CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavs feel left out.
They also understand they weren’t good enough to receive an invitation to Orlando for the NBA’s restart and playoffs this summer.
“This is motivation for us moving forward,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Tuesday morning on a Zoom conference call.
“Whatever it is that we have to do as a group this summer to get better, we need to go out and do that. Whatever party the NBA is throwing, this one happens to be in Orlando, this one happens to have 22 teams, most of the time they have 16 teams, we need to do whatever we can in our power to make sure we’re getting invited to the party.”
The Cavs season ends with 19 wins and 46 losses.
They’ll have to wait until next season – whenever that starts – to pick up where they left off before the COVID-19 pandemic halted play, having won five of 11 games.
“We are very clear and understanding of the league’s reasoning and their wishes behind why they’ve taken the 22 teams, and we will be good partners in that,” Bickerstaff said. “I think we’ve shown that, and we get it. But this is internal motivation for our group to prepare ourselves to be better so that we can be on that invite list.”
Bickerstaff and the organization have petitioned the NBA, along with the other seven teams who also saw their season end, to do something this summer in the form of games or practices.
“Our expectation is that the league is going to let us do something,” Bickerstaff said. “We are fighting, and I know there’s other teams too that are fighting to get something done.”
The reality is that the Cavs are looking at potentially not playing a game for nearly eight months, assuming the 2020-21 season starts in December as projected.
For Bickerstaff and the Cavs, time is of the essence.
Although they tried to talk like one at the start of the season, they were not a playoff contender. But the goal is to change that, and fast.
They can’t get there if they can’t compete, and that is what Bickerstaff and general manager Koby Altman are pleading with the league office for the opportunity to do before next season.
“Development is key for most of the teams that aren’t in,” Bickerstaff said. “How do you expect to develop your guys if there is an eight-month layoff? We have asked the league to do things to make it so that it is not a competitive disadvantage.”
Bickerstaff is cautious when it comes to talking about the big picture, however he believes the Cavs can return to relevancy sooner rather than later.
“We want to get better, we want to be in the hunt next year,” Bickerstaff said. “If we don’t approach it that way then we are not doing our job. We’re not having expectations of 19 wins in a shortened season to champions, but there needs to be steps forward, no doubt.
“In the East, if there’s steps forward, you’re battling for the eight spot going down the stretch and I think that’s a realistic expectation for us.”
