J.B. Bickerstaff And His Cavaliers Welcome Back An Old Friend Friday Night

Bickerstaff sheds light on relationship with Kings coach Mike Brown

When the Cavaliers tipoff against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, there will be a familiar face on the opposing bench: Mike Brown

Brown doesn't just have ties to the Cavs' organization, but also directly to current head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. 

Bickerstaff estimates their connection dates back to when he was a teenager and when Brown worked worked with Bickerstaff's father, Bernie. 

The elder Bickerstaff, winner of the 2014 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the league’s coaches association after 33 years as a coach in the NBA, was an assistant on Brown’s staff in 2013-14. He’s also advised current president of basketball operations Koby Altman since he took over as general manager in 2017.

"I used to bust his ass in 1-on-1," Bickerstaff said. "He'll lie and tell you was the opposite."

Brown got his first head coaching job in Cleveland in 2005, helping lead LeBron James and the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in his second season before getting swept by the Spurs. With the Kings enjoying success they haven't seen in years with Brown at the helm, Bickerstaff has noticed something in his longtime friend. 

"I'm happy for him. He is you know, there's no more deserving person than watching him, you know, enjoy it," Bickerstaff said. " I'm watching him now on the sidelines and he looks like he's having a blast.”

Brown was fired in 2010 took a year off before being hired to replace Phil Jackson as the Lakers head coach. After a 1-4 start in his second season, the Lakers parted ways with Brown leading him to return to the Cavs in 2013 for one season before being dismissed again by the organization. 

Too often NBA teams try to build a franchise around players and not around systems.

Not the Cavs and Bickerstaff. 

Sure, the Cavs have a roster that boasts Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland in the back court. Their success as a franchise will largely live and die with that duo. 

But Bickerstaff has a definitive way he wants his team to play stylistically, an attitude that he wants them to employ mentally and a work ethic he demands they adhere to fundamentally. 

Mitchell and Garland are key to that, as are big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. 

You could make the argument that Brown's teams operate in the same manner, which should make for a riveting matchup Friday night when the two teams collide. 

“He's a big brother, a mentor, a friend, you know, somebody I admire, somebody I look up to," Bickerstaff said. "He's one of the, you know, handful of guys in his league who when he says something like he means it and he's going to do it, and there's always follow through."

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