David Blatt offered Cavs' job

— -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have offered their head coaching job to David Blatt and the two sides are in contract talks, sources told ESPN.com.

Blatt met with Cavs officials and team owner Dan Gilbert over the past two days and was offered the job on Thursday night. He beat out Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Tyronn Lue, who was the other finalist for the job after a protracted search to replace Mike Brown that lasted nearly two months and included numerous candidates.

Blatt, 55, is coming to the NBA after a long and successful 20-year coaching career in Europe that included stops in Israel, Greece, Russia and Turkey. He led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague championship this season. In 2012, he coached the Russian National Team to the bronze medal at the London Olympics.

A former player under legendary coach Pete Carrill at Princeton, Blatt typical runs the Princeton-style offense with his teams.

He has a long relationship with many NBA executives including Cavs general manager David Griffin. Had the Cavs not offered Blatt their job, Steve Kerr was ready to hire him to be the lead assistant at Golden State.

The Cavs have missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons and Blatt will be the third head coach in the past three years.