Major news has arrived in the NBA, as the Cleveland Cavaliers have fired coach Tyronn Lue. The move comes after a winless start to the season and is the second-straight Cavaliers head coach to be fired after appearing in the NBA finals the season prior. Below are the latest details on the firing and who will replace Tyronn Lue as Cavs head coach, for now.
Tyronn Lue fired after a tough start
The Cleveland Cavaliers started out this latest NBA season at 0-6. Most analysts and fans point to the fact that the team took a major hit when they lost NBA superstar LeBron James.
Kevin Love remains the team's main All-Star, with mostly younger talent and league journeymen on the bench. Is Anthony Davis close to joining James in Los Angeles?
Breaking: The Cleveland Cavaliers have fired head coach Tyronn Lue. (via The Athletic, confirmed by ESPN) pic.twitter.com/2374wYDvU4
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 28, 2018
Lue has been to the last three NBA finals and has a championship on his resume from 2016. However, he is now the second-straight Cavaliers coach fired after a finals appearance. Previous head coach David Platt was fired in 2015, which ultimately resulted in Lue becoming the head coach.
Ty Lue had approximately $15M left on his Cavaliers contract, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 28, 2018
As seen above, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that Ty Lue had around $15 million left on his current Cleveland Cavs' coaching contract.
Most likely, he won't have too much trouble finding new work, based on previous experience.
Lue's replacement already known
Since Tyronn Lue is fired, that means he'll be replaced, as the NBA season must go on. Larry Drew will take over as the team's interim coach. According to Woj's report, via ESPN, Drew was already meeting with team management to discuss the particulars of his promotion to the head coaching spot.
He took over the helm, last season, for nine games when Lue had an illness that kept him away. During those games, Drew was 8-1, but keep in mind, he also had LeBron James there.
Drew worked as the head coach for the Atlanta Hawks during previous years. He was able to bring them to the postseason in all three years he worked in that coaching position.
Drew was also the Milwaukee Bucks' coach for one season.
Cleveland Cavaliers' outlook
Some people may say they're surprised by the Cleveland Cavaliers' rough start, but one has to agree that LeBron James did a lot to guide this team to the postseason. Unfortunately, King James was not enough to defeat the Golden State Warriors on his own. While Kevin Love, who has come up in new trade rumors, is still a great player, the Cavs simply lacked the weapons they needed to take down the dominant champions. They still lack those weapons, and nobody is expecting this team to do a whole lot in this post-Lebron era.
New coach Larry Drew is going to have his hands full trying to coach this team to his first win and especially to a winning record.
Nobody should expect him to be a miracle worker right away, as management is probably going to need to make some big moves to restructure the Cavs going forward.
For now, Tyronn Lue may be happy to be out of this sinking ship in Cleveland.