Young Cavs Improving And New Philosophy Paying Off.

With everyone in northeast Ohio caught up in the Browns’ playoff chase, something else has slipped under the radar for sports fans here.

No, not the constant crying of having no money by the Indians’ ownership. But our basketball team has gotten off to a 3-0 start, the first time that has happened since they were the defending NBA champions.

We realize the 76ers did not have all star center Joel Embiid, and the Pistons and Hornets are not in the mix to make a deep playoff run, but still after viewing teams that had little or no direction since LeBron James departed via free agency, it is nice to see a plan and some wins.

The wine and gold are third in the NBA in scoring and lead the league in three point percentage and is third in overall shooting percentage. Can that continue? It’s probably doubtful. But they also lead the league in assists thus far, and after watching a lot of dribbling the past few years, watching this group share the basketball is quite refreshing.

There has also been improvement on the defensive end, which J.B. Bickerstaff promised. Cleveland is 7th in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage after three games. Last season, they finished dead last.

It’s also great to see big people in the lineup and those guys are defending the basket. The Cavs are 21st in blocked shots right now, and while that doesn’t seem to be great, it is an improvement over being last, which is where they were in 2019-20.

We have pointed out the lack of size on the roster since James departed, and while we would still like to see more, it is nice to see Andre Drummond, Larry Nance Jr., and Javale McGee out there challenging opponents driving to the basket.

The young players are getting better too. Collin Sexton is averaging 27.0 points per game on just 18 shots. He’s second on the team in getting to the foul line. He’s not taking that many three point shots.

Now, we know he will not continue to shoot 59% from the floor, but he has continued to play like he did after Bickerstaff took over.

We heard Darius Garland was a star in the fall camp, but didn’t play very well in the exhibition season. But he is off to a great start, scored 19 points and dishing out 8 assists per contest. Again, we don’t think he is going to shoot 50% from beyond the arc like he is right now.

Cedi Osman has adapted to his bench role, playing some of the best basketball of his young career. He’s scoring 15.7 points a night in just 22 minutes of play.

Again, back to the big men. Kevin Love missed pretty much two of the three games, but the bigs still have been outstanding.

Drummond is scoring 20.3 points and grabbing 14.7 boards and forcing turnovers defensively. He has 1.7 blocks and 2.7 steals per game. And he leads the team in getting to the line with 18 free throw attempts.

Nance is playing his typical all around game. He almost had a triple-double on Opening Night, and is averaging 8.7 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists a game. He is probably the best pure passer on the team.

The veteran, McGee, is playing just 17 minutes a game, but is making a huge impact, getting 10 points, five boards, and a blocked shot per game.

Look, the Cavs are shooting very, very well, and that’s not likely to continue. However, the improvement in the young players and the philosophy set down by Bickerstaff, especially on the defensive end shouldn’t change.

This team is better than projected, that’s for sure, and no one should complain about that. Unless you are one of the “we have to tank” brigade.

Is A Revamped Cavs’ Roster On The Horizon?

It will be interesting to see what the Cleveland Cavaliers’ roster will look like when training camp opens December 1st.

First, the trading period opened up yesterday, and with the draft coming up tomorrow, will the Cavs be involved in any of the transactions which take place.

Also, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova, heroes of the title team in 2016 are eligible for free agency, and we would place better odds on Delly returning to the organization than Thompson, who would seem to attract a lot of attention from contending teams.

Then, you have the fates of big man Andre Drummond, who will pick up his player option for 2020-21, but it is doubtful he will be looking to sign long term with Cleveland, and Kevin Love, who has a huge contract, but has seemingly been on the market since his first season with the team in 2014-15.

Another player who has been involved in the trade speculation is Larry Nance Jr., which we think makes sense because Nance is a real good player, and will turn 28 years old on New Years Day. Nance’s game is perfect for a playoff contender because he does everything well, and he’s coming off a career high in scoring (10.1), adding a three point shot to his repertoire.

