While We’re Waiting… Izzo Says No, Conference Championships and Santana
June 16, 2010Mets 7 Indians 6: Defense Does Them In
June 16, 2010Despite our earlier report that Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo had told certain players that he was planning on accepting the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching job, he has since decided instead to remain at MSU. In a press conference Tuesday night, Izzo spoke to reporters and cited his loyalty to MSU as well as uncertainty about the future of LeBron James as reasons for his decision.
The fact that LeBron James’ silence was a factor shouldn’t be a surprise. The fact that LeBron James is determined to keep the hype and suspense about his future alive well past July 1st (as is his right to do) is going to be a tough hurdle for the Cavaliers to overcome going forward.
As we’ve been saying, nobody knows if Izzo was going to be the right guy for this job or not, but once again the Cavaliers franchise is faced with yet another public relations setback. The Cavaliers were a team desperate for some good news, but came up short again.
In fact, the Cavaliers haven’t had much of anything to smile about since May 7th. That night, the Cavaliers thrashed the Celtics in Boston to take a 2-1 series lead and most felt that the Cavaliers had found their stride and were on their way. Instead, the Cavaliers went on to lose 3 straight games to the Celtics, including one particularly embarrassing Game 5 loss in which LeBron didn’t even seem to care or try.
From there, the Cavaliers have seen LeBron shut down and check out from the franchise, reportedly not even talking to ownership right now. Mike Brown was then fired, and soon after Dan Gilbert decided not to bring Danny Ferry back as GM. When these developments are looked as sequentially, it puts Izzo’s decision to stay away into better perspective.
With flawless hindsight at our disposal, many are beginning to almost suggest that Gilbert made a mistake in firing Mike Brown. Even Plain Dealer beat writer Brian Windhorst seems to be continuously hinting that the Cavs shouldn’t have parted ways with Brown and Ferry. However, that’s easy to say in the face of public rejection, but it doesn’t change the fact that Mike Brown was not getting the job done and a fresh, new voice was needed. Maybe the Cavaliers will find a better coach than Mike Brown, maybe they won’t. However, keeping Mike Brown and just trying to keep status quo on a team that was incapable of winning a championship despite arguably being the best team in the NBA for 2 consecutive seasons would have been foolish.
So for now, Dan Gilbert and Chris Grant will continue to look for the right person to bring that fresh, new voice to this team. Despite all the naysayers who project nothing but doom for this franchise should LeBron James leave, I will continue to stand steadfast in my belief that not only can the Cavaliers survive without LeBron, but this coaching job still has plenty of advantages that make it a desirable job to take.
Say what you will about Dan Gilbert, but he swung for the fences with Tom Izzo and he came unbelievably close to pulling off a miracle. It speaks volumes to Gilbert’s character, passion, and business sense as an owner that he was almost able to bring in a coach like Tom Izzo even without a firm commitment from LeBron. It’s that same tenacity and persistence that give Gilbert a chance to lead the Cavaliers back to success in the future even without LeBron, and there are plenty of coaches who would love to have that kind of support from their owner.
But without LeBron, of course it won’t be easy. Byron Scott is believed by many to be Gilbert’s next preference, but Scott is likely to at least wait until the Lakers coaching situation is settled. If Scott is still available after that, he may look at the Cavaliers, but even then he is likely to only think about taking the job if LeBron is back in Cleveland. Considering the earliest date LeBron is allowed to sign a contract anywhere is July 8th, the Cavaliers are likely looking at a long wait now until the coaching vacancy is filled.
With Jeff Van Gundy rumored to have already passed on interviewing for the job, the only remaining known candidates that have been reported to be on the Cavs’ radar after Byron Scott are Kelvin Sampson and Chris Jent. In all likelihood, the Cavaliers will now have to cast a bit of a wider net in order to find more legit candidates for the job. Personally, I am still holding out hope that Gilbert will at least let Bill Laimbeer interview for the job, but as of now, there have been no indications that he’s on Gilbert’s radar.
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Finally, briefly, regarding our report that Izzo told players he was leaving MSU for the Cavs: We had information that was verified by a number of sources and we reported what those sources told us. To this day we stand by these sources as individuals who were in position to have direct knowledge of what happened between Tom Izzo and certain players. We have no reason to believe the sources weren’t told what they thought, but it is now clear that they were either wrong or things changed.
