Here’s some of the latest news and rumors for the Cleveland Cavaliers
David Blatt Talks Season
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ new coach David Blatt recently talked about what he expects for the forthcoming season.
“It doesn’t exactly apply to this situation,” he said, according to the Plain Dealer.
“He was just ... The Guy,” said Blatt, referring to if he mentioned LeBron James when he was interviewed by the team’s management. “And he wasn’t talked about much. We knew there was a chance that he'd come back, but no one wanted to say anything ... almost as if it would jinx it.”
“We knew we had a chance to get The Guy,” said Blatt, again referring to James. “But it was just that ... a chance. I tried not to talk about it or think about it. I was purposely pessimistic. I was dying for LeBron to come back, but I didn’t want to put myself in the position to be horribly disappointed.”
Tristan Thompson at Center?
A report is saying the Cavs are looking to sign forward Tristan Thompson.
“Don’t rule out the possibility of Tristan Thompson starting at center. While it has been widely assumed Anderson Varejao would start in the middle, a theory has been floated within the organization recently that by starting Thompson, coach David Blatt could better limit Varejao’s minutes and help protect him from injury. There is plenty of time to make that final decision, but it’s worth noting the idea has at least been discussed,” wrote Jason Lloyd with the Akron Beacon-Journal.
If he starts or not, Lloyd said Thompson will likely play a lot of minutes at center this season.
AJ Price at guard?
Cleveland.com reported that the Cavs could be looking into signing AJ Price.
“The Cavs will bring veteran point guard A.J. Price to training camp. He played in only 28 games for Minnesota last season, and saw little action. The 6-foot-2 Price has played in 235 NBA games, averaging 5.9 points and shooting .381 from the field for his career,” says Terry Pluto with the website.
LeBron James fan ban ends
CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James came back. One of his biggest fans has returned, too.
James Blair, banned by the Cavaliers after he ran onto the floor in Quickens Loans Arena during a Cleveland-Miami game in 2013, is again permitted inside the building.
Wearing a homemade T-shirt that said: “We Miss You” on the front and “2014 Come Back,” on the back, Blair spent a few seconds on the court with the NBA superstar during the Cavs game against the Heat on March 20, 2013, before he was grabbed by security. James was not threatened by the fan and went out of his way to pat him on the head as he was being whisked away.
The Cavaliers said Monday the team met with Blair and decided to lift the indefinite ban after it was deemed he did not pose a security risk. The team began reviewing Blair’s ban before James re-signed with the Cavs as a free agent this summer.
A team spokesman said James was not consulted in the review of Blair.
At the time of the incident, James said he didn’t feel endangered by Blair.
“He said he missed me and come back, please,” James said. “It happened once before in (Madison Square) Garden, so I wasn’t worried. There are metal detectors here, so we were OK. I embraced it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