It would seem to us that he is also the kind of player GM Koby Altman and coach JB Bickerstaff would want around to help a very young basketball team.

Cleveland was said to be interested in some free agents as well, players like Memphis’ Josh Jackson, who is 24 years old, and can play either wing spot at 6’8″, and Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., also 24 years old, and is more of a small forward, and averaged a career high 8.5 points per game last season.

You would have to think since Jones played for Erik Spoelstra in south Florida that he has some idea about defense, which should appeal to the Cavs.

We know we are a broken record (dated reference, we know), but if Thompson leaves, and with Ante Zizic already going back to Europe, the Cavaliers need big people. We wouldn’t mind taking a shot at Nerlens Noel, another free agent who averaged 7.4 points, five rebounds, and 1.5 blocked shots with the Thunder last season.

Finally, Altman needs to sort out his backcourt, which is cluttered with the drafting of two smallish guards in Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the top ten the past two seasons. Add in last year’s 30th overall pick in Kevin Porter and another top five overall pick in Dante Exum, and it will be a struggle to get them all decent playing time.

Will one or more of them be moved before camp starts?

Altman is in a tough spot. The Cavs have won less than 20 games in each of the last two seasons, albeit one of them in a 65 game season, and they need to start showing improvement in the win total area.

Trading for more potential lottery picks doesn’t seem like a good idea, getting young players with experience would seem to be a better option.

The biggest thing, though, is finding players who fit together, who complement each other’s game, and can contribute on both ends of the floor. And that’s where Bickerstaff’s influence should come in. It’s his deal, and he should have players he feels comfortable with.

What will the roster look like at the end of the month? Our first clues should reveal themselves this week.

Could Playing With Size Be More In Vogue For Cavs?

In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s comeback victory over the Miami Heat, new Cavs’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff did something we have advocated for about three months.

He went big.

He played Darius Garland at the point, played Kevin Porter Jr., a two guard with some actual size at 6’4″, and then went with Larry Nance Jr. at the three, with Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson up front.

These Cavaliers were better defensively, and we feel a big reason for that is the height being used.

Nance’s improved three point shooting, he’s a respectable 34% from distance in the past two seasons, allow the coaching staff to play him there. Nance referred to himself as a “swiss army knife” after the game, and that’s a pretty good analysis.

We loved the acquisition of Nance in 2018 at the trade deadline, because in watching a few Lakers’ games that season, we felt he was the best “player” on the team.

He’s a solid defender, which the wine and gold desperately need, and a very good passer for a forward. Defensively, he has enough quickness to stay with small forwards, and with his leaping ability, can bother the shots of power forwards.

The only questions about the former Revere High School product are his durability, he’s never played more than 67 games in a season, and his lack of bulk when defending in the paint.

We have written about this ad nauseum, but a big part of Cleveland’s struggles defensively is lack of size. Playing Garland and Collin Sexton at guard together make the team very small, and that is compounded playing Porter Jr. at small forward.

Notice that Andre Drummond wasn’t in that lineup against the Heat, but he soon will be part of that group, at least we hope so.

The new big man is getting just 10.8 shots per game with the Cavs, compared to almost 14 a night with Detroit. In the loss to Miami Saturday night, Drummond took just three shots, which is ridiculous.

We are not worried about this because the Cleveland guards are quite frankly, terrible at making entry passes into the post. That’s amazing to say about a player in the NBA.

As the coaching staff works with them, and playing Porter, who is a willing passer, more often, we would expect that to improve, and Drummond will get more shots.

He is active defensively, moves well for a big guy, and at 6’10”, gives the franchise a legitimate offensive big man. Tristan Thompson has done a great job, but he is really more suited to being a defensive oriented power forward.

The other player we hear being questioned is Cedi Osman. He is another player we feel is not being used in an optimate manner.

We think Osman is best used as a slasher, a guy who drives to the hoop and either finishes or has the ability to find the open man. Right now, he’s kind of a spot up three point shooter, and although he is hitting 38% from behind the arc, he is more streaky from distance.

