The Cleveland Cavaliers dismissed head coach J.B. Bickerstaff after five seasons. The hapless announcement came after the team suffered a second-round exit in the 2024 playoffs against the Boston Celtics. Considering that Bickerstaff was without the services of key players Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen in the series, his ouster has brought up divided opinions. The Cavaliers Forward Marcus Morris Sr. felt that the writing was on the wall since the 45-year-old lost the chemistry with his roster.
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Morris Sr. analyzed that all was not well in the Cavs locker room. He took to the ‘Run It Back’ podcast and relayed what went wrong between Bickerstaff and his team.
Co-host Chandler Parsons asked Morris if a “disconnect” between the squad and their former HC led to his dismissal. He replied,
“Honestly, yeah, man, I kind of seen it, sorry to say it. He’s been around here for a while, sometimes time is just a little bit too long. I think he had the locker room and his time just ran out.”
.@ChandlerParsons: "Did you see any situation where there was a disconnect in the locker room?"@MookMorris2: "Honestly yeah, I kind of seen it, sorry to say it…I think [J. B. Bickerstaff's] time just ran out." pic.twitter.com/SH1f85DxsQ
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 24, 2024
Parsons then asked the 34-year-old if the Cavs needed a “new voice” to increase their chances of a deeper playoff run. The veteran admitted that it may have been the case but since he joined the roster at the tail-end of the season, he wasn’t aware of the ins and outs of the dynamics. While Morris refrained from giving any uninformed statement, Parsons believes Donovan Mitchell orchestrated Bickerstaff’s firing.
Did Donovan Mitchell not get along with JB Bickerstaff?
Chandler Parsons claimed that Donovan Mitchell is responsible for the head coaching shift in the Cavs as the two were “butting heads“. He also expressed that Mitchell wanted pass-first guard Darius Garland, who underperformed during the 2024 playoffs, out of the scene.
The 35-year-old put the onus on Mitchell to prove himself, as according to him, the high-scoring guard was the reason Bickerstaff lost his job. He said,
“Donovan Mitchell you got what you wanted, so now all the pressure is on you. You want Darius Garland to get moved, they are probably gonna do that, so now there is no more excuse for him,”
Terming the fire as “bullsh**”, he stated that the long-term coach did a terrific job of running the Cavs despite a plethora of injuries to his starters. Since Parsons has a “personal relationship” with the former Cavs HC, he was seemingly perturbed at the decision.
"Donovan Mitchell you got what you wanted, so now all the pressure is on you…this is a bullshit firing." 👀@ChandlerParsons reacts to J. B. Bickerstaff being fired. pic.twitter.com/0U3xOiXXau
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 23, 2024
However, arguably, Bickerstaff was unable to extract the most out of young players, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland. His offense became too iso-heavy with Mitchell as the enforcer and the rest of the players didn’t get involved as much as they should have.
Moreover, in his five seasons with the team, Bickerstaff won just six playoff games out of 17. It isn’t surprising that the front office decided to part ways with him considering his consistent failure in the post-season scenarios. The Cavaliers are a bunch of talented athletes and with a healthy season and maybe a better floor general, a new head coach might take them all the way to promised land.
