J.B.

Bickerstaff

After taking over the Cavs to close out the 2019-20 season, Bickerstaff spent four years leading Cleveland, which included two playoff appearances. However, they let him go this summer after they lost to Boston in the second round. He will now take over a Pistons team that has been at the bottom of the league for the last few years. He’ll try and repeat what he did with the Cavs and develop a talented lottery team into a squad that makes the postseason.

Cleveland picks at the end of the lottery at No. 14 where teams will look at guys like OSU’s Malaki Branham or Duke’s Mark Williams. Charlotte can double-dip on a win-now player and a lottery pick if it moves off of No. 15 and keeps No. 13. Charlotte’s needs are in the frontcourt for defense and explosiveness, while Cleveland could use more playmakers who can go out and get their own buckets.

It’s a feel-good development for the Cavs on Christmas Day. Bickerstaff gets job security in the midst of an impressive 19-13 start for Cleveland, who are the No. 5 seed in the East despite losing Collin Sexton (knee surgery) for the season, having star rookie Evan Mobley miss extended time with a hip injury, and fall prey to the wave of COVID that’s sweeping the league. Bickerstaff’s schemes and rotations have also been conducive to reliable fantasy production, so this is a win-win.

The new players to enter protocols weren’t named, but Cavs and Hawks players may not get the chance to help out your fantasy team if the Cavs don’t meet the league requirement of eight active players.

Assistant Coach Greg Buckner will serve as head coach in his place. Bickerstaff is expected to coach again on Friday against the Hornets.

According to reports, the Wizards had multiple players test positive meaning they don’t have enough players to participate in games. The Cavs will still play tonight against the Knicks, but after that, they don’t play again until Wednesday vs the Nets. The only good in all this for Cleveland is that it gives guys like Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and even Kevin Love extra time to recover while not missing games.

The teams around the country will continue to wait until shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted. Earlier today, coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that he doubts that many players will return to Ohio for workouts. This situation is still very fluid.

When the Cavs cut ties with John Beilein, Bickerstaff was immediately elevated to head coach (not interim), so extending him on a multi-year deal is more of a formality. Since Beilein’s ouster, the Cavs have gone 5-5 with Bickerstaff at the helm.

Bickerstaff was fired after just one year as the head coach in Memphis, he and actually interviewed for the top job in Cleveland before they hired Beilein. This possibility has been rumored to be in the works because the Cavs wanted to pair their new coach with someone that has years of NBA experience. It’s possible that Bickerstaff could have gotten another head coaching job in the near future, but he will have to settle for being one of the league’s highest paid assistants instead.

According to Woj, Beilein wants an experienced NBA staff. Bickerstaff, who was fired by the Memphis Grizzlies last month, interviewed for the Cavs and Lakers head coaching jobs.