Irving soured on Atkinson early, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and currently prefers Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue to be the team’s next head coach. Lue was the head coach in Cleveland when Irving hit the winning shot in the 2016 NBA Finals and was in talks to take the Lakers job before discussions broke down.
Their careers did not overlap too much, but enough for them to play 4 regular season games, which Kerr won 3-1 but in 3 playoff games against each other, Lue is undefeated (this is only counting games where they both saw playing time).
They were Games 1, 3 and 4 of the Western Conference Finals in 2001 as the Lakers swept the Spurs. Lue clearly outplayed Kerr in these games, averaging 2.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 6.7 minutes, compared to Kerr's 0.0, 0.7, 0.3 and 0.3 in 8.3 minutes.
Only time will tell if the 15 year gap is enough to stop this freight train of momentum.
Ty Lue is now at 105-63 and 'won' a ring with LBJ but imo there was no need for the Cavs to get rid of Blatt as the head coach with Lue as an assistant. When the Cleveland organization got rid of Blatt the team was currently standing at 30-11 for that season. I think it was just a premature move by LeBron and didn't know what he was getting himself into. They now stand at 27-18 and have decided to keep Lue through all of this. I don't see this Cavs team getting any better unless a trade occurs as they are 4-10 in their last 14 games.
In Lue's defense however, he has had to deal with this team without Kyrie Irving which Blatt never had to deal with.
Tyronn Lue took over the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 22, 2016 and managed only 1 win without LeBron James in his Lineup:
For a reference, here are the stats of other Coaches without LeBron:
Paul Silas 321-413 (2 Seasons with the Charlotte Bobcats who had a record of 32-78)
Mike Brown 82-92
Erik Spoelstra 352-320
Luke Walton 101-171 (GSW 39-4 start not included)
Frank Vogel 306-293
The Suns, according to reports, have interest in Clippers head coach Ty Lue. But multiple people with knowledge of current coaching searches expect Lue to remain with the Clippers and not be a viable option for any current openings. Lue is currently under contract with the Clippers. Sources confirm that Suns associate head coach Kevin Young has impressed during his interview process.
