Cavs’ reported hire of Lindsay Gottlieb as assistant coach should be added player development boost

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly hired former University of California-Berkeley woman’s head coach Lindsay Gottlieb to be an assistant coach on the team Wednesday, which should be an added player development boost.

It’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers are not going to shy away from the collegiate coaching ranks to help progress in their rebuild.

Cleveland head coach John Beilein has never coached at the NBA level himself, but he had great success in all of his jobs at other levels, and most recently, at the University of Michigan (where he spent the last 12 seasons, per Sports Reference).

Beilein’s associate head coach will be J.B. Bickerstaff, who has ample coaching experience at the NBA level, and though I wouldn’t have wanted Bickerstaff to be Cleveland’s head coach, he seems to be a logical and good fit as Beilein’s top assistant coach in the coming years, as we’ve noted.

Along with that, it was recently reported that the Cavaliers hired Jay Shunnar, who was a graduate assistant at Michigan, to be a special assistant for Beilein, according to The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn.

Fitting the newer collegiate feel to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coaching staff for the coming years, it was reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday that Cleveland hired former University of California-Berkeley women’s head coach Lindsay Gottlieb as an assistant coach.

It is the first time a women’s collegiate head coach was hired to an NBA coaching staff after being recruited to that role, per Wojnarowski.

Gottlieb (who is 41) is a very highly-respected coach, as was shown by Bleacher Report’s Mike Chiari, who noted that Gottlieb “led Cal to the NCAA tournament seven times in her eight seasons as head coach, including one Final Four appearance.”

Chiari would also say how Gottlieb, who he mentioned has a career head coaching record of 235-128, “won two regular-season Big West Conference titles” and reached the NCAA tournament in a three-year stretch as the head coach of UC Santa Barbara before taking over at Cal.

Per Chiari, Gottlieb played guard at Brown, and was “an assistant coach at Syracuse, New Hampshire, Richmond and California” before taking over at UC Santa Barbara.

Based on what members of the Cleveland Cavaliers had to say about Gottlieb’s fit with on Beilein’s staff, she also would appear to be a quality player development addition, and with that being Cleveland’s primary focus in the near future, this seems to be a quality hire.

Here’s what general Koby Altman had to say in regards to the hiring of Gottlieb, per an official team announcement on Wednesday, and again just as during prior occasions, the term “culture driver,” was referenced.

"“Lindsay Gottlieb will be a great addition to Coach Beilein’s and Coach Bickerstaff’s group. She has an extensive track record of success and growth with her teams and players and has also been a strong culture-driver as a core part of that,” said Altman. “The more we researched and got to know Lindsay, the more we came to understand that she would be an impactful part of where we want to go as a team. Coach Gottlieb brings a depth of basketball knowledge, leadership, perspective and approach to her craft that will fit very well with our team and staff alike. We’re fortunate that she was willing to leave her role as Head Coach at such a solid and successful program at Cal.”"

That is good to hear from Altman when it comes to another potential key player development piece.

Cleveland needs as many “teaching” types as they can get in the coming years, as their rebuild will likely be centered around the hopefully-upward progression of players such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic and potentially 2019 NBA Draft first-round selections that are (as of now at least) fifth and 26th overall.

Beilein certainly seems excited to have a quality player developer that should be well in-tune with relating to young players in Gottlieb, too, per the aforementioned team announcement.

"“I am excited to have a coach with Lindsay’s experience as a part of the new coaching staff with the Cavaliers,” said Beilein. “Lindsay truly values and embraces player development and a culture of winning basketball habits. Her success at Cal Berkeley speaks for itself and her insight in our meetings, practices and games will hold tremendous value. After sitting with her, it was easy to see how she will connect with our staff and our players, and we all benefit because of that connection. I’m looking forward to merging all of her years of experience and vision for the game with our current and future coaching staff.”"

Along with that praise and appreciation from Altman and Beilein, it was encouraging to hear Gottlieb herself seem totally on-board with her gig with the Cleveland Cavaliers (again, h/t the team announcement).

"“I am very thankful, proud and excited to be joining the Cavaliers as an Assistant Coach. After meeting with Koby Altman, Coach Beilein and Coach Bickerstaff, I knew this was an organization I wanted to be a part of and a team I wanted to dedicate myself to,” said Gottlieb. “While this move provided a unique and special chance to move directly from Cal Berkeley and women’s college basketball to the NBA, it was really about being part of building and growing something special and adding value to a team and organization that is focused on doing things in a way that I believe strongly in.”“The vision for the Cavs’ future is compelling and I look forward to helping make it a reality. At the same time, on a personal level, I am honored to hopefully impact young girls and women to be empowered to pursue their own visions and to be inspired to turn them into reality as well.”"

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Gottlieb would then go on to thank Cal, where she clearly had tons of success, and the Cavaliers believe she’ll now play an integral role in the development of their players in the coming years as they try to build a culture focused on winning, strong work ethic and team-oriented play on both ends of the floor.

According to Wojnarowski in his official report on the Gottlieb hiring, Gottlieb accepted the job Tuesday, and only two women have had “comparable” coaching “prominence” in current San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon and former Sacramento Kings assistant coach Nancy Lieberman (who now coaches the “Power” squad in the Big3).

This hire proves that majority owner/chairman Dan Gilbert, Altman and Cleveland’s organization as a whole are more than willing to fill out their staff with coaches they believe will get the most out of young talent, even if those candidates primarily don’t have an NBA coaching background.

Per Wojnarowski in his report, Altman wanted to add a female assistant coach to the staff and then Beilein became an important recruiter to bring her to the Cavs.

It’s great to see the Cavs be trailblazers when it comes to this hiring, as Wojnarowski highlighted, and based on Gottlieb’s success and with her play as a guard herself, she’ll be another set of eyes and a key coach for Sexton as he hopefully continues to grow as a playmaker.

Bravo, Cavs.