Mike Miller and James Jones followed LeBron James to Cleveland. All three will play under the Cavs’ new head coach David Blatt who might have a follower of his own.
Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov, who flourished under Blatt during the coach’s stint with Team Russia, wouldn’t object to rejoining his former mentor.
“Of course, it would be interesting to play on David Blatt’s team,” Mozgov told Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency Thursday. “I know his coaching philosophy well from our time together in the Russian national team. He wins you over by setting the highest goals for himself and for his team.”
Following Mozgov’s breakout season in 2008-09 at his former club, Khimki, Blatt picked the 7-1 center to debut with Team Russia at the EuroBasket 2009 in Poland. Mozgov, 23 at the time, emerged as one of the tournament’s new young stars, averaging 11 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game, while finishing as the third-best shot blocker with 1.3 swats per game. Later, he became a regular on the national team and went on to win bronze medals with Russia at the EuroBasket in 2011 and the Olympics in 2012. With NCAA champion and CSKA Moscow center Alexander Kaun Mozgov was part of what Blatt affectionately called his “two-headed monster” that was key to Russia’s dominance in the paint.
According to Mozgov, who spoke in St. Petersburg where he hosted his annual Superbowl TM25 Cup for youngsters, another big draw in Cleveland would be the possibility to play alongside James.
“At the same time, I’d like to be a high-profile figure on a team that aims to win the NBA championship. For the time being all the talk about me [potentially] being traded to Cleveland has been based on rumors. I had a successful season in Denver and it wouldn’t be reasonable to take steps to leave the team.”
In 2013-14, Mozgov enjoyed his best season as a Nugget, playing all 82 games and averaging 9.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game – both his personal bests since coming into the league in 2010. The Russian center also posted 10 double-doubles and his best performance came on April 10 in Oakland when he made a key contribution to the Nuggets’ 100-99 win against the Warriors, scoring 23 points and grabbing an NBA season-high 29 rebounds.
