Did Cavs Make Right Choice With J.B. Bickerstaff's Dismissal?

J.B. Bickerstaff played a significant role in turning around the Cleveland Cavaliers and incrementally improving the team annually, yet it still wasn't enough to keep his job as head coach.

Dec 21, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Oftentimes if a team doesn't reach its ultimate goal within a certain time period, the front office will act immediately. Sometimes, it's as soon as the night of a season finale. In other situations, it will come the morning after.

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't follow that pattern. Instead, J.B. Bickerstaff's full body of work received a thorough overview this week. He met with Dan Gilbert, Koby Altman and the front office to discuss the future of the franchise and his potential role in that.

The parties' conclusion? Going their separate ways.

Not that it matters since the decision is made, but this doesn't feel like a typical firing because of a failure to meet expectations. No animosity at all, in fact.

The organization acknowledges the terrific work Bickerstaff did to take over a bottom-dwelling, inexperienced group from the calamity that was the short-lived John Beilein "era" and turn it into an annual postseason competitor in such a short time.

There's been substantial, incremental improvement annually, getting deeper into the NBA Playoffs in each of the past three seasons. That can't go unappreciated. And if you're of the opinion that Bickerstaff did nothing for this franchise to celebrate, you're flat-out wrong and misguided, perhaps spoiled by an unrealistic standard that the seasons that LeBron James and Co. set previously.

But, apparently, it is now of the Cavs' belief that making gradual advancements from year-to-year doesn't equate to competing for championships. So in looking back on his tenure, we can take the good with the bad that came with Bickerstaff's four-plus seasons roaming the sideline.

Bickerstaff clearly connected with his players and always came to their defense publicly, whether it was being in officials' ears or in the press conference room. It's hard to call into question his principles on the defensive end of the floor as well, empowering the likes of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in concert with perimeter teammates allowed to be extra aggressive on the ball. Let's not forget his innovation with the three-big lineup of Allen, Mobley and Lauri Markkanen in 2021-22. And he rarely put any of his players in a box.

He also deserves credit for upping the pace and space this season, relying more on the three-point line with better-equipped personnel than in years past, especially when Mobley and Darius Garland missed time due to injury. Kudos to him for splitting the wine-and-gold's Core Four into pairings that fit well together too. It can also be argued that he did well by working with what he could, and that his teams exhibited admirable mental toughness when undermanned with their backs against the wall.

Dec 21, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Conversely, there were far too many times where Bickerstaff didn't get the most out of a healthy group. There was little time to do it, but unfortunately the games don't stop. Neither does the NBA. In watching a starting five that played only 28 games together performing inconsistently, maybe there should have been a higher sense of urgency on his part to solve the root of the issue.

If one wants to make mention of the constant injuries plaguing the Cavs, it might not be off base to suggest that Bickerstaff's minute distribution could have played a role. Recall a moment on Feb. 28 where Donovan Mitchell played 44 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back on a sore knee in Chicago — less than 24 hours removed from going 38 minutes for Cleveland in an emotional win over Dallas at home. Mitchell missed the next seven games and 13 of the next 15.

It's also been reported by The Athletic that Altman scolded Bickerstaff on Dec. 18 for overplaying Mitchell following an overtime victory vs. the Houston Rockets (even with Mitchell's preference to do so).

It wasn't just Mitchell, though. Mobley had to miss a huge chunk of the campaign (32 games) due to a knee problem. Caris LeVert appeared on the Cavs' injury report numerous times this season with some kind of soreness or discomfort in his knee. Max Strus missed all but five games in March with knee pain.

Notice that I'm not bringing up Garland's freak-accident facial injury or Allen's ankle issue coming into the season. That's because those are out of everybody's control.

Wear and tear, on the other hand, could've been managed more sufficiently and smartly. At least it feels like that from an outside perspective. (I call it "Thibs-ian" in reference to New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau's tendency to run guys into the ground.) Glancing at how these seasons have ended for Cleveland in the past three years, the trend of a fall-off post-All-Star break has to be connected, no?

A coach can delegate who plays and how long those players in the rotation are out there for. When the Cavs were at full strength, Bickerstaff was stingy to go deeper than eight or nine for some reason despite his own praise of the team's depth and statement that he'd go as far as a 11-man grouping.

He clarified later that, although the wine-and-gold had plenty of capable bodies, there were so many like-sized smaller players on the roster. (Probably the first signal that maybe this went beyond coaching and into roster construction.)

Those of you who wanted the #Cavs shorter rotation question asked to J.B. Bickerstaff, I did my best to do so and he answered. pic.twitter.com/emYNKvA8YF

— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) December 4, 2023

The first moment this season where it seemed Bickerstaff could be in trouble was on the road against the Detroit Pistons in the first game of December. Trailing for most of that game and coming off a lowly defeat to the listless Portland Trail Blazers, the Cavs ended up rallying despite it being in less-than-enthusiastic fashion vs. one of the worst teams in the NBA. From that point, the wine-and-gold found some juice, so give credit where credit is due there.

Rumblings around Bickerstaff's job security resurfaced in the middle of a first-round series against the Orlando Magic. After being blown out in Game 3, the Cavs responded with their best half of playoff basketball and took a 60-51 lead into the locker room. In the next 24 minutes, Cleveland mustered a measly 29 points and were outclassed by the much more inexperienced Magic.

Postgame, there were players who were calling for strategical changes and it was clear as day that the disaster of a second half annoyed them. To Bickerstaff's defense, Cavs players have to own their own shortcomings too; no coach's scheme or direction should ever amount to whatever that slop was that day in Orlando.

Max Strus says the Cavs are "lucky" that they are tied with the Magic in the series: "Gotta restart and try to figure out a way to get the next one."#LetEmKnow | #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/6QwrSy1lW9

— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 27, 2024

A lot has happened over the course of Bickerstaff's head coaching career in Cleveland, including talent-stacking moves from Altman that brought in Mitchell, Allen, Mobley, LeVert and Strus into the picture via trade, the NBA Draft or free agency. The more moves have been made, the higher the expectations have gotten, especially externally.

There are accomplishments that need to be celebrated, like a 50-win regular season in 2022-23, the first squad to do so without LeBron in decades. Winning a seven-game playoff series and battling the NBA title favorites in the second round on a LeBron-less team riddled by injuries is also a big deal as the organization continues to trend in the right direction.

However, it's a bottom-line business where there is a singular goal in mind. Bickerstaff had those aspirations like everybody, but he may have been too stout (sometimes stubborn) with his methodology and may have been too friendly in his messaging when discussing the Cavs, who despite their legitimate progress remain nowhere near an NBA title at this moment.

We won't know if this was the right move until we find out who's coming in. And even then, the leash is growing tighter and tighter in the NBA (and sports in general) with fanbases starved for consistent success and championships in a league that is about to crown its sixth different title-winner in as many years.

There's no guarantee that the grass is greener on the other side. What we do know is that it's no longer the status quo.

And Mitchell's presence, whether he is the main influence in the building or not, is kicking the sense of urgency into high gear.

Cleveland's decision-makers believe that this move is taking off the kid gloves and going for it.