NBA Today | Windhorst reveals Cavaliers have eyes on JJ Redick as Head Coach and bring back LeBron.

NBA Today | Windhorst reveals Cavaliers have eyes on JJ Redick as Head Coach and bring back LeBron.

dismissed head coach JB bicker staff that’s what our senior NBA Insider Adrien wowski reported that’s despite making the second round of the playoffs for the first time in six seasons the franchise now embarks on a search that will land them they hope a coach to take Cleveland deeper into the Eastern playoffs Ryan wior every move that Cleveland makes this offseason it feels like it has to be viewed through the lens of Donovan Mitchell so what does the decision to move on from bicker staff’s signal to you here I think it is through the lens of Donovan Mitchell I think the Cavs this was a difficult decision which they always say when they fire a coach but this is a coach who’s taken them from the lottery to the playin to the playoffs to the second round that is exactly what you want when you hire a coach of a rebuilding team and not only that there’s an extreme closeness between the bicker staff family and Kobe Alman uh Bernie Bickerstaff JB’s father has been a longtime Aid and an adviser to Kobe so this was not a simple answer and so the answer that I will tell you and the one that’s hard for the Cavs to say is that they obviously believe that changing coaches here will benefit them in their in their quest to resign Donovan Mitchell now um when they do come to Donovan in a in a few weeks they they can’t really officially negotiate with him until after the NBA Finals you would expect that they would have a new coach at that time who has a vision for how he wants to play and maximize Donovan obviously they will offer him the extension at that time and Kobe Alman would have an offseason plan to present um for for their roster and those are things that the Cavs have to work on but there’s no doubt that um you know the JB bicker staff mitual relationship was a was a factor in this decision and that the the new head coach uh whoever that may be will have to have a plan for how to maximize Donovan Mitchell not only to sell the Cavs but to sell the Donovan himself Donovan still has a year left on his contract and then of course he has that player option but when looking at this Brian it is a little bit Stark to see that three head coaches that were in the playoffs this season Darin ham Frank vogle and now JB bicker staff were all dismissed as head coach that is despite making it to the postseason so let’s talk a little bit about Los Angeles since we mentioned Darvin ham how does the vacy vacancy in Cleveland impact the Lakers search here yeah I do think that there’s going to be some crossover in some candidates specifically uh James bgo I think James bgo you know I know that JJ reck has been routinely viewed as the leading candidate in in La James bgo interviewed there this week he is a strong candidate and I I expect he will be a strong candidate in Cleveland as well this is a a guy who’s got a very good coaching uh background in history uh was uh you know known for for his offensive Concepts which is one of the things he brought to Charlotte as a head coach there they were great offensive team something the Cavs frankly could use a little bit um you know I also think that uh Kenny Atkinson who was uh the lead assistant on Steve Kerr’s bench um he will you know I believe get an interview in Cleveland and I would also not be surprised if the Cavs have some interest in mik Nory who is sort of serving as the sideline head coach right now uh for the Wolves there’s some teams that have sort of been impressed with him as well but um you know the Lakers you know they’ve been going through their process and and and everything and and now there’s uh an interesting other job out there and and the thing about the Cavs job that I think is interesting relative to Laker job and this is candidates who I’ve talked to have told me about this like coaching in the East right now is a little bit more attractive than coaching in the west and you know sometimes you don’t get a choice but I’ve even talked to agents who have potential uh free agents this summer or players who may uh end up getting traded this summer who are saying you know what it might not be a bad idea to go east and uh just look at how packed the West is and how strong even the teams that miss the playoffs are and I don’t know if that would be a factor in the coaching Market but certainly a factor in all NBA transactions that we’re going to watch over the next month right because it seems like the West even the teams as you mentioned that aren’t in the playoffs this year we very well could see them in the postseason next year so LeBron and Anthony Davis Bryant they’re going to wait to hear who their next coach will be but they did get some good news all NBA teams they were announced last night no true surprises here on the first team with these selections four of the five names from last year they made the first team again the only thing that’s a little different MVP nicoa yic replacing last year’s MVP Joel embiid there’s some major financial implications for Luca SGA both now are eligible for super max contract extensions and then Anthony Edwards can also earn an extra $41 million thanks to making his first career all NBA team and then you see Jaylen Brunson he became the first Nicks guard to make the all NBA