(Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are now the second-best team in the Eastern Conference and hold a remarkably strong 35-17 record.
But it wasn’t always this way and the team was looking very rough earlier in the season.
During that time, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was apparently very close to being fired.
This news comes from Brian Windhorst, via Hoops Wire, who reported that Bickerstaff was just a few bad days and games away from losing his job.
“Guys, he almost got fired,” Windhorst said on his podcast. “Say what you want. They can debate about it and you could debate the word almost and they can deny it or whatever. J.B. Bickerstaff was on a hot bleep seat. And if he had had a bad few days at the wrong time, he’d have probably gotten fired.”
Cavaliers Almost Fired JB Bickerstaff Earlier In Season: Report https://t.co/feKcf12ZSR
— Hoops Wire (@WireHoops) February 13, 2024
No one would have blamed Cleveland’s front office for parting ways with Bickerstaff a few months ago.
The Cavaliers started the season with a 13-12 record and were repeatedly losing games that seemed winnable.
They weren’t looking like true playoff contenders and there were many questions about Donovan Mitchell’s commitment to the team.
Things only got worse when both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were severely injured and sidelined for multiple weeks.
At that point, many people assumed that the season was lost and the Cavaliers were going to collapse.
However, the team went on an 11-2 run in January and Bickerstaff was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month just weeks after coming dangerously close to being unemployed.
If the Cavaliers continue to play like this, Bickerstaff might have a shot at winning Coach of the Year.
Of course, they’re not out of the woods yet and multiple challenges are still lingering for Cleveland.
The team hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018 and they were embarrassed last year as they got pushed out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Knicks.
The Cavaliers are very happy with how well they are doing but they know that the job isn’t even close to being done.
No one knows how far the team will go this season but it seems like Bickerstaff will be there for it all.
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