Cavs vet breaks silence on J.B. Bickerstaff firing, confirms there was locker room disconnect

Marcus Morris wasn’t with the Cleveland Cavaliers long at all during the 2023-24 NBA season, but the veteran said he saw enough to notice a disconnect between J.B. Bickerstaff and the locker room that likely played a role in the head coach getting fired.

“Honestly, yeah man, I kinda seen it,” Morris said of a possible disconnect. “I kinda seen it, sorry to say it. … He’s been around there for a while. I mean, sometimes it’s just, time is a little bit too long.

“I think that he had the locker room. I just think that his time just ran out. Good dude on and off the court, great organization.”

Bickerstaff was let go by the Cavs on Thursday after four full seasons as head coach. Cleveland was eliminated in the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics earlier this month.

The 45-year-old reportedly was thought to be too hands on and wanted to be in control of everything at practices and shootarounds. There also were whispers that the relationship between Cavs franchise player Donovan Mitchell and Bickerstaff was “deteriorating.”

In fact, Chandler Parsons actually blamed Mitchell, with the former NBA player calling the departure of Bickerstaff a “bulls— firing.”

Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts and former Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel are reportedly among the candidates to take over as Cavs head coach.

“I think it’s more so just bringin’ in a fresh voice,” Morris said. “But I can’t really speak on that ’cause they had other seasons. I came in so late, so…I was like, ‘Holy s—‘ when I got here. I was like, ‘Man…s— we tryin’ to fight for somethin.'”

Morris joined the Cavs in March after he was waived by the San Antonio Spurs. A veteran of 13 NBA seasons, he was traded to San Antonio by the Philadelphia 76ers at the NBA trade deadline in February and then let go by the Spurs later that month.

The 34-year-old appeared in 12 regular season games for the Cavs as they earned the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the Orlando Magic in the first round to advance for the first time since 2018, marking their first series victory without LeBron James on the team since 1993.

“I been around a long time, and just seein’ the responses and how players take feedback, take criticism, I just wasn’t, I didn’t see it,” Morris said. “I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it. But guys play hard. You still prepare for all the right reasons. And we had our chances.”

Bickerstaff replaced John Beilein as Cavs head coach late in the 2019-20 season and went on to post a 170-159 regular season record that includes 99 combined wins over the past two seasons. However, the Cavs fell short of their championship aspirations, getting knocked out of the playoffs in five games by the New York Knicks last season and in five games by the Celtics this time around.

The Cavaliers will now be entering a new era with a new head coach trying to win an elusive second NBA title.