NBA releases Philippines’ Clarkson for Asian Games

The Cleveland Cavaliers reaffirmed they will retain J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach next season.

“End that speculation. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. There’s no question about that,” Koby Altman told cleveland.com and one other outlet when asked if Bickerstaff would return for the 2023-24 campaign during a private conversation following his 40-minute end-of-season press conference at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Friday morning. “Look at what he has accomplished. I have not heard that stuff. Maybe because I haven’t been reading or been on Twitter. I have not heard that noise. That’s not even a question.”

The Cavaliers won 51 games during the regular season and finished second in the NBA in Net Rating, but they were eliminated in five games in the first round by the New York Knicks.

“J.B. has been through this rebuild from the ground up and he’s done a phenomenal job instilling a culture here of accountability and hard work,” Altman said. “You can’t fluke your way into 51 wins and you can’t fluke your way into the No. 1 defensive rating in the NBA. That’s coaching. I know we have great defensive personnel, but you have to have buy-in from that and that comes from the head coach. We’re extremely happy with J.B. and the job he’s done. I think he’s going to look back and reflect on what we could have done better, just like the players look back at what they could have done better.

“We’re always looking internally of how we can make improvements from a front office standpoint to put the best team we can out there, but when you look at 95 wins over the last two years, the trajectory of this team, the internal growth of the players, multiple All-Stars over the last couple years, it’s hard not to be proud of the job they’ve done.”