It will be interesting to see if Bickerstaff uses this bigger lineup more often. It certainly can’t hurt. Hopefully, he is using the rest of the year as a laboratory, seeing what does and does not work.

Even though teams are playing smaller in today’s NBA, make no mistake, size is still important. It’s about time the Cavs’ front office got on board.

Cavs’ New Direction Is Hopefully Forward.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers take the floor Friday night, they will have a new coach in J. B. Bickerstaff.

This is will be the third time the soon to be 41 year old has taken over a team in the middle of a season. He took over for Kevin McHale in Houston during the 2015-16 season, guiding the Rockets to a 37-34 record.

He also assumed the reins in Memphis from David Fizdale in 2017-18 and coached through last season, going 48-97 with the Grizzlies.

Here, he takes over what appears to be a mess. And we say that including the front office, John Beilein’s relationship with the roster, and the players themselves.

Let’s start with the front office. Koby Altman was the first GM to receive a second contract under owner Dan Gilbert, but since LeBron James departed via free agency after the franchise’s fourth consecutive Eastern Conference title, the Cavs have a 33-103 record.

Yes, the wine and gold are rebuilding, but they haven’t stripped the roster bare either. Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Larry Nance Jr. all received a lot of minutes on that 2017-18 team, and they are still here.

So is Cedi Osman, who was considered a youngster with talent on that squad.

However, has Altman put his thumbprint on this organization? It seems here like he is collecting talent, which on the surface would appear to be a good thing, but basketball is a different sport. Collecting talent isn’t everything, collecting complementary talent makes for a winning team.

Getting Andre Drummond for pretty much nothing is a good move. But it seems to clash with the team’s leading scorer, Collin Sexton.

Shouldn’t the current roster be playing inside out, with Drummond and Kevin Love getting the ball around the paint and the guards playing off them when they are double teamed? That doesn’t seem like Sexton’s strong point.

We would guess Bickerstaff has a better relationship with the players than Beilein, because they didn’t seem to like the former college coach, and the assistant would typically be the guy the players complain to about the head guy.

But now Bickerstaff is the boss, and he is setting up the rotations and controlling the playing time. Because of his previous experience, maybe he will grab the players’ attention, and get them to buy in to the way he wants the game played.

The players aren’t immune from criticism either. It’s one thing to complain about a coach trying to teach when you are winning, but when you are losing 3/4ths of the time you take the floor, perhaps you should listen.

We have said this before, but two former players who do Cavs’ telecasts, Austin Carr and Brad Daugherty, use this word all the time…accountability. It is lack among this roster and we fear nothing will improve with the Cavaliers until there is some.

And that goes for the young guys and the veterans. Perhaps this was lost when the coaching staff didn’t hold the newbies to an NBA standard from day one. We don’t know that, but it has to be enforced by both the coaches and the veterans starting now.

The defenders say Cleveland is only a year and a half into the post-LeBron era, so the struggles are understandable.

Our problem is we don’t see a lot of progress in performance particularly in the basics of the game. You can play the right way and lose or play the wrong way and lose. We prefer the former.

The next era starts Friday. Hopefully, the internal strife is behind this organization and they can start to pull in the same direction.

Cavs Need To Decide What They Want To Be.

Since the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 4 of the NBA Finals on June 8, 2018, LeBron James’ last game with the wine and gold, the Cavs have played 126 games.

Cleveland has won just 31 of those.

And there are only five players who were on the roster then who remain: Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman, and Ante Zizic, and the latter two only played in mop up roles.

By the time the All Star game is played, it would not be surprising to see Love and Thompson both moved for younger players and/or draft picks.

Last summer, GM Koby Altman hired John Beilein, the former University of Michigan coach who had no professional experience as the head coach, presumably to teach the very young Cavs how to play the game.

