Kenny Atkinson started his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers facing high expectations. Almost a year later, the former Brooklyn Nets coach checked all of the boxes for the team except the biggest on; playoff success. Despite a stellar series from Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers fell short against the Indiana Pacers, walking away from the second round with a 4-1 loss.
Atkinson is not on the hot seat to begin this summer, but that is not stopping him from taking early efforts to improve the team. According to cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Cleveland’s newest head coach has lived in the film room since the series ended. He has watched the series multiple times over in order to figure out what went wrong. Adjustments will be made after reflecting on the second-round series, but not everything was under Atkinson’s control.
Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, as well as DeAndre Hunter, missed games, leaving Atkinson without his full rotation. Their All-Stars being out put too much on Mitchell’s plate offensively. As great as he was, the Pacers were content with letting him score.
As they begin what should be an interesting summer, the Cavaliers’ front office has some big decisions to make. For now, though, they continue to recover from the loss to Indiana.
“Obviously, we feel it. It’s raw for us,” president of basketball operations Koby Altman said. “We’re disappointed how it ended.”
The team expects to continue building around Mobley and Mitchell, but another second round exit raises questions. Are Jarrett Allen and Garland worth keeping around as secondary stars? Both players were great during the regular season, but underwhelmed while facing the Pacers.
Cavaliers fans should take Atkinson’s obsession with the film room as a good sign moving forward. Cleveland’s coach desires a deep playoff run and believes that the answers to the team’s questions lie in what didn’t work against Indiana. If nothing else, the team still has one of the best players at his position in Mitchell and one of the league’s young stars in Mobley.
