Brad Stevens has plenty of thoughts to spare for Tyronn Lue.
One day after the the Cleveland Cavaliers fired Lue as head coach amid their 0-6 start to the post-LeBron James era, Stevens, the Boston Celtics head coach, addressed Lue’s departure, telling reporters he called his former rival upon hearing the news to express sympathy. Stevens also stressed firings are facts of life among those who coach sports teams for a living.
“First and foremost, you always in coaching feel for a guy who is going through that, especially a guy who has had that much success and does that good of a job,” Stevens said, per The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. “I think we all get into this realizing there’s an inevitable poor ending, so it’s just part of it.
Lue replaced David Blatt as Cavs coach midway through the 2015-16 season and led them to their first NBA championship just a few months later. Lue then guided the Cavs past the Stevens-led Celtics into the NBA Finals in 2016-17 and 2017-18 where they fell to the Golden State Warriors both times.
However, his challenge grew more daunting this season, with James having left the Cavs for the Los Angeles Lakers in July as a free agent. Lue now is gone, and the Cavs appear headed for a rebuild under his replacement, Larry Drew.
Nevertheless, Stevens is sure Lue will be giving orders from an NBA sideline in the not-too-distant future.
The bonds within the coaching fraternity remain strong as ever.
