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Tristan Thompson, a fellow Canadian, and Cleveland Cavaliers teammates believe Tyronn Lue deserves to coach the All-Star Game in Toronto over Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

(Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Tyronn Lue, the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, will coach the Eastern Conference in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto on Feb. 14, even though he has only been head coach for three games this season, going 2-1.

"He's won 66 percent of his games so far, right?" forward Kevin Love joked.

But this isn't a joking matter to Canadians. Lue was officially named the coach of the Eastern Conference after the Cavaliers routed the Phoenix Suns 115-93 on Wednesday night at The Q.

Their gripe is that the head coach of the Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, should receive the honor on a couple of fronts: He has the most wins of any coach in the conference after the Cavaliers fired David Blatt; and he's the coach for the All-Star host city.

Those are legitimate arguments. As the rules state now, whichever team goes into the break with the most victories at the cutoff date, that coaching staff is awarded to coach the main event on Sunday night.

Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson, a Canadian, isn't on his country's side on this heated debate.

"I know Toronto fans would love having Coach Casey be the coach, but at the end of the day, we've got more wins. That's why we get our coach in," he told cleveland.com.

"At the end of the day, it's the NBA's job and they decide on who," Thompson said. "T-Lue is 2-1 right now, but it's not like we just hired T-Lue from working at ESPN. He's done the groundwork; he's been with us. So he's been a part of our journey and helping us become where we're at today, so he deserves it, he and the rest of the staff. They've been here since Day 1, so they've all helped prepare us for games so I think it's only fair."

Fair enough, but there might be grounds for modifying the All-Star coaching criteria. This is an unprecedented case, but setting the guidelines to the active coach with the most first-half wins might be a topic of discussion moving forward.

"No," Thompson disagreed adamantly. "It should be the coaching staff. They've done their jobs. I think a lot of coaches in this league, their assistant coaches prep the teams for the games. They do scouting reports, walk-throughs. So our assistants have done a great job preparing for every game. That's why we got the wins."

Cavaliers sharpshooter James Jones echoed Thompson's sentiments.

"Our coaching staff that's here, with the exception of Coach Blatt, all of our coaches have coached us. So when you look at it, our staff is still intact," he said. "It's the coaching staff. If they're just talking about head coaches, that's different. But when you're talking about the All-Star Game, you're talking about coaching staffs and our staff deserves it."

Again, is this right?

"I've always said at the end of the day, I just play this game and I follow the rules," Jones responded. "What I think really is irrelevant. What's on the books, what's on the record is what this league goes by. After the fact, you could look at a bunch of different things and revisit it. But we start every season off playing by the rules that are set forth, and everything else falls in line accordingly after that."

On Monday, Lue said he felt Blatt should be allowed to coach the All-Star Game, but a source in the league office quickly shot down that notion. Since then, Lue has come to grips with the fact that he'll be walking the sidelines in Toronto with his staff nearby.

"It's a tribute to Coach Blatt and the players and the hard work the assistant coaches put in to get us to this point," Lue said. "It's going to be a great honor to represent the Cleveland Cavaliers and having a chance to do this, I know my coaches are excited, and I know it's going to be a surreal moment."