John-Blair Bickerstaff: Former Cavaliers Head Coach

[amil99]

I agree with the people saying it’s Garland who plays slow. For whatever reason he likes to walk the ball up the floor and cross the halfcourt line with 16 seconds left. But that’s on the coach to be able to correct these actions and adjust. You don’t think Dantoni or Kerr wouldn’t be in his ear telling him it’s for the best for the team to push the tempo? It’s allowed because Bickerstaff has no clue and is content on his guards playing playground ball and creating a difficult shot because he has no clue what to do otherwise

 

[Jscc]

We got a coaching problem gents. I've tried not to say much about JBB or the coaching because they have a lot of moving pieces to make work together, but I've seen enough in critical moments during these late game meltdowns. If your plan is to out-talent the opposing team, you are not a coach, you are a cheerleader. These should not be happening.

Either the stuff they draw up is not being executed or they are not drawing anything up at all. Either way, the responsibility is JBB's. This is a pattern now. It's a ceiling until they do something to fix it. Adding shooters/spacing is not going to help if the team isn't coached on how to use it. It may help out-talent other teams enough to squeak by, but not when the other team has talent too. So that's where I'm at now.

 

[BigZ94]

I agree with the people saying it’s Garland who plays slow. For whatever reason he likes to walk the ball up the floor and cross the halfcourt line with 16 seconds left. But that’s on the coach to be able to correct these actions and adjust. You don’t think Dantoni or Kerr wouldn’t be in his ear telling him it’s for the best for the team to push the tempo? It’s allowed because Bickerstaff has no clue and is content on his guards playing playground ball and creating a difficult shot because he has no clue what to do otherwise

This 10000000%

 

[btljc]

deleted

 

[Jscc]

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Jesus fucking christ i'm really tired of him.

Besides the complete meltdown and the underwhelming offense for much of the season, his tendency to take some guys out of lineups for no real reason just because is infuriating.

Why is Diakite not playing anymore?

 

[kookoo]

Jesus fucking christ i'm really tired of him.

Besides the complete meltdown and the underwhelming offense for much of the season, his tendency to take some guys out of lineups for no real reason just because is infuriating.

Why is Diakite not playing anymore?

Diakite is on the front office. You see this clown not playing Lopez at all. Release the guy and make Diakite permanent or make a trade with a bunch of players so you can make room for him. As a whole, the coaching staff and front office are kind of pathetic right now. I thought we went for a home run with Mitchell, but it seems like that was more of a last gasp.

 

[Rich]

I'll go back and look but I think this is the 4th big meltdown so far this year.

A couple of them still resulted in OT wins.

Bit yea, he can't coach late game situations for fuck.

 

[B Mac]

Jesus fucking christ i'm really tired of him.

Besides the complete meltdown and the underwhelming offense for much of the season, his tendency to take some guys out of lineups for no real reason just because is infuriating.

Why is Diakite not playing anymore?

This is a genuinely curious question and not meant as an attack. Wasn’t one of your main complaints that JB was riding his starters too much?

In a game when we were down our best player, our 6th man candidate from last year, our starting SF, and our backup PG who is perhaps the most important bench player in the league if Garland would have played 40 minutes I can almost guarantee that there would have been complaints about running DG into the ground (not necessarily you in particular, but a possibility) Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, right?

Sometimes you are just down so many horses that “running our offense” is relying on the best player we have to make plays. Instead, DG turned the ball over repeatedly trying to prove a point to the officials that he was being fouled.

Yes, DG’s pace has to increase, but I’m not going to pick a game when we are without so many vital pieces to be the one to harp on. I just can’t do it.

Also, Diakite didn’t play because he was truly awful the last couple of games he played. He gave 11+ minutes of nothingness and was benched after letting the team down in a game he started and they really needed him to contribute. Fair or not, he has a backups backup label and is going to have to majorly produce to earn minutes.

 

[Marcus]

This is a genuinely curious question and not meant as an attack. Wasn’t one of your main complaints that JB was riding his starters too much?

In a game when we were down our best player, our 6th man candidate from last year, our starting SF, and our backup PG who is perhaps the most important bench player in the league if Garland would have played 40 minutes I can almost guarantee that there would have been complaints about running DG into the ground (not necessarily you in particular, but a possibility) Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, right?

Sometimes you are just down so many horses that “running our offense” is relying on the best player we have to make plays. Instead, DG turned the ball over repeatedly trying to prove a point to the officials that he was being fouled.

