Media Day notebook: Atkinson and Altman believe in Cavs

The Cavaliers believe they can continue to take steps forward.

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson and President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman had their media sessions a few days before the rest of the team. There was one underlying theme to their answers over the 45-minute press conference: They have confidence in this group. They believe in who this core is and where they can go.

Let’s get into what exactly they said.

“The goal is always a championship”

Altman wasn’t shy about Cleveland’s aspirations.

“The goal is always a championship, especially with this group,” Altman said. “We want to win rounds in the playoffs, and that’s really difficult to do.”

At the same time, they’re willing to recognize that there’s a progression to this.

“We’re not skipping steps,” Atkinson said. “We have a great process in place and we’re going to keep improving.”

“[Getting into] the final eight or the elite eight of the NBA was huge for us,” Altman said. “But the next step of winning rounds of the playoffs is really difficult.”

“We’re big proponents of continuity”

The only outside addition to the main roster is rookie Jaylon Tyson. The 13 other players were there last season. The big moves were contract extensions for three members of their core.

“We wanted to keep our best players in town,” Altman said. “We’re big proponents of continuity here in terms of the roster. Giving this young group a chance to really succeed and give them a runway.”

His head coach agreed.

“I think continuity is a coach’s dream,” Atkinson said. “A team that’s won 99 games in the last two years. It’s a young team, so internal improvement is huge for us.”

A lot is being set at the feet of Atkinson and his staff. The organization is making a bet that this core isn’t the problem, at least until February 2. They seem to feel the issue was the coaching staff that proceeded them.

There’s reason to believe that Atkinson can get more out of the Cavs. Maybe J.B. Bickerstaff’s group was the issue. However, a coach, no matter how good they are, can only solve so many issues. You will always be constrained by your players and their fit together. Looking at it the opposite way is just setting your coach up to fail.

“We’ve studied [the cap]”

The Cavs are currently in the luxury tax. That will continue next season once Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell’s extensions kick in.

“We studied it,” Altman said. “It’s only been about a year now. Even more restrictive policies are coming in this year. We’re going to continue to study it and hopefully stay away from that second apron.”

The penalties for going into the second apron make it difficult to improve your roster. That isn’t a concern for the Boston Celtics who are coming off of a championship and are completely fine staying within the second apron. The Cavs aren’t on that level and can’t afford the same restrictions.

“There were two or three teams last year that went over the second apron that had tough summers this offseason,” Altman said. “If you don’t reach that pinnacle, you can’t get better.”

Altman confirmed that Dan Gilbert isn’t scared of going into the luxury tax. The question right now is how much and when do you become a tax repeater.

“Good offensive teams play through their bigs”

Mobley's development will define Atkinson’s tenure. He was brought in to solve the offensive concerns. Figuring out how to use Mobley better is a big part of that.

“Everybody saw it in the Boston series,” Atkinson said. “[Mobley] had the ball in his hands a little bit more, and to me that starts in transition. Rebound and push. We definitely want to see more of that because the skill level is undeniable, the passing is elite, but we do want to get him more downhill.”

Becoming a better three-point shooter, like Brook Lopez and Al Horford did under Atkinson’s watch, would go a long way in allowing the Cavs to play through Mobley. Although, Atkinson correctly pushed back on the Lopez comp.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s going to go from Brook taking zero threes to like nine a game,” Atkinson said. “This is just going to be a balance. But I think the focus of those first things I talked about, and the three-point shooting is going to come. It’s going to evolve.”

A lot of the talk around Mobley has been about him becoming a better three-point shooter. While that’s true, Atkinson is completely correct to point out that the rest of his game needs to progress for that to happen in an impactful way. Many of the Cavs’ young guys were put into constraints that kept them from evolving into complete basketball players. Mobley’s growth this season will be about much more than just his jumper.