Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein’s players played music featuring the word “thug” around him.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, players on the Cavs would blast music featuring the word “thug” in response to Beilein reportedly dropping the word during a meeting prior to him leaving the team.
He departed the team following the all-star game, and it sounds like the players’ attitudes towards him played a large role in the decision. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Inside the failed John Beilein-Cavaliers experiment and a franchise culture issue — Full story with @ByJasonLloyd/@joevardon on @TheAthleticNBA: https://t.co/dFanNLjuDB
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 19, 2020
this man was d o o m e d https://t.co/oS9aIGdAdi pic.twitter.com/MAzB1bBx1O
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) February 19, 2020
Andre Drummond suggested it was either him or me. Songs with the word ‘thug’ blaring within earshot. And a coach aghast at what he found when he arrived. Inside the John Beilein failure in Cleveland, with @ShamsCharania and @ByJasonLloyd https://t.co/GzUpsTXgip
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) February 19, 2020
This situation is just absurd, and it’s obvious that Beilein, who was a great coach at Michigan, had to leave the team. That’s not an indictment of him accidentally saying “thugs” instead of “slugs” during a meeting.
It’s that the team sucks and he lost the locker room. It’s one thing to be bad and still have the support of the team.
It’s a totally different thing to be trash and have players in open revolt. Once that happens, it’s game over for a coach.
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You just can’t have a locker room full of millionaires revolting against the guy who is supposed to be the leader.
The question now is what Beilein will do. My guess is he’ll go straight back to college. It’s where he belongs, and it’s where he’s had a ton of prior success.
It’s clear his players hated him, and he just didn’t fit in the NBA game.