Given this same information from the same sources again, we would report it again, but more clearly and cautiously. We have learned from this. It happened, and we will work to do better going forward.
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Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
96 Comments
“We had information that was verified by a number of sources and we reported what those sources told us.”
At least you dont have to go on ESPN to uncomfortably discuss correct and contradictory reports.
/Schad’d
Isn’t there a pretty simple explanation for the mixup: the players came away from with the first meeting with the impression that Izzo probably was going to leave, yet somehow your sources translated that into Izzo directly telling him he planned to leave?
The former was reported by Windhorst the day you published your report. And it seemed like Izzo kind of confirmed it during his presser last night.
Thanks. ‘Nuff said.
Andrew- Nice read. I was listening to ,actually watching, Mike and Mike this morning. They interviewed Izzo and he gave the talking points.
* I like it here
* I like the kids
* I would have loved to coach a player like LBJ
But when he was talking about how close he was to going with the Cavs, I could hear the “Did I make the right decision” in his voice and answers. I still think he was on the fence about it last night when he announced he was staying at MSU. He was torn in his decision and it was evident from the Mike and Mike interview.
I mentioned this in the other thread, but I think Izzo turning down the job was a blessing in disguise. In so saying, I mean no disrespect to the man, as he is an outstanding college coach.
But it was far more likely that he’d come to the NBA and fail (likely failing miserably) than it was that he’d succeed.
The longer i looked at this, the more I think it was a conspiracy between Izzo and Gilbert. Izzo used the situation to build his name, show people he’s commited to MSU, and get more money. Gilbert needed this diversion to kill time while Bron is deciding. Based on Lebron wanting a former player…and Gilbert wanting a proven coach — I think the first choice all along is Byron Scott. And I think Scott will take it…after Bron commits and Phil Jackson confirms he’s staying in LA.
Furthermore, it also took a lot of the spotlight off LeBron. Especially by proving that one LeBron James is NOT running the Cavs organization. Really think that LeBron is sick of all the reports that everthing is up to Him. Even though in some ways (whether he admits it or not) He was responsible for the firing of Mike Brown. Interesting to say the least.
Thanks for the coverage and for the clarification at the end.
Izzo’s press conference had an interesting component in which he and the MSU administration lamented the way the media covered this story. That includes traditional media, blogs, twitter, and everything else.
I think you should have written your story more carefully. It sounds like with hindsight you do too. But WFNY was hardly the only media source to get too far out in front of this story.
As for Lebron, I was among those in East Lansing in the “Izzo can take all the time he needs camp”. I would take the same view of Lebron, granted I don’t have a rooting interest in the Cavs. But I find it interesting that we like to demand loyalty from players on our favorite teams, but when a team cuts a guy or trades him, we’re ok as long as it’s in the team’s best interest. Lebron would be nuts to do anything other than what he needs to to make the best decision possible for himself going forward. Obviously he is not like the average player who has to worry about his financial security, but he has a right to figure out what the best situation will be.
But after 10 days of rumors, tweets, anonymous sources, and everything else involving the East Lansing equivalent to Lebron I don’t envy what you all have to deal with.
trivial, I see you point. but our organization, kind of like MSU and recruiting, is in a stalemate because of LBJ. We can’t hire coaches. Players won’t sign with us, Trevor Ariza last season, and many more come July 8th. Until LBJ makes his decision the organization is in limbo between blow up mode/rebuild/ compete.. and It’s kind of weary. Especially when you have Every major media outlet slobbering on their hard copies of the story at the thought of LBJ going to CHI/NYC/NJ/LA… it’s annoying
I fully expect **Keith Olbermann to announce his legs are tingling** in anticipation to LBJ’s free agency..
**Reference to 2008 Presidential Campaign**
correction. Chris Matthews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no9fpKVXxCc
I really don’t see why everyone thinks the Cavs are heading to hell in a handbasket. The Nets just hired Avery Johnson. To my knowledge, Lebron is not on the Nets. The players who are on the Nets flirted with all-time lousiness last year. The Bulls hired Thibodeau, a very well regarded assistant. Lebron is not on the Bulls. Whomever comes to the Cavs will have a high salary, a great owner, and at least a decent team. That’s more than can be said for the Clippers, the Nets, the Hawks and others.
