It’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers are not going to shy away from the collegiate coaching ranks to help progress in their rebuild.
Cleveland head coach John Beilein has never coached at the NBA level himself, but he had great success in all of his jobs at other levels, and most recently, at the University of Michigan (where he spent the last 12 seasons, per Sports Reference).
Beilein’s associate head coach will be J.B. Bickerstaff, who has ample coaching experience at the NBA level, and though I wouldn’t have wanted Bickerstaff to be Cleveland’s head coach, he seems to be a logical and good fit as Beilein’s top assistant coach in the coming years, as we’ve noted.