INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Cavaliers quick exit from the playoffs has overshadowed a 51-win season and return to contention among fans.
Those fans are worried the New York Knicks exposed major flaws in the roster while dominating the series and winning in five games, 4-1.
For president of basketball operations Koby Altman, the view of the state of the franchise, and the roster, comes through a completely different lens.
“We accomplished a lot this year and really put this franchise back on the map in terms of being able to compete at the highest level all year long and this is part of the journey,” Altman said during his end of season availability with reporters Friday morning. “The pain and the agony that we felt the last couple days is part of it and we're going to get better for it, but it doesn't change how we feel about this group.”
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Each loss felt nearly identical in terms of how well the Knicks were able to manhandle the young Cavs, which raises concerns about the viability of this roster to compete at a championship level going forward.
“We're not going to overreact and make sweeping changes to a roster that had 51 wins,” Altman said. “It's one of six teams to do that this year in the NBA tied for fifth and for the best season in the NBA in one of the most competitive league years in the league ever.”
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has taken plenty of external criticism for his rotations, lineups and the team’s inability to respond effectively to the Knicks physicality and rebounding.
Altman made it clear that Bickerstaff isn’t going anywhere.
“You can't fluke your way into 51 wins. You can't fluke your way into the number one defensive rating in the NBA,” Altman said. “That's coaching. I know we have great defensive personnel, but you have to have buy-in from that and that comes from the head coach and so we're extremely happy with JB and the job he's done.
“I think he's going to look back and reflect on what we could have done better, just like the players look back at what they could have done better…. You look at 95 wins over the last two years, the trajectory of this team, the internal growth of the players, multiple All-Stars over the last couple years, it's hard not to be proud of the job that they've done. He's hard on himself. I think he's going to go back and watch a lot of this stuff, but I also know that the players love playing for him.”
Altman defended his players from Jarrett Allen to Donovan Mitchell, who admitted following the series they fell short of being as effective as they expect to be, at length during the nearly 40 minute wrap up.
“We didn't play our best,” Altman said. “I think for us, a few things that were the unknown were the physicality of the playoffs, the laser focus you need to have possession to possession.
“So there's internal growth that's going to happen just from going through that experience. In terms of personnel, obviously we're going to look at what we can do to adjust, but there's no sweeping changes. No one's going to panic off of this first round loss.”
Altman praised the backcourt pairing of Mitchell and Darius Garland and the bond the two formed off the court this past season. He is equally as pleased with Allen and Evan Mobley, who just finished his second NBA season.
As far as tweaking the roster, Altman acknowledged what his top priority will be this offseason.
“I think for sure shooting,” Altman said. “I think everybody would love to add some shooting, obviously the physicality piece.”
The Knicks bench gave New York a distinct advantage in the series, but Altman doesn’t believe the Cavs have as big of a depth problem as many outside the organization perceive.
“It's not a depth question,” Altman said. “I think they would tell you that they weren't their best and in the playoffs you need your best players to be at their best and so going through this experience, what's that going to do for them? And yes, depth helps, your bench will help but better than anybody, your top players have to perform and they'll be better for this.
“We actually were really good defensively. We held the Knicks to right around a hundred points, 99, 98 points. We just have to put the ball in the basket and so depth will help that, but we got to make shots, we got to be better and I also have to figure out a way to give us a little bit more spacing around how we want to play. You're going to sacrifice some of offense with how we played defensively, but we have to have strike the right balance and then we have to have more diversity in our offense.”