Former Raytown star Tyronn Lue becomes Cleveland Cavs’ head coach

One of Kansas City’s best high school basketball players is about to coach arguably the NBA’s best player.

Tyronn Lue, a former first-team All-Metro guard at Raytown who became a first-round NBA Draft pick in 1998 following a career at Nebraska, was hired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.

Yahoo Sports reported that Lue received a three contract worth at least $9.5 million to replace David Blatt, who was fired after leading the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals last season.

“He's a natural leader,” said O’Hara High School basketball coach Mark Scanlon, who coached Lue when he was at Raytown. “He's got great people skills. Those two things always stood out, and that's a lot of coaching right there. He'll be good.”

Lue rose to the position after being a member of one of the greatest All-Metro first teams in Kansas City basketball.

Lue averaged 23 points per game as a senior and was joined on the ’95 team by Pembroke Hill’s JaRon Rush, Central’s Derek Hood, Schlagle’s Kris Weems and Washington’s Chris Chestnut. Hood, who went to Arkansas, beat Lue’s 27-0 Raytown team in a classic double-overtime Missouri quarterfinal game at capacity-filled Municipal Auditorium. Rush played in college at UCLA, Weems went to Stanford and Chestnut went to Creighton.

Lue played 11 seasons in the NBA after being a first-round pick of the Denver Nuggets in 1998. He also was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers before joining the Cavs.

“When he played, he never talked about coaching,” Scanlon said. “He just thought about playing. When he started helping Doc Rivers (with the Clippers), I think he caught the bug then.”

Lue, who was Blatt’s top assistant, will make his debut Saturday night when the Cavaliers host the Chicago Bulls.

Cavs general manager David Griffin said Friday that the Cavaliers had been taking steps backward recently and were lacking connection despite having the best record in the Eastern Conference at 30-11.

Griffin said Lue has the “pulse of our team.”

Blatt’s firing came one day after the coach was defensive before and after the Cavs beat the Los Angeles Clippers. Blatt had been bothered by the criticism that his team — led by superstar LeBron James — received after a 34-point loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors earlier this week.

Blatt was 83-40 with the Cavs.

Blatt seemed to be adjusting to the NBA game following his struggles in 2015. One of the most successful coaches in European history, Blatt was feeling good about the way his team was performing amid overwhelming expectations. However, there was an apparent disconnect between Blatt and his players.

The relationship between James and Blatt was a running saga last season as the Cavs got off to a disappointing 19-20 start. However, the two worked through their differences and won the Eastern Conference title. Despite injuries to All-Stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, the Cavs took the Warriors to six games before losing the title.

Following Thursday night’s win over the Clippers, Blatt shared a moment with James at his locker. The pair shook hands and smiled at each other, without any hint that a coaching change could be forthcoming. James was told of the decision to fire Blatt about an hour before the news became public on Friday, but he was not consulted on the decision.

Moments before the handshake, Blatt was on the defensive given the Golden State blowout. He argued that although the Cavs were prohibitive favorites to return to the finals they deserved more credit than they were getting.

“It’s about my team,” Blatt said. “It’s about my guys and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. My guys are out there fighting for the Cavaliers and doing the best job they can in a tough NBA — very tough — especially because this is a team that night after night has a target on its back.

“They go out there and they fight and they play and they deal with adversity like we’ve had to deal with all year. We are far from perfect and we are still not at our best, but it’s not for lack of effort and it’s not for lack of good group of guys that want to do their job as best as they possibly can and I think have done pretty well so far,” he said.

Blatt said his team was doing and in first place in the East.

“Nobody gave us that,” he said.

Before losing to Golden State on Monday, the Cavs had just completed their longest trip this season, going 5-1 with the only setback against the San Antonio Spurs.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Former Raytown star Tyronn Lue becomes Cleveland Cavs’ head coach."