Beilein out as Cavs coach
Once again, post-LeBron Cleveland looks like a disaster. Not even the Cavaliers miraculously doing well in the NBA lottery across multiple drafts can save this team in the short-term.
Without LeBron, Dan Gilbert’s (Cavaliers owner) team has shown it can do one thing and one thing only…. Fail.
After LeBron left the first time, the Cavs squandered lottery picks on the likes of Anthony Bennett and Dion Waiters. This time around, they look like they are up a creek with no paddle.
In the latest sign of front office and ownership incompetence, the Cavaliers announced that John Beilein has been let go as coach. He didn’t even last a full season. J.B. Bickerstaff was named the full-time head coach.
Beilein left a great job at the University of Michigan to come to Cleveland to develop their young players. “He has a unique ability to create an outstanding culture that will promote the development of young players and provide a solid structure to the entire program,” said GM Koby Altman at the time of the hire. It was also reported that Mike Gansey played a part in Beilein’s hire. Gansey played for Beilein at West Virginia.
The Cavaliers are 14-40. That’s the worst record in the Eastern Conference. From jump, Beilein wasn’t a good fit for Cleveland. Though he has a great reputation for player development, he never adjusted to how to develop young talent in a league with an 82-game schedule. Beilein also developed strong cultures on the collegiate level but the Cavaliers don’t have an environment in place to allow him to do that on the NBA level. And, frankly, I’m no sure if Beilein was ever going to accept the differences between developing culture in college and in the NBA.
Beilein could’ve been aided if the Cavaliers had a strong veteran presence but they don’t. During the season, Kevin Love acted like a petulant child. It seems that Tristan Thompson has no interest in being a locker room voice.
But it wasn’t like Beilein didn’t have his faults starting with understanding what being an NBA coach entails. The most important thing for a successful corporate manager to understand is you manage processes and lead people. You don’t “manage” people. The idea of being a boss is an outdated concept that has, for the most part, died.
Coaching in the NBA is no different. In an 82-game season, you’re leading players not managing them. The coach has to be comfortable in letting the players be the reason that they are successful not vice versa.
The question becomes did management stress this to Beilein when they hired him? It doesn’t seem like they did. Gilbert has always had this desire to have management be the hero. It’s why David Blatt was a disaster waiting to happen despite the Cavaliers record at that time. The hiring of both Blatt and Beilein shows that Gilbert still hasn’t learned his lesson. He still hasn’t learned that, at the end of the day, he isn’t going to be the hero. His front office isn’t going to be the hero. His coach isn’t going to be the hero.
It’s going to be the players. Not only are they the product but they’re a partner. Gilbert still doesn’t want to believe that he needs to see the players as an equal partner not an employee. It’s the reason why they’ve failed without LeBron exercising his power and influence on the organization. So how was Beilein going to ever succeed? He wasn’t. That’s why he isn’t the one who failed here.
As always, it was owner Dan Gilbert.
Photo Credit John Kuntz / cleveland.com
