Cavaliers must get over hump as expectations rise, GM says

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Koby Altman realizes expectations for the Cleveland Cavaliers going into next season will be much different.

Such is life for a franchise that was the top seed in the Eastern Conference but had its postseason run end in disappointment, losing to the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.

Altman, the Cavaliers president of basketball operations, says he knows the most important goals during the offseason are trying to make sure the roster is mentally and physically tougher to handle being looked at as one of the top teams in the league when training camp begins in late September.

“I think we can all agree that coming into the season no one predicted us to be [the] No. 1 seed. I don’t think anyone had 64 wins. Because we were so good we re-created the expectation of Finals. I think everyone in here saw potential champions, which is a new space for us,” Altman said. “We re-created the expectation and now we have to live with that. I think it’s a space we want to live in and take that into the playoffs next year, knowing we’re going to have to change that narrative, knowing that we have get over the hump.”

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The Cavaliers have had steady improvement the past four seasons as they rebuilt the roster after four straight trips to the NBA Finals (2015-18) and a 2016 NBA title during LeBron James’ second stint.

Altman has built a solid core group with Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. The group has played together for three seasons and has proved it can be formidable in the regular season. They had a 16-win improvement in NBA Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson’s first season and were the East’s top seed for the first time in nine years.

The next step though is advancing beyond the conference semifinals.

Altman pointed to Indiana, Denver, Boston and Oklahoma City as teams that had to go through growing pains with their core players before achieving success.

When it comes to what was the determining factor in the Indiana series, Altman pointed to the end of Game 2, which the Pacers won 120-119 on Tyrese Haliburton’s 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining. Haliburton missed his second free throw with Indiana trailing by two points, but got the offensive rebound before hitting his winning shot.

“That one foul line backout in Game 2, that’s a level of focus and winning that we have to get to. And it’s going to eat at us, it’s going to haunt us,” Altman said.

Reserve guard Ty Jerome is due to become an unrestricted free agent, but Altman said there was interest in re-signing him. The Cavaliers are above both aprons of the salary cap, meaning that trying to find more depth for the bench could be difficult, but ownership has not given Altman any restrictions by going into the luxury tax.

Though Mitchell attracts plenty of attention and headlines, the Cavaliers’ fortunes largely depend on Mobley taking another big step. Mobley was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and had a breakout season after averaging 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and being selected to the NBA All-Star Game for the first time.

Mobley also had nine games this season with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

“We’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go. And we’ve had that conversation with Evan,” Altman said. “In the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 field goal attempts per game — that’s new for Evan. There’s another jump. And so to that point, Kenny’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about. And we’re going to see some internal growth there, and we think we have one of the best big men in the game in Evan Mobley.”