The Cleveland Cavaliers have found themselves down 1-0 in their series against the Detroit Pistons, and they’ll be looking to steal one on the road in Game 2. The Cavs have been in the second round for the past few seasons, but have failed to advance to the conference finals. With the roster they have now, there could be consequences if they don’t get past Detroit, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
The first person to look at is Kenny Atkinson.
“If they go down 2-0, and this series is over in four or five games, the hot seat for Kenny Atkinson is only going to get hotter,” Siegel said on Clutch Scoops. “His job security is definitely not safe at this point. The Cavaliers expect excellence out of this team; that’s why they went out and got James Harden. That’s why they’ve allocated all this money to Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and that frontcourt.
“If they come out like past seasons in this second round, there’s going to be major question marks about what the future of this roster looks like, and more importantly, what Kenny Atkinson’s future with the Cavaliers looks like.”
It would make sense for the Cavs to make some type of changes after this season, and it seems like in these certain situations, the coach is always the first to get the boot.
At the same time, Harden was a huge player to implement into their system, and just having the second half of the season to do so probably didn’t work much in their favor. They figured some things out going seven games against the Toronto Raptors, and hopefully, that can help them build more chemistry in this second round.
There is also a big question mark on Donovan Mitchell and whether he’ll sign a long-term deal with the Cavs this offseason.