There are still lots of people, even some “splash” names who could potentially sign up without Lebron’s commitment. Patrick Ewing comes to mind, because every time a coach is hired, we hear how he felt slighted. He can’t possibly be the only such assistant out there.
We keep thinking the Cavs are nobody without Lebron, but the front office will always think that the team was good because of management, and the coaches will always think that the team was good because of coaching, and so on. So the Cavs will keep on truckin, with or without Lebron’s signature.
Andrew,
It is not a “fact” that Lebron James is “determined” to do XYZ “well past” July 1.
@Roosevelt
The point is well taken regarding the Clippers, however I will say that I’ve always thought the Nets performance last season (even during the season) is not indicative of the talent on the team. Injuries forced a lousy start which triggered the firing of a pretty decent head coach. The ownership situation (Ratner still trying to sell the Russian tycoon majority ownership) led to the GM with zero coaching experience taking over duties on the bench.
I think Devin Harris is a legit PG and Brook Lopez projects to develop into a great NBA center. He’s already one of the best in the East. Just saying that there are reasons for Johnson to go to the Nets over, say, the Clippers or the Hawks or the Hornets.
I still think Thibodeau would have picked Chicago over Cleveland because Lebron is up in the air and Rose is under contract. If Chicago hadn’t offered him a job I think he probably would have taken a job in Cleveland. I think that’s true of any of the assistants that are trying to make the jump to the top of the bench.
Why is it necessary to always point out that LeBron has a “right” to drag this out as long as he wants? I have a right to be an a-hole but does that mean I should do it and that everyone should acknowledge my right to do so?
EZ, not to mention that the Nets were competitive in all 60 of their losses. They weren’t being blown out by 20. I think they lost a lead going into the 4th like ten times.
EZ and Matty – The point wasn’t the Nets per se. (Although whatever the excuse, historic awfulness is historic for a reason). The point is that there have been and will continue to be functional NBA teams that don’t have Lebron James on them.
@Matt#2: The CBA puts a July moratorium in place from July 1st to July 7th. During that time, teams can talk to players, but players cannot sign anything until July 8th at the absolute earliest. Hence, well past July 1st.
Man, this one stings. I stood up for WFNY to many people that scoffed at the story as a typical blog rumors. I forgive you guys, but you really need to be 100% sure something is legit before you “publish” the story. Your sources being wrong is never an excuse. Lesson learned, let’s move on.
@TSR3000, re-read the last part: we still believe what we were told was “legit” at the time, and would still report such information again. We would just choose our specific wording more carefully.
nice “retraction” fellas.
weakest apology for inaccurate reporting i’ve ever seen.
People still hung up on “reporting” verse/blogging. I’m just glad the whole courtship of Izzo is over.
DP- I understand that you were given bad info. My point is that is irrelevant at this juncture. You obviously didn’t learn anything if you say you would do it again. Maybe you guys should rein in your circle of sources and care less about being first and more about being accurate.
You are mirroring the teams you cover, I root for you to do good and you only embarrass me as a fan. Thank God it is only sports that you guys cover.
Andrew–
Thank you for acknowledging your mistake. You’ve clearly built up a very committed, supportive readership; I hope you continue to serve them well with the lessons you’ve learned from this episode.
Aaron Aloysius–
That’s what I assumed right away, too: the already-reported-on game of telephone between Delvon Roe, Delvon Roe’s dad, and Delvon Roe’s coach had led to a whole mess of Cleveland people willing to say they knew for a fact that Izzo told his players he’s leaving.
Peace
Ty
Peace
Ty
anyone else hear that broken record?
Why is Izzo hugging Chef Ramsay?
No worries on the story. I’m glad you had the guts to put it out there.
re:21 – your right…all these sources should get a good spanking and a 30 minute time out.
Any chance your sources heard that Tom Izzo said, “I’m going to Cleveland,” which was in fact what he was doing? He was planning a trip and your sources thought he was planning an exit.
