Pressure shifts to Cavs executive Koby Altman with coach J.B. Bickerstaff fired | Ulrich

INDEPENDENCE — J.B. Bickerstaff and Koby Altman had become partners in resurrecting the Cavaliers.

Now Bickerstaff is gone, fired Thursday after going 170-159 and 6-11 in the playoffs in four-plus seasons as the head coach of the Cavs.

And Altman is the president of basketball operations who conducted the autopsy Friday in the form of a news conference at Cleveland Clinic Courts.

More importantly, Altman is running the search for Bickerstaff's successor with General Manager Mike Gansey and other members of the front office assisting. Altman said chairman Dan Gilbert will “for sure play a role at the end when I sort of present him with our finalist.”

Bickerstaff coached last season under tremendous pressure. It has shifted to Altman to get the coaching hire right along with other crucial offseason decisions.

“Absolutely have to find the right leader,” Altman said. “There's pressure in everything we do, so I get the importance of this. There was nothing that J.B. did categorically wrong.

“I think there was a lot of things we did incredibly well over the last four and a half years that he was at the helm. [But] what's a fresh set of eyes look like? What's a new approach look like with this particular group? And how can this new candidate or new head coach really push us to the next level?”

Koby Altman considered J.B. Bickerstaff successful as Cavaliers coach

In 2023, the Cavs made the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and the first time without LeBron James since 1998, but they were quickly bounced from the first round with a 4-1 series defeat to the New York Knicks. The organization set a goal to return to the postseason in 2024 and advance. The Cavs achieved it, winning a series without James for the first time since 1993 with a 4-3 opening-round triumph over the Orlando Magic.

The Cavs then fell 4-1 to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Injuries had sidelined All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell for the final two games of Round 2 and starting center Jarrett Allen for Cleveland's last eight playoff games.

It's still a stretch to believe a full-strength Cavs team would have upset the East's top-seeded Celtics in a best-of-seven series, but the point of rehashing Cleveland's recent history is to emphasize Bickerstaff was not dismissed because he was a failure. He forged the defensive identity of the franchise, and his shorthanded team never stopped competing for him.

The Cavs endured a long list of injuries throughout last season despite having their projected starting five for just 28 games (they went 18-10). The team followed a 51-31 regular-season record in 2022-23 with 48-34 in 2023-24, earning the East's fourth seed and home-court advantage both times. The willingness of players to fight amid adversity continued throughout the Celtics series.

“This year I wanted to be highly competitive in the playoffs,” Altman said. “I think we were. Obviously, we weren't whole.”

Why did the Cavs fire coach J.B. Bickerstaff?

In other words, Bickerstaff's demise is more about the locker room's collective lack of confidence in him elevating the team as a tactician in high-stakes games than it is about bottom-line results. His offense became stagnant and lacked creativity at times.

Altman said he took input from the players, but ultimately the call to fire Bickerstaff needed to be made by him. Altman conceded a sense of urgency was a factor in dismissing Bickerstaff, even though he deemed the coach successful.

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Every coach has strengths and weaknesses, and Bickerstaff is not perfect by any means. Yet, there is also risk in ousting him. The next coach must be better and achieve greater playoff success than Bickerstaff for the gamble to pay off.

All of this puts Altman under the microscope. The last coaching search the Cavs conducted resulted in a disastrous tenure by John Beilein. He lasted 54 games in the 2019-20 season before resigning. Bickerstaff, the asssociate head coach under Belein, took control.

Hired by the Cavs as their GM in 2017, Altman has a track record of acquiring high-caliber talent. Questions remain, though, about his roster construction. Do the pieces fit together? Look no further than “the core four” Altman assembled: Mitchell, point guard Darius Garland, Allen and forward Evan Mobley. Legitimate questions exist about whether the guards and big men should be split up this offseason, yet Altman strongly pushed back against it, citing positive net ratings when Mitchell and Garland are on the floor together and when Allen and Mobley play in tandem.

“I don't see big, major, sweeping changes,” Altman said.

Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman expresses optimism Donovan Mitchell will sign contract extension

The Cavs are hoping for continuity with Mitchell. His unresolved contractual situation is the top priority, and Altman expressed optimism in getting a deal done this offseason, explaining Mitchell has talked to him about the future and being excited about the team.

Altman must do everything in his power to push a four-year extension worth more than $200 million over the goal line with Mitchell. Altman didn't say these words, but he must believe firing Bickerstaff makes the Cavs more attractive as a long-term home for Mitchell. Otherwise, Bickerstaff would be the coach.

As for Altman surviving this long, Gilbert clearly has a substantial amount of faith in him. If the opposite were true, Altman would have been shown the door like Bickerstaff. Altman was charged with operating a vehicle while impaired in September and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, but the Cavs stood by him. Off-court or off-field transgressions sometimes cost big-time pro sports figures their jobs. Gilbert's loyalty to Altman has not wavered.

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Altman said it's the media's jurisdiction to decide how he has done as the top personnel executive of the Cavs, but he also added his opinion.

“I think in a relatively short amount of time we've rebuilt this thing to where it is now,” Altman said. “Not so long ago, we were at 22 wins, and if we stayed like that I wouldn't be here.”

Another man who was instrumental in leading the Cavs out of the abyss is no longer with them.

Whether the Cavs contend for a championship and thereby prove to be better off without Bickerstaff will hinge on Altman.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Pressure on Cavs' Koby Altman to get J.B. Bickerstaff successor right