Cavs add longtime assistant coach Sidney Lowe to same role on staff

Heading into next season/over the offseason, it became apparent that the Cleveland Cavaliers had to fill an assistant coaching vacancy.

That came when prior assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who reportedly played a crucial role in the development of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, for example, left to be the head coach of the USC Trojans women’s basketball team.

To that point, the Cavs ended up filling that assistant coaching void.

Per a recent report on Friday afternoon from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, the Cavs hired recent Detroit Pistons assistant coach Sidney Lowe to an assistant coaching role on their staff.

Lowe has had a ton of NBA coaching experience, which should aid the Cavs and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

As Fedor emphasized, the 61-year-old Lowe has had “three decades” of coaching experience, combined at the NBA and collegiate ranks. He played four seasons too, and in relation to the coaching ranks, he’s been an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves first, when he was their head coach for two seasons.

From there, regarding a Cavaliers connection, as Fedor noted, Lowe was on prior head coach Mike Fratello’s staff as an assistant, was then the Vancouver (then later Memphis) Grizzlies head coach for two-plus seasons and has been an assistant since.

That’s been back with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, Twolves again, the Washington Wizards and for the last three seasons, he was on the Pistons staff as an assistant for a second stint with them.

Lowe has not had success in rebuilding situations as a head coach, admittedly, but they were in tough situations with Minnesota and the Grizz.

He again has had extensive coaching experience, mostly as an assistant at the NBA level though, and with that/a reportedly “well-rounded” background, he could prove to be a valuable addition to Cleveland’s coaching staff for Bickerstaff and company.

As Fedor stated in his report, while the vacancy could’ve seemingly led to Cleveland hiring an assistant with an offensive focus for the staff, after a number of interviewees were cycled through, Bickerstaff and company did end up going with an assistant of a multi-faceted background in Lowe. That reportedly, per Fedor, culminated in the decision being set on Friday afternoon.

Hopefully Bickerstaff and company, and young players such as Garland, Sexton, #3 overall pick Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and others can benefit greatly from Lowe, who again has had a ton of coaching experience in his career, and a bunch at the NBA level at that. He was the head coach of the NC State Wolfpack from 2006-2011 as well.

In his playing career in the NBA, Lowe played with the Indiana Pacers, Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and most notably, in his last season, played with the Twolves, when he appeared in 80 games.

Hopefully Lowe can help the Cavs next season get themselves back on track.