Cavs add Antonio Lang as assistant coach

John Beilein’s staff continues to fill out.

As first reported by The Athletic’s Tony Jones, Jazz assistant Antonio Lang is moving to Cleveland to join the Cavs’ staff in the second assistant chair. With Lang on board, Cleveland’s staff now includes Lang, associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, assistant Lindsay Gottlieb, Dan Geriot and Mike Gerrity.

The team announced Lang’s hiring on Wednesday morning in a press release.

“It has been a priority of mine to identify coaches who share a common vision and philosophy of teaching the game of basketball and being part of a winning culture,” Beilein said, per the release. “Antonio Lang is one of those unique individuals who exemplifies those qualities. He has demonstrated a consistent work ethic and respect for the game that’s easily relatable to players at every skill level.”

Lang played in the NBA during the 1990s and into the early 2000s. He was drafted by the Suns in 1994 out of Duke where he roomed with Grant Hill. Lang then played for the Cavs from them middle of the 1995 season (when Phoenix traded him to Cleveland) through 1997. After leaving the NBA in 2000, he played in the ABA and overseas until 2006, when he moved into coaching.

His first assistant job came in 2006 for Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphin in the Japan Basketball League and he was the head coach of that team from 2010-2014 before moving to the Jazz to work under Quin Snyder.

What role Lang will have Beilein’s staff is unclear, but it appears that he’s the third coach in the pecking order behind Beilein and Bickerstaff. That would mean Gottlieb is third with Geriot and Gerrity working on player development. At this time, it’s unclear if the team will hire any other assistants.