"The way it happened is the way it had to happen”. On November 15, 2015, Bickerstaff launched this phrase after making his debut, with victory, as a head coach in the NBA. A sentence that can be applied to how his career has passed on the bench. Because the now praised coach of the Cavaliers and recently renewed until 2027 with the Cleveland entity has known how to follow the right pace in his professional career.
Born in Denver in 1979, JB had become the youngest assistant coach ever in the NBA in the 2004-05 campaign. A few decades earlier, in 1973, his father Bernie Bickerstaff, who had precisely given him the position of his assistant in Charlotte in that 2004-05 academic year, had already been, at 29 years old, the youngest assistant in the history of the NBA. Legacy that passed from father to son. The two were together on the Bobcats bench until 2007, when Bernie ended his stay in Charlotte and JB found a job, again as an assistant, in Minnesota, a place well known to him.
Becoming the youngest player in the NCAA I when he debuted at the age of 17 with Oregon State in 1996-97, this forward, barely 200 centimeters tall, divided his university stay between Oregon State itself and the University of Minnesota, where he celebrated his last two years in the NCAA. He finished with a respectable 98 games between both destinations and numbers of 82 starts, 8,0 points, 4,7 rebounds and 3,0 assists.
Bickerstaff continued his professional development at the University of Minnesota where at the beginning of the 2003st century he worked in their offices, as director of operations for the men's basketball program. Also in the Minneapolis area he was a radio commentator for the games of those very interesting Wolves during the 04-XNUMX season.
More than a decade of hard work alongside Kevin McHale
Without a doubt, his father's presence on the Bobcats bench helped JB land his first NBA assistant job. But this great league does not give anything away and if they paved the way for JB to enter, he then took it upon himself to become strong in a competition that devours you every day. In fact, he has never, not even one season, lacked work since 2004. Minnesota and specifically Kevin McHale signed him for their coaching staff and under the guidance of this illustrious Head Coach Bickerstaff learned, and worked hard, in the tough business of the NBA. McHale took it from the Timberwolves to the Rockets for 2011-12 and there JB Bickerstaff was going to have his first big opportunity in 2015. Which he took advantage of in his own way, but which he also voluntarily let pass.
The interim who couldn't stand the Houston environment
"The way it happened is the way it had to happen”. We said it was November 15 and Bickerstaff had not only just made his debut as a head coach in the NBA but he did so with a sweaty victory against the Blazers. On the morning of that day the Rockets had fired McHale after an initial record of 4-7. The bad atmosphere in the Houston locker room, with the James Harden-Dwight Howard war in all its essence, had put McHale's settlement on the table, unable to guide the Texans' lost train. It was his assistant Bickerstaff who took on the responsibility of straightening everything out. Things didn't start badly, with the aforementioned victory over the Blazers. On that day, a final rush by Harden and a triple by Corey Brewer signed the overtime, where later The beard He added 9 points of his own. JB had fallen on his feet in the NBA after decades as an assistant. But management warned: it was an interim position. Even so, he carried out his work in the Regular Season (37-34 balance) and managed to put the Rockets as eighth in the West. Then, in the first round of the playoffs, 1-4 against the Warriors, those 73-9 Warriors who were only knocked down by LeBron James.
Mission accomplished by the interim, who at least was able to prevent the entire complicated universe of egos that Houston had become from exploding in his hands. Just after the elimination and before his name was put on the shortlist of possible candidates, Bickerstaff met with the Rockets management and said that he should not be counted on to return as head coach, that a few months at the helm of that wardrobe were enough to know that it was not what he wanted for his future. And although his name was really only in the pools out of politeness and deference from the franchise to someone who had worked hard, he took it upon himself to erase his name. Just in case.
More interim in Memphis in another directionless ship
Sometimes knowing how to select your moment and give up the possibility of great scenarios can be seen at that moment as a mistake, but only the passage of time confirms those who decide that this is not the right path. Bickerstaff must have considered that he was not yet mature to lead a franchise again and that patience, because he was a man who had not even reached his forties in 2016, was on his side.
So he joined the Grizzlies, who had their new coach in 2016-17, in the figure of David Fizdale. Memphis was coming off 0-4 in the recent playoffs, with Dave Joerger's squad devastated at the hands of the Spurs. Those from Tennessee didn't do much better with Fizdale, who in one season and a handful of games in the other did not make it past the first round of the ring playoffs. Again in 2017, San Antonio knocked down Memphis (4-2). Fizdale did start 2017-18, but was eliminated after a, let's say discreet, start: 7-12.
