Cleveland Cavaliers name J.B. Bickerstaff interim head coach

According to Tom Withers of the Associated Press, the Cleveland Cavaliers have made a coaching change. On Wednesday, the Cavaliers announced the resignation of head coach John Beilein of Burt, New York and that J.B. Bickerstaff of Denver,  Colorado would take over on an interim basis.

This will be Bickerstaff’s third head coaching job in the National Basketball Association. He was previously the interim head coach of the Houston Rockets in 2015-16 and then the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from 2017 to 2019.

Interestingly, Bickerstaff has not had much success as the head coach in the NBA to date. In 216 regular season games, he only has a record of 85 wins and 131 losses for a winning percentage of .394. Bickerstaff did help the Rockets reach the 2016 NBA Playoffs, but the Rockets lost in the Western Conference quarterfinal series four games to one to the Golden State Warriors.

Beilein initially signed a five year contract with Cleveland on May 13, but it became apparent that Beilein struggled in the transition from the NCAA to the NBA. The Cavaliers are currently the worst team in the NBA at 14 wins and 40 losses.

While in the NCAA, Beilein had unprecedented success. He had a record of 571 wins and 325 losses in 896 games at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level in the United States with the Canisius Golden Griffins, Richmond Spiders, West Virginia Mountaineers and the Michigan Wolverines. While with the Wolverines in 2014, Beilein was the Big Ten Coach of the Year. At age 67, it will now be interesting to see if Beilein makes a return to the NCAA.

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