David Blatt will receive championship ring from Cavs

Before (and after) the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach David Blatt, their No. 1 goal was to bring a championship back to the city who has been starved of a championship in one of their three main sports since 1964. While the firing was surprising to many around the NBA, it proved to be the right decision by general manager David Griffin as the wine and gold brought home the Larry O’Brien.

With the championship, plenty of people who were in the organization throughout the season will get an NBA championship ring, whether they were with the team the moment they won the title or not. One of those people will be Blatt, who was the head coach for the first 41 games (exactly half of the regular season) of the 2015-16 season, per Akron Beacon Journal’s Jason Lloyd.

Now the head coach of Darüsşafaka Doğuş in Turkey, the 57-year-old had a short-lived coaching life in the NBA. In one-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland, he had an 83-40 record in the regular season. In 2014-15, his team was 53-29 but lost to the Warriors in six games in the Finals. Even though they lost in the Finals, he still led them to a 14-6 record during the playoffs.

When he was hired by the Cavs prior to the 2014-15 season, Blatt was expected to lead a young team that was led by Kyrie Irving and No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins, among others. But then LeBron James decided to come (back) home and things dramatically changed. With plenty of rumors of turmoil off the court, including in the locker room, Blatt only lasted until the midway point of his second season with the Cavaliers.

Current coaches and players who are still on the team will get their rings on NBA’s opening night, when the Cavs host the New York Knicks October 25. Others who are not in the organization anymore, like Blatt, will most likely either get their rings sent to them or receive them when they return to Quicken Loans Arena and play the wine and gold.