CLEVELAND — If and when the Cleveland Cavaliers and head coach John Beilein part ways, his replacement already is within the organization.
According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavaliers’ succession plan for Beilein includes turning over the on-court leadership of the team to well-respected assistant J.B. Bickerstaff.
“The Cavaliers had planned for a Beilein-Bickerstaff succession plan, but never imagined it would come at the All-Star break of Beilein’s first season,” Wojnarowski tweeted. “Bickerstaff would be promoted to the full-time coaching role, not on an interim basis, per sources.”
Wojnarowski further reported that Beilein and the Cavaliers “remain in discussions on his future with the franchise, including on the terms of a contract settlement. Both sides believe he’s coached his final game, but there’s no resolution yet.”
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Bickerstaff joined the Cavaliers’ coaching staff after two years as Memphis’ head coach.
During his 145 games with the Grizzlies, Bickerstaff posted a 48-97 record, but after winning only 15 games as an interim coach in 2017-2018, he improved the team’s mark to 33-49 (.402 winning percentage) in 2018-2019.
In addition to his tenure in Memphis, Bickerstaff coached the Houston Rockets in 71 games during the 2015-2016 season and posted a 37-34 record.
Earlier Tuesday evening, Jason Lloyd and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported the Cavaliers and Beilein are “in advanced talks about parting ways by Wednesday.” They further reported that Beilein would be “walking away from the remainder of his contract.”
Beilein signed a five-year deal to coach the Cavaliers back in May of 2019.
Lloyd and Charania’s story came one day after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst reported that Beilein was meeting with team management and a decision on his future was expected in the next 24-48 hours.
The Cavaliers are 14-40 (.259 winning percentage), 9.5 games out of the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Coming out of the NBA All-Star Game break, the Cavaliers have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers are 2.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the worst record in the entire NBA, just two seasons after the franchises met in The Finals for the fourth consecutive year.
Beilein was an unexpected hire of the Cavaliers this past offseason after spending in his nearly three-decade college coaching career.
While leading Michigan for 12 years, Beilein posted a 278-150 record with nine winning seasons, three 30-win campaigns, two Big Ten Conference Tournament championships, two conference regular-season titles and nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
Overall, Beilein had a 571-325 career record (.637 winning percentage) in his 27-year career at the NCAA Division I level, and his rate of winning was equally impressive in the NCAA Tournament.
Beilein guided his teams to a 26-13 record and twice took the Wolverines to the Final Four.