Can John Beilein and the Cleveland Cavaliers Really Work?
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This past NBA offseason, myself and a lot of other people were kind of stunned when John Beilein left Michigan to take the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching job. He had a good group of players coming back, Michigan was a perennial top 20 and NCAA tournament team, and after flirting with the NBA the season before, he said something along the lines of wanting to retire at Michigan. So, for him to leave, and to choose Cleveland, as I said, it was a stunner. I’m happy with how things have turned out for Michigan. They got Juwan Howard, and they’ve already beaten 2 top 10 opponents in their first 10 games. Also, Howard seems like he’s going to be a great recruiter.
Back to Beilein though. When he left, I wrote a whole thing about how I’m rooting for him, and, after a few days to think about it, kind of understanding why he took the job and how I didn’t think it would go so well. But, I didn’t see it turning this bad this fast.
Recently some of his players, who I think were anonymous, called out his coaching, his tactics and kind of said, this isn’t college anymore. They seemed to be irritated with his play calling, and what he named his plays. Now some players have come out and said they don’t agree, and think he’s going to be a good coach, but when this stuff leaks, and it’s coming from reputable sources, I feel like the damage is done. I kind of fall on both sides of this argument. I get why some of the players on the team may not be so into Beilein’s approach as a head coach. In college, you’re the top dog. The players come to your school to play for you. You have all the power. In the pros, the coach is simply a figure head, picked because someone in the front office thinks they can manage talent. That’s not John Beilein’s strength. He was known for getting under the radar players to excel in college. Now, he’s coaching former champs, former all stars and lottery picks chosen to be franchise players. These guys are making much much more money than him, they have way more pull and they’re more essential. No one is going to Cavs games to watch John Beilein coach. They want to see Kevin Love, Darius Garland and Colin Sexton fly up and down the floor and figure the game out. So I can see why some of the current players may not be so down with watching film for hours, working on fundamentals and practicing as much as Beilein may want them to. I may not agree, but I can understand them tuning him out. Especially the veterans, mainly Kevin Love who just wants out, doing so.
I also find myself sympathetic towards Beilein. Look, he was chosen to coach this team because they’re so young and need to be taught the game. Any NBA fan knew going into this year that the Cavs were going to be one of the worst teams in the league. They are too young to be a real threat. Their best veteran is Love, and as I said, he has one foot out the door already. This team needs to run plays, be re taught fundamentals, have sets they can go to in times of need. They need an adult in the room, and Beilein proved to be one in college. He also proved to be a damn good coach with less than ideal recruits. He turned guys like Trey Burke and Nik Stauskas into lottery picks. He helped Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III get drafted. Hell, he had two guys get picked in the most recent draft. He can develop talent, he just needs time. So, for some to call him out after only 21 or 22 games, chill out. Give him time. If you take his coaching, it may benefit you in the long run. If he is given time, I could see the Cavs winning 30 plus games as early as next season.
So, while I don’t like that Beilein thinks he can use a college coaches mentality in the NBA, I still think he needs more time to be truly judged as an NBA coach. We will see if the Cavs brass gives him the time needed, or if they side with the players sooner rather than later.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. It’s also Ty’s birthday today. The best basketball writer in all the internets never takes a day off.
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