Tom Izzo Turns Down the Cavs, Is It Time to Start Worrying about Cal Again?

With the news that Tom Izzo has decided to turn down the Cavs and finish out his career at Michigan State, the Cavs are set to get cranking on their coaching search again. Correspondingly, unless the Cavs find their man much more quickly than I expect, I think we can expect the Calipari to the NBA rumors to get cranking again.

There are plenty of dissertations out there about what a great decision Izzo made and how it’s great for the college game, so I really want no part of getting into that. I’m much more interested in how the decision was made, because that will be much more telling if the Cavs place a call into Cal.

Izzo said this Cavs job was a unique opportunity. Well, he was half right I guess. This was a unique opportunity if LeBron stays in Cleveland. If he doesn’t stay, Cleveland is just another NBA city with just another NBA job. In fact, minus LeBron, it’s probably much, much worse than average.

Clearly, there’s a lot of uncertainty there. Izzo would be taking a job that was most certainly a unique opportunity or a terrible opportunity, and he was unable to gain enough information to make him feel comfortable with taking it.

John Calipari has been quick to talk about how Izzo called him to consult with him as he wrestled with the decision. Especially for a coach like Calipari who has had his PR battles this off-season, one of the most revered coaches placing a call into him for 25 minutes is a giant PR win.

I’m sure Izzo asked him about his decision making process 14 years ago when he took the Nets job, but it’s hard for me to believe that Izzo’s top priority was anything other than completing his diligence on LeBron. Cal has a direct line to LeBron and Izzo was exploring to see if Cal had information. Clearly, Cal was unable to provide any insight that convinced the King would be back in Cleveland.

The one name that is out there for the Cavs pretty definitively right now is Byron Scott, another former head coach of the Nets. The Cavs continued to pursue him even as Izzo weighed his decision. Scott will be priority number one now, but he faces the same dilemma as Izzo: LeBron. Scott may be unwilling to leave even an ESPN gig with LeBron and Cleveland in limbo, which speaks to just how bad the Cleveland job becomes if LeBron is gone.

Even if Gilbert goes to Calipari tomorrow, I just don’t see him taking the job without an assurance that LeBron will return, and I don’t think Cal can even get that.

If Scott says no to the Cavs, owner Dan Gilbert is getting awfully close to heading into free agency without a coach, which, for my money, wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world. The Cavs can make their giant hometown push for LeBron with the sales pitch that we may not have a coach now, but if you sign, we will get a star to coach you.

I believe LeBron when he says he doesn’t want a hand in picking his coach, so I do not think Cal would be on the list in that situation. The number one reason for a team to hire Cal is to recruit LeBron. If LeBron has already committed, that top reason is scratched off the list and all you’re left with in Cal is a great college coach who can recruit, but has an iffy pro track record.

In short, at this point the place I can see Cal coaching in the NBA next season is Cleveland. The only way I think that happens is if LeBron changes his stance that he does not want a role in picking his coach. I don’t see that happening.

I think next year you will see LeBron in Chicago, Cal at UK, and the Cavaliers in the Lottery with a coach desperate for a head coaching job.