
The $2 billion deal allows for up to 10 percent of the team — or $200 million — to be spun off into a charitable foundation that Shelly Sterling would essentially run. The deal was negotiated by Shelly Sterling after husband Donald Sterling’s racist remarks to a girlfriend were publicized and the NBA moved to oust him as team owner.
Under the deal Shelly Sterling would also get the title of “owner emeritus” and be entitled to continuing perks such as floor seats, additional seats at games and parking.
The transition from Donald Sterling to Steve Ballmer as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers continues. Each day it seems that Sterling changes his mind on whether to approve the sale of the team to Ballmer. What has been a constant for weeks, however, is Shelly Sterling working behind the scenes with the NBA to transfer ownership to Ballmer, while carving out a role for herself with the team.
It seems now that the NBA and Shelly Sterling have come to an agreement that allows her to have a role with the team, while still transferring 100 percent ownership interest to Ballmer.
She will run the charity, which is aimed at helping “underprivileged families, battered women, minorities and inner-city youths.” Shelly clearly wants to distance herself from the tarnished reputation of Donald, and it seems that this is another step toward that.
Donald Sterling has still not officially approved of the sale, holding out for the NBA to drop the $2.5 million fine levied against him and his lifetime ban.
