Salt, meet wound.
Fresh off being named the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach following David Blatt’s dismissal, former Laker guard Tyronn Lue decided to dig the knife just that much deeper into Blatt’s back by suggesting the now-former Cavs coach should still coach the All-Star game in February.
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reports on Lue’s demeaning suggestion.
“I talked to P.J. Carlesimo about it this morning and I told him I think Coach Blatt should coach it,” Lue said. “The NBA has been trying to work around some different things for the All-Star Game and he’s done a great job here. We’re first in the East and I think it would be sweet if Coach Blatt could coach the All-Star Game one last time.”
It would have been a nice gesture on Lue’s part, but a source within the league office shot down that possibility and said it was not possible. “He’s not a coach in the league,” the source said.
Let’s cut the crap. It’s not a nice gesture, it’s flat-out insulting. “Hey, David, you don’t coach in this league anymore, but why don’t you coach the All-Star game anyways? Yeah, that totally wouldn’t be awkward at all, with you coaching LeBron again. I’m sure it’d go swimmingly!”
It’s tough to think that Lue thought he was being nice, especially given his comments from the introductory press conference.
Tyronn Lue on what he'll do differently than Blatt: "I wouldn't say 'differently,' I would say 'better.'"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 23, 2016
Whether he was actually being kind, or mean, or just displaying an alarming lack of self-awareness, for Lue to even publicly suggest something like that is nothing more than kicking a guy when he’s down. It also portends bad things if this sort of tone deafness extends to coaching the team.
