According to a recent report, multiple players on the Cleveland Cavaliers believe that Cleveland head coach John Beilein is not cut out to coach NBA players. It’s so early in Beilein’s tenure, though, and players on Cleveland and the organization need to bear with him through his whole first season.
I personally have been pleased with how Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein has seemed to handle himself thus far in his coaching tenure with the Cavs.
It’s no secret that the Cavaliers are just in the second year of their full-rebuild, and it’s understandable that the Darius Garland–Collin Sexton backcourt, along with other youngsters, such as Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr., have had their share of growing pains so far in the 2019-20 season.
The Cavaliers started a decent 4-5, but now have dropped 10 of 11 games, and are just 5-15 on the year.
Piling onto that hardship, multiple players on the Cavs believe that Beilein isn’t cut out to coach NBA players, according to a report from The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania, also of Stadium, (subscription required).
Though the 66-year-old Beilein has proven to be a winner at all other levels of basketball, and most recently in his last collegiate stop at Michigan, Beilein has not had any experience coaching in the NBA ranks. This is his first NBA stint, with Cleveland this year.
Nonetheless, it seems as though Beilein, who is trying to make the Cavs a team that is going to put an emphasis on man and player movement, and gradual growth in coming years centered on player development, is indeed the culture driver that Cleveland general manager Koby Altman and the front office were looking for in their head coaching search.
What the report from Vardon and Charania essentially hit on, however, was that multiple Cavs players are seemingly fed up with Beilein’s extensive film sessions, over-emphasizing of fundamentals and even him not getting how NBA basketball play is from a broad standpoint.
Furthermore, a Cleveland player even touched on how the Cavs are looking toward associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff for “leadership,” as Bleacher Report’s Tim Daniels highlighted from the report.
Bickerstaff has been a head coach before, in prior stints with the Houston Rockets, and with the Memphis Grizzlies the last two seasons, most notably. He’s also been a long-time assistant at the NBA level, so I can get why the Cavs are reportedly seeking him out for direction.
That being said, it’s encouraging to hear that from the report, as Daniels also referenced, though, that a player on the Wine and Gold acknowledged that huge blowouts, such as Cleveland’s most recent loss to the Detroit Pistons 127-92 and many others in a recent slide, are not on Beilein and the coaches, really from an overall sense.
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Moreover, the players on the Cleveland Cavaliers and those in the organization/upper management need to bear with Beilein in his entire first season.
This rebuild is going to take time, and in order for the Cavs to build a winning culture, the team’s going to have to practice the right habits, have players with a really strong work ethic, such as Sexton, and have veterans such as Kevin Love preach playing the right way.
The Cavaliers have been at their best this season when they’ve been moving the basketball consistently, cutting and playing defense with great intensity, and getting the 50-50 balls.
That’s what Beilein has seemingly been preaching, and to me, though I get that these players are professionals, this team is 5-15, so why not buy in and try to work really hard to continue to get this team going in the right direction again?
These players are professionals, and it’s understandable that they don’t want to seemingly be treating like college kids, especially I’d assume the veterans, such as Tristan Thompson, Love and perhaps Jordan Clarkson.
Now I also get that the expiring Thompson and Clarkson, in particular, could be moved by the 2020 trade deadline, given that both could definitely help contending teams. Plus, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico, the Toronto Raptors are interested in Thompson, and the Philadelphia 76ers are interested in Clarkson.
Again, though, Beilein’s working so hard to turn these Cavaliers into a winning team in coming years, and the alternative, such as the head coach not putting enough time in to help players, would be way worse.
Players on the Cavs and those in upper management/in the organization need to bear with Beilein, at least for the entirety of his season.
I’d think that if the buy-in is there for Coach B, the Cavaliers can gradually improve as the season progresses, and considering Beilein went out of his way to come here to help build a winning culture, I’d hope the players and those in the organization could at least give the guy a bit of chance.
I’d also think that Beilein as the year progresses, can learn to adjust his style some, too, anyhow.