Cavaliers make smart system coaching hires with development as focus

The Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly filled out their coaching staff for the 2019-20 season, as of Wednesday, and it’s even more clear that the team is primarily focused on player development.

The Cleveland Cavaliers went a direction seemingly few saw coming at the time when they reportedly hired former Michigan basketball head coach John Beilein to be their head coach, but at least for now, Beilein seems to be a good fit with the team’s primary focus in coming years being a full-rebuild.

Beilein’s staff of known assistant coaches following that of J.B. Bickerstaff, Antonio Lang and Lindsay Gottlieb (as previously detailed) seemed to be high quality fits for the team’s player development focus, too, and I would assume they’ll all provide a boost for the young players in coming years, such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., in their own way with all having extensive experience in helping the growth of young talent, as KJG contributors have hit on.

The team, well Beilein and general manager Koby Altman, also announced the following in regards to the rest of the coaching staff on Wednesday, and we’ll begin with those on the staff that were promoted.

Who was promoted from last season?

• Dan Geriot
• Sam Jones
• Steve Frankoski
• Michael Hartman

A key staff member reportedly in relation to the development of bigs such as Zizic and Larry Nance Jr., Dan Geriot, was promoted to assistant coach for the upcoming season.

I would imagine if Nance and Zizic, along with potentially two-way player Dean Wade, take notable next steps throughout the next season or so on both ends, Geriot would have a lot to do with that.

It was also announced that Sam Jones, who was the Canton Charge’s associate head coach primarily this past season and was with them from 2016-19 (per the Cavs, again), was promoted to player development coordinator, and he’ll be tasked with helping both Cavs’ traditional player and players on two-way deals/ones that appear for the Charge, too.

Additionally, Steve Frankoski, who has helped as a video assistant in his time with the Cavs, was promoted to player development coach, and Michael Hartman was promoted to the director of coaching analytics/player development, which would seem to be a notable role on Beilein’s staff, considering the Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly having an analytics-driven approach to their operations in coming years.

Who is in their same position as last season?

• Mike Gerrity
• Andrew Olson
• Dan Vincent

I was also glad to see that 2018-19 director of player development/assistant coach Mike Gerrity was retained.

He’s reportedly helped pieces such as Sexton and Osman a great deal in their development as perimeter shooters, and again, that was encouraging to see the organization and Beilein value stability, when it comes to keeping the good ones around if possible.

Another retained was Andrew Olson, who again will be the team’s shooting coach, in large part due to him previously working with players and NBA teams and more as “an independent basketball trainer,” per the team, and with the Cavs seemingly being all-in on perimeter shooting in coming years, that’ll be a big role on Beilein’s staff.

The other staff member in the same position as last season for Cleveland is Dan Vincent, who will be the head video coordinatior/player development, and sticking to the narrative of continuity for some, Vincent has advanced steadily with the Cavaliers since being with the team since the 2007-08 season (again, per the team).

Which additions were brought in from the outside to help?

• J.J. Outlaw
• Chris Darnell
• Jay Shunnar

From there, J.J. Outlaw, whose title will be assistant coach/player development, was brought in, and it would seem that he was tied to Bickerstaff, as Outlaw worked on Memphis’ staff previously, as the announcement noted.

Chris Darnell was also named as player development/video assistant, likely due to him having extensive background in video before with the Phoenix Suns and him being a special assistant for the Utah Jazz last year, and Jay Shunnar, who worked with Beilein at Michigan before as a graduate assistant, has a title of special assistant to Beilein.

Again, it’s all about development

So, again, with the Cleveland Cavaliers having a player development focus in likely 2019-20 and the next few seasons, their coaching staff will need to establish a winning culture.

How does the coaching staff do that?

They’ll need to make sure the squad is fully bought-in to a team-oriented mindset, and really be able to have the young pieces progress gradually by playing the right way, which comes from doing things such as making the extra pass, rotating effectively on the defensive end of the floor, and being situationally sound.

The 2019-20 season will likely be a tough one for the team in terms of the record, but if Beilein and the coaching staff can keep the players engaged, even with a good amount of potential roster turnover, and the young players can steadily improve some over the course of the year while the team keeps their 2020 top 10 protected pick, I’d say that’s a fairly successful campaign.

We’ll know if the staff’s work is paying off after a good bit into the season, but for a while, fans of the Cavaliers have to be patient in evaluating how Beilein and company are truly doing.