Still, with a 12-32 record, currently the third worst mark in the NBA, more than one person has wondered what exactly is the Cavaliers plan to get back to the post-season, because right now, only the most optimistic person can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Right now, it seems like the only plan is to acquire as many young players as they can and have Beilein and his staff get them to improve. While that’s fine in theory, does Beilein have a vision for his team and how do they get there?

The key phrase around town lately has been “alignment”. It’s what the Browns talk about in terms of having the coach and the general manager on the same page.

Is that the case with the Cavaliers? We think it’s a fair question to ask.

We have to assume Beilein and his staff have discussed what kind of style the young Cavs should play, but all we hear is that the coaches want the players to move the ball.

Is that it?

We don’t think basing a team on just athleticism alone seems like something that can be sustained.

Last season, the Cavs were terrible defensively, some experts said they were among the worst defensive teams of the past 20 years. This season, they are just slightly better, ranking 29th (out of 30) in defensive efficiency.

That’s something that should be addressed and quite frankly, should be the foundation for the franchise going forward. All young players know how to put the ball in the basket, heck, that’s how they get to the NBA.

However, learning defensive skills? That’s another matter and it’s also where we would start. Make it a mindset that playing time is based on defensive ability.

The late, great high school coach, Morgan Wooten used to tell his teams he was sure of two starting players: The best defender and the best rebounder. It puts a premium on those talents.

At the end of this season, we will be two full years removed from the beginning of the rebuilding process. It is fair to ask the organization to set a course for the future, identify the types of players you want, players who can fit together to get this team back on the winning track.

It’s easy to build a team when you can draft LeBron, Giannis, or Luka. If you don’t you need to build a culture. That’s what Miami and Utah have. They seek out players that fit their culture, that is to say, a style of play.

That can always be changed if you get the superstar player.

We fear no progress will be made until some sort of identity is established.

Clarkson Deal First Of Many?

After winning two straight games, the Cleveland Cavaliers took the first step to rebuilding their roster for the 2020-21 season.

They moved Jordan Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for oft-injured guard Dante Exum and two future second round draft picks.

It may not seem like a big return for the wine and gold’s third leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, but perhaps it was a deal GM Koby Altman thought needed to be made sooner than later.

A few weeks ago, it was reported that several veterans weren’t happy with coach John Beilein’s “rah-rah college” coaching philosophy.

We immediately figured Clarkson was one of those critical, which was merely speculation on our part, mostly because Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. came out and quickly squashed the comments, and Kevin Love spoke highly of Beilein during training camp.

So, if Clarkson was indeed not happy here, Altman probably figured the sooner, the better to get him out of here.

Plus, Beilein was playing Clarkson at the end of close games because of his scoring ability, especially when his shot was falling, and this generally took one of his young guards, usually Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. off the floor during crunch time.

Porter, in particular, has been earning more time with his recent play, averaging 11.1 points per game on 51.1% shooting in December, and it would figure that he would get first crack at Clarkson’s minutes.

Plus, Clarkson was going to be a free agent after the season, and why not get something back for the veteran who arrived in Cleveland with Nance at the trade deadline in 2017-18.

He also isn’t a “move the ball” type of player than Beilein prefers.

Exum is a wild card because he’s suffered with injuries pretty much since he entered the league as the fifth overall pick in 2014.

First, he’s 6’5″ (an inch taller than Clarkson, which we have said is a must in any deal), and at his heart is a point guard first.

The only year he was relatively healthy was 2016-17, when at 21 years old, he averaged 6.2 points and 1.7 assists per night in 18.6 minutes.

This season, he’s barely played, getting into 11 games and playing just 83 minutes.

However, in the Cavs’ position, why not see if Exum can be an NBA player? It’s not as though Cleveland is making a playoff run, and if he can play up to the potential of his draft status, the wine and gold have a 24-year-old lottery ticket.

As we said before the real reason for the deal is to clear out a potential problem in the locker room, and to open up playing time for Porter, who by the way, when he plays well, the Cavaliers are a much better team.

