Cavaliers coach David Blatt: LeBron James has freedom to call plays

Cavaliers head coach David Blatt says LeBron James has freedom to call plays

SI Wire | Apr 2, 2015

Cavaliers coach David Blatt: LeBron James has freedom to call plays /

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt says that he allows forward LeBron James to call plays during the game.

Blatt commented on an ESPN podcast that discussed the relationship between James and Cleveland’s first-year coach.

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“At times, according to the flow of the game, somebody may call out a play,” Blatt said to Cleveland.com. “I don't think that's unusual, no. Certainly if you know what you're doing, you have a plan going in. That's obviously not an all-the-time case, but it's going to happen during the course of the game, sure."

James says he has the “right” to call plays if he finds something that the opponent is doing and can take advantage of it.

“If I see something, I have the right to call plays. Kyrie [Irving] as well," said James, who is averaging 25.7 points, 7.3 assists and 5.9 rebounds this season.

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"We kind of do the play-calling. Coach Blatt does the play-calling obviously throughout the game and timeouts, but it's great to be able to have some type of freedom out there with Kyrie to be able to call sets that we feel best suit our team."

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Heat guard Dwyane Wade said James did the same thing during their four years together in Miami.

“Sometimes on the floor, you just have to be a player and call certain plays," Wade said to the Sun-Sentinel. "It's not like, 'Oh, he's the coach.' It's not that. You have a feel of the game. You see how the defense is playing. You know what can work."

Cleveland (48-27) has already clinched a playoff spot and sits three games ahead of the Toronto Raptors for second place in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining in the regular season.

- Scooby Axson

Published Apr 2, 2015

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