Report: Tyronn Lue Took Control Of The Cavs After He Told LeBron James To ‘Shut The F*ck Up’ In The Huddle

The Cavs were a mess earlier this season before firing David Blatt for losing the locker room because many believed he was afraid to confront LeBron James.

According to Ken Berger of CBS, when Lue was hired to replace Blatt he made sure to put LeBron in his place.

Via CBS Sports

Before Tyronn Lue was elevated to head coach, replacing Blatt, they were playing like a team that didn’t know its strengths — or, frankly, the rules of engagement at a championship level in today’s NBA.

Blatt’s use of Kevin Love, refusing to get him the ball in the post and relegating him to a stand-still shooter when all else failed, bordered on ridiculous. By letting James overwhelm him in the huddle during timeouts, Blatt unwittingly ceded control — and demoralized the rest of the team. By not being comfortable enough to rein in James, the dynamic of the team became one of LeBron and then everybody else.

“They felt they were doing this for LeBron,” the person familiar with the internal workings of the team said, “instead of with LeBron.”
Lue changed that the moment he first told James in a huddle, “Shut the [expletive up]. I got this,” according to a person who heard the exchange — and a few others like it. If Lue was going to get the stars and the role players to buy into the strategic changes he was determined to implement — play faster, space the floor, move the ball, take full advantage of Love’s versatility — he was going to have to restore order first

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Seems like Lue telling LeBron to “shut the fuck up” worked considering that the Cavs are coasting to the NBA finals.

H/T Complex