He insisted later he meant to say slugs, and he tried to apologize the next day, but a number of the players never really embraced his explanation. In fact, some of them thought it was an insult to their intelligence, one player told The Athletic .
“There was no coming back from that,” he said.
Instead, multiple players began playing songs that included the word “thug” whenever Beilein was within earshot, sources said: Bone Thugz-n-Harmony’s “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” and Tupac’s “Thugz Mansion” among them. As the team boarded the bus a few days after the incident, one player was intentionally playing Trick Daddy’s “I’m a Thug” with Beilein a few feet away. Other players blasted songs with the word “thug” loudly during workouts in the facility. Players did this to make light of a very tough situation, according to one team source.
“The worst part to me was not owning that he said it,” one player told The Athletic .
Just read the whole piece. It’s weird to me how little Beilein seemed to know about how the NBA worked. Did he really think he was gonna be able to run college practice schedules?
Everywhere he’s been, he’s come in and done it his way.
I mean isn’t that exactly what he did? I don’t know who talks to Shams, but it’s been evident that whoever it is really really really doesn’t like JB. Other players have said he says slugs a lot and they totally bought the explanation - but this article tries to paint an entirely different story. He said it aand it was bad, but quite honestly I probably take it way too personally to see people attacking him and now he’s painted as some weird authoritarian racist which doesn’t at all reflect what he’s shown for 40 years at the college level. Either way, there was no coming back from it when combined with getting off on a bad foot.
The reason JB doesn’t work in the NBA probably goes back to a thing we talked about when Juwan came on. Juwan talks about family all the time. He tries to build that culture. Heck look at how much Izzo’s players like him for whatever reason. You never got that vibe from JB. His relationships with players was transactional in a lot of ways. Which worked out great for JB and for a lot of players, but I don’t think it works in the NBA when you don’t recruit every player that would fit perfectly.
The part of the story at the top about slugs/thugs makes for a better lede but the real issue as far as why this stuff never worked for him is the practice schedule, drilling fundamentals, talking about fundamentals in film sessions.
Without that… I’m not sure what Beilein is. That’s basically him to a T. Those stories about practicing pivoting for hours when he arrived at Michigan weren’t a joke.
Agreed. I also am a bit confused by Beilein’s bewilderment at load management and the like. Wasn’t there all kind of talk about how the staff monitored Walton and Simpson’s workload and had them chill out in practice to save themselves? I would have thought Beilein would have taken that idea with him to the NBA, so it’s weird to see him supposedly abandon that and have people blame him for Windler’s injury.
It’s just an overall baffling story. All of it. From the beginning it never made sense
I think the big difference is it is a situation where so many decisions aren’t his to make. He made those decisions on the college level about roster, rest, whatever else.
As a fan grateful to what Beilein did for U-M’s basketball program, I’ll just shamelessly tell myself that he retired unexpectedly in May of last year and has been cast fishing and enjoying his family happily ever since.
Harbaugh had the same problem with the San Fran-49ers. He went from the college ranks to to the pros, and his methods irritated the well “established” pros who did not want to be in an environment “suitable” to college athletics.
While Harbaugh was more successful in his pro tenure, the message from the pro players he coached was clear. I am sure Belein knew about all this, being as detail oriented in his coaching philosophy as Harbaugh.
Bullshit that is why they did it. They did it to be unprofessional assholes, which coincides with everything we have heard about that team this year. No wonder Beilein decided he had enough.
The fact that every coach has left Cleveland miserable is also part of the equation. It is also something that was pretty well established before Beilein took the gig.
Couple of thoughts on this
First, Cleveland must be the worst organization in professional sports. Yes, including the Lions. You know who you f-king hired! You knew how he ran practices, you knew what his strengths and weaknesses were, you knew all of that. And, from the way it sounds in that article, they did nothing to back him up. There’s literally no other reason to hire him except for his system, and all that entails.
Second, those players are every bad stereotype of entitled professional athletes. Not only that, they also suck. That’s a bad combination.
Third, yes JB should have went into it with his eyes open but I still don’t blame him for taking the shot.
Lastly, holy cow did we luck out. JB’s age was going to become an issue in the very near future. Now we have a guy who seems like he can coach a guy who can definitely recruit. I love JB to death, but we won the trade.
You mean they did it to be professional assholes?
@umhoops As a Cleveland guy, what was the tone of the Cleveland fanbase through the 9 months JB was there?
Don’t really follow the NBA or the Cavs, but I don’t think anyone is particularly concerned with the Cavs here. Everyone knew they would be bad and they are bad.
Browns took up everyone’s attention.
Are these the same authors who wrote that original piece quoting three of their toxic veterans on how bad Beilein was?
The Athletic’s NBA content in general has been super shaky, starting with a deplorable piece this summer defending China after the Rockets GM fiasco.
I don’t think Beilein comes off as looking bad there. Clueless or stubborn, maybe, but to lump him in in that sentence ``all look bad’’ doesn’t seem reasonable to me personally.
I definitely have a new view of Shams after this one. The part that really got me was how the whole thing was a hit piece on Beilein and then:
The fact he would walk away from so much money was startling to those polled over the last few days, but Beilein previously confided in at least one player that he didn’t care much for money.
“Money isn’t an issue; happiness comes first,” Beilein is said to have told a Cavs player in a discussion.
Weeks later, Beilein stepped away and left tens of millions
As if that’s not a GIANT flashing sign saying that there are probably two sides to this story.
“The worst part to me was not owning that he said it,” one player told The Athletic
Says an anonymous player
Props to Beilein for taking a chance and betting on himself. Many successful coaches flirt with the NBA but never want to risk it. Beilein climbed to the top of the ladder, it just didn’t work out. Also wouldn’t be surprised to see him retire. He said this would be his last job (although he probably did not anticipate it would only last a few months).