Cleveland Cavaliers Hate John Beilein
According to an article in The Athletic, Cavs players are unhappy with Beilein and are starting to tune him out. They have "drowned out his voice" and do not like his college style of coaching. I can't say I'm surprised, but this is still sad to hear.
There are some damning quotes from players in this article as well.
“Our assistants are definitely more prepared for the NBA.”
"For instance, all of the team’s screens, cuts, and pivots are named after wild animals. A curl is a “polar bear” in Beilein’s system. 'You don’t go pro to do that kind of thing,”' one league source said."
"It’s already gotten to the point where players are looking past Beilein to his lead assistant, J.B. Bickerstaff, for guidance, those sources said."
"His players quickly grew frustrated with him for a number of reasons, all centered around the basic charge that he was not prepared for the speed, tempo, and rigor of NBA games and the schedule at large."
Full Article ($$$): https://theathletic.com/1438785/2019/12/06/guys-drowned-out-his-voice-cavaliers-players-unhappy-with-the-college-coaching-style-of-john-beilein/
December 6th, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
Cleveland won’t play 9 months though as they miss the two months of playoffs.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:14 PM ^
Of course two guys who choose to be NBA coaches prefer it. John Calipari has done both and continues to turn down the NBA when it frequently calls. Ask the right college coaches and they'll tell you they prefer college. Just a matter of personal preference.
December 6th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
He got to the championship game then lost to a team so dirty they had to vacate their title. Then the NCAA decided not to pass along the trophy to the next best team, his. Don't tell me that didn't sting.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:36 PM ^
They never do that, do they. I don’t think the NCAA ever “passes the trophy along.” That isn’t a thing.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
It may be that he just took the job for the money. Even a mid-level head coaching salary in the NBA is roughly double what we were paying him.
What I don't know is how those contracts work if you get let go -- does anyone know if the standard coaching contract in the NBA includes guarantees?
December 6th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
Show me an NBA team that started 5-15 and ended up making the playoffs, let alone winning a series.
NBA regular seasons are pointless and the contending teams are decided by January.
December 6th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
97 Suns started 1-14 and made the playoffs. Game is much different now though.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:37 PM ^
And they had Jason Kidd and Steve Nash.
There isn’t a player on Cleveland’s roster anywhere near that caliber.
December 6th, 2019 at 2:05 PM ^
JB was here for a while but if you take a step back his career is a constant move on and move up. This is a guy who was always looking for the next challenge.
The Cavs job isn't the best NBA opportunity, but it was the NBA opportunity he was offered and completes his rose from middle school to the NBA, always as a head coach basketball HoF story.
December 6th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
I will always believe that Jordan Poole broke him.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
That's the story. Now he gets to deal with an entire team of Jordan Poole's.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
Maybe it’s the players not the coach that’s an issue. But that’s why i stopped watching NBA.
December 6th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^
Walk into any workplace in the world and the guys making the most money will make the rules. Coaching in the NBA is more about managing egos than the X’s and O’s.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
I am not entirely unhappy that he may not last very long in the NBA. I loved him when he was here, but they way he left the program, turned me against him. Now we lucked out to get JH, but could have been a disaster.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
Dan Gilbert can suck it.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
I wouldn't put it past a Spartan to hire a coach just to get him away from Michigan. How hilarious would it be if Michigan were to get even better under Howard.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
How hilarious [will] it be [when] Michigan … get[s] even better under Howard.
FIFY
December 7th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
My take is we are better right now than we would have been this year with Beilein. I'm not saying JH is a better coach right now, it might be JB's message got stale type of things.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
My instinct is to say "predictable."
However, since that's already being said, I guess I will point out that Beilein, despite his stubbornness in some areas, is a quick study and willing to change.
If he's given time (no guarantee) then I think he will adapt. That doesn't mean he will win a title but he will become an NBA coach.
This also assumes he's looking to coach well into his seventies.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
This should have been obvious, but you can never blame a man for following his dream. Still wish him the best. Going home and sleeping on your large pile of money is never a bad plan B!
December 6th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
All the best for Beilein, hopefully he gets another year with some guys who could mesh with him. I totally get why he left and still wish him well. If he gets canned Warde should hire him on the spot back somewhere in the Athletic Dept, in an admin/consultant type role and he can leisurely spend the rest of his career back in Ann Arbor.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
This sucks. Honestly, Beilein is a top tactician and technician, but the NBA is less about fundamentals, defense and system and more about raw athleticism these days.
Sad for Beilein to end his career in this way. As a long suffering Knicks fan, I think that he would be a great fit if they choose to drop Fizdale.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
With our without Fizdale, the Knicks are and will be terrible. If Fizdale could fire the Dolans then the franchise could have a chance of revival.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Ohio doesn't deserve John Beilein.
We'll gladly take him back as an associate athletic director, add his name to the Michigan Hall of Fame, and prevent that blocky-ass state down south from digging their dirty, didn't-wash-my-hands-after pooping claws into that saint of a man.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
The NBA is crazy when young players on a losing team feel like they can speak out against a verteran coach for fundamentals and film sessions? This seems like the damning quote to me -- for the players:
Grievances include his nitpicking over basic fundamentals, too much harping in lengthy film sessions, not enough versatility on offense, and a broader lack of understanding of the NBA game and opposing players.
