John Beilein: Continuing his education

[CavsFTW]

John Beilein is the John Wick of basketball coaches. John Wick kills with a pencil -- John "Wick" Beilein kills with a Tristan Thompson.

 

[Cratylus]

John Beilein is the John Wick of basketball coaches. John Wick kills with a pencil -- John "Wick" Beilein kills with a Tristan Thompson.

 

[Green Lantern]

Everything seems good. Defense has holes, but is obviously far removed from last year's hopelessness. Mostly guys missing assignments or Garland getting overpowered.

Offense isn't clicking all the time and the younger guys are less comfortable so far, but there is a lot of confidence from this team. Lots of easy mistakes to clean up.

They will be in a lot games if they continue to play like this. Love and TT are absolutely killing it. Unreal. Exactly what young guards need.

I know it can be added that Sexton takes some bad angles when guarding his man, allowing himself to be driven on..he's got to learn how to position himself and force his man to go elsewhere.
But they are playing more as a team and not individuals.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

I know it can be added that Sexton takes some bad angles when guarding his man, allowing himself to be driven on..he's got to learn how to position himself and force his man to go elsewhere.
But they are playing more as a team and not individuals.

His approach makes a lot of sense. Start with simpler concepts and give the team time to master the simple concept. That's when you add a few more concepts to master. It's a good idea and sounds great, but not every coaching staff is going to execute that plan and stick with it.

We're only four games in, but the vibe that is coming off the Cavs players feels more together than I've seen in years. Even though they won a lot after LeBron returned, there was often a lack of any joy or cohesion.

This feels more and more like a team. There will be some hard lessons and some heartbreakers.

Though I am looking at our division and think we may be the second best team in it right now. That will likely change when Oladipo returns (and maybe Griffin, though I'm iffy on Detroit). Need a larger sample size. But I think it's pretty obvious right now that the Cavs are not the worst team in the NBA.

 

[Cavatt]

I know it can be added that Sexton takes some bad angles when guarding his man, allowing himself to be driven on..he's got to learn how to position himself and force his man to go elsewhere.
But they are playing more as a team and not individuals.

Yeah I'm just encouraged because he had been cutting guys off, contesting, and getting up in guys space. Did a great job on Lavine. Putting a cap on what Collin can and can't do going forward is probably foolish

 

[DOTL]

I gotta admit, I was too harsh on the guy. I have not seen the Cavs playing this pretty of an offense since Lenny W. It's been a loooong time.

oh yeah, a Blatt hater. Makes sense.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

It's just really weird to see this roster look like a team of professional basketball players. I don't think we will be a .500 team, and pain is coming for sure, but I am happy with the Beilein hire so far. I think he is exactly what we needed. We saw Byron Scott in the similar situation, so It's pretty obvious what you DON'T want around a young team.

It just seems like that despite our roster issues, we aren't going to have to suffer the way we did last year. It's early, but I really don't see us being a historically bad defensive team.

The scheme this year is much simpler, focuses on basics/teaching fundamentals. Bickerstaff is doing a good job. Guys aren't dogging it, and are being held accountable if they do. We aren't going to be the 2004 Pistons by any means but I actually predict that we are closer to a below average/mediocre defense than an all-time bad defense.

I trust him to teach the young guys the game the right way. My only small nitpick is that I think he needs to let Garland loose, but he doesn't want to do that. He wants to focus on team, team, team. Teams will adjust eventually and they're going to force our young guards to beat them instead of the bigs. But overall I just like the way he has this team playing even though we still need to make sure we keep that pick, lol.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

It's just really weird to see this roster look like a team of professional basketball players. I don't think we will be a .500 team, and pain is coming for sure, but I am happy with the Beilein hire so far. I think he is exactly what we needed. We saw Byron Scott in the similar situation, so It's pretty obvious what you DON'T want around a young team.

It just seems like that despite our roster issues, we aren't going to have to suffer the way we did last year. It's early, but I really don't see us being a historically bad defensive team.

