The Cavs Better Replace John Kuester

I am not one of those people that just assumes that people can’t develop new skills.  For example, I recognize that Anderson Varejao has improved his offensive game over the last two years.  I also recognize that he could conceivably get even better at his mid-range jumper than he was this season.  But the reason I recognize that is that I see him try the shots and as he gains confidence in shooting that jumper more, I groan less when I see him loading it up.  

With Mike Brown this season, we saw the exact opposite.  The improvements in the Cavaliers offense was great this season, but we didn’t see Mike Brown improving as an offensive coach as much as we saw him improving as a manager of his assistants.  He stepped back and allowed John Kuester to run the huddle.  With that said, there is no reason to think that the Cavaliers’ offense won’t regress this season without some sort of infusion of talent on the coaching staff.

Obviously, I don’t know the Cavaliers coaching staff as intimately as Mike Brown and Danny Ferry.  Maybe there is another coach on staff with the ability to step up and become the Cavaliers’ new “offensive coordinator.”  If that guy exists on staff, I hope he is mentioned soon by Danny Ferry or Mike Brown.  

As a fan, I just want to know that someone is officially stepping into the role that John Kuester had for the Cavaliers this year.  I don’t want to hear that Mike Brown is going to try to step in and do it himself.  The Cavaliers found a formula last year in their coaching staff where Mike Brown relied on his assistants and acted as a head coach with veto power.  Even if the names of the coaches are different, I would like to think that they won’t abandon that structure.

The nice thing about the vacuum created by John Kuester is that it is not like when a player departs in free agency.  This decision by the Cavaliers won’t be bound by a salary cap of any kind.  

Assuming that like anything else in Dan Gilbert’s world, he won’t spare any expense.  I also hope that the Cavs do not drag their feet on this.  We can all see the reverberations of John Kuester getting the head coaching gig in Detroit.  The Cavs not only lose their offensive game planner.  They also just gave up a huge amount of gameplanning knowledge to a rival.  

Now, we know that gameplanning can only account for so much when the talent on the court must also execute.  At the same time after a year where we partially blamed Mike Brown and staff for getting out-coached in the playoffs, it is a kick in the pants to see this coaching staff getting downgraded in the off-season.