Tag Archives: John Beilein

Cavaliers return to action vs Wizards

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Friday is the first game of the post-John Beilein era.  Well, kind of. Beilein has been reassigned to a different role in the organization, but J.B. Bickerstaff is now the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their first test? In Washington to take on the Wizards. 

This game will be quite telling in regards to the situation in Cleveland. If the Cavs come out and look like a competent team for the first time this season and it will not be a good look for their former head coach. There were several times this season that the Cavaliers look completely outmatched and it may not be entirely related to talent. 

There is the possibility that the Cavaliers under Bickerstaff look like a much improved team. The opposite is also true. Cleveland has some talented players, but the roster construction is not great. There may be too much to overcome by just swapping out the head coach. 

Facing the Wizards could provide the Cavs a good chance of getting off on the right foot under Bickerstaff. Like the Cavaliers, the Wizards are not a great team. Washington has a -4.2 point differential per game this season, the sixth-worst in the league (Cleveland’s -8.9 is the worst). There is a distinct difference between the two teams that is worth mentioning here. The Wizards have the sixth-highest scoring average this season (115.6) while the Cavaliers have the fourth-worst (106.1). Washington could very well win by a lopsided margin in the first game back from the All-Star Break. 

Cavaliers: Love and Drummond likely to stay

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Kevin Love and Andre Drummond are more likely to remain with the Cleveland Cavaliers after the team parted ways with John Beilein.

This was a subject that came up when the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Andre Drummond from the Detroit Pistons. The future of both Kevin Love and Drummond being tied to each other. With the team moving on from John Beilein as their head coach, things are pointing into the direction of both remaining in Cleveland next season.

The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd said on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland Wednesday morning that the status of Andre Drummond next season would be related to whether or not John Beilein was still the head coach.

It did not take long for Drummond to become disenchanted with Beilein. The fact he was willing to decline an option that pays him an absurd amount of money due to a coach speaks volumes. Drummond has a player option for next season worth just over $28.75 million. This is an amount of money that he would necessarily get on the open market and he was willing to say thanks, but no thanks to it because of a coach.

Now for the other part of the equation, Kevin Love. As mentioned by Lloyd, Love and Drummond share an agent. If Beilein were to stay in Cleveland and Drummond opt out of his contract, that would point squarely in the direction of Love wanting out also. It is not a secret that Love was not necessarily on board with John Beilein and his style.

By Beilein leaving this certainly helps the Cavaliers in their cause to retain both Andre Drummond and Kevin Love for next season. Whether that translates to success on the court is a different story entirely.

Andre Drummond has since disputed the report.

J.B. Bickerstaff to replace John Beilein

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The Cleveland Cavaliers have parted ways with John Beilein and associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will be his replacement.

At least this time it seems like the replacement in Cleveland wants the job. J.B. Bickerstaff will be replacing the now departed John Beilein as the head coach of the Cavaliers.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski a succession plan existed for the Cavaliers.

J.B. Bickerstaff will be the full time coach and not just an interim. A title that Bickerstaff has held before. The fact that this plan existed shows that there may have been uncertainty about the success of John Beilein in the NBA. While it is great to be prepared, having this plan set in place before things even go started is a bit curious.

Cleveland is getting a coach with plenty of experience. With stops in Houston and Memphis as their head coach, Bickerstaff has a career 85-131 record. While that is not great, the fact he has been in situations similar to this previously should help. Any help while attempting to navigate an ocean of uncertainty will be beneficial for Cleveland.

Will Cleveland be searching for another head coach after the year is over? Probably. There should be a large pool of quality coaches available for the Cavaliers to interview and it would be foolish to disregard outside options. While they should give their now full time coach a chance, it is not a guarantee that he returns next year in that capacity, even with the pre-existing succession plan now in effect.

John Beilein out as Cavs coach

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It is now official. John Beilein is no longer the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Beilein is walking away from a five-year deal to coach the Cavs.