Anyway, as someone who never wanted Izzo as coach, I’m relieved. I just want all of this to be over.
Gah. It happens when I edit and re-edit a post multiple times. Sorry.
Peace
Ty
JK_Ally… Youve seen a different apology before????
Andrew,
The normal meaning of the expression “determined to XYZ” is that XYZ is his object. His (probable) awareness of the hype and suspense is insufficient to infer that it is his object.
Whether a week is “well past,” I cannot argue. But the stretching of it for that week beyond July 1 would not be by his determination, but by the CBA (according to you). He cannot be a free agent until July 1, that date is not his determination either.
Thus, I say that what you call “a fact” is not one.
@TSR3000:
I understand that you were given bad info. My point is that is irrelevant at this juncture. You obviously didn’t learn anything if you say you would do it again. Maybe you guys should rein in your circle of sources and care less about being first and more about being accurate.
I don’t think you understand, actually. We believe the sources that we had were giving us information they believed to be accurate. At that time, those sources were in such a position to have been deemed credible. We corroborated the information we published with more than one source. How much more could we “care about being accurate”? If we have information like that but choose not to report it until someone more “valid” reports it, then why are we even writing this blog in the first place?
Furthermore,
You are mirroring the teams you cover, I root for you to do good and you only embarrass me as a fan. Thank God it is only sports that you guys cover.
Well, by all means, we meant no disrespect to your Q-rating with your peeps.
The only people who have to worry about staking their reputations on WFNY’s writing are the ten of us who write for WFNY. We clearly take what we do seriously, and in this case it was no different.
If that’s not good enough for you, then there are plenty of other blog-fishes in the sea my friend.
“The only people who have to worry about staking their reputations on WFNY’s writing are the nine of us who write for WFNY.”
. . . and the people they write about.
Peace
Ty
@DP: Easy, friend, close your eyes and think of your happy place.
TG the Izzo chapter is over, that was kind of exhausting. Byron Scott is safe, solid, but Gilbert should get a coach who really wants to be here or start trolling for the most promising NBA assistant. But no Ewing, please. For 15 years we watched him twist kleenex up his nose and drop them on the floor for Floor Wiper Kids to pick up. Between his booger problem and LeBron’s nail bite issues, sorry, that’s a little too much bad hygeine going on. Contracts are long, aesthetics count.
Thank heavens this Izzo drama is now over.
Michigan sucks and you can keep Izzo.
FB cannot get going soon enough for me. Go Browns!
I Think it’s pretty clear that part of the reason that Gilbert went after his good buddy in Izzo is that Gilbert wants somebody as head coach that’s going to let him be close to the team and minipulate things… unfortunately. There were rumors that Gilbert used to pass notes down to Paul Silas during games, telling him who to play. I’ve NEVER been as high on Gilbert or Ferry given that they both came to CLE when Lebron was already here. Going to be interesting to see what Gilbert does.
To you WFNY guys, if you haven’t seen the Izzo press conference, I urge you to view it. The discussion of the way the media handles this story (you were clearly eluded to) and in general was rather telling. And watching Izzo make Lynn Henning squirm is priceless.
Though I just logged in to the site because I am a Spartan, my problem with you wasn’t so much your reporting of the erroneous sources comments. It was the fact that there was no cognitive thought afterwards. Simply, Izzo is not a stupid man, yet you never asked yourselves, 1) Why would he think this info wouldn’t get out for 3 days after telling his players this info? and 2) Why would he take the job if Lebron wasn’t guaranteed to be a Cav? I trust you that you believed your sources and didn’t go to “print” with the story just for webhits or page views, but you showed naiveity and a real lack of character by reporting and sticking to your story for so long without acknowlediging basic facts that were right in front of you. For that, it would seem your reputation should suffer amongst even the most fervant of your supporters.
That said, I hope Lebron comes back to Cleveland. We root for different teams, but I admire the fervency of Cleveland sports fans. You deserve a winner.
@Joel: “2) Why would he take the job if Lebron wasn’t guaranteed to be a Cav?”
