Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Beilein made an emotional apology to his players on Thursday morning, insisting his regret for referring to the team as “a bunch of thugs” in a Wednesday film session, league sources told ESPN.
Beilein also met with general manager Koby Altman on Thursday, sources said. Altman talked individually with players to get a sense of how they viewed verbiage in Wednesday’s film session and how accepting they were of Thursday’s apology, sources said.
The Cavaliers are planning to continue with Beilein, who is in the first season of a five year contract, sources said.
After stunning his players with the comment Wednesday, Beilein reached out to players individually to insist he instead meant to use the word “slugs.”
Delivering the term thugs to a group of largely young African American men carries obvious racial connotations, and Beilein acknowledged to ESPN in a telephone conversation Wednesday night that he understood that.
“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 on Wednesday night. “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.”
Beilein was wrapping up what had been an off-day film session in Detroit and a hush fell over the room when his players and staff heard the words come out of his mouth, sources said.
The Cavaliers players left the room initially stunned and were increasingly disturbed as they dispersed out of the meeting, league sources said. Altman was alerted to the issue in the aftermath of the meeting and reached out to Beilein for clarification.
Beilein held the film session at a Detroit hotel on Wednesday and largely derided his players for poor decision-making and execution, sources said.
The Cavaliers visit the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.
Beilein’s first pro season at 66 years old has been partly defined by his struggle to connect with players and adjust to a dramatically different NBA environment than what he had experienced in 40-plus college seasons.