At this point they already guess who was left in charge of the team. Yes, it was Bickerstaff, in his second chance as head coach. And the second in which he picked up a team in trouble at the start of the season. Once again the interim label was imposed on him. In a lost ship, which was giving its last breaths to the Mike Conley and Marc Gasol project, Bickerstaff led the Grizzlies in 63 games in 2017-18, with a record of 15-48.
First head coaching position on the prelude to real success
At the end of the course, in a smaller market like Memphis, still with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, but at the same time with aspects such as Chandler Parsons' ruinous contract very present, Bickerstaff was awarded by Chris Wallace, then GM of the Grizzlies, with the head coach position. From that moment, May 2018, the destinies of both were going to be closely linked with the exit door of Memphis with the final culmination. It was on April 11, 2019, just one day after the Regular Season ended, that Bickerstaff finished out of the ring playoffs and with a record of 33-49. The venture to put the Grizzlies back on the path to the playoffs, where they had become a fixture in recent seasons, failed. “My goal is to win”said Bickerstaff in 2018 when he got rid of his interim position and for the first time took charge of a team since the beginning of the course. His good work with the young people in 2017-18 after Fizdale's departure had been liked in Tennessee, to the point of giving him a contract for three seasons, which remained in one.
On April 11, Bickerstaff was fired from the Grizzlies. And with him his supporter Chris Wallace. The sentence had already been written for months, especially when on February 7, 2019, Marc Gasol had been sent to the Raptors. In Memphis they had thrown away the spoon.
Cleveland was destiny: the plan that blew up for the benefit of everyone
There will be something good about someone who, despite everything, still lacks work year after year. Head coaching skills may have been a little green in Bickerstaff's blood, but there was no arguing that he was one of the best assistants in the NBA. It was. And the Cavaliers designed a plan that ended up being fatal. But from that sporting fatality came glory and the Cavaliers arrived who now amaze the NBA.
It turns out that by the summer of 2019, with the Cavaliers still in depression due to the departure of LeBron James in 2018, it occurred to those from Ohio that it was a good idea to draw up a plan that they believed without cracks: sign an NCAA myth like John Beilein — who was making his debut in the NBA — and placing Bickerstaff as his associate coach, with the idea of starting a process by which JB would finally end up assuming the stripes in the medium term. And that medium term became almost a here and now. John Beilein did not know how to coach in the NBA and with a record of 14-40 he resigned in February 2020. Third team that Bickerstaff assumed at the start of the season. His good qualities, with a 5-6 record since he took over the team, earned him the renewal until 2024 as head coach. That news arrived on March 10, 2020. JB earned another opportunity and a margin of time to build the future. The future, however, was present and with a name: coronavirus. The NBA stopped on March 11. The rest of world history is already known.
Outside the Orlando bubble, Cleveland had already closed the campaign. The 2020-21 season, with 72 Regular Season games and still marked by the pandemic, did not leave great things, at least for the gallery. Cleveland built, that hackneyed word for losing teams, and let time pass. Most notably, acquiring Jarret Allen in the January 2021 four-way deal that put Harden on the Nets. Along with this, Evan Mobley was selected at number 3 in the Draft. Points more important than the balance of 22-50.
The surprise of many
That's been Cleveland. That is the Cavaliers in 2021-22. When they acquired Ricky Rubio in the summer, few thought that they were serious, that the franchise wanted to compete. But this transfer, the presence of Darius Garland, the acquisition of Lauri Markkanen with a powerful offer or the renewal of Jarret Allen perhaps indicated that with these things we could not simply talk about another season. The start of the course (Kevin Love resurrected for cause) confirmed that JB Bickerstaff's men were serious. You have to see them play and know that there is commitment, that the team is with the coach, that everyone travels in the same boat rowed by dozens of arms ready for anything. And they have fun. And they have fun.
In Ohio they have known that Bickerstaff is having his moment. That perhaps he has found the right context, template and place. Hence, they renewed until 2027, maintaining as firm the bet that had already occurred in March 2020 when they told him that he would be with the Cavaliers until 2024. The long term has reached Bickerstaff and Cleveland. Nothing talks about interims anymore, about teams that collapse every night and dismantled squads. Not even Ricky's injury, a hard blow to the project's waterline, seems to have dampened spirits. The quick reaction to acquire Rajon Rondo, delighted to lead a project that smells playoffs, is the best sign that Cleveland is serious. They have shortened many stages. The transition, for others. And that is largely the responsibility of John Blair Bickerstaff.
"The way it happened is the way it had to happen".
(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)