The Cavaliers finally decided to fire coach JB Bickerstaff after five seasons
Although the Cavaliers recently played in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference in six seasons, the club decided to let go of its head coach JB Bickerstaff on Thursday. The 45-year-old, who was tasked with rebuilding Cleveland’s team and leading it to 99 regular-season wins, will be without a job after five years in Ohio.
In 2020, he replaced John Beilein as interim coach, and continued to produce a 170-159 record until they fell to the Celtics earlier this month. However, they defeated the Orlando Magic in the opening round of the playoffs, after reaching fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a score of 48-34.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, they played their last two games in the semifinals without stars Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, as the club failed to retain its key starters throughout the season. According to ESPN, Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and Allen played only 28 games together this campaign.
“I’m sorry to say it – I think his time has just passed. Brother on and off the court, great organization. It’s very important to bring a new voice.”
Marcus Morris on JB Bickerstaff (by @RunItBackFDTV) pic.twitter.com/jyaFkr1V4p
— MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) May 24, 2024
Maybe JB Bickerstaff hasn’t taken the Cavaliers to the same level the franchise did when LeBron James was in town, but he’s been the best coach they’ve had since. However, it appears that president of basketball Koby Altman and general manager Mike Gansey are looking for a new approach.
Despite Cleveland’s improvement over the years, many insiders such as Joe Vardon, Jason Lloyd and Shams Charania agreed that Bickerstaff’s role was “in serious jeopardy” after this month’s season-ending loss to the Celtics in Game 5 of the semifinals. .
On the other hand, Adrian Wojnarowski shared that the Cavs front office will have “many conversations about different ways to move forward” in the summer.
“The Cavaliers plan to take some time to evaluate the future of coach JB Bickerstaff, but the organization still likes him and the market has few confirmed candidates. There will be many discussions on various ways to advance the franchise that reached the Eastern semis for the first time since 2018,” an ESPN reporter expected last week.
Despite rumors of being fired, Bickerstaff always said he wanted to stay in Ohio and continue his career.
Even though he knows his days in Cleveland are coming to an end, JB Bickerstaff said last week that he wants to stay on as the team’s head coach.
“Yes,” he started out. “We continued to build this thing properly. Every year we improve, we keep getting better, playing, playing, winning the round … the players are getting better. The boys had a great year.”
When asked about his firing, he made sure everyone knew he wanted to stay. “This is the place I really want to be,” he told the media. “I mean, no one has ever told me that I’m not me. So, I will continue to show up until they tell me not to.”
Now the Ohio State team will have to evaluate what to do if Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland do not renew their deals with the Cavaliers. However, the 24-year-old still believes that the club has a lot of work to do and that the team has improved year on year.
“We jump every year, so hopefully next year we will jump again,” said the guard. “We hope that we will enter the finals of the Eastern Conference healthy and take another step. It really came a long way from when I was recruited. I went from 19 wins to the conference semifinals, so I’m going to take it, to keep getting better and better every year.”
