It certainly wasn’t going to be the easiest of leaps for former Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein, transitioning from a top collegiate team in Ann Arbor to a struggling NBA squad.
So far, his first go-around in the professional ranks hasn’t been the most positive. A losing record compiled with early reports of losing the locker room and the recent fiasco with misspeaking during a team film session.
The latest setback for Beilein and the Cavaliers was a blowout 131-112 loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Western Conference’s worst team. The frustration afterwards was immediately clear:
“I asked (Cavaliers director of communications) B.J. (Evans) if I had to come in here and he said, yeah, I do,” Beilein said. “I asked him if I could plead the fifth, no witnesses could be called to this game. That tells you a little bit how I feel.”
“Fire away. Get the big cannons out,” Beilein continued. “I don’t have a lot of answers for you though, I really don’t because it’s … we’re … it’s all together, the offense and the defense.”
The loss was the 10th straight for Cleveland at home, and a far cry from the success that Beilein enjoyed in Ann Arbor. So what’s the solution?
“Every loss is hitting me really hard and hitting us … I know it’s hitting me hard, I can’t answer for other people,” Beilein said. “It’s just trying to find solutions and trying to find a better way to get our guys to play harder and smarter, which will lead to wins. But there’s some things that just happen because we’re young and some things happen because of persistence in our effort and some things happen because we’re just missing some pieces in the roster here and there.”
– – Quotes courtesy of Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com – –
