Report: Cavs interviewing J.B. Bickerstaff Tuesday, will interview Alex Jensen for HC this week

It was reported that former Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will be interviewing with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday for the team’s head coaching position, and that current Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen will interview for the same position this week.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are amid what will seemingly be a long head coaching search to replace former head coach Larry Drew, as we’ve detailed here at KJG, and that’s just how it should be for general manager Koby Altman and the organization. Considering the reported player development focus of the Cavs in the near future, Cleveland doing its due diligence is a plus.

At this point, as we’ve hit on, when it comes to candidates that have already interviewed with Cleveland, the first two were reportedly Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley and Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

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It has reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Cleveland has also been given permission to interview Portland Trail Blazers’ assistant coaches David Vanterpool and Nate Tibbetts, so those would seem to be head coaching candidates, too.

Along with that, it was reported shortly after on that same day (April 23) by the New York Times‘ Marc Stein that Cleveland was interested in former Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff for the team’s head coaching position.

Additionally, on April 25 it was reported by The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Tony Jones that the Cleveland Cavaliers were granted permission to interview Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen for the team’s head coaching position.

Playing off that and the team reportedly being interested in Bickerstaff, now, since it was reported on Tuesday, April 30 that Cleveland is going to “formally interview” Bickerstaff and Jensen this week, according to Stein.

Furthermore, it was reported by the Associated Press‘ Tom Withers that on Tuesday, Bickerstaff is to be the third candidate to be interviewed by Cleveland (per a source close to the situation).

Here’s some of the Bickerstaff-Cavs details, per Withers.

"“A person familiar with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coaching search tells The Associated Press the team is interviewing former Memphis coach J.B. Bickerstaff.Bickerstaff is meeting with Cleveland officials Tuesday, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Cavaliers aren’t revealing their plans.”"

This is not great news when it comes to Cleveland’s interest in Bickerstaff, who does not have much of a positive track record in terms of player development and/or the ability to get the most out of great talent on a roster, as we detailed before in this piece.

It’s refreshing to hear that Jensen is going to be formally interviewed this week, though, because he reportedly has a great background in player development (according to Fedor, also of 92.3 The Fan).

Jensen’s been an assistant on Utah for the last five seasons (of which they’ve reached the postseason the last three, per Basketball Reference) and was an assistant and then-eventual head coach of the Cavs’ G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, where he was named the 2012-13 NBA (then-developmental) League Dennis Johnson Coach of the Year, so one would think he could be a good fit for Cleveland’s young pieces in the coming years such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, along with others, including the team’s two 2019 first-round draft picks.

For Cleveland’s head coaching vacancy, Fedor and others such as Sam Amico of Amico Hoops are also high on Denver Nuggets assistant coach Jordi Fernandez, who has a polished background in player development, and also was a head coach of the Charge, for the record, too, in relation to a candidate like Jensen being formally interviewed this week.

On April 30, it was additionally reported by Stein (according to his league sources) that the aforementioned Mosley, who was with the Cavs as an assistant from 2010-14 and has been an assistant with Dallas since that time (and has a strong player development background, too), is expected to advance to the “next round” in Cleveland’s search, and one would think that player development trend follows suit with others that get to the next round.

Mosley’s Dallas squad did not get into the postseason and Jensen’s Jazz were eliminated in five games in the first round by the Houston Rockets, so Cleveland will likely have more time to meet with them in the coming weeks than say, Fernandez, Vanterpool and Tibbetts, whose squads are currently facing each other in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Whether that affects the hiring process remains to be seen, but given the importance of this head coaching decision, I hope Altman sticks to the plan and doesn’t leave any stone unturned in regards to the candidates that have a notable player development track record.