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John Beilein: Continuing his education

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Grade the coaching hire

  • A+

    Votes: 13 13.0%
  • A

    Votes: 51 51.0%
  • B

    Votes: 30 30.0%
  • C

    Votes: 4 4.0%
  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • F

    Votes: 2 2.0%

  • Total voters
    100
  • Poll closed .
I’m not sold on him at all but it’s hard to tell really especially this early and will continue to be hard to tell for a while.
We have one of the worst starting SF’s, our starting ‘guard’ is one of the worst players in the NBA based on analytics. We have a collection of extremely limited centers. An all star that is never on the court. A bunch of rookies. Plus let’s not forget the merry band of misfit guards we’ve acquired too.
I would be looking at Altman before the coach
 
For any team, the preseason is largely meaningless. The only things I'll look at are conditioning and health issues.

The Cavs are a young team with a new coach. Even experienced teams are always experimenting with lineups, trying new things offensively and defensively and making adjustments as needed.

The Cavs are 100% in experiment mode right now. Beilein has an extended history of success in developing a gameplan, both offensively and defensively, that fits his talent. It's really not fair to judge any coach this early into their tenure.
 
For established teams with vets that had success like the Spurs, Warriors, Blazers, whatever. Sure.

For a young team that has a lot to show, nope. The losses were telling that whatever he is trying to run ain't going to work in the NBA. In no way should a team look so outclassed against 2nd round and undrafted rookies. Pre-season or not.

It means they aren't ready yet, which we should not have expected them to be. There are 5 rookies on this team right now. If Garland wasn't so good at just being a pg, we would have seen basically nothing good.

Did you watch the coach's postgame last night. He was distraught lol to losing to that squad.

He was 100% right about one thing. Boston got a ton of rookies and played them all in summer league. Brad was able to get his squad to gel and play together, especially on defense. Beilein said the Cavs are weeks behind Boston. That means they are weeks behind the rest of the league.

This is going to take time. You can tell the guys are trying to run the offense, but are thinking too much. Short term it would actually look better if you ran the offense through certain guys like Garland, or even Sexton. You can tell with Sexton and Porter, they are trying hard to do the right thing and run the offense, but it isn't comfortable for them yet. They just haven't developed that chemistry yet.

There are some positive signs. They are putting up more 3's. There has been lots of passing and not much hero ball. They need a lot of reps, and I actually think the starting lineup with Garland in there instead of Delly is going to be pretty good on offense if not defense.

It's not fair to think a college coach could come in and install this new system and have no issues.

Also, Beilein said that Garland has basically played the same amount of minutes that he has practiced. That is a awesome because he already looks good and has barely even played college ball. He gave him pretty free rein last night and he lit it up and had 4 assists with a bunch of scrubs. He is going to be good.
 
It means they aren't ready yet, which we should not have expected them to be. There are 5 rookies on this team right now. If Garland wasn't so good at just being a pg, we would have seen basically nothing good.

Did you watch the coach's postgame last night. He was distraught lol to losing to that squad.

He was 100% right about one thing. Boston got a ton of rookies and played them all in summer league. Brad was able to get his squad to gel and play together, especially on defense. Beilein said the Cavs are weeks behind Boston. That means they are weeks behind the rest of the league.

This is going to take time. You can tell the guys are trying to run the offense, but are thinking too much. Short term it would actually look better if you ran the offense through certain guys like Garland, or even Sexton. You can tell with Sexton and Porter, they are trying hard to do the right thing and run the offense, but it isn't comfortable for them yet. They just haven't developed that chemistry yet.

There are some positive signs. They are putting up more 3's. There has been lots of passing and not much hero ball. They need a lot of reps, and I actually think the starting lineup with Garland in there instead of Delly is going to be pretty good on offense if not defense.

It's not fair to think a college coach could come in and install this new system and have no issues.

Also, Beilein said that Garland has basically played the same amount of minutes that he has practiced. That is a awesome because he already looks good and has barely even played college ball. He gave him pretty free rein last night and he lit it up and had 4 assists with a bunch of scrubs. He is going to be good.
A big problem is that it looks like the team is so focused on running the offense that they forget to shoot. Execution is actually working, but the offense frequently goes way too long and passes open shots.

