Story Update (Feb. 17, 1:35 p.m. ET): Cavaliers coach John Beilein is expected to speak to team owner Dan Gilbert on Monday to talk about resolution options. Whether it is this week or at season’s end, Beilein will be on his way out as head coach, league sources tell The Athletic.
Cavaliers coach John Beilein is not expected to remain as head coach beyond the end of the season, league and team sources have told The Athletic. The terms of the separation, and the exact timing of it, are not yet known, but momentum is building toward his exit.
Several factors have come into play around the Cavaliers and Beilein in regard to his job position leading to the potential end of his tenure before the end of the five-year contract he signed in May — including the team’s on- and off-court struggles and the personal toll his son’s resignation at Niagara University has taken on him — league sources said.
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Patrick Beilein resigned from Niagara in October under tumultuous circumstances without having coached a single game. That situation has had an impact on John throughout his first season in Cleveland, according to sources. Beilein has never truly adjusted or felt comfortable since making the move to the NBA, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Beilein, 67, left Michigan last summer to sign a five-year deal in Cleveland. He spoke often about embracing the challenge ahead of him with the Cavs and adjusting to the NBA, but the fatigue of losing became apparent early.
“Every loss is hitting me really hard,” Beilein said following an embarrassing home loss to the Golden State Warriors earlier this month. “I don’t have a lot of answers for you though.”
The Cavs recently set the franchise record for worst home loss — a 41-point defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers — and they’ve lost 14 games already by at least 20 points.
Beilein spent more than 40 years coaching various levels of college basketball and the transition to the NBA proved difficult. The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania first reported in December that players were not happy with how Beilein coached the team, specifically on the focus on fundamentals, lengthy film sessions and a lack of offensive versatility, among other grievances.
There was an incident a week later, which was caught on the broadcast of a road game at San Antonio when Tristan Thompson appeared to yell at Beilein. It was addressed two days later at shootaround, saying they moved on from the exchange.
Then in January, The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania reported about Kevin Love’s blowup with general manager Koby Altman over the fine given to him after an incident in Toronto. Later that same day, during the Cavs game against the Thunder, his frustrations escalated again, which he addressed a few days later with the media.
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And finally, Beilein had a slip of his own in a team-only meeting, calling the players “thugs,” which he later clarified and apologized as he intended to say “slugs.” Beilein apologized to the team, both individually and as a group, and to Altman.
When he was asked after the loss to the Warriors if guys were still buying into him as coach, Beilein said he couldn’t answer that.
“I think that our guys have to measure themselves, are they bought in to playing winning basketball?” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with a particular coach or coaches, whatever, they’ve just got to go and play hard. There’s moments that we have, that we have played really hard in a lot of adversity. I can’t answer that, but I do know that I’m trying to do my job and work as hard as I can for them.”
Beilein had no answers on how to fix all of the continuous on-court issues. The Cavs entered the break 14-40, the worst team in the East and second-worst in the NBA. He struggled to find a balance between a young backcourt in Darius Garland and Collin Sexton – who lack the size to be effective defensively – with veteran players in Love and Thompson. They missed the addition of rookie Dylan Windler, who would have provided the much-needed depth on the wing and as a shooter. They could not develop a sound defensive system, which caused many of their problems.
The Cavs coaching situation has been rocky since LeBron James left in the summer of 2018. Tyronn Lue was fired in 2018 after an 0-6 start. Then an interim coach in Larry Drew, who didn’t have a strong desire to coach. And now the situation surrounding Beilein.
The Cavs’ next coach will be their sixth in the last seven seasons. If a move happens before the end of this season, they would presumably promote associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff to replace Beilein. He would also be a strong candidate to take over as the next permanent head coach. Bickerstaff spent time as interim head coach in Houston before he was the Memphis Grizzlies’ head coach for two years. His firing from Memphis prior to this season was a surprise around the league. His father, Bernie, is still a member of the Cavs’ organization.
— Joe Vardon contributed to this report.
(Top Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)