Yes, DG’s pace has to increase, but I’m not going to pick a game when we are without so many vital pieces to be the one to harp on. I just can’t do it.

Also, Diakite didn’t play because he was truly awful the last couple of games he played. He gave 11+ minutes of nothingness and was benched after letting the team down in a game he started and they really needed him to contribute. Fair or not, he has a backups backup label and is going to have to majorly produce to earn minutes.

And yet he continues to trot Okoro out there who has actively hindered this team in almost every game he’s played this year. Make it make sense, because I honestly can’t at this point.

I’m starting to get the sense that he just doesn’t have a great feel for the game. He’s much too late on timeouts and adjustments. Darius went down with an injury a few games ago and he didn’t even call a timeout to stop the action and give him a chance to get up and compose himself. The Kings went on like a 19-0 run last night. That kind of thing can’t happen if you’re serious about contending - at some point you need to call a timeout and adjust so that you can stop the bleeding.

Despite the fact that he’s supposed to be this great motivator, this team continues to come out the gates completely flat, devoid of energy. It’s especially prevalent on the road but they haven’t been immune to it at home.

Despite the addition of Luke Walton, this team still struggles in running a coherent offense, basically devolving into iso ball and “your turn, my turn” between Garland and Mitchell. They still can’t run an inbounds play to save their lives. If not for some superstar level play by Mitchell in some of these games we’d be looking at probably a .500 (or worse) team right now. The fact that they are 16-10 right now is a testament to the amount of top of the rotation talent this team has, despite playing one of the tougher schedules in the NBA right now.

Not all of this is on him, of course - this is a roster that was inherently flawed coming into the season. Guys we were depending on to man the wings just haven’t worked out, and this team desperately needs another backup big. Moves need to be made.

He’s a young coach, and there’s still time to turn it around and grow, but in a season in which there’s a spotlight on the Cavs and they are expected to be serious contenders, his warts shine through even brighter.

 

[Cavatt]

This is a genuinely curious question and not meant as an attack. Wasn’t one of your main complaints that JB was riding his starters too much?

In a game when we were down our best player, our 6th man candidate from last year, our starting SF, and our backup PG who is perhaps the most important bench player in the league if Garland would have played 40 minutes I can almost guarantee that there would have been complaints about running DG into the ground (not necessarily you in particular, but a possibility) Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, right?

Sometimes you are just down so many horses that “running our offense” is relying on the best player we have to make plays. Instead, DG turned the ball over repeatedly trying to prove a point to the officials that he was being fouled.

Yes, DG’s pace has to increase, but I’m not going to pick a game when we are without so many vital pieces to be the one to harp on. I just can’t do it.

Also, Diakite didn’t play because he was truly awful the last couple of games he played. He gave 11+ minutes of nothingness and was benched after letting the team down in a game he started and they really needed him to contribute. Fair or not, he has a backups backup label and is going to have to majorly produce to earn minutes.

The team was pretty small and they have a lot of lengthy dudes. Diakite could have kept Mobley's min a little lower. Lopez was unplayable in this game. Hell, Jarrett looked to lumbering almost.

Okoro and Stevens were playing the 4.

Mobley needed to be in at the end but he was super tired

 

[Lee]

And yet he continues to trot Okoro out there who has actively hindered this team in almost every game he’s played this year. Make it make sense, because I honestly can’t at this point.

I’m starting to get the sense that he just doesn’t have a great feel for the game. He’s much too late on timeouts and adjustments. Darius went down with an injury a few games ago and he didn’t even call a timeout to stop the action and give him a chance to get up and compose himself. The Kings went on like a 19-0 run last night. That kind of thing can’t happen if you’re serious about contending - at some point you need to call a timeout and adjust so that you can stop the bleeding.

Despite the fact that he’s supposed to be this great motivator, this team continues to come out the gates completely flat, devoid of energy. It’s especially prevalent on the road but they haven’t been immune to it at home.

Despite the addition of Luke Walton, this team still struggles in running a coherent offense, basically devolving into iso ball and “your turn, my turn” between Garland and Mitchell. They still can’t run an inbounds play to save their lives. If not for some superstar level play by Mitchell in some of these games we’d be looking at probably a .500 (or worse) team right now. The fact that they are 16-10 right now is a testament to the amount of top of the rotation talent this team has, despite playing one of the tougher schedules in the NBA right now.

Not all of this is on him, of course - this is a roster that was inherently flawed coming into the season. Guys we were depending on to man the wings just haven’t worked out, and this team desperately needs another backup big. Moves need to be made.

