תגובות של מאמנים בליגה לפיטורין של בלאט
Greg Popovich - “All of us in the business know how it works,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said before Friday’s Spurs victory against the Lakers. “We all feel badly when it happens to a colleague. He (Blatt) is a heck of a coach (but) circumstances often dictate what happens to certain coaches that have nothing to do with their record.”
Rick Carlisle - “Teams have a right to make changes, but David Blatt is going to be a highly sought-after coach this summer if and when there are openings — if he chooses to stay. You know, after this, you just hope a guy like this is still open to coaching in the NBA.... I'm embarrassed for our league that something like this could happen like this. It's just bizarre.”
“It's a shocker. It's just a real shocker.”
“He's done some phenomenal things adjusting to this league. I'm embarrassed for our league that something like this could happen. It's just bizarre. Now is Tyronn Lue going to coach the All-Star Game? It just leaves you with a bit of an empty feeling. Because Blatt's a great guy and he did a great job there.”
Byron Scott - “This is a very, very tough business and sometimes very thankless business as well,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “You could be on a team doing extremely well like Cleveland and still you lose your job.
“So again it goes back to sometimes you don’t know what guys are looking for, what owners are looking for, what GMs are looking for. I feel bad for David. He’s a great guy. Obviously, from the outside looking in, you try to figure out what he didn’t do, or what did he do in this case, that was so wrong that he got fired.”
Steve Kerr - “The fact that Kevin McHale and David Blatt - two of the final four participants last year - have both been fired, it's crazy. Maybe Mike Budenholzer and I should be worried about our jobs,
It's a shame, but it's a different organization. They have to do what they're going to do. I feel for David. It just seems crazy that he would be fired after having so much success, but that's the business we're in.”
Brad Stevens - “He’s a really good coach. Obviously, we talked about it when Lionel (Hollins) got fired last week, there’s a lot of really good coaches in this league. It’s probably not the most secure profession to choose. But David Blatt did a heck of a job and he wont a ton of games. He handled himself, I thought, with great grace all the way through. His team got all the way to the Finals, a team that had to change the way they played to get there. I read his statement afterwards. I stole a play from him that we got an open 3 on the other day. I would think he’s not going to be unemployed long. He’s a heck of a coach now.”
Fred Hoiberg - “He’s such a good man. Last year at Iowa State, he welcomed me to his training camp," Hoiberg said. "I went there and sat in his office. He talked to me and gave me film on a bunch of stuff. He’s just a really good person and I think a hell of a basketball coach. It’s a tough day. He was great to me when I got into this league.”