Like you said, not that surprising Pro players aren't a fan of Beilein's style - however I'm shocked players are speaking to the media this quickly.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
I like the NBA overall, but bad NBA teams (as far as I know) are often cauldrons of dysfunction and selfishness.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
Over half of the Cavaliers roster have never even seen a second NBA contract yet so I don't know if they are even qualified to comment on Beilein's preparedness and style for the NBA. The roster is full of players that have been in the league 3 years or less.
But Beilein being a bad fit for the NBA should not surprise most college basketball or Michigan fans. NBA regular seasons are long and arduous, and I could see Beilein's style wearing thin with the few professional veteran players on a terrible overly young losing team.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
He is not a veteran NBA coach and that matters. David Blatt who was really successful in Europe came to the NBA, took a team to the finals and was fired the next year six games in.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:18 PM ^
Pretty common tactic of whiny people to complain about someone making them do things they don't want to do by saying he 'doesnt understand them/their environment.'
December 6th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Coach Beilein showed an ability and a willingness to adjust at Michigan. He's only 20ish games into his NBA career. He may adjust yet again.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
Here's the problem. He only probably has, five-ish years left. It is MUCH harder to change the mindset of a professional rather than a college kid.
I just do not see it working.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
Five years? Did you read the article? He might not make it to the end of this season.
December 6th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
He still gets paid. Contract details are not available, but it should be something like 4 or 5 years at $5M per year. The Cavs have a history of having several ex-coaches on the payroll at the same time.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
I don't think the Cavs will be good in the near future either barring major luck in the lottery. But I think Coach Beilein can grow to the point that they're losing only because they're young and/or untalented.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Is basketball different in the NBA? Or is it the attitudes, the lack of fundamentals, or the overall unwatchable nature of the game?
Have any of you been to an NBA game recently? It's like going to a Club.....music playing, can't understand the lyrics and it's just plain Loud. Oh, and they are playing basketball as well!
Still respect the hell out of Coach Beilein.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
It's different to an extent. Beilein is very much an Xs and Os coach, while the NBA is more of a "have a general idea of what to do, but let talented dudes do what talented dudes do" league
Like I'm pretty sure you or I could've coached the warriors to the conference finals last year.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
If you think the NBA game lacks fundamentals and is unwatchable you aren't a basketball fan or haven't watched the NBA. Its a much better basketball product than college in terms of what is on the floor. You can like the college game better but its not because the basketball has better fundamentals
December 6th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
College basketball does not have better fundamentals, but it is much more of a team game, and is much more entertaining to watch, IMO. You can say what you want about the NBA, but it is a star dominated-iso league. If you guess "step back 3" on any given possession you are correct like 40% of the time. Players give about 50% effort on defense at all times up until roughly April in any given season. NBA players are also uniformly complete pains in the ass who are very difficult to root for even if you have a particular affinity for a team. I have played, watched, coached, and generally obsessed over basketball since I was 5 years old and the one sure way to make me fall asleep is to put on an NBA basketball game.
So yeah, NBA players are better than college players, but I don't think NBA basketball is better than college basketball, at all.
December 6th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
This is how I feel about college football vs the NFL, also. The pro game is undeniably faster, more talented, and more complex. But it is also not as fun to watch. College kids seem to care more, to put more energy and effort into the game. It's also more diverse in terms of schemes being used. The pros all seem to gravitate towards the same things in risk-averse ways. (Sure, unicorns exist - this years Ravens, dynastic Patriots, etc...)
December 6th, 2019 at 9:20 PM ^
"Players give about 50% effort on defense at all times up until roughly April in any given season."
Sometimes not even then. I don't watch the NBA much but watch some playoffs. Wanted Houston to beat the Warriors last year. The Houston defensive effort was such trash I started rooting against them.
December 6th, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Is carrying the ball and traveling on every play better fundamentals? The NBA is playground ball except everyone is wearing a uniform instead of shirts and skins.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:44 PM ^
It’s different because, in college, you can design a game strategy confident the players will follow it. And you can bench someone who decides to play hero ball or make someone who slacks off on defense run suicides in practice as a punishment.
In the NBA when someone, usually a star player, decides to say “fuck it” to your game plan, coaches really don’t have too much recourse and are usually going to lose any kind of disagreement that goes to management or ownership.
December 6th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
Old man yells at clouds
December 6th, 2019 at 2:05 PM ^
Why didn't you ask them to cut their hair and remove the tattoo's?
December 6th, 2019 at 1:21 PM ^
With the multimillionaire ego's in NBA, this was always going to be a possibility- if not probability- when Beilein made the jump to the NBA. Given how much they suck, you would think a bottom-dwelling team might be open to new ways of doing things. If one of the top things they have to critique is how he names his screens, cuts and pivots, then is he really the problem? I also don't believe for a second that preparation is an issue for him. They also complain in the article about him being too hard on them in film sessions. Really? You are a professional. You don't want to get yelled at, don't mess up. Sad to see JB have to go through that. We will see what side management takes...
December 6th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
This, seriously. A basement-dwelling team not willing to try a new approach or take feedback sounds like a "them" problem, not a Beilein problem.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
Maybe this is all Act 1 of the Disney movie "Cavalier Attitude" where a bunch of disinterested bottom feeder professionals are whipped into shape by an old college guy who turns their franchise around with riveting film session speeches about bounce passes and pivots and a montage of water gun fights when they go on their hot streak.
December 6th, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
It's like Hoosiers meets Necessary Roughness meets Coach Carter.
December 6th, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
Major League NBA. they can have a sharpshooting guard that is legally blind and needs to wear coke bottle glasses to play.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:28 PM ^
This comment belongs in the HOF, especially if it comes true