The scheme this year is much simpler, focuses on basics/teaching fundamentals. Bickerstaff is doing a good job. Guys aren't dogging it, and are being held accountable if they do. We aren't going to be the 2004 Pistons by any means but I actually predict that we are closer to a below average/mediocre defense than an all-time bad defense.

I trust him to teach the young guys the game the right way. My only small nitpick is that I think he needs to let Garland loose, but he doesn't want to do that. He wants to focus on team, team, team. Teams will adjust eventually and they're going to force our young guards to beat them instead of the bigs. But overall I just like the way he has this team playing even though we still need to make sure we keep that pick, lol.

Right now I could see this team getting to or close to 30 wins with a lot of games decided at the end like Milwaukee - a team that has to grow to figure out how to close out the games and counter veteran teams that know how to get that final spurt.

Hopefully we see them begin to figure that out in the last 10-15 games this season and lose several in such a way that we could see them being over .500 next season with another season of growth and a Top 10 pick. I think 30 wins is probably about the limit to expect a Top 10 pick - and they may finish with just under that.

It seems like we may have a reason to hope for a better future after this season. We'll get to have a lot of fun watching the team and hopefully we see Porter, Sexton, Garland, Cedi and others grow. Would like to see Windler come in and show he is a nice rotational prospect. I also would like to see Wade at some point to see if he has rotational potential.

 

[CavsFTW]

 

[Kizzle]

I like what I’ve seen on offense so far. Coach obviously is very good at utilizing what he has. But ALOT of coaches are good tank drivers. My question is when more talent trickles in can he handle being an actual contender or at least being a borderline contender

 

[Splitz]

The genuine joy that I have seen from Kevin Love has been amazing. The locker room celebration after coach B's first win and the way that he embraced Sexton after that monstrous dunk over Carter Jr. That has been the greatest thing to see. Both he and Tristan look as though they are having a great time molding these young guys. You have to consider that the 2016 Championship was not just a run of the mill situation. That Championship is one that will stand out and always be remembered. I think Love and Thompson are completely satisfied having met that challenge. This is like an entirely new challenge and they both seem up for it.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

The genuine joy that I have seen from Kevin Love has been amazing. The locker room celebration after coach B's first win and the way that he embraced Sexton after that monstrous dunk over Carter Jr. That has been the greatest thing to see. Both he and Tristan look as though they are having a great time molding these young guys. You have to consider that the 2016 Championship was not just a run of the mill situation. That Championship is one that will stand out and always be remembered. I think Love and Thompson are completely satisfied having met that challenge. This is like an entirely new challenge and they both seem up for it.

The amount of energy a 66 year old first year NBA head coach has injected into a franchise in desperate need of CPR after last season is unbelievable. Beilein has the biggest motor in the organization.

He also maybe gives Dan some peace of mind to stay back and focus on his own health, knowing the team is in the hands of professionals finally.

 

[Cavatt]

We may have to give the old man some load management if we want to keep that pick.

 

[Sumac13]

A clip (Oct. 30) from an article in the PD about his approach:

During a critical stretch midway through the fourth quarter, head coach John Beilein rode a lineup that featured rookies Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. alongside second-year standout Collin Sexton, core piece Larry Nance Jr. and Thompson. The quintet rewarded Beilein’s faith, boosting the lead to a game-high eight points before Cedi Osman and Love came back in to help stabilize the squad in the final minutes.

“Volume will always breed confidence,” Beilein said. “And the more they are in there, the more they are going to get. But we’re also not afraid to let them make mistakes right now too and learn from it. So, the video never lies. They see that the next day, and I’m sure we’ll have with both of those guys lots of clips that they can grow from, but also show them all the good things that they were doing today. That was an exciting few minutes of the basketball game.”

The video never lies seems to be a recurring theme.

 

[Jake]

I'm liking this guy more and more. Post game interviews - he offers more details into the thought process of the decisions. He sounds like a smart logical guy. He's new to the nba, I hope it all works out for us.