How can you say we never asked ourselves that? I wrote about it. I even linked to it in this article that you’re now commenting on. Anyway, here’s the link again: https://waitingfornextyear.com/?p=29577
I appreciate your concern, and you’re entitled to your opinions about our site, but you really don’t have any clue about what questions we did or did not ask ourselves in regard to this story. We’re happy with this site and proud of the work we do here.
For all the haters please admit this was not about journalism. This was about the simple fact that the MSU coach was seriously considering leaving and you didn’t want him to. Don’t convince yourself this was about Journalism and Reporting. If you haven’t noticed in the last 5 years the “rules” for journalism are dying because of blogs and the internet. You are hiding behind the fact you are emotionality tied to MSU basketball and Izzo. Welcome to what Cavs fans have experienced for the last 3 years with (INSERT Media Outlet). Also all you haters better come back when a story is reported correctly by WFNY. Because if not then this was about Izzo leaving and your emotional attachment to him, and not about Journalism and Reporting.
BilltheHammer: +10
way to throw tha hammer down bill.
stin
explain the avatar, please.
@ Andrew: You’re corect that I “don’t have any clue about what questions we did or did not ask ourselves in regard to this story”. But I think you are truly delusional if you think the Cavs will be have a quality team should Lebron leave. If he stays, it’s a great job for a coach. Without him, it’ simply isn’t. That’s a fact, maybe you’re too emotionally involved to see it.
@ Hammer: I am not sure if you included me as a “hater”. I am not, and I don’t think any of my comments implied that. While you’re right the only reason us Spartys are here is because the story hits so close to home, the point remains that the erroneous information cited by this blog touched off a much bigger fire withing the “mainstream” media. As a result, it does indeed directly lead to a talk of “journalism” or whatever you want to call it today. The lines between “blogging” and “reporting” are narrowing all the time, another salient point Izzo addressed in his press conference. He read the riot act to a Detroit reporter and addressed the media quite frankly. Some of it was over-the-top in my eyes, but he’s the kinda guy to wear his heart of his sleeve and you could see why he said what he did.
I give BilltheHammer all of my internet cookies for the day.
WFNY’s credibility will always be lacking as long as Denny is on board.
Fishes?…
not a word.
@Joel: Fair enough. I’m not saying the Cavs would be title contenders this season without LeBron. The point is that Dan Gilbert (for a number of reasons) isn’t going to let this team fall apart and fail long term. And I believe plenty of coaches would love to play for an owner with that level of commitment to his team.
Honeyman Joel: part of Bill’s point was that we know what stupid rumors are like. Over the last two years, we’ve read everything from “Lebron to the Knicks” to “The best young point guard in the world is Ricky Rubio, therefore, Minnesota is the best place for Lebron”. We’ve read that Lebron listens only to WW Wes, who denies speaking to Lebron. We’ve read that Lebron wants to choose his coach, which doesn’t seem to be true. We’ve read about sneaker tours, marketing opportunities, stock option in MSG, lots of #### 95% of which was completely fabricated. What’s more, it was on the mainstream media, led by ESPN.
Now that a blog, WFNY, that does a tremendous job day to day, gets a story somewhat wrong, and yet completely within reason, we hear people yelling about journalism? If I were Scott, I’d go back and look through all the Lebron stories that ESPN “broke” and shove ’em ## ### ### of all the “journalists” who ripped WFNY for this story.
@ Andrew. Cool, I agree. I should have emphasized it wasn’t wise OF IZZO to take the Cavs job without a Lebron guarantee. He has a great, well-paying job and is loved where he is. Byron is in a completely different situation, as are many others.
Honeyman yeah you got hooked. It doesn’t matter if mainstream media ran with it or not. You didn’t like hearing this and it them became amplified when mainstream media got.
@ Roosevelt. Point well-taken.
I loved ESPN reporting in crawls that Texas was leaving the Big 12 and staying in the Big 12….AT THE SAME TIME!
I’ve gotten a personal e-mail from an administrator here and it seems like everybody here works to their best. But we Spartys did not read this blog before this story broke. Our only experience with it was this story, and it wound up to be false, so we see you as batting .000.
We already had Adam Everett doing that, so we cut him.
@matt numero dos – it’s Germany’s soccer logo. I’m a fan.