Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Per NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ hunt for a head coach to replace J.B. Bickerstaff is expected to come to a close in the near future.
According to a report from Brandon Robinson on Tuesday, New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson are “neck and neck” in the Cavaliers’ coaching search.
It has been nearly a month since the Cavaliers decided to part ways with Bickerstaff, who coached Cleveland to a 170-159 regular-season record during his stint as the team’s head coach which lasted for more than four seasons.
In each of his final three seasons leading Cleveland from the sidelines, the Cavaliers finished with a regular-season record above the .500 mark. And in his swan song in Cleveland, the 2023-24 campaign, the Cavaliers ended up with a 48-34 record, which was good enough for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Bickerstaff’s Cavaliers had home-court advantage in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs against Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic, and that advantage proved to be a crucial factor in the final outcome of the best-of-seven series. The home team ended up winning all seven games of the series, and the Cavaliers won their first playoff series since the year 2018, when LeBron James was still on the squad and led the team to the NBA Finals, where it lost to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
But the Cavaliers’ promising stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs came to an end in the following round against Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA title. After winning Game 2 of the series at TD Garden to tie things up at one game apiece, Cleveland went on to lose Games 3, 4 and 5.
Bickerstaff helped the Cavaliers become a formidable team once again following the departure of James, but his lack of playoff success as the team’s head coach makes it understandable as to why Cleveland wants a new face to lead the franchise.
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