Beilein Out, Bickerstaff In as Cav's Coach
Mates,
So now they are reporting this as a 'done deal'. JB will meet with the team after they come back from their ASG break today to fill them in. A notable quote here:
Friends and associates of Beilein have described him as unhappy -- even miserable -- with the move to the Cavaliers. The losing that comes with a rebuild, as well as several skirmishes in public and private with players, has played a part in the rapid deterioration of tenure, sources said.
The link to the article here: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28732883/john-beilein-cavs-head-coach-jb-bickerstaff-takes-over
Lots of talk about JB in the threads the last few days. I personally will always love the guy for his exceptional ethics and performance in a dirty business. After he led the team off of a crashed jet to win the B10 tournament in a practice uniforms I would've let him coach the team for life.
We are blessed to have Juwan doing such an exceptional job and I don't think many of us predicted that, but JB is a gem and credit to our school. I hope his next endeavor, whether its retirement or coaching at some level, brings him a peace and fulfillment that he so richly deserves.
And this should also serve as a reminder that virtually nothing in ohio is good.
XM
February 19th, 2020 at 6:34 AM ^
Amen.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:36 AM ^
Did you know he has never been an assistant coach? I looked it up and it's true.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:25 AM ^
Hey, you're on to something. He's coached at every level, now is the time to round out his resume by going somewhere as an assistant.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:49 AM ^
It seems i've heard that somewhere before.... Keith Jackson might have pointed that out during a telecast.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:28 AM ^
Thank goodness we still have Keith Jackson around to console us.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
He died in a terrible well accident.
February 19th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
I heard this was the well. Some chick with crazy long hair dragged him in.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:39 AM ^
Ironic that J.B. (John Beilein) Bickerstaff is the successor. And with one less coach Cleveland doesn't have a bicker staff. It's actually smaller now.
February 19th, 2020 at 7:24 AM ^
Wednesday morning drinking thread.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
"Bicker-staff" his name is a pun. A bad one, but still a pun.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:49 AM ^
Truth
February 19th, 2020 at 6:52 AM ^
My conjecture is that whatever happened with his son derailed him.
Last article I read said he gave up on installing his offense and reverted to traditional NBA sets.
Also said the org wanted him to spend more time developing younger players but he didn't really.
Also that he screams too much.
I admit it's speculation but I am wondering if the family situation Patrick is going through has John B distracted and worried and not able to really fight through the difficulties at work.
Maybe the NBA and Cavs were just a bad fit, but I'm thinking maybe there's more
At any rate, thanks Coach for what you did for Michigan and godspeed going forward.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:06 AM ^
In what world would Beilien’s yelling hurt grown men’s feelings when Izzo and Coach K are screaming profanities and Roy Williams is calling his players out weekly at the college level? NBA seems to have some of the softest egos alive when it comes to coaching—and this from a self-proclaimed SJW right here.
Cleveland seems to think it has a bunch of LeBrons that don’t need coached up. I used to be mad at LBJ for leaving twice, but now I’m on his side—he’s the only guy in NBA who doesn’t need coaching to be great. Cavs are trying to cater to players too much
February 19th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
I think it’s an ego thing primarily. Not that I would know anything about the inter-workings of an NBA player, but I get the sense the league is set-up to be run by the players. Here’s why:
- The NHL and MLB have extensive minor leaguers systems and un-coachable players that aren’t superstars are never getting promoted.
- Football is probably the most ‘coached’ sport of any of the most popular sports in the world and I would say most understand this
With the NBA, there are so many college players at the D1 level (and other pro leagues around the world) relative to the amount of players seeing real minutes in the NBA I think there’s a strong sense of “I’ve made it, and everyone else can go f*^% themselves”.
Take it a step further, factor in the salary cap, extremely limited minor league system and only 2 draft picks per year and you’ve got a system in place that is not a great environment for coaches. Short of buyouts and trades, you’re stuck with rotation guys once they’re on your team. If the coach isn’t liked by those players (especially the ‘stars’), they’re history.
You mentioning Lebron is sort of ironic considering he got a first place coach fired midseason for what exactly?
February 19th, 2020 at 2:00 PM ^
SJW? Single Jewish Woman?
