Cavaliers finalize coaching staff for 2024-25 NBA season – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

The Cleveland Cavaliers have finalized their coaching staff for the upcoming 2024-25 season and named Johnnie Bryant as Associate Head Coach and Jordan Ott, Mike Gerrity, DeMarre Carroll, Trevor Hendry, Omar Cook, Bryan Tibaldi and Nate Reinking as Assistant Coaches on Head Coach Kenny Atkinson’s staff, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman and Atkinson announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

To support the coaching staff, the Cavaliers have hired Alex Sarama as Director of Player Development and Patrick Licursi as Advance Scout. DJ Ham has been named Player Development/Video Assistant, Andrew Olson as Shooting Coach and Austin Peterson as Manager of Coaching Analytics. Additionally, the Cavaliers have also hired Aaron Robinson and Luke Webb as Video Assistants, as well as Adrian Culea as Special Assistant to the Head Coach.

Bryant brings over a decade of NBA experience to Atkinson’s staff, including the previous four seasons as associate head coach of the New York Knicks. Before joining New York, Bryant spent eight seasons with the Utah Jazz, serving as an assistant coach for six seasons (2014-2020) and two seasons as a player development assistant (2012-2014). Additionally, he ran the Bryant Sports Academy for three years (2009-2012), which helped develop the skills of NBA players along with numerous European players. Bryant played college basketball at the University of Utah, leaving the school as the 20th all-time leading scorer (1,301 points) and the leader in three-point field goal percentage (.440) while also earning dual bachelor’s degrees in human development and family studies and sports management. Following his college career, the Oakland, CA., native went on to play professionally overseas in Germany.

Ott was most recently an assistant coach for the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers (2022-2024). Prior to his tenure with the Lakers, Ott served as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets for six seasons (2016-2022), where he worked under Atkinson on the sidelines for his first four years in Brooklyn. Before working as an NBA assistant coach, Ott was the video coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2016. He served in the same capacity with the Michigan State men’s basketball program for five seasons (2008-2013) under Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo. Ott received his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 2006 and earned his master’s degree from Michigan State in 2008. The McConnellsburg, PA, native also served as an assistant coach with the Dominican Republic national team in the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City.

Gerrity joins Atkinson’s staff after serving the previous two seasons (2022-2024) as head coach of the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ exclusively owned and operated NBA G League team. In his first season at the helm, he led the Charge to a 30-20 record, tying for the second-most regular season wins in team history, as well as securing the franchise’s first playoff win since the 2015-16 season. Gerrity also served as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers in 2021-22 and spent three seasons as the team’s Director of Player Development/Assistant Coach from 2018 to 2021. His additional roles with the organization include two seasons as Director of Player Development for the Charge and Player Development Assistant with the Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018, and an Assistant Video Coordinator in 2013. Before his coaching career, Gerrity played two seasons in the NBA G League for the Dakota Wizards, Erie BayHawks, and Maine Red Claws. He starred at the University of Southern California in 2009-10 after playing collegiate basketball at Pepperdine and UNC Charlotte.

Carroll comes to Cleveland after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the Lakers (2023-24) and Milwaukee Bucks (2022-23). Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Carroll played in the NBA for 11 seasons, including two seasons under Atkinson during their time with the Brooklyn Nets. Over his NBA playing career, Carroll appeared in a combined 578 games (339 starts) for Houston, San Antonio, Brooklyn, Toronto, Atlanta, Utah, Denver and Memphis with averages of 8.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 23.7 minutes. He made at least 100 three-pointers in four of his NBA seasons and was a starter on Atlanta’s 60-win team in 2014-15. Drafted by the Grizzlies as the 27th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Carroll also appeared in 64 career playoff games (52 starts), posting averages of 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in 27.4 minutes. He was an All-Big 12 First Team selection during his collegiate years at the University of Missouri.

Hendry arrives in Cleveland after spending the previous two seasons (2022-24) as an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets and the four seasons prior to that (2018-22) as Brooklyn’s head video coordinator. Hendry originally joined the Nets organization in 2014, serving in a variety of basketball operations roles prior to entering the video room. He then spent one season (2016-17) as video and player development assistant for the Long Island Nets in the NBA G League and one season in the same role for the Brooklyn Nets (2017-18) before becoming head video coordinator for Brooklyn where he worked under Atkinson for parts of four seasons. Prior to joining the Nets organization, the Waterford, CT, native earned both a Bachelor of Arts in business and a Master of Business Administration from Clark University in Worcester, MA.

Cook held the role as assistant coach/player development with the Cavaliers last season. He originally joined the organization in 2022-23 as an assistant coach with the Charge after a successful 22-year professional basketball career that included stints in the NBA and NBA G League, as well as playing professionally in over half a dozen countries internationally. Cook has led five different leagues in assists in a season and has been part of two FIBA Champions League winning teams (2020, 2021). The Brooklyn, NY native was a McDonalds All-American and First-Team Parade All-American at Christ the King High School and starred at St. John’s University before being drafted by the Orlando Magic as the 31st overall pick in 2001.

Tibaldi was most recently the player development/video assistant (2021-2024) for the Cavaliers after joining the organization as an assistant coach with the Charge during the 2019-20 campaign. Prior to that, he spent two seasons as an assistant at Cleveland State University, two seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations at DePaul (2015-2017), four years as a video coordinator and director of operations at Missouri (2011-2015) and two seasons as assistant video coordinator basketball operations assistant with the Chicago Bulls (2009-2011). A 2007 graduate of Michigan State, Tibaldi was a two-year letter winner as a walk-on for the Spartans. Following his playing days, Tibaldi was a graduate assistant under Tom Izzo from 2007-09, earning his master’s in Kinesiology in 2009.

Reinking enters his second season as Assistant Coach with the Cavaliers. He was previously Assistant Coach/G-League Liaison from 2021-2023 and Head Coach for the Charge from 2016-2021 when he held a combined 107-101 record over that span. Reinking has over 20 years of collegiate, professional and international experience as both a player and coach. He was named the head coach of the Great Britain National Team in the summer of 2019, leading the team on a 4-0 run, and continuing a record-setting seven-game winning streak, to secure a spot in a EuroBasket 2021 qualifying group. Additionally, he coached the team in the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket Games. Before beginning his coaching career, Reinking played for Great Britain from 2005-12, representing the nation in international tournaments such as the Olympics and European Championships. The Galion, OH, native graduated from Kent State University in 1996 after a four-year playing career with the Golden Flashes and was inducted into the school’s Varsity “K” Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.