Tyronn Lue once told LeBron to 'shut the f--- up' in a team huddle
The Cleveland Cavaliers were always going to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals and were always going to be in the NBA Finals. There was never really a question of if they were the best team in the East, but they didn't truly start playing the type of ball they are now until there was a change at the top.
David Blatt was finally fired in the middle of the season and replaced with the guy we all assumed would have the job eventually — Tyronn Lue. The big reason that Blatt was canned went back to how he had less than zero control over the team and was regularly undercut by LeBron James.
SEE ALSO: 15 famous musicians you'd never guess were amazing athletes
According to CBS Sports reporter Ken Berger, one of the ways that Lue changed the culture in Cleveland was to tell the team's best player to shut the f–k up in front of the rest of the team during one of his first huddles.
"They felt they were doing this for LeBron," the person familiar with the internal workings of the team said, "instead of with LeBron."
Lue changed that the moment he first told James in a huddle, "Shut the [expletive up]. I got this," according to a person who heard the exchange — and a few others like it.
That's something timid David Blatt doesn't ever do in a billion years.
Lue also apparently routinely called out LeBron during film studies, which is something that wasn't happening when Blatt was coddling the superstar.
Whether or not that's the main thing that turned the Cavaliers around is unknown, but it was an element that wasn't in play before Lue took over. LeBron and the Cavs are rolling through the East, having won nine straight games, which Lue deserves more than a ton of credit for making happen.
Follow AOL Sports on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
