The Cleveland Cavaliers coach, John Beilein, has apologised to his players after describing them as a “bunch of thugs” during a team meeting on Wednesday.
Sources told ESPN that the room became hushed after Beilein used the description, and several players were visibly uncomfortable. The 66-year-old coach, who is white, later acknowledged the effect of using a racially loaded phrase to describe a team in which the majority of players are black. Beilein said he had meant to call the players “slugs”.
“I didn’t realize that I had said the word ‘thugs,’ but my staff told me later I did and so I must have said it,” Beilein told ESPN. “I meant to say slugs, as in slow-moving. We weren’t playing hard before, and now we were playing harder. I meant it as a compliment. That’s what I was trying to say. I’ve already talked to eight of my players tonight, and they are telling me that they understand.”
The Cavaliers general manger, Koby Altman, is looking into the incident.
Beilein has struggled in his first year as Cavaliers coach after a 40-year career in college basketball. Cleveland are 10-27 this season, the third-worst record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, and have lost five games in a row. Last week, the team’s best player, Kevin Love, was visibly frustrated with his teammates on court, and it is believed he has clashed with Beilein too.
