Broken News: Cavs fire head coach J.B. Bickerstaff

The Cavs fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff this morning.

Cavs President Koby Altman said in a news release that “J.B. is a well-respected NBA coach and an incredible human-being. Over the past four years, he helped establish a culture that progressively drove players to become the best versions of themselves. Decisions like these are never easy, particularly when you look back at where this franchise rebuild started under his leadership. The NBA is a unique business that sometimes requires aggressive risk-taking to move a franchise forward and ultimately compete for championships. We owe a ton of gratitude for everything J.B. has contributed to the Cavaliers and his engagement in the Cleveland community. We wish J.B., his wife Nikki and their three children the best in their future endeavors.”  

Altman’s statement, so full of appreciation for Bickerstaff it’s almost tinged with guilt, pretty much sums it up. 

After taking over for the short-lived John Beilein four and a half years ago, Bickerstaff raised the standards in Cleveland. He implemented a defense-first identity, got the players to buy in, and helped pull the Cavs from NBA laughingstock-dom to play-in and then playoff berths before winning the team’s first postseason series without LeBron James since 1993. The Cavs were right to give Bickerstaff another shot after a humiliating first round exit last season, but despite a retooled roster with far more offensive options and a notable step forward in beating Orlando, Cleveland’s ceiling just didn’t look any higher with him at the helm.  

I’ve long held that, unless you’re in the locker room on a daily basis (most aren’t) evaluating coaches is one of the most fraught endeavors in sports. Sure, we can look at substitution patterns and after-time-out play calls—both things that Bickerstaff improved in the most recent playoffs—but fundamentally, a coach can only take a team to the limits of their players’ faith in them, something that’s exceedingly hard to really know from the outside. 

And while the Cavs battled Boston with everything they had, it seems their faith in J.B. ran as far as a gentleman's sweep.

So now the Cavs begin what looks to be a long and wide-ranging coaching search. The candidate list will be full of NBA coaches and assistants–former Brooklyn head coach Kenny Atkinson appears to be an early front runner–but don’t be surprised if the Dan Gilbert-owned Cavs scour the college and international ranks as well. 

Any team will be lucky to have a culture setter of Bickerstaff’s caliber, and the Cavaliers will be in good hands should they find someone else of his character. But they’ll need to hire a coach who can set a championship-level bar for this Cavaliers team and hold up their end of it from a tactical, game management, leadership, and player development perspective. 

The rebuild is over. It’s time for some new ideas. Here’s hoping they’re good ones.

Cheers, and go Cavs.