Mike Longabardi

Michael Longabardi^[1] (born February 23, 1973) is currently an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had previously taken on assistant coach roles in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, and the Phoenix Suns, winning an NBA Finals championship with both the Celtics and Cavaliers.

Early life and college career

Longabardi was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, which included him going to the Xaverian High School, a private Catholic school that includes co-ed 6th-8th grade classes. He would start going to the Newberry College, a Division II program, around 1991 and play basketball for them there. During his time at Newberry, he had earned the nickname of "Mr. Defense" for the defensive presence he held for them. After two years of playing for the Newberry College, Longabardi would transfer to playing for Frostburg State University, a Division III program. During one of his seasons with Frostburg State, Longabardi would earn the ECAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award for his production there. He'd continue to play for them until 1996, where he'd graduate with a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education.

College coaching career

After graduating from college, Longabardi would immediately find himself a role as an assistant head coach for college basketball by taking on an role for Pfeiffer University, a Division II program. He also would take on the head junior varsity basketball coaching role around that time there as well. After his only season with Pfeiffer ended, Longabardi would take on an assistant coach and recruiting role for Adelphi University, which was another Division II program. With the addition of Longabardi to the coaching staff, Adelphi would produce a 20–12 record and an appearance at the 1998 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, which was the best record for Adelphi at the time in over 32 years. They would compete against Assumption College, but would lose in a blowout fashion. During his second and final season with Adelphi, Longabardi was forced to take on an interim head coach role due to currently unknown reasons. From there, he would help improve upon that 20–12 record by getting the team to a 22–8 record and a spot at the 1999 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship appearance, with the team going as far as the Sweet Sixteen before losing in double-overtime to the College of Saint Rose. His continual improvement on Adelphi University would soon catch the eye of Lafayette College, a Division I program, as he'd continue to be an assistant coach from there. He'd also hold road recruitment duties there along the way. During his time at Lafayette College, the head coach of the program noted how enthusiastic Longabardi was with coaching within the program. Longabardi would end his college coaching career with Towson University, another Division I program, as assistant coach there for the 2002–03 season.

Houston Rockets

During the summer of 2001, Longabardi helped coach the NACEL Open Door College All-Star Team with Bill Van Gundy, the father of both Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Van Gundy. His production particularly captured the eye of Jeff Van Gundy, as he looked to return to coaching the NBA after his previous stint with the New York Knicks ended. When Jeff Van Gundy was hired as the new head coach of the Houston Rockets in 2003, he also hired Longabardi as one of three assistant coaches to immediately start his tenure there. During his first couple of seasons in the NBA, he would not only be an assistant coach for the team, but he also took on the role of an assistant video coordinator for one season and the lead video coordinator for another as well.^[2] During his time with the Rockets, they would have their defense be at the upper-half of the league in each of his first seasons in the league.

Boston Celtics

Sometime around the summer of 2007, Longabardi was named a member of the Boston Celtics coaching staff. During his first seasons with the Celtics, Longabardi would be tutored under another new member of the team's coaching staff that specialized in defense, Tom Thibodeau. Under his first season with the team, the Celtics would record the greatest improvement from one season to the next in NBA history, beating out the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs season for that record. He'd also win his first NBA Finals championship as an assistant coach in the NBA in 2008, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 4–2. Longabardi would hold an even greater role for the Celtics during their rematch with the Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals, but the team would ultimately lose out 4–3 in that series. After that series ended and Tom Thibodeau would accept the vacant head coach role for the Chicago Bulls, Longabardi would be the team's full-time defensive coordinator. In each of his seasons afterwards, the Celtics would continue to be in the top third of all NBA teams in defense.

Phoenix Suns

On June 25, 2013, Mike Longabardi was named as one of four new assistant coaches for the Phoenix Suns under Jeff Hornacek's tenure as coach there.^[3] He was also joined under the job by Jerry Sichting, Kenny Gattison, and Mark West during their first two seasons, with Longabardi taking on the role of defensive coordinator.^[4] Under the knowledge he obtained during his time with the Celtics, he would help not only improve the team's defense by a considerable margin,^[5] but he'd also help improve the team's overall record from 25–57 to a much improved 48–34 record, although the team would barely miss out on the playoffs in their first season. Around that time, Longabardi was not only considered a potential NBA worthy head coach for teams in need of a head coach,^[6] but was also mentioned as a likely candidate to replace Coach Hornacek in the event he was fired before the end of his last season under contract.^[7] However, before he had the chance to take on the interim coaching role for the Suns, he would get fired from the team alongside Jerry Sichting on December 28, 2015 after a team meeting with everyone at hand.

Cleveland Cavaliers

After a month of waiting, Longabardi would be hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers as their newest defensive coordinator for the tenure of Tyronn Lue's first season as head coach on January 27, 2016.^[8] Despite being considered a team that had defensive issues during Longabardi's first season with the Cavaliers during the regular season,^[9] his defense would ultimately help the Cavaliers end the Cleveland curse by getting the Cavaliers the opportunity of holding a surprise upset over the 73–9 Golden State Warriors, winning the series 4–3 in the process after starting the series down 3–1. After helping the Cavaliers win their first ever NBA Finals championship, Longabardi would have his contract extended for the next few seasons.^[10]

References