Cavs Hold Meetings As Future Of Coach JB Bickerstaff Remains Shaky

Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman and coach J.B. Bickerstaff have been involved in meetings each of the past two days to discuss the future of the franchise, NBA insider Brian Windhorst said on ESPN Cleveland.

For starters, the Cavs are said to be weighing whether to bring back Bickerstaff as coach. One league source told Hoops Wire that the Cavs intend to part ways with Bickerstaff, though several other sources denied the team had reached a decision.

“I expect a resolution one way or another shortly, imminently, I don’t know about the next day but certainly soon,” Windhorst said.

A report from The Athletic last week stated that Bickerstaff’s future with the franchise is “in serious jeopardy.” 

“League sources briefed on the Cavaliers’ mindset told The Athletic that Bickerstaff’s job is in serious jeopardy after five and a half years as head coach, following the team’s season-ending loss in Game 5 of the second round to the Celtics,” wrote The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd. “Two league sources said the team is likely to take some time — multiple days — to make a decision. … Multiple league sources have said, for months, that Mitchell did not have great confidence in Bickerstaff, and he was not alone.

“Several players questioned Bickerstaff’s strategies, game management, practice habits and accountability measures, privately and publicly, throughout the season.”

The Cavaliers almost fired Bickerstaff during the regular season, sources told Hoops Wire. Bickerstaff is 170-159 in the regular season and 6-11 in the playoffs with Cleveland. 

“No one has told me I’m not (the coach), so I’ll keep showing up until they tell me not to,” Bickerstaff said when asked about his job status after the season-ending playoff loss to the Boston Celtics last week. “We’ve continued to build this thing the right way. Every single year we’ve improved, continued to get better. Play-In, playoffs.”