Ohio State Independence - Koby Altman realizes that expectations for the Cleveland Cavaliers will be very different next season.

It was a franchise life, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but the playoffs ended in disappointment, losing to the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.

Altman, president of the Cavaliers basketball business, said he knew the most important goal of the offseason was to try to make sure the roster was seen mentally and physically more difficult as one of the top teams in the league when training camp began in late September.

"I think we can all agree, going into the season, no one predicts that we are the No. 1 seed. I don't think anyone has 64 wins. Because we are so good, we recreate the expectations of the finals. I think everyone here is seeing a potential championship here, and that's a new space for us," Altman said. "We recreated expectations and now we have to get along with it. I think it's a space where we want to live and bring it into next year's playoffs because they know we have to change that narrative because they know we've overcome the hump."

Over the past four seasons, the Cavaliers have rebuild their roster after four straight NBA Finals (2015-18) and rebuild their 2016 NBA title in the second run of LeBron James.

Altman has established a solid core group with Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. The group has played together for three seasons and proved that this can be horrible in the regular season. They made 16 wins in their first season as NBA coach of the year Kenny Atkinson and became the first seed of the East in nine years.

The next step is to surpass the semifinals of the conference.

Altman noted that Indiana, Denver, Boston and Oklahoma City are teams that must grow with core players before they succeed.

When talking about what was the decisive factor in the Indiana series, Ultraman pointed to the end of the game, with the Pacers winning the game 120-119 in 3 points from Tyrese Haliburton with 1.1 seconds left. Haliburton missed two points in his second free throw game behind Indiana but got offensive rebounds before hitting the win.

"In the second game, this is a foul linebacker that we have to get, and it's a win we have to get. It's going to eat it on us and it's going to bother us."

Reserve defender Ty Jerome will be an unrestricted free agent, but Altman said he is interested in re-signing him. The Cavaliers are above both aprons on both aprons with a salary cap, meaning it can be difficult to try to find deeper depth for the bench, but ownership does not impose any restrictions on Altman by paying luxury taxes.

Although Mitchell attracted a lot of attention and headlines, the fate of the Cavaliers is largely determined by Mobley's another step. Mobley was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year and had a breakthrough season after averaging 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and being selected for the NBA All-Star Game for the first time.

Mobley also has nine games this season, with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

"We're going to be like Evan as a franchise," Altman said. "We're talking to Evan," he said. "In the playoffs, we need more. We need more shots per game. We need more shots and attempts to score 13+ per game - for Evan, it's new. It's another jump. So by then, Kenny will be able to implement his offseason plan, and we're very excited about that. We're going to see some internal growth there, and we think we have the best big guys in Evan Mobley."