Rumblings of this move began not too long ago. Early Tuesday the expectation was that Beilein would move on and the team would be on their fourth coach in less than a calendar year.

Assistant head coach JB Bickerstaff will replace Beilein as the head coach of the Cavaliers. This is the third time that Bickerstaff is replacing a departed head coach and this is the second consecutive season Cleveland finds themselves in this situation. At least this time the replacement seems interested in doing so. Larry Drew did not find this prospect all that appealing just one season ago. 

The plan from the beginning in Cleveland was for JB Bickerstaff was to succeed John Beilein. Nobody expected it to be in the middle of year one.

The succession plan aspect of this situation is interesting. Cleveland was already preparing for his exit before his time as a coach even began. This is not exactly being set up for success is it?

John Beilein had shortest tenure of any coach who began the season as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (54 games). The only coaches who lasted fewer games were interim/replacement coaches. 

Things just didn’t seem to be a good fit with John Beilein. Not everything was his fault. The Cavs are sort of directionless and that did make his job any easier. Add in older players who didn’t want to cooperate with what he was trying to do and there was no chance he would succeed here. 

Cavs and John Beilein expected to part ways

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The Cleveland Cavaliers and head coach John Beilein are expected to go their separate ways by early as Wednesday February 19th.

Once the initial report came out it was no longer a question of if, but when. John Beilein and the Cleveland Cavaliers will part ways per reports. Sam Amico states that it could be as early as Tuesday evening, but Wednesday is also a possibility.

Perhaps the roster construction could be to blame here. Ideally Cleveland could have moved on from some of their older players to give Beilein a young group in which to mold. The problem is that the Cavs kept Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, then proceeded to add Andre Drummond into the mix. These are all experienced veterans. Changing their habits and routine is not easy. With a young roster things could have been different. Beilein could have helped the likes of Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Kevin Porter Jr. make the transition from college to the NBA. While Sexton does have one year of experience, he is still only 21 years old.

Beilien seems more comfortable in college basketball. Speaking of which, Sam Amico also added the following.

This certainly supports the claim that John Beilein and his style do not mesh well with the NBA. Beilein could very well be uncomfortable dealing with NBA players compared to their college counterparts. There is no real pushback from college players, this is not the case in the NBA.

A return to college basketball seems logical for someone who was one of the better NCAA coaches at the time of his hire in Cleveland. John Beilein coached 896 games in college from 1992-2019. With stops at Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, and Michigan, Beilein has plenty of experience and a winning track record. Beilein will be heavily courted by college programs in search of a head coach.

At the end of the day, John Beilein is walking away from a multi-year deal worth millions of dollars which begs the following question. Just how bad are things for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Cavaliers have issues across the board

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The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in all of basketball. The struggles are not limited to just one area, they struggle across the board.

With a 14-40 record, the Cleveland Cavaliers have the second-worst record in the NBA at the All-Star Break. The only team with a worse record? The 12-43 Golden State Warriors who are without their two best players in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The difference between the two teams is that the Cavs are bad with their best players. This definitely is a contributing factor to the possibly impending departure of head coach John Beilein.

Scoring issues have played a prominent role

Cleveland is 27th in scoring this season with 103.9 points per game. This is almost 16 behind the NBA’s scoring leader Milwaukee. A contributing factor? The Cavaliers being 21st in field goal percentage (45.4) and three-point percentage (34.8).

The scoring issues have led to the having the worst plus/minus in the league (-8.9). Cleveland simply is unable to keep up with the better teams in the NBA and have ended up on the wrong side of some lopsided final scores.

What assists?

In regards to assists, Cleveland ranks near the bottom (25th) with 22.4 assists per game. Darius Garland leads the Cavaliers in assists this season with 3.8 per game. Kevin Love is second with 3 and Collin Sexton’s 2.7 ranks third. The team is not great when it comes to ball movement and their clear lack of assists shows just that.

