Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff has said it before — “We want to make people feel us.”
Bickerstaff said it again Monday, and by that, he’s not asking people to get all emotional when the Cavs take the court. There’s actually nothing soft about the feeling Bickerstaff wants opponents to feel in 2020-21.
“We want to be the type of team that plays so hard, competes so hard, that we get four or five wins because people just don’t feel like dealing with us tonight,” Bickerstaff told the media.
He then went on to explain what one of those nights might seem like to an opponent.
“They’re coming in off a back-to-back or it’s an early Sunday game or whatever it may be, and you have to see the Cavs,” said. “That’s how hard we want to play every single night.”
Bickerstaff isn’t just blowing smoke here. That much is clear.
The Cavs started to show some serious signs of being the team Bickerstaff described when he took over in February. They went 5-6 and played with guts and even some belief they could win.
Bickerstaff is hardly the type to yell Gregg Popovich-like proclamations from inside the practice gym. He is more laid-back, more of a man players trust and respect. Yet his Cavs played with grit.
With the exception of beloved center Tristan Thompson, now in Boston, the majority of the Cavs’ nucleus returns. The list includes Collin Sexton, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., and Andre Drummond, the big center who can be a major pain in anyone’s side (and the lane). Veteran center JaVale McGee and rookie small forward Isaac Okoro are expected to be pesky as well.
“The two things that we continue to push to our guys is can we be the most competitive team on the floor every night and the most unselfish team? You can see that and feel that. You might not always win, right? But you know you can control those two things every night, and that’s kind of who we want to be.”
Bickerstaff continued.
“The two things we continue to push to our guys is can we be the most competitive team on the floor every night and the most unselfish team? You can see that and feel that,” he said. “You might not always win, right? But you know you can control those two things every night, and that’s kind of who we want to be.”
Of course, knowing Cavs general manager Koby Altman, Bickerstaff and the rest of the coaching staff, analytics will also play a role in helping to create this mindset.
