David Blatt’s Coaching Job Is Safe -- Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin

Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin is not letting go of his namesake. The vote of confidence comes at an opportune time as the team lost 3 of the 4 games in the time since four-time Most Valuable Player Lebron James' absence.

The underwhelming start to the season at 19-15, good for just fifth in the Eastern Conference and a huge 3.5 games out of fourth place Washington Wizards, has triggered speculations that European coach David Blatt may be shown the door soon. That is not the case as GM Griffin is not about to push the panic button yet, and fire his fourth coach (Mike Brown twice and Byron Scott) in a span of almost four years.

"This narrative of our coaching situation is truly ridiculous," Griffin told ESPN Sunday. "It's a non-story, it's a non-narrative. Coach Blatt is our coach, he's going to remain our coach. Do not write that as a vote of confidence. He never needed one. It was never a question. So don't write it that way."

However, with the way the Cavaliers are being regularly being blown out at home or losing to inferior teams such as the suddenly surging Detroit Pistons a few days back, there is a reason for concern if Blatt has the ability to mesh a collective group of players who were pencilled in to compete for the championship at the start of the season. GM Griffin points out that the criticism is unfair given how much adversity the team has faced at the onset of the season. The Cavaliers arguably has one of the toughest schedules to begin the year and have lost key players to injury, notably centre Anderson Varejao who is lost for the season due to an Achilles tendon. James is also set to sit out until the middle of January to rest an assortment of injuries that has limited his mobility.

The team is also currently trying to inch close in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference with the day-in day-out unexpected absence of Kevin Love, Shawn Marion and Kyrie Irving who have succumbed to an various ailments mainly due to the volume of playing time. Still, the team has a bag of flexibility on its side which includes a $5.2 million traded player exception, the $4.9 million disabled player exception and a 2015 first round pick from the Miami Heat which can fall into the lottery They can also look into dealing youngsters Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson if the team continues its spiral towards the bottom half of the conference.