J.B. Bickerstaff will be the Cavs' assistant

With a partnership project with new coach John Beilein, the Cleveland Cavaliers hire J. B. Bickerstaff as an associate head coach, told ESPN sources close to the league.

The Cavaliers will make Bickerstaff one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the NBA, League sources said.

Cleveland is working with Beilein – a very successful 40-year-old coach – to ease his transition to the professional game and target Bickerstaff as the key to this education.

Bickerstaff, the head coach of Memphis Grizzlies for a year or more, had discussed the roles of senior assistant with Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Sacramento, but had met with Beilein and general manager Koby Altman at the reunion from the NBA to Chicago and had the Cavaliers' recruitment, sources said.

Bickerstaff had interviewed for the Cavaliers head coach position at Altman prior to hiring Beilein. Bickerstaff's father, Bernie, a long-time coach and NBA executive, works as a consultant for the Cavaliers.

Bickerstaff, 40, had been an interim coach of the Houston Rockets (2015-2016), leading them into the playoffs and winning the Grizzlies position after spending most of 2017-18 as an interim post-referee. from David Fizdale. His career record is 85-131.

Cleveland enlisted Beilein, 66, on Friday after coaching for 12 seasons at the University of Michigan.