This is the first of probably a few more moves for Altman before the trade deadline in February.

Besides Love, who has asked to be moved, Cleveland still has free agents (read: Expiring contracts) to be in Tristan Thompson, Brandon Knight, John Henson, Matthew Dellavedova, and Ante Zizic.

The Cavs might be interested in bringing back Thompson and even Dellavedova next year, and Zizic can’t get on the floor right now, but all of these guys could be available for future draft picks plus a bad contract.

Although the return wasn’t great, this was a move Altman felt he needed to make, and right now was the best time.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Thus Far For Cavs

After getting off to a decent start to the NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have become what most people thought going into the season. They are one of the worst teams in the league at 5-15.

Only three teams have a worse record: Atlanta (5-16), New York (4-17) and Golden State (4-18).

With three players 20 years old or younger getting primary minutes, the wine and gold’s poor record isn’t unexpected. And we certainly feel John Beilein has done a solid job teaching and guiding the young roster.

That said, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly as the Cavs hit the quarter pole of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Good. Tristan Thompson has improved his offense, averaging 13.9 points (more than two points above his career high) and continues to rebound well, also at career high 10.6 per game. Whether he stays with the Cavs or is moved before the trade deadline, he has been a positive influence both on and off the court.

Larry Nance Jr. has improved his perimeter shooting, hitting 39% of his three point shots. He’s averaging 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. We do wish the team would take advantage of his passing more often.

Kevin Porter Jr. has shown flashes enough that we can see him living up to his reputation as being the steal of last year’s draft being the last pick in the first round.

He’s getting 20 minutes per night, usually at small forward where he is usually undersized. And he’s a pretty good passer for a rookie too.

The Bad. Collin Sexton seems to have leveled off, perhaps because he is sharing the playmaking duties with rookie Darius Garland. His three point shooting has dropped to 32% from 40% last year, and his assist total has dropped. There are too many possessions for the Cavaliers where Sexton is the only one touching the ball.

Which brings us to this–Kevin Love is getting the least shots per game of his Cleveland career at 11.4. Love is still the Cavs’ best offensive player. It would help if everyone else on the team realized that.

Granted, he’s missed some time lately with a back issue, but the five time all star has taken more than 14 shots just three times since the sixth game of the season. He took more than 14 is three of the first six games.

The Cavs need more size. They are statistically the smallest team in the NBA, averaging 6-5.5″ per player. The league average is a full inch larger. The tallest Cav is Ante Zizic, who plays little.

Basketball has changed, but you still need big guys to play it at the NBA level.

When Cleveland plays a team with any size at all, they get battered inside. Any move GM Koby Altman makes this season should involve bringing in size, at all positions.

The Ugly. For starters, Matthew Dellavedova’s three point shooting percentage of 9.4% (3 for 32). Perhaps, Delly is better off passing on the long range shot.

Cleveland is third last (ahead of only New York and Portland) in assists. This has to be Beilein’s pet peeve, as he stresses ball movement ad nauseum. Watching games, there is still way too much dribbling and not enough passing.

It might help if the ball were in the hands of guys like Love and Nance, both good and willing passers more often.

And the Cavs’ defense is starting to show signs of returning to last year’s horrific state. Part of it is the size issue as Cleveland is last in the NBA in blocked shots. The wine and gold need a rim protector in the worst way.

Cavs Still A Little “Short” On Height

The Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a better start than most people expected, winning four of their first nine games, and then lost by one point on the road to the 76ers, one of the NBA’s better teams.

They’ve lost the last four games by 11, 19, 18, and 24 points, and the first of those losses, at home to Miami, wasn’t as close as the final margin indicates.

The Cavs don’t have a deep roster, and it is well known they have plenty of very young players, and injuries have started to creep up, and that hasn’t helped the situation.

Especially when the squad’s big men, of which there aren’t many, are the people who are missing games.