This will eventually fix itself. It’s common with young teams. The goal is to get these guys all creating and taking good shots so, when the team finally becomes a contender to reach the playoffs, they know a strong system.
 
A big problem is that it looks like the team is so focused on running the offense that they forget to shoot. Execution is actually working, but the offense frequently goes way too long and passes open shots.

This will eventually fix itself. It’s common with young teams. The goal is to get these guys all creating and taking good shots so, when the team finally becomes a contender to reach the playoffs, they know a strong system.

Yeah they are going through the motions, but aren't actually executing the offense and finishing the plays. To some degree I suppose that is "finding your role". Most guys know what they do well, but how does that fit into the larger team offense? You really don't see them getting to their 2nd and third options out of the action.

The hard part of this might be that the offense doesn't work properly for awhile, and that is going to be tough to sit through especially if they are not getting any easy baskets from the defense.
 
Yeah they are going through the motions, but aren't actually executing the offense and finishing the plays. To some degree I suppose that is "finding your role". Most guys know what they do well, but how does that fit into the larger team offense? You really don't see them getting to their 2nd and third options out of the action.

The hard part of this might be that the offense doesn't work properly for awhile, and that is going to be tough to sit through especially if they are not getting any easy baskets from the defense.
The good news is that, if it works, it will be worthwhile in the end. I actually think this season will be very similar to last season - the team plays better in the second-half of the year, but due to injuries and trades, the performance is not reflected in wins and losses.
 
The reality is, there about maybe 3 or so coaches in the league that truly influence positive results in the W/L column.

the vast majority of coaches fall somewhere between, above average, average and below average...with another 2-3 coaches who truly influence negative W/L results.


To me, Beileins singular most important task is developing Darius Garland. First and foremost. Then, obviously Sexton, KPJ, etc are next on that list.

The Cavs roster is not currently constructed to be competitive.

Beilein obviously has the X's and O's chops to coach in this league. Anyone coaching at this level does, really. I'm not worried about that.

The first year especially will be a learning curve for learning the difference between college and NBA ball. Timeout strategies, when to work guys hard and when to let off, what to focus on, etc. Gonna take some trial and error for sure.


The one thing I think we can judge Beilein on is, especially once things get tough and L's pile up, how he navigates the locker room, how his players respond to him effort-wise. How he develops his relationships with his team, and whether or not the guys are buying what he's selling.
 
I will be curious to see if Beilein at his age is mentally prepared to deal with all the losing and bad basketball that is likely to occur over the next couple of years. He is going to take more losses this year than he lost combined at Michigan the past 5 years. I suspect progress can only be measured in things other than wins. Being more competitive with fewer mistakes that results in 6 point losses rather than 12 point losses is a tough way to do your job when fans don't measure success that way. At some level you can teach players to be fundamentally better, but it is hard to grind your way to NBA success. It is a superstar driven league and ultimately they need to find one or two or this is going to a long run of losing and Beilein will be retired before he can do a thing to change that.
 
Beilein lost almost all the good players from his Michigan team and was looking at a long unpleasant season, so he hoodwinked the Cavs "braintrust" into one more very big payday. He will be a flop at the pro level, but it probably doesn't matter with this team because no coach could deliver a winner. He gets lots of money for babysitting for a year or two. Smart guy.
 
Beilein lost almost all the good players from his Michigan team and was looking at a long unpleasant season, so he hoodwinked the Cavs "braintrust" into one more very big payday. He will be a flop at the pro level, but it probably doesn't matter with this team because no coach could deliver a winner. He gets lots of money for babysitting for a year or two. Smart guy.
Michigan brought back their best player in Simpson, and a really good big in Teske with a stud 2020 commit coming next year. Plus, they have Franz Wagner (brother of former star Moe) coming in. Beilein was not going to be hurting for success at the collegiate level.

Whether or not he succeeds in Cleveland is certainly debatable, but let's not pretend he pulled some con job to get here.
 
