Cavs: John Beilein unlikely to be HC next season, which is likely for the best

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein has had a particularly rough time transitioning to the NBA, and while I was hopeful his hiring could work, he’s reportedly unlikely to be the team’s head coach following the 2019-20 season. That’s probably for the best, too.

With how the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 2019-20 season has gone, it’s appeared that head coach John Beilein has simply not been the right fit.

The team is 14-40 on the year, and while I wouldn’t have expected the Cavs to be competing for an Eastern Conference postseason berth, the squad has hit road bump after road bump, and that’s why Sunday’s reports involving Beilein are ones that fans probably could’ve seen coming.

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According to a report first from The Athletic‘s Shams Charania (also of Stadium), Kelsey Russo and Jason Lloyd (subscription required), it’s unlikely that Beilein will return as Cleveland’s head coach next season.

A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski shortly thereafter echoed the same news, and Beilein is reportedly expected to come to a decision about whether or not he’ll ultimately resign in the next 24-48 hours, as of late Sunday. That could mean during the All-Star break, essentially, but either way, he’s seemingly not going to be back for the 2020-21 campaign.

The pileup of losses has taken quite a toll on the 67-year-old, who signed a five-year contract with the Cavaliers last May.

Plus, Beilein’s son, Patrick, being dismissed before coaching a single contest at Niagara as their next head coach due to personal issues has also played into Beilein struggling with Cleveland, as Wojnarowski and Windhorst noted.

From the team’s perspective, while I was in favor of Beilein emphasizing fundamentals early on and having a bit longer film sessions earlier on in the season with the squad struggling, it’s unsurprisingly not played with the players. Kevin Love, though he’s been fine for the last month-and-a-half-ish, has not seemed to be a huge fan of Beilein, either, and that’s perhaps also played some into him previously having on-floor and on-bench outbursts this season.

Additionally, Cavs players have reportedly been tuning out Beilein more as the year has progressed and have taken to the leadership of associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff more, as Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell pointed out.

Bickerstaff, who has previous head coaching experience with the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies, would likely be the interim HC if Beilein steps down, and with Beilein being “unhappy — even miserable” with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, it’d likely be for the best if he steps down sooner rather than later.

It’s unfortunate that Beilein, who I’ve been pleased with in relation to letting Darius Garland and Collin Sexton have plenty of backcourt minutes together in a rebuilding season that’s focused on growth, has had such a tough transition to the NBA.

Along with that, the timing seems a bit odd that Beilein might step down in the next day or so, considering the Cavaliers just had one of their best performances of the 2019-20 season on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks, and the team just recently acquired one of the league’s best centers in Andre Drummond, which should help out their young perimeter players.

At any rate, Beilein, who had a terrific collegiate head coaching career and last was the head coach at Michigan for the last 12 seasons, probably not being back as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers next season is likely best for both sides.

Yes, that would mean another head coaching search for Cleveland general manager Koby Altman, yet another skipper for Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman and another head coaching hire for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

Another head coach taking over for Beilein would be Cleveland’s sixth in the past seven years, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor expressed, but considering how this season has gone for the club, and with how Beilein reportedly accidentally said the Cavaliers were playing “like a bunch of thugs,” instead of “slugs,” in a film session last month, the two parting ways sooner than later would probably be a good thing for all involved.

As the aforementioned Dammarell detailed, Cleveland needs stability desperately with their next head coach, too, and Dammarell would go on to suggest that Jordi Fernandez of the Denver Nuggets and Alex Jensen of the Utah Jazz, both highly-regarded assistant coaches and previously were on Cleveland’s radar in the previous HC search, would be “ideal options for the Cavaliers and would fit the necessary prerequisites.”

Those prerequisites seemingly relate to coming from a winning culture, being able to connect with and properly develop young players, and also being patient in staying the course and being a steadying presence in this rebuild.

Anyhow, we’ll see what transpires following the season, and perhaps Bickerstaff is a viable option, but it’s difficult to say at this point.