Larry Nance Jr. is out with a sore thumb, and Kevin Love missed a loss to the Knicks with a sore back, and Tristan Thompson missed last night’s contest in Miami.

Thompson is the tallest of the trio at 6’9″, with Love at 6’8″ and Nance a small forward like 6’7″

Remember that two other tall men, John Henson (6’9″) and Ante Zizic (6’10”) have been available for four games combined in the 2019-20 campaign.

This is a continuation of the past few years where the wine and gold simply don’t have enough size on the roster, whether it be due to injuries or just not having the players.

Cleveland has gone with a three man rotation at center/power forward most of the year with Love, Thompson, and Nance. Since Zizic has returned, either Nance, Love, or Thompson, or two of the three have been out.

Henson appeared in one game, giving Cleveland four big men, and the Cavaliers won that game.

And it’s not just up front that the Cavs are small. Cedi Osman is the small forward and he’s 6’7″, and is backed up principally by rookie Kevin Porter Jr., who is listed at 6’4″.

Cleveland is also starting a pair of 6’1″ guards in Collin Sexton and rookie Darius Garland. Jordan Clarkson (6’4″) and Matthew Dellavedova (6’3″) are the reserves.

So, the Cavs’ backcourt is very small, and their frontcourt isn’t exactly huge either.

Look at the defending champion Toronto Raptors. They start veteran Marc Gasol (6’11”) at center, Pascal Siakam (6’9″) at the 4, and OG Anunoby (6’7″) at small forward.

When Love and Nance were out against the Knicks, coach John Beilein started Osman at PF and Porter Jr. at SF.

New York, with three long players in the starting lineup, dominated the wine and gold in the paint.

Being short (no pun intended) of length, Beilein needs perfect execution offensively, which he isn’t getting, and defensively, he has a problem.

Thankfully, Love and Thompson were excellent rebounders, so Cleveland doesn’t get beat too badly on the boards when they are playing.

What can Beilein do?

He can change his combinations to have more size. He could start by bringing Garland off the bench, replacing him in the starting lineup with Porter. That would give the Cavs a more traditional lineup with a bigger guard.

He could also give Alfonso McKinnie (6’7″) more time, perhaps shrinking Dellavedova’s minutes. And when Henson can play again, you could play Nance some at small forward too.

And sending Garland to the bench doesn’t mean cutting his minutes either. It just means limiting the minutes where he and Sexton are on the floor together.

We believe Beilein will make the adjustments. After being very competitive in the first nine games, his team has been blown out four straight games.

Also, the Cavs rank 5th from the bottom in three point shooting percentage. Shorter teams that can’t shoot doesn’t seem to be a blueprint for success in today’s game.

How long is the coach’s patience? We may find out soon.

First Impressions On The Wine And Gold

We understand the NBA schedule is just two games in, so it is very early to make definitive proclamations about any team, and that includes the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, we have seen some things we have liked in the first two contests, and we hope they will continue as the season goes on.

The first is defensive improvement. It would be hard to be worse that last year’s complete crap show, organized by “defensive” assistant Mike Longabardi, so there’s that.

However, the first thing we have noticed is no longer are we seeing opponent coasting down the lane for dunks without any resistance from people wearing a Cleveland uniform.

The Cavs have not allowed 100 points in either game, a vast improvement. Last season, for the entire 82 games, the wine and gold allowed less than 100 points just nine times. Nine games out of 82!

There was only one time all of last year where the Cavaliers allowed less than 100 points in consecutive games, November 7-13, when they held Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Charlotte under the century mark in three straight.

The last time they did this period, was March 3rd when they held Orlando, this year’s opener opponent to 93 points.

The Cavs’ defensive rating was a league worst 117.6 in 2018-19, and after two games, they sit at 97.1.

Now no one thinks that will continue all season, but it is a good start.

Last night, there was a stretch in the third quarter where new coach John Beilein had John Henson, Larry Nance Jr., and Matthew Dellavedova on the floor together and the defense was suffocating.