I will be curious to see if Beilein at his age is mentally prepared to deal with all the losing and bad basketball that is likely to occur over the next couple of years. He is going to take more losses this year than he lost combined at Michigan the past 5 years. I suspect progress can only be measured in things other than wins. Being more competitive with fewer mistakes that results in 6 point losses rather than 12 point losses is a tough way to do your job when fans don't measure success that way. At some level you can teach players to be fundamentally better, but it is hard to grind your way to NBA success. It is a superstar driven league and ultimately they need to find one or two or this is going to a long run of losing and Beilein will be retired before he can do a thing to change that.

One benefit to having Beilein is that if he can do what he has always done and pump up mediocre player's production, we might get some good things from trades. I mean he made Stauskas a lottery pick, so if he can do what Brad Stevens has been doing and making role players looks great, then we might get some nice things back in trades to increase the overall talent level on the team.

I really like the looks of Garland and Porter so far though. I think this team is already more talented than last year. Beilein has something to work with at least.
 
Early impressions from the players before the honeymoon is over:

"He has more energy than I do. He’s always going, always has something on his mind, always something he’s ready to talk about, teach and coach. It’s really exciting to see because as a player that’s what you want. You want somebody that is so eager to get started that they can’t even slow down. I think he’s going to be great for us as a team." - Larry Nance, Jr

"I swear, I’m glad I met Coach [Beilein], because even if I’m not here I still want to be close to him in some way. He reminds me a lot of like a John Wooden in a way. He’s going to get the best out of every day." - Kevin Love

"I want to be here in Cleveland. I like what they’ve got going on here in terms of a new coach. This is a lovely place. I love the arena and the culture that we are creating. Hopefully I will be in a Cleveland jersey for a long time." - Jordan Clarkson

Obviously these guys could change their tune after we get into the season, but so far so good.
 
Early impressions from the players before the honeymoon is over:

"He has more energy than I do. He’s always going, always has something on his mind, always something he’s ready to talk about, teach and coach. It’s really exciting to see because as a player that’s what you want. You want somebody that is so eager to get started that they can’t even slow down. I think he’s going to be great for us as a team." - Larry Nance, Jr

"I swear, I’m glad I met Coach [Beilein], because even if I’m not here I still want to be close to him in some way. He reminds me a lot of like a John Wooden in a way. He’s going to get the best out of every day." - Kevin Love

"I want to be here in Cleveland. I like what they’ve got going on here in terms of a new coach. This is a lovely place. I love the arena and the culture that we are creating. Hopefully I will be in a Cleveland jersey for a long time." - Jordan Clarkson

Obviously these guys could change their tune after we get into the season, but so far so good.

This was echoed by Spoencer Davies on the Chasedown podcast that was released last night.

One thing I am worried about is that Beilein never mentions Cedi ever. He seems to like both Windler and Garland over Cedi and Sexton. I just hope he isn't playing favorites already.
 
This was echoed by Spoencer Davies on the Chasedown podcast that was released last night.

One thing I am worried about is that Beilein never mentions Cedi ever. He seems to like both Windler and Garland over Cedi and Sexton. I just hope he isn't playing favorites already.

Cedi really hasn't shown much the past 2 years. Doesn't really have a standout skill. Windler projects as an elite shooter. Beilein would favor Windler based on that alone. Beilein likes to rain threes. If Cedi can't get more consistent he will likely fall out of Beileins rotation.

As for Sexton and Garland. Beilein hand picked Garland. Ever since the predraft workout in LA I think Beilein knew Garland was gonna be his PG of the future. Right or wrong Belien was involved in the decisions to pick Garland and Windler in some way. He wasn't involved with Cedi or Sexton he was handed them. Hes clearly gonna favor his hand picked guys over the previous regimes guys.
 
Cedi really hasn't shown much the past 2 years. Doesn't really have a standout skill. Windler projects as an elite shooter. Beilein would favor Windler based on that alone. Beilein likes to rain threes. If Cedi can't get more consistent he will likely fall out of Beileins rotation.

As for Sexton and Garland. Beilein hand picked Garland. Ever since the predraft workout in LA I think Beilein knew Garland was gonna be his PG of the future. Right or wrong Belien was involved in the decisions to pick Garland and Windler in some way. He wasn't involved with Cedi or Sexton he was handed them. Hes clearly gonna favor his hand picked guys over the previous regimes guys.

Beilein scares the crap out of me.

He kept calling the Cavs a Program instead of franchise in his interview today.
 

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