He’s a young coach, and there’s still time to turn it around and grow, but in a season in which there’s a spotlight on the Cavs and they are expected to be serious contenders, his warts shine through even brighter.

Okoro vs Diakite have nothing to do with eachother.

We are down guards, Rubio, Windler, and Mitchell. Some suggest its Lamar vs Okoro, but Lamar plays 2 positions, neither are guards. Neto can be exposed defensively when we play Garland and Neto together.

It sucks, JBB is by no means perfect, but he was short handed, and Garland fucked up allot down the stretch. Allen was in foul trouble, Garland was tired, Okoro needs gone, but has to be replaced with a SG/SF. We are getting there, but our roster isnt perfect.

 

[Marcus]

Okoro vs Diakite have nothing to do with eachother.

We are down guards, Rubio, Windler, and Mitchell. Some suggest its Lamar vs Okoro, but Lamar plays 2 positions, neither are guards. Neto can be exposed defensively when we play Garland and Neto together.

It sucks, JBB is by no means perfect, but he was short handed, and Garland fucked up allot down the stretch. Allen was in foul trouble, Garland was tired, Okoro needs gone, but has to be replaced with a SG/SF. We are getting there, but our roster isnt perfect.

My comparison between the two has absolutely nothing to do with them on a positional basis, and everything to do with some players getting preferential treatment over others when they’ve done nothing on the court to earn it. Diakite plays a couple bad games and gets banished. Okoro plays poorly just about every game and gets coddled like a delicate, mentally fragile flower that just needs 50 more opportunities to prove that he’s an NBA-caliber player. It would be different if this was just an unusual down year for him, but it’s year three and if anything he’s actually regressed since his first year.

I find it kind of ridiculous that Rubio and Windler are even brought up. Windler has yet to play a single minute this year and was rarely in the rotation even when he was healthy. Rubio hasn’t even played since last December. It’s not like we had these guys throughout the course of the year and suddenly we’re scrambling to adjust because they aren’t there anymore. And as much as this team was missing Mitchell, the Kings were also missing Fox.

Neto probably wouldn’t look like a deer in the headlights if he got to play more than 2 minutes every other week, but I digress.

I think we are in agreement on some things and not on others. Changes to this roster need to be made if they are serious about playoff contention this year, but I also don’t think the pieces in place now are being utilized as well as they could be, either.

 

[Marcus]

I’m far from the most vocal critic of JBB on this board - up until a couple weeks ago I had basically refrained from being openly critical of him at all. But the amount of losses and being on the wrong side of pivotal moments in games that can be attributed to poor game management are starting to pile up.

Ultimately I thought they were going to finish with 50 wins this year and a top four seed in the East. They’re still on track to do that, largely because they’ve got as talented a top four as any team in the league. It’s just that the way in which they’re losing these games is concerning.

 

[cavsfever]

And yet he continues to trot Okoro out there who has actively hindered this team in almost every game he’s played this year. Make it make sense, because I honestly can’t at this point.

I’m starting to get the sense that he just doesn’t have a great feel for the game. He’s much too late on timeouts and adjustments. Darius went down with an injury a few games ago and he didn’t even call a timeout to stop the action and give him a chance to get up and compose himself. The Kings went on like a 19-0 run last night. That kind of thing can’t happen if you’re serious about contending - at some point you need to call a timeout and adjust so that you can stop the bleeding.

Despite the fact that he’s supposed to be this great motivator, this team continues to come out the gates completely flat, devoid of energy. It’s especially prevalent on the road but they haven’t been immune to it at home.

Despite the addition of Luke Walton, this team still struggles in running a coherent offense, basically devolving into iso ball and “your turn, my turn” between Garland and Mitchell. They still can’t run an inbounds play to save their lives. If not for some superstar level play by Mitchell in some of these games we’d be looking at probably a .500 (or worse) team right now. The fact that they are 16-10 right now is a testament to the amount of top of the rotation talent this team has, despite playing one of the tougher schedules in the NBA right now.

Not all of this is on him, of course - this is a roster that was inherently flawed coming into the season. Guys we were depending on to man the wings just haven’t worked out, and this team desperately needs another backup big. Moves need to be made.

He’s a young coach, and there’s still time to turn it around and grow, but in a season in which there’s a spotlight on the Cavs and they are expected to be serious contenders, his warts shine through even brighter.

The “tough schedule” excuse isn’t looking so great recently. Over the past 14 games, after coming back from the west coast road trip, we’re 8-6 even though we’ve had only two games you could really call difficult (road games against the Bucks and Raptors).