INDEPENDENCE — With the 2024-25 Cavaliers season ending earlier than the franchise and its fan base expected, the spotlight has shifted to Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman.

Here's a million dollar question: How will Altman approach this offseason after the Cavs went 64-18 in the regular season and earned the Eastern Conference's No. 1 playoff seed, only to flop with a 4-1 second-round series loss to the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers ?

Altman will have a chance to shape the expectations of Cavs fans when he conducts his end-of-season media availability. Altman is scheduled to address reporters beginning at 11 a.m. Monday, May 19.

Koby Altman on disappointment of Cavs' season ending earlier than expected

"I don’t have a timeline on when I’m not going to be depressed," Altman said. "But I’ll get over it.

"We have the belief from top down. We have a great culture. This is genuine."

'We need to praise Donovan (Mitchell) for his leadership'

"Let’s give Donovan praise for what he did this year," Altman said. "He took a step back to help Darius (Garland) and Evan (Mobley), and played with Evan on second unit to feed him and get him ready for the playoffs. We need to praise Donovan for his leadership. He’s one of the best players in the NBA. He’s selfless. Evan’s going to continue to grow, and it’s a big reason Donovan signed contract extension (last summer)."

Are the Cavs concerned about Darius Garland’s durability or starting a small backcourt?

"Darius and Donovan (Mitchell) have proved they can play together," Altman said. "We supplement smaller backcourt with tremendous size elsewhere and De’Andre Hunter is a big part of that."

"I do think there’s a level he can tap into that he hasn’t reached yet," Altman said. "His next step is how do I get stronger? He needs to get stronger so he can compete at the highest level. It’s the same thing that happened with Stephen Curry."

Altman said the Cavs would love to have Ty Jerome back.

"You’re not going to get much better if you’re talking about moving away from Jarrett," Altman said. "Jarrett’s an important part of this core."

Altman said the team needs to figure out how to win at the highest level. “This is where we want to live — with the expectation of championship,” he said.

“You can’t give away playoff games. You can’t give away Game 2 ( to the Pacers). That’s going to haunt us forever.”

"This is year three for the core four and they’ve had incredible success," Altman said. "Playoff success needs to come next, but I think there’s an internal belief. There’s a newness, a freshness with (a) new coach (Kenny Atkinson). This group is going to get over the hump."

Altman later added, "There’s going to need to be a mental toughness hurdle we need to get over."

"Last year, we stood pat," Altman said. "I think you lean into it even more. There’s a championship window here that’s wide open. If there was a time we would have crumbled, it would have been last year. Certainly not after this group showed what it could do this year."

"We’re not going to go anywhere," Altman said. "This team is not going to get worse. I don’t know if we have another 64 wins in us, but this team is going to compete for the best record."

"I think not having Darius the first two games rattled us," Altman said. "The Pacers’ pressure wore us down.

"To ask Ty (Jerome) to become a starting point guard in conference semifinals was a big ask," Altman said. "To ask Donovan (Mitchell) to do it was a big ask. Darius’ injury was a big part of it.

“Not having your best ball handler was a big part of that.”

"Evan Mobley is going to break through," Altman said. "If we are a second apron team, we know we still have internal growth to reach and he will help us get there."

"We’re going to go as a franchise where Evan is going to go, and we’ve had that conversation with Evan," Altman said. "Can he play 3, 4, 5? In the playoffs we need more. We need more field goal attempts. We think we have one of the best big men in the league."

Altman pointed out the Cavs outrebounded the Pacers, but noted toughness is about more than rebounding.

"There’s a mental toughness we need to get to that a lot of the Pacers had," he said. "We haven’t got there yet.”

"We won the possession battle, but they made the winning plays at the end. It’s going to eat at us, it’s going to haunt us. But we won the hustle stats. I think it was the mental battle."

"I love our foundation, I love our core, the average age in the starting lineup is 26.8," Altman said. "In a lot of ways, there’s a newness to our group because of our new coach and us figuring out our offensive identity. ... Can’t just be 82 games. Need to get over hump in playoffs."

"No restrictions in terms of going into the tax," Altman said. "We take for granted how much Gilbert family brings to the table. Financial, patience, positivity and player engagement. It’s been remarkable to work for the family."

Altman said the Cavs are willing to be a second apron team in terms of being over the salary cap.

Altman began by talking about the disappointment of the season ending in the second round for the second straight year.

"We feel it, it’s raw for us, we’re disappointed with how it ended," he said. "We’re not going to go anywhere and we believe our championship window is wide open."

How did the 2024-25 Cavs end their season in the NBA playoffs?

The top-seeded Cavs defeated the No. 8 Miami Heat in a 4-0 first-round playoff sweep.

Then the Cavs stumbled in the Eastern Conference semifinals and lost the Round 2 series against the No. 4 Pacers in five games.

What is the playoff history between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers?

In the playoffs, the Cavs are now 10-10 against the Pacers. The record includes the results from this year's Eastern Conference semifinals.