Cleveland Cavaliers: 4 impacts 2019 NBA Draft has on 2019-2020

Beilein has players to develop

During the ESPN broadcast, NBA broadcasters Chauncey Billups and Jay Bilas seemed to downplay John Beilein’s ability to develop players by stating that in the NBA, you’ve “got to have players.”

Their conversation seemed to indicate their belief Beilein would have trouble developing players in the NBA after having success in the departmen

I’m not going to side with Billups and Bilas just yet though, because isn’t player development just a fancy way of saying Beilein knows how to get the most out of his players.

For example, Nik Stauskas arrived at Michigan as a four-star recruit. He obviously had talent. But he went from the 92nd ranked player in his class to the eighth overall pick in his draft class. The point is Beilein knew how to get the most out of his talent.

And even though he’s in the NBA now, there isn’t any reason Beilein can’t do the same to get the most out his players. The Cavs roster is extremely young. They may look lost, especially early on, but Beilein should have the chance o mold it.

The 66-year-old has nothing to lose. He took this job because he wanted the test of coaching in the NBA. He obviously can connect with younger players, being the man responsible for making Michigan basketball relevant again. We’ll see if he can do the same for professional basketball in Cleveland.