Cavs President Koby Altman says current team can contend

INDEPENDENCE — President of basketball operations Koby Altman said the Cavaliers wanted a fresh set of eyes and a new voice. He spoke glowingly Friday about coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who was fired a day earlier. "He was an incredible partner," Altman said. "We love him as a human being. This was a tremendously difficult decision. There's not one singular thing J.B. did wrong. "(I'm) not going to go into any sort of shortcomings or negatives about J.B. It's not something that he did specifically. I think for us with this group, (we want to find) someone with a new approach, a different voice and a fresh set of eyes to help us move forward." Altman didn't want to be complacent and bring back the coach who guided the Cavs to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Altman labeled the 2023-24 season as "highly successful," even though Cleveland couldn't get past the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the second round. When asked about his expectations for the just-completed season, Altman said he wanted the Cavs to be "highly competitive" in the playoffs. "I think we were," he said. "Obviously, we weren't whole. I'm not going to make excuses. I think a lot of teams are going through what we went through, so we can't just say this is a Cavaliers thing. In terms of the injuries, look, it's hard to say this season wasn't a success when you look at our first conference semifinals since 2018, and so we were disappointed with how it ended." Altman said the franchise has an urgency to win and couldn't stand pat with Bickerstaff, who in five seasons compiled a 170-159 record in the regular season (.517) and a 6-11 mark in the postseason (.353). Bickerstaff's regular-season win total is fifth in franchise history and sixth in winning percentage. Altman said he has no plans to break up the core of the team. "I don't see the need to make sweeping changes," he said. "I don't see why we should (break it up)." Altman can't talk to All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell until July 1, but the Cavs are expected to offer him a four-year, $208 million contract extension. If he turns it down, Cleveland will likely trade him. Altman, though, said after his exit interview with Mitchell, he believes he wants to stay with the team. "He was talking about the future and how excited he was about the team, the organization," Altman said. "This is a player that has had two of the best years of his career here. "I think he has a lot of trust in what we're doing and understands that our goal is to win a championship. He says he's happy here, he likes it here. He's always been very genuine." While talking about center Jarrett Allen, who missed the Boston series, Altman let it slip that the center had a broken rib. The team had announced that he had "bruised ribs." Altman said it's a matter of semantics. "He tried to give it a go (in the playoffs)," he said. Altman said he'd decompress this weekend and start on the coaching search Tuesday. "It's a massive undertaking," he said. "We're going to take the weekend and come back and really map it out. We haven't had a (coaching) search for five years. We've had real continuity here. "This is a very highly specific job requirement. In terms of the questions we're going to ask, we're going to be very, very specific to the talent level, very specific to how we can achieve even more than we have and, obviously, some characteristics that we talk about from a cultural standpoint." Contact Bob Finnan at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X.