John-Blair Bickerstaff: Currently The 6th Longest Tenured Head Coach

[weepinwillow]

People forget that mark Jackson got canned mostly cause he was an asshole. He rather preach on the streets than coach the warriors. IMO Kerr just got lucky. Shit even Walton went undefeated in that 73 win season lol jbb is doing a heck of a job and I’m glad he is the coach

Jackson was also stuck in 90's NBA-style of play to a good degree. He didn't understand what he had until it was unlocked by Kerr.

But Jax was also an asshole, but he does say, "mama, there goes that man" real well on air. So there's that.

 

[2 For The Brew]

I think that was the narrative on him when he first got here because he was a 3 time interim Hc. So basically like a professional guy before the guy.

Interim coaches usually don’t amount to much, but usually is the key word. Phil Jackson was a CBA coach - how many of those guys make it?

There is no “template” to success. Life isn’t that simple. This is especially true in the NBA. The game changes over the years because … new players come in with different skills and upset the paradigm. Big men were devalued because wing wing wing wing wing - then Mobley comes in and pairs up with the ‘fro, we sign Lauri to what I thought was a dumb contract and he fits in, Love is devastating off the bench - and all of a sudden we’re proving height is an advantage in basketball - who knew?

Maybe JBB will flame out at some point and maybe he’ll win multiple rings - who knows? We’re just going to have to wait and see.

 

[Man Called X]

Oh boy, more of the positivity patrol to stop anyone from saying anything negative about a player or the organization.

Whatever, he got an extension and will probably get canned before it's over. That's the way of the Cavs.

 

[Cassity14]

Oh boy, more of the positivity patrol to stop anyone from saying anything negative about a player or the organization.

Whatever, he got an extension and will probably get canned before it's over. That's the way of the Cavs.

To be fair, that’s the way of the NBA, and arguably professional sports in general. Coaches never really reach ‘free agency’.

Sports coaches have a crazy tough union, even if they don’t refer to it as such.

 

[rastamon87]

He did exceeded expectations, Cavs trying to have some continuity… can always fire him if he gets bad or get exposed, Gilbert doesn’t mind paying coaches and it doesn’t count on the salary cap….

On a related note, I wonder who helped figuring out the offense which improved a bit this season… is Lowe acting on a offense coordinator role as JBB is more of a defense guy?

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

On a related note, I wonder who helped figuring out the offense which improved a bit this season… is Lowe acting on a offense coordinator role as JBB is more of a defense guy?

I think it was two things: 1) Rubio, and how fast Garland picked up from him how to run an offense, and 2) Mobley's addition created a critical mass of high BBIQ guys who know how to move the ball.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Oh boy, more of the positivity patrol to stop anyone from saying anything negative about a player or the organization.

Whatever, he got an extension and will probably get canned before it's over. That's the way of the Cavs.

Has nothing to to do with saying anything “positive” about JBB.

Has everything to do with people acting like this hamstrings Dan fucking Gilbert from making a move for a different coach if he has to pivot elsewhere

Talk about “insanity”.

 

[Man Called X]

Has nothing to to do with saying anything “positive” about JBB.

Has everything to do with people acting like this hamstrings Dan fucking Gilbert from making a move for a different coach if he has to pivot elsewhere

Talk about “insanity”.

Well, then people are just stupid and haven't paid attention to the numerous times we've fired a coach and paid someone else. Certainly not an argument I've made.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Well, then people are just stupid and haven't paid attention to the numerous times we've fired a coach and paid someone else. Certainly not an argument I've made.

Half the posts in here and in S34 are about how this takes the Cavs out of coach searches for the foreseeable future or somehow prohibits them from making a change any time soon.

Dan already has his finger on the trigger and it’s been 2 days since the ink dried.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

When has the current head coach's contract prevented the Cavs, and Dan specifically, from moving on if he decides what is best?

Mike Brown, Byron Scott, Mike Brown again, David Blatt, Belein, etc.

None of those guys had easy contracts to can.

It’s hard to know, but I bet Gilbert has been reluctant to pay 3 coaches, when he was already paying 2. It might affect the timing. Say this team is ready to compete for championships in 2023-24, and it starts to become apparent that JBB’s not the guy to put them over the top; how long do you take to accumulate more evidence? 1 month? 5 months? His contract probably influences that decision.

 

[Cavatt]

He deserves the extension. It's a long one though. We will find out if he can handle the playoffs long before the contract is over. Is someone better becomes available, Koby will do the right thing.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Aww.

Sir’Dom’s feelings must be hurt.

 

[MNCavsfan]

We were spinning our wheels and switching coaches every 18 months before JBB. I think he's proven himself a more than capable coach at developing players and getting them to play team basketball. We're still super young and should treat development at a premium. If JBB is actually bad (despite winning and improving more under him than any of us hoped we would) we can just fire him. It's not like it cost us cap space. It's just Gilbert's money and he's never been shy about firing a coach. I'm honestly excited to see some semblance of stability and commitment to a vision.

Lets at least see how we do in a playoff series before deciding he can't coach a playoff series.

 

[Cassity14]

It’s hard to know, but I bet Gilbert has been reluctant to pay 3 coaches, when he was already paying 2. It might affect the timing. Say this team is ready to compete for championships in 2023-24, and it starts to become apparent that JBB’s not the guy to put them over the top; how long do you take to accumulate more evidence? 1 month? 5 months? His contract probably influences that decision.

This feels like grasping at straws. You're pinning what you think as being reality despite plenty of recent evidence to the contrary.

The Cavs signed Mike Brown to a 5 year (!) contract in 2013.
They signed David Blatt to a 4 year (!) contract in 2014.
They signed Lue to a multi-year deal when he took over around this time 6 years ago.

David Blatt was the head coach of a depleted team that went to game 6 of the NBA Finals and had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the time of his firing.

Dan paid 3 hefty head coaching salaries simultaneously and he didn't bat an eye to do it.

Should the Cavaliers organization decide that JBB's time is up, he'll be gone. There's a heaping pile of evidence that proves it.

In the meantime, rewarding the man who spearheaded this on court turnaround with deserved job security is the right thing to do. It's what any first class organization would do in this same situation.

 

[Jake]

Not that I'd piss away Dan's money but the extension to JBB is small change relatively. I think he may be in the top three richest owners in sports. Around $40B I believe.