Reports: Cavaliers 'not firing' Tyronn Lue despite team struggles
What's the story?
Despite of having a disastrous season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are planning to continue with Tyron Lue as head coach.
In case you didn't know...
Tyron Lue was the replacement to David Blatt after the Cavaliers front office fired him mid-way through the 2015-2016 NBA season. Lue ended up rallying the Cavaliers to an iconic victory in an emphatic fashion over the favorites, Golden State Warriors, by coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
The heart of the matter...
The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost 12 of their last 18 games including their abysmal 120-88 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday night, but the according to league sources, head coach Tyron Lue’s job is safe. "We are not firing our head coach," one Cavaliers official told ESPN late Saturday night.
The Cavs will continue pursuing plausible deals in the hopes of improving their struggling roster by the trade deadline. Lue is 29-10 (.744) in his two trips to the NBA playoffs as Cavaliers coach.
Cleveland has had a series of blowout losses to drop to 30-21 -- a half-game ahead of Washington in third place in the Eastern Conference and only 1.5 games ahead of Indiana. LeBron James was listless in the loss to the Houston Rockets on national television Saturday night. Lue has expressed frustration with the team to ESPN’s Lisa Salters at halftime of Saturday's loss describing the Cavaliers as "soft, weak, no physicality, no toughness, no grit."
To add on to the chaos, Kevin Love is out for two months with a fractured left hand. He has lost his All-Star place to Paul George and is fighting internal disconnects as the Cavs try to restore themselves to an Eastern Conference Championship contention team.
What's next?
The Cavaliers will be looking to pick themselves up after the humiliating loss to the Houston Rockets as they play the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
Author's take
The problem in Cleveland is clearly the chemistry between the players. The Cavs have to sort all their internal problems and have taken a good decision of not firing a good coach in Tyronn Lue.