After being hotly pursued by Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert, Tom Izzo in the end chose to stay home and continue to build on his legacy as one of the top college coaches in the game. The Cavaliers, who threw everything they had into the Izzo pursuit, are now staring down being coachless when LeBron James ultimately makes his decision on where to play next season. The chicken and the egg dilemma has been well-documented (the Cavs want a coach to impress LeBron, but no one will commit until they know LeBron is on board), but only now does it emanate a palpable sense of uncertainty and anxiety about where the Cavs are now and where they'll be in a few weeks.

In his East Lansing press conference, Izzo exuded the strong leadership qualities and motivational speak that made me only want him more for the Cavaliers' coaching vacancy. He spoke from the heart about how he is so tied with the Spartan community and how the current and former players reaching out to him ultimately helped him make his decision. That's all well and good, but there's little doubt that a different tune may have been sung with LeBron James under contract. Izzo acted as if this was his last flirtation with the NBA, and I'm inclined to believe him. If he wasn't willing to take this money and this potential situation to win a championship with a MSU alum for an owner, I don't think anything will uproot him from Michigan State now. He said he was remotivated by all of this soul searching over the last nine days, and how could he not be with the opportunity to go back to MSU and win another national title?

I'm going to try and not dwell on the circus that is the LeBron Summer, but this is now the third victim of the still young summer. Mike Brown, Danny Ferry, and now Tom Izzo have had their lives altered by the uncertainty that LeBron has allowed to creep into the franchise that he still calls home, for at least 15 more days. I'm not saying the Brown firing wasn't necessary, given the circumstances, but I would have called firing Brown nothing short of outrageous if the franchise was not in such turmoil. The Ferry resignation has sent obvious shockwaves through the NBA that something is rotten in the city of Cleveland, and perhaps if someone as upstanding as Ferry doesn't want to be a part of it, that's saying something. I do believe Izzo when he says the LeBron situation played a role, but was not ultimately the deciding factor, though we'll never know. Izzo did say he got some info from LeBron insiders, and that he hopes LeBron stays home as he ultimately decided to do.

Now what? I can tell you that I wholeheartedly believe the Cavaliers will fail to hire a coach before LeBron James makes his intentions known. Who that person will be is still incredibly up in the air. You almost have to start with the two Laker alums in Byron Scott and Brian Shaw.

Scott was determined to be the Cavs' Plan B during the Izzo sweepstakes, but the heat has died down on that with the belief that Scott will wait to hear Phil Jackson's plans for next year in Los Angeles before he commits to anything. Scott has had success in both New Jersey and New Orleans, has been to the Finals twice as a coach and won three rings as a player, and has the respect of his former star players, including Chris Paul. Scott has executed drastic turnarounds in just two years time in each of his coaching stops, and he would be starting with a much better team here if LeBron stays.

Shaw has been a Laker assistant since the 2004-2005 season, and he is currently the Lakers' top assistant who is the top candidate to relieve Jackson eventually, if not this offseason. I would think if the Lakers win on Thursday for Phil's 11th title, he would come back for a shot at a 12th and a fourth three-peat. If the Celts win, maybe he will think it's time to hang them up. Shaw also won three titles with the Shaq-Kobe Lakers of the 2000s. Shaq did recently say on his Twitter that Shaw deserved an interview with an NBA team.

After that, who knows where the team would go? Jeff Van Gundy has turned down their overtures, but perhaps with LeBron under contract, he would change his tune. The team has reached out to both Mike Woodson and Kelvin Sampson, neither of who intrigue me all that much. Woodson would have been a decent top-level assistant for Izzo had he come here. There is also the John Calipari possibility. I don't think much of Calipari at all, and I hope it doesn't come to that, but I will maintain that a LeBron-Calipari marriage is better than a LeBron-less Cavalier team. If that's what it takes, so be it. I know a lot of people say that's part of the problem, giving LeBron whatever he wants, but what other choice do they have? If he was under contract for a couple of years, you might be able to make moves that weren't LBJ-dictated. Perhaps LeBron knows that isn't the right way to do things, which is why he chose not to get involved with Izzogate.

One thing's for sure, the hottest head coaching name of the summer is headed back to East Lansing and a indecisive forward from Akron has a lot to do with it.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment