David Blatt To Coach Overseas

WEDNESDAY, 12:37pm: Blatt’s deal, which is now official, is for two years and doesn’t include any NBA outs, a source tells Pick (Twitter link). So we won’t be seeing the former Cavs coach back on an NBA bench until at least 2018

TUESDAY, 8:46am: Former Cavaliers coach David Blatt is heading back overseas after agreeing to a deal to become the head coach of the Turkish club Darussafaka, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter links). The exact parameters of the deal are unknown, but Pick notes that it will be a long-term contract that will pay Blatt in the range of $1.7MM-$2MM per season.

Blatt’s tenure in Cleveland was a difficult one, with the team apparently not buying in to what the former coach was selling. He notched a solid record of 83-40 in the regular season and 14-6 in the playoffs during his season and a half in charge of the Cavs, a team possessing the highest of expectations. LeBron James returned to Cleveland from his time with the Heat just weeks after the Cavs hired Blatt, and that drastically changed the nature of the job, which became a win-or-else proposition as the team moved away from rebuilding and positioned itself to win immediately. The team’s seeming lack of chemistry under Blatt was one of the major contributing factors that led to his dismissal in January.

The 57-year-old was mentioned as a candidate for the vacant head coaching posts of the Knicks, Rocket, Kings and Lakers prior to those posts being filled, plus he was also rumored to be a target of Spanish power FC Barcelona.

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