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Welcome Lindsay Gottlieb, new assistant coach on John Beilein's Staff

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dark2332

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Well, it's official, and I thought this actually deserved it's own thread given the social impact.



This article by Woj has been posted previously. However, I think there are a few very impressive things to note here.

1) Beilein is enamored with her and she is yet another coach who loves the development and teaching aspects of the game. There's a trend here for this team and how they now emphasize building a winner from within through personnel development. Beilein's programs did this on all levels with less than 5-star recruits. The women's college game is much the same way, especially building that Cal program.

2) She has been in coaching for over 20 years and she's been extremely successful. Resoundingly so, actually. She's leaving a top program that she's really grown herself for this opportunity. That should tell you what she thinks of this chance.

3) This is no entry job. She's going to be a top assistant and may have a career as an NBA head coach down the line. At just 41, one could argue she is now the front runner for that eventual ground-breaking hire.

4) She's been involved with Team USA, an avenue that Koby Altman frequented and one of the areas that contributed to developing the fine player personnel eye he's honed. These programs are all about development, teaching players--especially on the international competition level.

"The more we researched and got to know Lindsay, the more we came to understand that she would be an impactful part of where we want to go as a team," Altman said in a statement. "Coach Gottlieb brings a depth of basketball knowledge, leadership, perspective and approach to her craft that will fit very well with our team and staff alike. We're fortunate that she was willing to leave her role as head coach at such a solid and successful program at Cal."

Once Beilein met Gottlieb and discussed the ways that she could impact an NBA coaching staff and environment, Beilein became determined to recruit her to Cleveland, sources said. Cleveland reached a deal with Gottlieb and agent Bret Just of CAA late Tuesday night, sources said.

"I am excited to have a coach with Lindsay's experience as a part of the new coaching staff with the Cavaliers," Beilein said in a statement. "Lindsay truly values and embraces player development and a culture of winning basketball habits. Her success at Cal Berkeley speaks for itself and her insight in our meetings, practices and games will hold tremendous value.

"After sitting with her, it was easy to see how she will connect quickly with our staff and our players, and we all benefit because of that connection. I'm looking forward to merging all of her years of experience and vision for the game with our current and future coaching staff."

Gottlieb advanced to seven NCAA tournaments in her eight seasons at Cal, including a trip to the 2013 Final Four. She constructed a 179-89 (.668) record and coached several future WNBA players. Prior to Cal, Gottlieb had a 56-39 record, including an NCAA bid, in three seasons as coach of University of California, Santa Barbara. She also has coached with national teams for USA Basketball.

Gottlieb is believed to be the eighth woman to share either an assistant coaching or player development role for an NBA team, but she joins the Cavaliers from the most prominent coaching perch of any of her predecessors -- a Power 5 college program with consistent Top 25 presence and a college salary believed to be the $700,000-plus range.

ESPN Article by Woj


I'm no Steve Kerr disciple due to the rivalry and attitude, but the man can coach. He's been successful in all walks of life around the game of basketball.

Gottlieb attending camp with the Golden State staff in an effort to grow her own horizons is just telling of the type of coach she is.


This hire is not only a good one by the Cavaliers, it's also cutting edge and probably the starting of a trend. The NCAA Women's game has a lot of untapped talent ready for these types of roles. She may even be overqualified for the role she did take with us, if we're being honest.
 
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Eh whatever. Talent is 98% of winning the NBA. Ask Lue and Longaberger.
 
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Eh whatever. Talent is 98% of winning the NBA. Ask Lue and Longaberger.
Hey, guy. Nice post.

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Really like this hire. Besides the fact that Gottlieb is a helluva coach, it shows that the Cavaliers want to be progressive and they will leave no stone unturned when it comes to growing the team & developing players. As a fan, what else could you ask for? It certainly doesn’t hurt with the female fan base either...
 
Clever way for Gilbert to save money since she only commands 72% of the typical salary.
 
Glad to see it. She's about the farthest thing from an affirmative action hire. She's earned her place on an NBA bench for sure.

A constistent theme of Gilbert's is out-of-the-box hires. If you want different results, then you need to do something different.
 
I hope she succeeds and has a long career as an NBA Coach in the future. Only trepidation I have is it being paired alongside another college coach in Beilein who is also coaching in the league for the first time.

I love the emphasis on development and she has enough experience around winning programs and cultures which is encouraging.
 
I just wonder how coaching women in college translates to the NBA. The games couldn't be more different, and the talent development challenges at the NBA level are incredibly different as well. We saw with Blatt that it's hard for a top euro men's coach to step over into the NBA, and the distance is much less there. It's appropriate she's starting as an assistant.
 
I just wonder how coaching women in college translates to the NBA. The games couldn't be more different, and the talent development challenges at the NBA level are incredibly different as well. We saw with Blatt that it's hard for a top euro men's coach to step over into the NBA, and the distance is much less there. It's appropriate she's starting as an assistant.
A little worried that athletes won't respect female coaches sufficiently
 
We saw with Blatt that it's hard for a top euro men's coach to step over into the NBA, and the distance is much less there. It's appropriate she's starting as an assistant.
I think Blatt’s issues stemmed primarily from having to deal with LeBron James and completely scrapping his system as a result.

He was no longer “coaching.” He was managing personalities. He was used to the coach commanding respect and running the show—that’s not what he ended up with.

For Gottlieb, if she can handle the drama involved with a room of fifteen 18-21 year old girls, I think she’ll do just fine. It’s the same thing. :chuckle:
 
A little worried that athletes won't respect female coaches sufficiently
If they don’t respect one of the main assistant coaches than that’s a much bigger warning sign and issue about the staff as a whole and Beilein.

Not concerned. They’re there to work, learn, and improve. Anything that helps them to that end is seen as a plus. I’d bet the majority of young NBA level basketball players are much more comfortable with this than the average fan.
 
I'm not worried about the respect, I'm worried about it literally being a different game. NBA level male athletes just have an entirely different set of physical skills and capacities than female college-level players, and the game itself reflects those differences. There are all kinds of things that work well in the women's game that won't work in the NBA game because it would be completely impossible to execute them against NBA-level male athletes. Then the player development challenge is very different too because you are developing different capacities.
 
Glad to see it. She's about the farthest thing from an affirmative action hire. She's earned her place on an NBA bench for sure.

A constistent theme of Gilbert's is out-of-the-box hires. If you want different results, then you need to do something different.

Hmmm, there is a box joke there somewhere.
 

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