3 ways J.B. Bickerstaff can have a successful first full year with the Cavs
By Zane Harris
The Cleveland Cavaliers as of late specifically have been an absolute mess of a franchise on many levels, but they may be moving in the right direction with J.B. Bickerstaff at the helm.
One of those facets in which the Cleveland Cavaliers have been behind the curve when compared to the rest of the league is their head coaching. Even in a decade in which they had LeBron James for four years, the Cavaliers have run through a grand total of six coaches since 2010 and have just signed their seventh, J.B. Bickerstaff, to a multi-year contract after taking over the duty of head coaching the Cavs for just 11 games.
That was post-All-Star break leading into the NBA’s then-novel coronavirus-induced hiatus. Bickerstaff has a long history of coaching and it appears that the Cavaliers coaching job could be the big break that he has been working towards. Bickerstaff has been around the league coaching in lesser roles since the 2004-2005 season.
He spent three seasons as the assistant coach of the Charlotte Hornets, four seasons as the assistant coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, five seasons as the assistant coach of the Houston Rockets and a partial season with the Houston Rockets in the 2015-2016 season in which his team had a record of 37-34 in which he was their head coach.
After his time with the Rockets, Bickerstaff was an associate coach on the Memphis Grizzlies before being promoted to the head coaching spot for part of the 2017-2018 season and the entirety of the 2018-2019 season. During his time as head coach of the Grizzlies, his team had a record of 48-97.
Finally, he spent one season as an associate coach on the Cleveland Cavaliers before taking over at the end of the 2019-2020 season where he finished with a record of 5-6. Cleveland was not invited to the league’s season resumption in Orlando.
There are many things that Bickerstaff needs to do to turn around this franchise and not all of it can be accomplished in a single season. However, the Cavs have shown that they have trust in Bickerstaff and believe that he is the future head coach of the franchise for years to come. His contract has him penned in as the coach of the Cavs until the 2023-2024 season.
While he has many years on his contract, there are still some things that Bickerstaff must accomplish to have a successful first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
We’ll highlight those here, beginning with veteran buy-in.