When was the last time you could say about the Cavs?

Also, the offense is working more inside out.

Last season, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson led the Cavs in shots per game, combining for 29.3 per night, about 1/3rd of the team’s total.

After two games, Cleveland is averaging 84 shots per game, with Sexton and Tristan Thompson leading the way. Yes, we know Thompson hit a three last night, but most of his shots are in the paint.

And Beilein said after the opening game that Kevin Love should be getting more shots, which we were happy to hear. Love is the team’s best player, and he should be getting the most shots.

The offense should run through Love, Sexton, and Darius Garland, and Love getting nine assists last night is another example of the coaching staff stressing points to the players.

We have complained over the years about Tristan Thompson’s lack of development on the offensive end, so we are happy to see some improvement. No, we don’t need Thompson firing too often from beyond the arc, but when he gets the ball inside now, he is putting the ball in the basket.

And, Darius Garland has some range. Sexton has made more three after the first two games, but the rookie can knock it down. As he gains experience, we can see him being the type of player who other teams will have to guard from five feet beyond the three point line.

Whether or not these trends can continue, who knows, but we were a little concerned during the exhibition season about the offensive structure, and that could still rear its ugly head.

However, it looks like the coaching staff isn’t going to let any thing slide thus far. And that’s a good thing with a young team.

Beilein Hire Gets A Solid A

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a new head coach, and it was a shocker. Hiring a 66-year-old John Beilein from the University of Michigan was not expected at all.

And the narrative about this hire having Dan Gilbert’s imprints all over it overlooks the fact that Beilein is an excellent coach.

Beilein has a .650 winning percentage at U of M, and has coached in two Final Fours. And he has a Cavs’ connection in Mike Gansey, one of his former players at West Virginia, who is now Cleveland’s assistant GM.

The wine and gold were looking for someone who could develop talent, and the new coach certainly fills that bill. For the most part, Beilein wasn’t getting the “one and done” highly recruited players, and yet was cranking out top 20 teams on a yearly basis.

As for Beilein’s age, it has been rumored that one of the young, up and coming assistant coaches the Cavaliers have been interviewing will be named as the new coach’s chief assistant, sort of a grooming period for whoever gets the gig.

We understand this is Beilein’s first coaching job in the NBA, but learning from a guy with that kind of experience can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Plus, the veteran college head man isn’t coming into the league like a Rick Pitino or John Calipari, coming in looking to take the league by storm. He’s not a boisterous, overwhelming personality.

He’s just a very good basketball coach.

In watching his teams play over the years, the one thing we feel confident about, is the Cavs will be much better on the defensive end of the floor. The Cavs haven’t really been good on that end since the championship season of 2016, so that is something to look forward to.

He also prefers a motion offense, but he will have to adjust to the NBA game in that regard. It’s fine to run that type of attack, but he will have to put some pick-and-roll principles in because that’s a staple in the professional ranks.

Mostly though, Beilein has worked well with young players and let’s face it, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a young team. Outside of Kevin Love (30) and Larry Nance Jr. (26), the building blocks of the franchise are 24 and younger. Guys like Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, and Ante Zizic.

And they will add two more youngsters in the first round of next month’s NBA draft. The Cavs need someone who can communicate and teach these guys, and at his core, Beilein is a professor in the class of hoops.

Any criticism of this hire comes from those who see Gilbert as someone who thinks he knows the game more than the trained professionals. While we understand this, if Gilbert was the driving force behind bringing in a college coach, he brought in a very good one.

Remember, Beilein was also in consideration for the Pistons head coaching job a year ago.

Also, it isn’t like the owner and the front office interviewed Beilein first, fell in love and didn’t talk to anyone else. They talked to several young assistant coaches around the league who dealt in player development.

If you take the hire on merit, and figure in the hiring of a younger coach as the lead assistant, we don’t see how anyone could think this is a bad hire.

Of course, as with any hire, the proof will come when the Cavs start playing games that count again in October.