that is since Clyde Frasier in 75 so that’s the second team right there and then LeBron James leads the third team if you’re wondering what those numbers underneath were that’s how many times they’ve been selected to an all-nba team look at LeBron there 20 times five more than any other player in NBA history he was the youngest player ever to be named to an all NBA team that was back in 2004 2005 and now he has the Accolade of being the oldest player to do so at 39 but he’s not playing like it Tyrese Alberton he joined LeBron on third team he’s also looking at a pay raise of about $41 million with this selection but our Adrien W narowski tells us this is just one more important step in a journey that the Pacers guard is currently embarking in what it kept coming back to me if I would have told you that of the big three in Brooklyn James Harden Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant who would we be talking about the furthest into the playoffs just a couple of years later in this glowing light I’m not sure I would have said Kyrie Irving and now he’s back and he looks better than ever Brian what’s changed yeah I’m M I’m going to take you back there 2017 the Cavs won that Conference Finals and then LeBron James gave a speech on the eve of the finals talking about how he saw a future with Kyrie Irving how he saw you know passing the torch with him bringing him along turning the keys over to him and a few weeks later Kyrie asked for a trade okay and so just to illustrate that that partnership even when LeBron thought it was really strong was never close and so now I look at what he has with Luca and in a relatively short period of time what you see about Kyrie is a player who’s different in mind body and spirit and the way I see it he’s truly invested in making Luca the best player he can be this is something that is actually so rare and actually in a way so remarkable on the NBA level when you have a player who was probably headed for the Hall of Fame who is willing to do whatever he can to help his teammate whether that means scoring a lot whether that means passing whether that means helping him defensively and listening to Luca talk about Kyrie I’ve never heard Luca talk about a teammate the way he’s talking about Kyrie how Kyrie does things that help him all throughout the game off the court that he talks about these long meals that they have together and their bond like that is really really meaningful it’s completely the driving force between these two players and it’s just such an in you know showing how Kyrie has evolved as a player it’s so hard to ask a player to take a step back when they know they’re so good we’re seeing this happen in real time it’s giving the Mavericks a chance and it’s frankly changing the way people look at Kyrie Irving I would love to know what LeBron James and Kevin Durant two people who were there for these growing pains where they didn’t work they’re watching this and seeing this is the Kyrie we always dreamed of Wendy I have a follow-up question for you because one thing that we have loved when it comes to Kyrie Irving on the floor is that he plays like an alpha and we’ve seen instances where that has worked alongside LeBron James while why do you think on the floor it’s working so well for playing alongside Luca number one Kyrie is in absolutely spectacular physical condition you know he it wasn’t that he was ever out of shape but he is in such tremendous condition that it enables him to play defense and still be very good at the offensive level he was on the court at 5:00 yesterday he was the only Maverick out there he has impressed his teammates about his work ethic in training so part of it CH is he’s in just a so much better physical place and that enables him to give more and his leadership defensively has helped Luca become a better leader defensively Luca sees how he plays and he feels like he owes it to kyri to play harder on defense he’s never going to win defensive all defensive team but he has the ability now to make defensive plays we saw him make some last night and I do believe that’s a Kyrie effect and I do believe that’s an indication of how they’re working to help each other that leadership truly matters because one thing that was crazy us and a Schwarz Center one of our researchers here we were crunching the numbers on why this defense was so great not only in game one but also over the course of the last few months they actually have the Mavs the best defense in the NBA since March seventh or so that was after the trade deadline where they’re trying to bring in new pieces it took a couple of games but I do think Kyrie’s commitment to play on that end of the floor has trickled over to other people and I just wonder you remember back in Brooklyn where he said he shared with James Harden hey you’re the point guard I’m the shooting guard and we all kind of said oh is he deferring too much what does that really even mean I wonder if this the dynamic he has with LCA donic is what he meant what he was trying to get to steps to that process and now we are seeing sort of the fruits of all that so that’s the Maverick side of all this let’s talk a little bit here about the Minnesota Timberwolves fore spee not let’s go your suful attack reduce the down of your range ATT spe spee speech spe let’s

NBA Today | Windhorst reveals Cavaliers have eyes on JJ Redick as Head Coach and bring back LeBron.