Cleveland Cavaliers’ John Beilein’s resignation comes as a surprise after all the attention around the NBA was on Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylen.
As the NBA descended on Chicago for All-Star weekend, Jim Boylen was under scrutiny for his coaching of the Bulls. Then there was the “Fire GarPax” chants while Zach LaVine was on national television with body language that spoke volumes and answers to questions that didn’t exactly scream in support of the current Bulls regime, though it was at least professional.
Shortly after the excitement of the Elam Ending and one of the most entertaining All-Star weekends in recent years, perhaps the season’s biggest surprise came — John Beilein was weighing options of leaving. It was even to the point that he was willing to leave $12 million on the table.
As we know now, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced Beilein’s resignation on Wednesday and that he’d be re-assigned to a new position within the organization. There is still value he can bring, likely in player development or a talent scouting role.
There wasn’t a great reason to believe Beilein would fail, especially so quickly, making the jump to the professional level. He’s won everywhere he’s been. Most recently, he built Michigan into a power, making nine NCAA tournaments in 12 seasons, winning the Big Ten twice apiece in the regular season and tournament, and reached two Final Fours.
His track record of success is even more impressive considering his average recruiting class was ranked 58.3 nationally, albeit his first at Michigan was 283rd. He only had three classes that ranked in the top 14, which came in 2012, 2013 and 2018 in 247 Sports’ rankings.
Beilein only had one five-star recruit — Glenn Robinson III — who made up his only top-10 class (eighth) in a star 2012 class that included Mitch McGary, Nik Stauskas, Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert. That’s a group of NBA players that led the Wolverines to their first Final Four under Beilein.
Player development, team culture and fundamentals had to be the lifeblood of Michigan’s program because the majority of Beilein’s recruiting class fell between 29th and 45th nationally.
Perhaps everyone should have seen it coming that a roster full of recently-new pros wouldn’t take well to a college-style coach. The Cavs’ roster only has four players who have played six or more seasons — Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and Andre Drummond (who was there for one game under Beilein).
It was going to be a rebuild for a coach who has won everywhere at four division-I stops. He was 571-325 (.637) between Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia and Michigan. Having a pair of young point guards in Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, neither of which came from winning college programs gave him the building blocks to create the foundation for sustained success.
One former Michigan player in NBA tells me: “John Beilein’s system would work in NBA. He’s an excellent coach; they should’ve loved playing for him. But you have to have players who value winning, winning players, and they don’t.” #Cavs
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) February 20, 2020
Cleveland’s culture was beyond fragile. It was broken and Beilein is a byproduct of a much deeper issue. Love’s angered outbursts directed at Altman and Beilein, and on-court body language didn’t give Beilein the opportunity he needed to have a positive veteran presence.
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Beilein was failed from the start.
His son, Patrick, stepped down from Niagara in October due to “personal reasons.” John Beilein showed great support and love for his son publicly, and likely privately. John could spend more time with his son while in his new role and could angle back for a college job with Patrick at his side this spring.
But that remains to be seen.
Through all that the Cavs went through, Beilein never degraded his players publicly. His accidental slip of calling his team “thugs” was beyond repairable. That created an even more hostile environment, as detailed by The Athletic (paywall).
All of this seemed like a longshot when Beilein surprisingly left Michigan for the pros.
Who would have thought that Boylen would outlast Beilein?
With the start of games resuming on Thursday, it didn’t take long for the Bulls to show that Beilein might not be far behind. The young Bulls have had poor body language on the court, poor effort and, after a win in Charlotte, ignored their coach who wanted to celebrate in their success.
The Bulls are sleepwalking. Just an embarrassing effort. Boylen fire yourself before halftime.
— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) February 21, 2020
Those are critical signs of a lost locker room.
The Bulls lost 103-93 Thursday and were down 13 after the first 12 minutes. They allowed Charlotte to shoot 47.3 percent from the floor and get to the free-throw line 29 times, where they shot 86.2 percent.
In the end, Bulls fans may get their wish after all. It seems that the GarPax regime may be splitting up with Gar Forman on his way out, according to Joe Cowley’s Chicago Sun-Times report over the weekend. It said that the Bulls are looking for a general manager “with a louder voice,” and that senior advisor Doug Collins is not a fan of Foreman.
With Beilein the league’s first coach to vacate his seat, Boylen is believed to be next, and the clock is ticking.