More turnovers than a bakery

In addition to being flat out terrible at times in the ball movement department, Cleveland turns the ball over way too much. Some of this can be attributed to the youth on the roster (Sexton, Garland), although it is not entirely their fault. The Cavs turn the ball over a lot, second-msot in the league to be exact (16.4). The only team that has more turnovers per game is Atlanta with 16.6, a really bad game turnover-wise could see the Cavaliers end up surpassing the Hawks when it comes to turnovers.

The roster is not put together properly and that is very apparent

The Cavaliers roster construction is kind of a mess. It is essentially split right in two in regards to direction. Half of the team are veteran players who can contribute right now and their best days are not in front of them.

The other half is a group of players who need to be provided with ample time to develop. There are going to be growing pains and a lot of them. Players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Kevin Porter Jr. have had their fair share of growing pains this season and will continue to experience them for the foreseeable future.

The timelines simply do not match. While the acquisition of Andre Drummond was great, it does not fit with their current trajectory in regards to their next competitive cycle. The Cavaliers will not be seriously competitive for what appears to be quite a long time. Acquiring Drummond was a win now move for a team that is far from it.

There is no easy fix for the Cavaliers struggles. Will a coaching change help? Possibly, but it needs to be noted that this team is far from perfect and really does not mesh all that well.

Cavs could part ways with John Beilein

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The Cleveland Cavaliers could move on from John Beilein, possibly before their next game.

John Beilein may not be long for the Cleveland Cavaliers. At least that is what is being said about the situation. According to reports, the Cavs and Beilein have discussed parting ways during the All-Star Break. 

This report is also known as right this moment. Cleveland moving on from yet another coach does absolutely nothing in regards to stability within the organization. Although things have not been great under John Beilein, the team still struggles in regards to turnovers, transition defense, and movement on offense. Is all of this on Beilein? No. However some improvement in those areas would be ideal and improvement appears to be very minimal, if at all. 

Perhaps part of the hire was to part ways with some of their older veterans and treat this as a rebuilding year. This could have allowed John Beilein to help with the development of their younger guys such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Kevin Porter Jr. Beilein was brought in to help the transition from college to the NBA for these players. Sexton is in his second season, but his rookie year was quite a tumultuous one.

Instead Cleveland added talent to an already flawed roster. The Cavaliers clearly believe that they are closer to competing than they actually are. To be blunt, this team is not good regardless of who the head coach is.

It is easy to wonder if Cleveland moves on from Beilein the ripple effect it has on the players on the roster. Some of the older veterans have notably clashed with the former Michigan coach and could welcome a change. Others such as Andre Drummond and Kevin Love could see this as a reason to leave in free agency of request a trade. It’s never a dull moment when it comes to Cleveland sports and this is just the beginning. 

Cavaliers suffer worst home loss in team history

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The worst home loss in Cleveland Cavaliers history. That is what happened in Andre Drummond’s Cavs debut. A 133-92 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse keeps Cleveland winless at home to start this decade. “The Morgue” nickname is alive and well, as contradictory as that may seem. 

The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard and Pat Beverley and still blew out the Cavaliers. Losing to the superior Clippers is not all that surprising, but the worst home loss ever to a team without two of their best players is just plain embarrassing.

One would think that a loss like this would be a direct result of Cleveland missing all of their better and veteran players. Well, that’s untrue. The Cavaliers had their best players available to them and still lost by a margin so large that it only occurs when being on the right side of a lopsided win in NBA2K on rookie. Cleveland’s full compliment of players was no match for the Clippers, even without Leonard and Beverly.

The fact Cleveland got better at the trade deadline and still lost by 40+ is a lot of things. Confusing, irritating, inexcusable, perplexing, mind-numbing, frustrating, and yet still expected. The team seems unable to put together 48 consecutive minutes of quality basketball and the blame for that is squarely on John Beilein. Sure the team has flaws, but they are in no way this bad. At some point the future of Beilein as the coach of this team must be questioned and that point appears to be coming sooner rather than later.