Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson hasn't had a great week of interviews with the press. His insistence that Cleveland was up "analytically" 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals entering Game 4 went viral for all the wrong reasons (remember when Doc Rivers said this and everyone wanted him immediately fired?). Following Cleveland's season coming to an end via sweep, Atkinson told the press that he's in support of a "run it back situation" next year with the Cavs. Ugh.
Atkinson's reasoning for wanting to run things back with a similar core stems from his point that this Cavaliers group hasn't spent a full season together (James Harden, Dennis Schröder, and Keon Ellis were acquired in the middle of the season). With a full training camp together, anything is possible for this group! -- is the basic sentiment that Atkinson is trying to get across, but it ignores a couple of things; first of all, that James Harden isn't getting any younger (and shouldn't be with the Cavs moving forward if they want to contend), and second, that Cleveland doesn't really have the cap situation that allows it to run back the same roster in 2026-27, not comfortably or wisely, anyway.
2026-27 Cavaliers hilariously compared to 2025-26 Knicks (what are we doing?)
Based on Atkinson's testimony, fans out there started gaining traction on a comparison between next year's Cavs team and this year's New York Knicks (yes, the Knicks team that just obliterated the Cavs in four games in the Eastern Conference Finals).
Seeing the Knicks lose in the ECF last year and then bounce back and get to the NBA Finals this season, certain Cavaliers supporters are smiling and insinuating that Cleveland could do the same thing! -- Especially since the Knicks did a "run it back" situation this year with almost the same roster from 2024-25.
But there's one huge detail that this theory ignores, and that is that the Knicks changed their head coach. Yes, they fired Tom Thibodeau and replaced Thibs with Mike Brown ... not exactly a small piece of the puzzle in the Knicks' journey-to-the-Finals narrative, is it?
Cleveland, meanwhile, has said that it is sticking with Atkinson next year. So you can throw your Knicks-Cavs comparison out the window now before it gains any more believers. In hiring Brown, the Knicks changed so much about how they operate as a basketball club, even if most of their players remained the same. To think Atkinson can do the same with a similar Cavs roster next year would be to discredit not only what Brown's done, but what the Knicks' front office accomplished by deciding to hire him.
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