Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt said Tuesday night that he will accept the championship ring the Cavs have offered him despite Blatt's dismissal halfway through the 2015-16 regular season.
"They offered and I graciously accepted because they presented it to me in a way that was very respectful," Blatt told Israel-based basketball reporter David Pick. "The Cavaliers wanted to give me a ring because the organization felt that I contributed to the championship.
"It's not my championship, I recognize that, but I also feel that I did something there, and I graciously accepted because it was a gracious offer on their part. The big thing for me was that I felt that they felt that it was earned, not given, therefore I was happy to accept."‎
When James announced as a free agent two summers ago that he was returning to play for the Cavs, he wrote in a homecoming letter in Sports Illustrated: "In Northeast Ohio nothing is given, everything is earned, you work for what you have."
Blatt was in Israel for an exhibition game between his new team -- Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul of Turkey -- and Maccabi Tel Aviv, whom Blatt coached to a Euroleague championship in June 2014 before his hiring by the Cavaliers.
The Cavs, despite a 30-11 start last season, fired Blatt in January and replaced him with Tyronn Lue.
Blatt's .731 winning percentage was the highest in league history for any coach to lose his job in-season. Lue ultimately steered Cleveland to the first major sports championship in the city in 52 years when the Cavs became the first team in NBA Finals history to overturn a 3-1 series deficit with their comeback against the 73-win Golden State Warriors.‎
One of Blatt's former players, current Orlando Magic scout Anthony Parker, was inducted into Maccabi's Hall of Fame as part of Tuesday night's festivities.
