Tyronn Lue: Coaching Cavaliers NBA’s hardest job

Tyronn Lue – who has held precisely one NBA head-coaching job – says his head-coaching job is the hardest in the NBA.

Lue, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

“It’s the hardest job, by far,” Lue said on ESPN’s NBA Lockdown podcast, which came out this week. “It’s the hardest job. But I’ve been through a lot of tough things in my life anyway, and I just try not to listen to the outside noise -- to the media and what they have to say. As long as I have the support of [Cavs general manager] David Griffin, [principal owner] Dan Gilbert, my players, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio, as long as I have that support, that’s all that matters.”

I’d call coaching LeBron James more distinctive than difficult.

Is coaching LeBron harder than working for Vivek Ranadive? Is it harder than coaching the head-strong, but less talented, Bulls? Is it harder than coaching a 76ers devoid of talent ready to win?

Some elements are undoubtedly difficult. The pressure and attention are incredible, and LeBron isn’t inclined to trust coaches quickly.

But he’s also a great player and teammate with generational skills he happily applies in a team concept.

Coaching LeBron isn’t for everybody. It clearly wasn’t for David Blatt.

Lue has handled the challenges with aplomb. But he has also reaped the rewards, a championship and a new contract.