The Cavaliers‘ head coaching search came to an end today and reached a surprising resolution, as longtime University of Michigan head coach John Beilein will make the jump to the NBA, having agreed to a five-year deal with Cleveland.
While we hadn’t heard word of the Cavs’ interest in Beilein before today, he interviewed with the club early last week in Ann Arbor and then spoke to owner Dan Gilbert face-to-face on Friday, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. As Fedor explains, the two sides agreed to keep those talks quiet out of respect for the university.
Meanwhile, Joe Vardon of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that Gilbert’s involvement in the process with Beilein was a good sign that the Cavaliers were serious about the Wolverines’ coach. According to Vardon, at least four other head coaching candidates who interviewed for the job didn’t meet with the Cavs’ owner.
Here’s more on the Cavs’ hiring on Beilein:
- According to Fedor, it wouldn’t be a surprise if one of the candidates the Cavaliers interviewed for their head coaching position becomes Beilein’s associate head coach. Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press notes (via Twitter) that Juwan Howard, who met with the Cavs, was viewed as a candidate to become Beilein’s lead assistant if he had ended up with the Pistons last spring.
- A source who spoke to Fedor pointed to Beilein’s ability to develop and mold young players as a key reason why the Cavaliers are hiring him. “He takes players right out of high school and turns them into lottery picks,” the source told Fedor, who cites Tim Hardaway Jr. as one Michigan player who wasn’t a highly sought-after recruit but ended up being drafted in the first round.
- Cavaliers assistant GM Mike Gansey, who played for Beilein at West Virginia 15 years ago, was always a fan of the coach’s abilities as a player development specialist and an offensive tactician, sources tell Mitch Lawrence of Sporting News (Twitter link).
- The Cavs like Beilein’s offensive system, which is predicated on outside shooting, ball movement, and constant motion, writes Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net. As Amico outlines, the team views that system as one that can succeed even without star players.
Yay, outside shooting, ball movement, and constant motion is part of what makes the Warriors successful plus an incredible group of talented players… And committed ownership…
I believe this will not be a good signing. The jump to the NBA is often not easy or successful. It’s just a feeling I get with this hire. I hope I’m wrong.
Thunder and C’s HC seem to being doing fine and they are former collage coaches.
I could name 10-20 other college coaches that failed miserably in the NBA.
I generally agree but for lack of better wording that’s probably more because the coaches that have made that jump generally win with just star power and without as much of an ability to just coach.
Coaches like Beilein have won a ton without top recruits because they’re good at coaching and teaching, and not necessarily just winning bidding wars. A team like the Cavs will probably never compete for top free agents (LeBron was obviously a unique case), so their best chance is to win by building from within and really developing players. That’s where Beilein comes in. If the Cavs show patience with him through the losing at first (which is a big if), he could be a great hire.
This guy is just a good basketball coach anywhere he goes. At least credit the Cavs for not going the retread route.
was most impressed with his work at West Viginia. The players were even more of nobodies than at Michigan but they could beat anybody with spirit, movement and resolve. This continued at UM, though I thought they looked too unstructured when it didn’t work. But it generally did.
The basketball world is not as aware of Beilein as itvcould be, but Gilbert is from Michigan and would have noticed.
Gilbert wants a team that can win without a star that he has to put up with.
That’s fine, top-down, winnable, good coach who doesn’t fail… the Cavs get the all-important @x%sure stamp of approval!
Sexton is not a great fit though. Or Osman or D.Hunter. Morant & Culver are I think. Zion fits everywhere. Clarkson will be interesting. Love maybe.
Forget that rubbish about who Beilein’s system will work for. IDK. That’s why we play out the contests.
Is THJ really the example you want to put out there to sell Beilein’s development skills?
A better approach is to say his system is so good it can even make a borderline NBA player appear worthy of a lottery pick. I think he’s had 3 lottery picks in his career: Joe Alexander, Burke and Stauskis (sp). THJ just hit the lottery when he met Mills.