New Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein will strive to improve his new squad steadily over the next few seasons, and right away, three players should benefit from his influence on the offensive end.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a relatively long head coaching search, and we’ve hit on the reported names Cleveland interviewed since the team mutually parted ways with former head coach Larry Drew a number of times over the last several weeks. It was reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday that the head coaching search has concluded, though, as Cleveland and former Michigan head coach John Beilein agreed on a five-year deal.
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Beilein, though he is 66 and does not have any NBA coaching experience, appears to be a solid hire, due to his ability to get the most out of his talent (which has not seemingly been overly star-studded) and for him being to have consistency with his clubs based around having the right culture and being sound on both ends of the floor.
That’s why it appears that Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman, assistant general manager Mike Gansey (who played under Beilein at West Virginia, as Wojnarowski noted), and team owner Dan Gilbert (who has admired Beilein for some time), are all-in on Beilein for Cleveland’s rebuilding focus. Beilein has amassed an impressive 829-468 record lifetime at the collegiate level, per Wojnarowski.
Additionally, Wojnarowski touched on in his report that Beilein has had success everywhere he’s been, which includes “high school, junior college and Division III, II and I.”
Taking this into consideration, with the way Beilein’s teams (most recently for the last 12 years in which he was Michigan’s head coach, per Sports Reference) have traditionally had an offensive focus on ball and man movement, it would seem that he could help Cleveland, who likely won’t have top-end talent across the board, develop better habits early on in terms of halfcourt offense.
Three Cavaliers (excluding Cleveland’s two 2019 NBA Draft selections) should benefit early on from Beilein’s offensive influence.