#2: Sign a creative assistant coach for offense
J.B. Bickerstaff is undoubtably a great defensive-minded head coach. He helped lead the Cavaliers to a top defense in the league despite various injuries to their best defensive players.
One major issue he has though, he’s not a great coach when it comes to creating a gameplan for scoring the ball. Most of the season, his main plan was ‘give the ball to Garland and see what he does with it.’ Very similar to what Atlanta runs with Trae Young.
While this style of play works well in the regular season and can see limited success against poor teams in the playoffs, this typically does not work against any halfway well-put-together team in the postseason.
The Cavaliers could do what the Warriors have done with Steve Kerr and complement his strength with somebody who is great at the exact opposite. Kerr creates the offense for the Warriors, Mike Brown creates the defense. The Cavs could follow that blueprint with Bickerstaff creating the defensive schemes, and an incredibly creative assistant coach creates the offense.
There are a few assistant coaches in the league that are extremely creative when creating an offense, many of which are relatively accessible for the Cavs. Two examples come to mind immediately: Steve Clifford and Mike D’Antoni of the Brooklyn Nets.
Both coaches have run good offenses in the past, with D’Antoni the architect of the “7 Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets team that threatened to win titles just a few years ago. Clifford never had great scorers on teams he led outside of Kemba Walker so while his schemes worked at times, they struggled to score due to lack of superstar talent.
Both coaches could be brought on for relatively smaller contracts as assistants to coach Bickerstaff, although it’s possible they pass up on the opportunity. Other coaches that fit this bill are Luke Walton and Kenny Atkinson; both are former head coaches for teams that struggled to win at times and saw definite success on offense but had struggles defensively.
Either coach would fit, but there are also many others who could fit the bill. Finding the right coaching staff would help this team reach its potential.