February 19th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
Social Justice Warrior.
look it up and watch some videos of them. It ain’t pretty
February 19th, 2020 at 2:42 PM ^
Because they are grown men. Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson have been in and around the NBA for over a decade, then a 67 year old guy comes in with zero NBA experience and puts an emphasis on fundamentals. We all love Beilein and agree he was a fantastic coach at Michigan, but his style is just not all that appealing to NBA players. From The Athletic article talking about his short tenure, it was a mix of some players never giving Beilein a chance, Beilein not being able to relate to his players, and just the way he was running practices rubbed a lot of people and players the wrong way.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
I completely agree with you. Living here in CLE i watched, first hand, the Beilein coaching experience and can you the coach the Cavs got was nothing like the coach we knew at Michigan. In addition to the incidents you mentioned he also:
Had absolutely terrible late game rotations that led to multiple 4th quarter collapses
Late in game sets were predictable, easily defensed, and almost always poorly executed
And, according to both Jason Lloyd and Chris Fedor (local beat reporters covering the Cavs) the locker never forgave him for calling them "thugs" at the Detroit film session in January. Nobody believed his explanation that he meant to call them "slugs" and when you have a predominately African-American locker room that thinks you're generalizing them with an ethnic slur it's impossible to get anybody to listen to you.
I agree the situation with his son probably weighed heavily on him because he just wasnt the same guy all season. Make fun of the Cavs and the city of Cleveland all you want - God knows they deserve all of it and then some. But know this - Beilein leaving after half a season was WAY more the fault of Beilein than the Cavs and I think he knows it. Which is why he didnt wait to have them fire him so he could collect 12 million dollars the balance of the contract would've paid him.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
If we're being honest, his last two Michigan teams were carried in large part by the defense and had pretty huge issues on the offensive side of the team - the part he was responsible for.
I don't know if Juwan is a superstar college coach, but I think Coach B was starting to slow down so his exit wasn't a bad thing either way.
February 19th, 2020 at 1:25 PM ^
Yes, the last two Michigan BB teams lacked offense. It was the Yoklich based defense that kept them in the game.
I do wish Coach B peace and a happy retirement.
February 19th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
The thug/slug thing is as racist as the ok hand gesture or when LeBron got offended over the word posse.
The NBA is a straight up diva league. If the players are so soft that one alleged word Beilein may have said prevents the team from listening to him for the rest the season then it's all a joke. This is the same coach who was widely regarded as one of the nicest and cleanest coach in all the NCAA.
John's biggest life regret might be leaving what he had at Michigan to join the circus in Cleveland.
February 19th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
If you believe the explanations, then yes, they're silly. Regardless, it's obvious they were looking for something to hang on him out of general disrespect and that gaffe - harmless, or not - was just symptomatic.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:59 AM ^
Nothing good ever happens in Ohio, Cleveland in particular.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:50 AM ^
There's a lot of this......^^^^
February 19th, 2020 at 9:52 AM ^
Simple solution.
Hire Lebron.
He has so much spare time on his hands he is consulting in baseball now.....
February 19th, 2020 at 7:11 AM ^
One of those outcomes that seemed far too likely when his move to the NBA was announced.
Gotta have a different kind of motor to make it in the league.
JB has a moral compass rarely found among the coaching ranks, and we were lucky to have him rebuild the program.
Mixed feelings, as he could have coached at Michigan for life, and groomed its future. I figured the program would be in a backslide.
Still amazed over the circulated notion that certain realities of the college game drove him into the might keep your job pit.
We are fortunate to have Howard steering Mbb forward, we're in a very good spot.
February 19th, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
It only took one week of coaching Andre Drummond to push him over the edge.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:10 AM ^
Jesus H. Christ, Andre has had some really shitty teams to work with. You gotta feel for the guy.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:50 AM ^
No, I don't. He's capricious and immature and in two weeks he apparently managed to throw a temper tantrum about a really nice guy. Beilein's departure was probably only accelerated by Drummond, but if someone has that big a problem with John Beilein, then I don't feel sorry for whatever comes his way.
