INDEPENDENCE, Ohio _ Assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb will move to the front of the bench at Washington Friday night when J.B. Bickerstaff makes his debut as Cavaliers coach.
Bickerstaff, 40, was elevated from associate head coach after Wednesday's resignation of John Beilein. That means each assistant moves up one chair, with Bickerstaff saying Thursday that Antonio Lang will be his right-hand man.
Gottlieb, 42, the coach at the University of California Berkeley for the previous eight years, had been relegated to the second row under Beilein. Bickerstaff said Gottlieb will rotate on the front row with J.J. Outlaw, depending on who has the scout responsibilities, which were hers for the Wizards.
Bickerstaff doesn't believe Gottlieb will be nervous in a more prominent spot at Capital One Arena.
"No, I'm sure she'll be good. She keeps us calm. She's good at that," Bickerstaff said after practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
Gottlieb is one of 11 female assistant coaches in the NBA this season, one of six hired in the offseason.
"She is extremely intelligent and perceptive," Bickerstaff said. "She sees things from a vantage point that's extremely helpful. I tend to see things from just a straight-forward kind of bonehead way, and she takes that same situation and she gives me the opposite side of it all the time, in a way that is always helpful.
"She's extremely calming in those situations where emotions run high. I've never seen her get flustered or get upset. So, she's great to have around, because she sees the big picture, even in the short term. She doesn't let herself get stuck here, she always sees what's going on further down the line."
With 28 games remaining, Bickerstaff said he will not make any hires for his staff.
"I think the group that we have is a really good group," he said. "I think we're comfortable with where we are right now, and bringing someone else in just adds to some of the chaos that's created by the situation.
"We just sat down as a coaching staff and we know how we move and we know what gaps need to be filled, so we just talked among each other to fill those gaps."
