The Cleveland Cavaliers are under a lot of pressure heading into the playoffs after multiple years of postseason disappointment. If they don't make a deep run, heads will roll -- and these Cavaliers could be on the chopping block.
Considered the preseason favorites to hold the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs instead limp into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. Anything short of the East Finals will be a failure, and after multiple years of trying to keep the core pieces in place, the front office and owner Dan Gilbert made the first big move this season, trading away Darius Garland.
More moves could be made this summer if the Cavaliers don't perform up to their own internal, lofty expectations. Who has to do their best or be sent packing? From a star to an oft-injured role player to the head coach, here are four Cavs on the hot seat heading into the playoffs.
Cavaliers who must show up
No. 1: Dennis Schroder
The Cavaliers traded DeAndre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings at this year's Trade Deadline, acknowledging that he failed to be the two-way forward they needed. That deal saved Cleveland significant money now and later, and it also brought back an intriguing young wing in Keon Ellis. To some extent, Dennis Schroder was just the cost Cleveland had to pay (or better put, his contract was).
He's a throw-in whom the Cavaliers have leaned on down the stretch, playing him above Craig Porter Jr. in the rotation. Schroder has done very little with the opportunity, sprinkling strong performances between weeks of mediocrity. Unless he proves he can step up and become the star performer he is in international competition, he will be expendable this summer.
Under contract for two more seasons, the Cavaliers will look to trade him, barring something unexpected in the playoffs. He can effectively play his way back onto the team with a strong performance.
No. 2: Max Strus
The Cavaliers love Max Strus as a conceptual player: he defends, he is a movement shooter, he plays with energy and intensity. Yet he is also just 6'5", not quite tall or long enough to be the full-time small forward. Add in that he has suffered significant injuries each of the last two seasons and played only 12 games this season, and you get a player who offers neither the ceiling nor the floor the Cavaliers need.
If Strus is healthy, he is properly paid at $16.6 million next season. A fully healthy offseason might even set him up for a career year next season. His chemistry with the team is evident. Yet to get to that healthy summer, he has to show up in the playoffs and prove himself indispensable to the team.
If not, they will move on and use his salary to find someone who better meets their needs - and will be on the court.
No. 3: Jarrett Allen
Are the lights going to be too bright for Jarrett Allen once more? Will his performance be clouded by injury? Or will this be the year that he dominates an opponent in the playoffs and establishes that a healthy Allen is still the complementary star that this team needs?
If Jakob Poeltl and Scottie Barnes knock Allen around in the first round, or even if he is powerless to slow down Jalen Duren in the second round, it will be a surprise if Allen is not traded this summer. He has been underrated throughout his time in Cleveland, but they will need to try something different if he wilts under the physicality of the playoffs once more.
No. 4: Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson has spent two seasons in Cleveland, and the Cavaliers have a combined 116 wins. Even so, his seat has to be at least a little warm heading into the playoffs.
The team fired J.B. Bickerstaff to hire Atkinson, and Bickerstaff took a lottery team and turned them into the No. 1 seed. If the two coaches meet in the second round, as the bracket has set them up to, then Atkinson will have a golden opportunity to prove himself the better tactician and playoff coach.
If the Cavaliers are bounced from the playoffs unceremoniously by the Detroit Pistons, however, it will be the ultimate referendum on Atkinson's ability to help this team reach their ceiling. And it just might cost him his job.
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