February 19th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Seemed like this thing was doomed to fail from the beginning. Fish out of water. JB's aw-shucks nice guy mentality and emphasis on fundamentals wasn't going to work with pros who have massive egos and are fighting like dogs every day to keep their livelihoods. It was a vast overreach by JB and the Cavaliers were dumb as hell to give him 5 years. The only right thing here is that JB is graciously stepping away so the Cavs aren't on the hook for the $12 million. He's a classy guy but not a 67 year-old pro basketball coach.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:00 AM ^
That's not a coincidence. Winning teams want nothing to do with him. He has one skill...rebounding.
February 19th, 2020 at 7:44 AM ^
Bring him back as a "special adviser" or whatever you want to call him this year, and then put him on the staff in some capacity next year..
February 19th, 2020 at 8:08 AM ^
Why not just do what OSU did with Urban? Make JB Assistant AD and let him teach classes in leadership and ethics—it would be believable asa a course.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
Bad take IMO.
1. This is Juwan’s show now. Bringing JB back would just be a distraction. Unless Juwan specifically asks for it, how do think he’d feel if we brought JB back in any capacity.
2. They seemingly have polar opposite styles. This includes approach to recruiting. So I don’t think they’d even mesh well.
3. What good would JB be in an analyst role? He’s a good evaluator of talent, but not a great overall recruiter, so I wouldn’t want him home visiting recruit’s families etc.
My take is that we have to completely move on from JB. And at risk of ruffling some feathers, we are in much better hands with Juwan Howard.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:25 AM ^
not sure why anyone would want to coach in the NBA other than money. They don't want to be coached they just want to play the way they want and make big $$.
my .02
February 19th, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
With the paycheck he cashed.... he will take some time off, probably do a little TV work... then he may just decided retirement isn't a bad idea. I doubt he jumps back into a top D1 job, he made it pretty clear that he was tired of playing on an uneven court. It would seem more likely, if he was to coach again, for him to be at an Ivy League program or a Service Academy. IMO
February 19th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
It's not that they don't want to be coached, they want to be coached well. A player may not have the answer to what the other team is doing but they know when a guy is inexperienced and doesn't seem to know what he's doing. Beilein was in over his head from the start here and his players felt it all season.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
LOL at JB being inexperienced, in over his head, and not a good coach when all available evidence over a 40 year career prior to this stint says otherwise.
Seems like this is 100% about a culture fit.
February 19th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
Except none of those 40 years involved coaching pros. We've seen countless examples of this in both the NBA and NFL. Coaching in the pro ranks is a different beast and way more than just being a great X's and O's guy. Things also don't have to be binary. This was a bad Cavs team, but having seen them play several times this year, Beilein was also doing a pretty bad job of coaching them, especially in terms of rotations.
Still, there was ultimately no coming back from calling the players thugs, even though he had likely lost the team before then.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:35 AM ^
Beilein is to good a coach to be in the NBA.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
In the past 20 years, the Cavs are 200-ish games under .500 without LeBron James on their roster. Beilein wasn't a great fit, but at this point it's sort of a Cleveland problem how bad they are at keeping people there and setting them up for success.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
Beilein actually improved on the Cavs winning percentage from last year - from 23% to 26%.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
It is absolutely an ownership and management issue. The only time they had success is when LeBron James was dictating personnel moves. Sure that cratered the team when he left for LA, but it did get them a championship and a bunch of Finals appearances.
February 19th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Yeah, I interpret this less as Beilein failing at his job and more that this simply was a hopeless situation.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^
Was coach Complaingroup not available?
February 19th, 2020 at 10:14 AM ^
It's very strange to me. While I'm not surprised that his style of coaching wasn't a good fit in the NBA, I'm surprised at the trajectory of his demise. I mean, the NBA rejected him like the body might reject a transplanted organ. If he was a Bobby Knight/ Woody Hayes type, that might make some sense. But we've never heard of this type of player angst against JB while he was here (at least never a full-on mutiny). I know we're talking about college players vs pro players, but is the difference in personalities THAT huge to explain how a guy who has been successful for over 40 years to suddenly flame out in a few months?
February 19th, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
Never underestimate the petty, spoiled, selfish and arrogant ways of NBA players. Particularly those in a losing environment.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
Perhaps, but there are obviously some NBA coaches not far from the JB profile that seem to be tolerated (even respected) by players. I'd imagine Popovich to be in that group.