The Cleveland Cavaliers are not itching to fire head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. He doesn’t enter the season walking on thin ice, nor is the organization feuding with him publicly or privately as they have with former coaches. Bickerstaff is well-liked up-and-down the organization and he led the team to its best season in a half-decade last season.
The potential concern with Bickerstaff is whether he is capable of making the adjustments necessary to win in the playoffs. Can he continue to evolve his understanding of NBA offense, can he press the right buttons with lineups and rotations, can he adjust quickly to an opponent’s plan without needing to lose a game first?
It’s not out of the question that the Cavaliers get to the end of this season and decide to move on from Bickerstaff, either because of another disappointing playoff exit or simply a desire to find more of a tactician to take them from good to great. He is firmly on the “Seat Index” this season and his seat could heat up as the year goes on.
If the team decides to fire Bickerstaff by the end of the season, who could be a candidate to replace him as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Head coaching candidates to avoid
It’s not clear who the candidates will be next summer, as assistants will elevate themselves during the year, other head coaches will be fired, and some currently available may be hired during the season, a la Quin Snyder last year.
Of those coaches likely to be available, however, a few should be ruled out. Mark Jackson and Doc Rivers will be calling games together on ESPN this year and the Cavs shouldn’t look their way for a coach who can elevate a team in the playoffs. Retreads like Nate McMillan clearly don’t have the chops for modern strategic basketball. Luke Walton is in-house but shouldn’t be relied upon as a head coach.
There are plenty of other options that are intriguing, from Steve Nash to Kenny Atkinson to Jordi Fernandez, but we’ll keep this list short. Here are three coaches who may be available next season that are specifically intriguing as a potential replacement to J.B. Bickerstaff.
Head coach No. 1: Mike Budenholzer
If the goal of an NBA head coach is to lead a team to win basketball games and compete for championships, it’s hard to find a better candidate than Mike Budenholzer. In five seasons as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, he led them to 271 wins (an elite 69.3 percent win percentage), then added another 39 wins in the postseason. That included a championship run in 2021.
Budenholzer instilled core principles on offense and defense that elevated the floor of the Bucks, then built on those to add more creativity and advanced concepts to maximize his specific players. Budenholzer was accused of holding to those core principles too tightly at times, but he appeared to grow in his flexibility as the seasons went on. It’s not like it didn’t work at least once.
Budenholzer wasn’t a perfect coach in Milwaukee, and he isn’t at the cutting edge of creative playoff adjustments; that’s why he was fired. Yet he has a track record unlike any other viable coaching option for the Cavs and literally can’t be described as a coach who “can’t win in the playoffs.” That’s a reductive argument and it’s literally been proven wrong.
Coach Bud may be the right option to get the most out of this group specifically as well, especially if the Cavaliers stick with the pairing of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. He used a similar defensive pairing in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez to craft league-best defenses over the past half-decade and could do so again.
If the Cavaliers want a proven head coach, it’s hard to conclude anyone other than Mike Budenholzer should be at the top of their list.
Head coach No. 2: Becky Hammon
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Becky Hammon being the first female NBA head coach will be a story, for all of the right reasons and all of the wrong ones, but it shouldn’t be applied to an evaluation of her as a head coach. She has proven herself capable in both the NBA and WNBA and she won’t be less effective because she is a woman; there is no compelling argument to make that suggests otherwise.
Her track record is certainly impressive. She spent years learning from the best head coach of his generation, Gregg Popovich, who is on the Mount Rushmore of NBA coaches and whose coaching tree stretches all around the league. Pop’s assistants have been taking jobs and thriving for years, and Hammon can certainly be the latest.
She also has head coaching experience with the Las Vegas Aces, and more than that she has shown the ability to leverage modern basketball principles to make her teams better, and the ability to execute playoff adjustments en route to a title. Hammon’s resume is as strong as anyone’s and she would undoubtedly be an asset for the Cavaliers.
She can help modernize the offensive attack in Cleveland and instill similar principles as she has in Vegas, with an emphasis on floor spacing and movement. Her leadership, tactics and experience combine to make her a top candidate if she is ready to leave the WNBA for an NBA job.
Head coach No. 3: Chris Finch
The final head coaching candidate on our list is more of a question mark, not because of his ability but because he is currently the head coach of another team. Chris Finch enters this season on an extremely warm seat through reasons largely outside of his control; the Minnesota Timberwolves have given him grapefruit and salt and asked him to make lemonade.
Even so, Finch’s success with the Timberwolves has been impressive if you peel back the surface layer. He has overseen the development of budding stars in Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, he has elevated the play of a number of veteran role players, and he got an injury-riddled team into the playoffs last season.
Finch is known as a brilliant offensive mind, and if the Wolves fall short of expectations this season he could be fired — making him a prime candidate for the Cavaliers to scoop up. He can bring innovation and a steady hand, and his players appear to genuinely enjoy playing for him.
J.B. Bickerstaff might step up this season and show he is the right head coach to take this team all the way, or he may stumble and be shown the door. If they need to, the Cavaliers will have some impressive candidates to sift through as his replacement.