Brendan Haywood says David Blatt was hesitant to challenge LeBron James

Brendan Haywood was truly a fly on the wall of the Cleveland Cavaliers' locker room last season. And in the wake of David Blatt being canned, Haywood has some interesting things to say.

On Friday, Haywood did an interview with SiriusXM's NBA Today. Here's his full quote via Bleacher Report:

Coach Blatt was very hesitant to challenge LeBron James. It was one of those situations where, being a rookie coach, and LeBron being bigger than life, it was a little too much for him. I remember we had James Jones [talk] to Coach about how, ‘Hey, you can't just skip over when LeBron James makes a mistake in the film room.' Because we all see it.

And we're like, ‘Hey, you didn't say anything about that. You're going to correct when Matthew Dellavedova‘s not in the right spot. You're going to say something when Tristan Thompson‘s not in the right spot. Well, we see a fast break and LeBron didn't get back on defense or there's a rotation and he's supposed to be there, and you just keep rolling the film and the whole room is quiet.' We see that as players. That's when ... as a player, you start to lose respect for a coach.

Slowly but surely, that respect started chipping away where he would kind of be scared to correct LeBron in film sessions. When he would call every foul for LeBron in practice. Those type of things add up. Guys are like, ‘C'mon man, are you scared of him?'

This is a pretty damning take on Blatt and if so, it has to be one of the major reasons why Blatt is no longer the Cavs' coach. In the coming days, there will possibly be more of quotes like this from ex-Cavs. And if the words are accurate, maybe it's a little easier to justify Blatt getting the axe.