Cleveland Cavaliers hire John Beilein

You say ego as if it was a bad thing.

I think Texas makes a lot of sense.

Coach Beilein at Texas with a staff of:

Luke Yaklich
Patrick Beilein
Bacari Alexander.

I lot of reclamation projects there! :wink:

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Not saying itā€™s good or bad, but it is what it is

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Interesting quotes from Collin Sexton over all-star weekend. ā€œYou know how college coaches are. We had to tell him - coach weā€˜be got 82 (games)ā€¦we canā€™t kill ourselvesā€

When you say it ā€œcost him a jobā€, thatā€™s a negative.

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I thought it was pretty well established that Beilein was tired of systematic corruption in the NCAA, putting all his free time into recruiting, and constant, unexpected player turnover.

I really dislike the wording of ā€œhis ego cost him the job.ā€ Seems extremely spiteful to me.

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Beilein was a bad fit for Cleveland, but millionaire players who canā€™t win games shouldnā€™t be complaining to the media about their coach making them work too hard.

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See, this is why you are sane1. I agree, as I always do, with your take. Coach B has a wife who has sacrificed so much for his career over the years, she really has, and sheā€™s loved it, too, and been a big part of that career, and Coach B adores her. He also has grandchildren who he adores, and he loves northern Michigan (who wouldnā€™t?!?).

I am also quite sure Coach B has or will have a plan. I truly believe he thought he could turn the Cavs around, though most of us thought that would be pretty impossible, even for Coach B. I do believe that if/when he leaves the Cavs(probably sooner rather than later) he will retire, at least initially. As one who has ā€œretiredā€ three times I also know nothing is ever permanent. Also the conventional wisdom is that once you retire you really ought to give it a year to try it out and figure out your next plan and the direction of your life.

Interestingly, after I retired from teaching and coaching I got my securities licenses and became a financial adviser. I found myself oftentimes in discussions with folks nearing retirement talking with them as much about what they would do in retirement as I did with whether they could afford to retire. I often said, ā€œYou CAN retire. We can make this work financially, but what are you going to do for the next 10-15-20 years of your life? Letā€™s make a plan for that.ā€

Coach B is 67 years old. He really is nearing a time where he will want/need to slow down a bit. Heā€™s very competitive, that is true, but heā€™ll get to the point where his body and his energy wonā€™t let him do everything he once could do. What will be his plan for the future? I think heā€™ll have one. Will it involve work? Will that work be highly competitive? Will he give his expertise to others so that they can use his great knowledge? Will pieces of John Beilein be in others enabling them to achieve greatness, too. What a legacy that would be.

As Sane says, I believe Kathleen will be highly involved in his life and in his plans, and I think his grandchildren will be, tooā€¦and northern Michigan. Just the thoughts of a little old (73 whoa!) silver haired guy who cares a lot about John Beilein and wants the best for him!

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I really hope Beilein has a conversation with the Cavs front office to work this out. Maybe he goes in to a meeting, says he will re-evaluate his coaching style this offseason and they bring him back with the agreement that he makes some pro-NBA style adjustments.

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Lol because Sexton has such experience playing 82 game seasons!? I might take this more seriously from Tristan Thompson than Sexton

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We talked about this a bit on the podā€¦ but the interactions (film, practice, etc.) that you have in the NBA are very different from college and very different from what Beilein prefers.

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For anyone who didnā€™t click, the full Sexton quote sounds even worse than the blurb in that tweet:

ā€œYou know how he is, he is very detail-oriented and itā€™s detail, detail, detail,ā€ Sexton said. ā€œHe loves details. And he always wants us to make sure that when we are out there, we are giving it our all. College coaches, you know how they areā€”they want you to go 1,000 percent every second of the day. Heā€™s been in college for 20 years, more than that. Weā€™ve had to tell him, like, ā€˜Coach, weā€™ve got 82 (games), we canā€™t kill ourselves.ā€™ā€

As a coach, if that is the mentality of the players on your roster, Iā€™d hang it up too. You arenā€™t winning anything with guys like that on your team.

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Thatā€™s the mentality of the entire NBAā€¦ I think that just discounting what Sexton is saying ignores some of the nuance to the situation. Coaching in the NBA is about being able to communicate in the right sized chunks at the right times.

So much about the NBA is wildly different whether it is travel, number of games, practice schedule, etc. It makes complete sense that you have to use different levels of detail or different settings to properly prepare a team.

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Cleveland might as well have a chair for a coach. Their roster is pitiful. Popovich couldnā€™t even help them.

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I get that the NBA is different. And a guy like Beilein would need to adjust the length of film sessions, the effort in practice, etc. But for Sexton to say ā€œwants us to make sure that when we are out there, we are giving it our allā€ is pretty bad. I know there is load management and players take time off, but when you have a $14M contract you probably shouldnā€™t be complaining about your coach wanting you to give it your all when youā€™re playing.

Edit: And when your record is 14-40, you shouldnā€™t be suggesting youā€™re not giving it full effort. Very different for Kawhi to go 50% some games when their goal is to make a run in the playoffs.

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I think the best route for JB is retirement. Heā€™s 67 years old and isnā€™t going to do anything long term. His family loves AA, and location was a huge factor when he took the Cleveland job.

I donā€™t think he would be a good color commentator as someone already said it perfectly; he just has always struggled to coherently speak his thoughts. I do think he would make for a good analyst however. Limited time talking, good perspective and insight, knowledge of the sport, etc.

I also wonder if he would be willing to take a Job with the university, similar to what Mark Dantonio is doing. I think that would be a solid option, as it wouldnā€™t require a tremendous workload and he wouldnā€™t have to recruit either. Just not sure which position he could or would take and if there are any positions that would appeal to him.

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I think that heā€™d like to maintain some connection to basketball. What that might be, I donā€™t know. Donā€™t think that heā€™d be a color commentator because heā€™d be reluctant to critique other coaches.

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Most everyone that has a competitive bone in their body wants to go out on their terms. Hard to imagine Coach B is not the same. But I tend to be on the same page as Sane & Silver here, where it will be a family decision.

Maybe he does a Bobby Knight or Tubby Smith where he takes a job in order to provide a pathway for his son?

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I agree, Sane. Iā€™ve communicated with our friend Mattski through email and with Chace_Green above about the notion of Coach B working in the athletic department in some capacity. He could handle some admin duties, duties that he would find cahllenging, a bit, perhaps teach a class, be a guest lecturer, be given some special projects that he could dig his teeth into. I just think he would be a great asset to the university and would be able to share that great Beilein knowledge and wisdom with others. But who knows. I know I wish him everything good, and Iā€™m sure most (all) others on here do, too. I would hope the university would welcome him back in some, fulfilling, capacity.

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When in one calendar year he goes from the head coach at Michigan in a spot where they were going to be consistent contenders for the next 5 years to his most likely options including DePaul, Boston College and mid-majors, then I think thatā€™s a negative.

Put it this way - if John Beilein could have the Michigan job back right now, would he take it?