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Tyronn Lue named Cavaliers head coach

A recent Wizards alumnus will be coaching the Eastern Conference's top team.

By Albert Lee
Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The Wizards may not be playing this weekend due to the current blizzard. However, they still indirectly made news as Tyronn Lue was named the Cavaliers' head coach following the termination of former head coach David Blatt. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news.

I get that there will be some who will quickly point to this:

But to be fair to Lue, he has been a rising assistant over the years, well before he came to Cleveland in the 2014-15 season as their associate head coach.

Before his time in Cleveland, Lue was an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics from 2009-13 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013-14 while on Doc Rivers' staff.

As a player, Lue played 11 years in the NBA for multiple teams, which included two years with the Wizards from 2001 to 2003. In Washington, Lue played 146 combined games in those two seasons. His best season in Washington was in 2002-03 when he started 24 games. He averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.0 rebounds that season.

If there is something that I will remember Lue most for as a player, he once served in the role of Allen Iverson on scout teams and took the role very seriously. Chris Broussard, then of the New York Times, wrote this column on Lue and his role on scout teams for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-2002. Los Angeles was the first team he played for. Here's an excerpt from that piece:

Lue played the role of Iverson on the scout team on Monday and Tuesday. He took the role so seriously he showed up with a white sleeve on his right arm, mimicking the one Iverson wears because of the bursitis in his elbow. Studying Iverson's crossover dribble and tendencies for the part apparently did some good.

''He's the best penetrator in the game right now and I just tried to keep the ball out of his hands,'' Lue said. ''I guess you could say I frustrated him because he didn't get a lot of touches.''

Lue's coaching debut will be on Saturday, January 23 when the Cavaliers host the Chicago Bulls.

So, congratulations Tyronn on your promotion! Just don't beat the Wizards. :)