Beilein and New Look Cavs Introduce Themselves to Cleveland
The Cleveland Cavaliers New Head Coach John Beilein seems to be very confident in his ability to make the transition from the college play style of basketball to the professional stage. Beilein, of course, is the former head basketball coach of the University of Michigan. He spent 12 years there where the wolverines had two national championship appearances, two Big Ten conference championships, and two Big Ten regular season championships, as Beilein became the winningest coach in the program’s history.
The Cavalier players believe that Coach Beilein can help them raise their game to another level as they talked about how excited they are to have him as their new head coach. “(Beilein) is really into his craft,” said Darius Garland. “He’s really passionate about ‘Beilein ball.’ He’s a gym rat, he’s always in here working or doing something with the guys.”
A big emphasis of media day was defense as the Cavs finished towards the bottom of the standings last year. All the players talked about improving their defense in order to help them take a big step forward this season. “(Defensively), we were historically bad, in-the-history-of-the-NBA bad,” said Beilein. “There’s a lot of reasons for that-and we’re going to correct them. So as a team, we’ll grow and get better everyday.”
The veteran players were asked how they felt about the rookies the Cavs had drafted this year, and they all received high praise, as they work hard and want to help turn this basketball team around. The three rookies the Cavs drafted this past off season were Darius Garland out of Vanderbilt, Dylan Windler out of Belmont, and Kevin Porter Jr. out of USC, and all were drafted in the first round of this year’s draft. “We have a rally good young group of kids this season,” said Collin Sexton. “And I just can’t wait to continue to grow and learn each other.”
Obviously Cavs fans are excited for this season, as a new roster and a new coaching staff brings excitement to the city of Cleveland, in hopes of being able to make it back to the playoffs in the near future.