Jeff Scafaro is a labor relations consultant with more than two decades of experience supporting complex organizations across the United States. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Jeff Scafaro leads Vanguard Consulting Group, LLC, where he advises employers on collective bargaining, grievance resolution, and labor-management strategy. He also serves as director of employee and labor relations for LifeBridge Health, Inc., overseeing systemwide negotiations and workforce relations for a large, multi-state healthcare organization. Earlier in his career, Jeff Scafaro worked on the union side of labor relations before transitioning to employer advocacy, a perspective that informs his balanced, strategic approach. Outside of his professional work, he is a lifelong sports fan with a particular interest in Cleveland teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers. That long-standing connection to the city provides personal context for examining the franchise’s playoff history and its evolution within the National Basketball Association.
Playoff History of the Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an expansion team ahead of the 1970-1971 season. The team has endured many tough seasons, but has reached the postseason on 25 occasions and won the NBA Finals.
As an expansion team, the Cavaliers participated in an expansion draft before the start of the season, selecting players from other teams. NBA teams could protect their most talented players during the expansion draft, leaving Cleveland with a relatively underwhelming roster. Unsurprisingly, the team struggled mightily over the course of the 1970-1971 season, winning just 15 of 82 games and finishing with the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
The team’s fortunes improved marginally over the following three seasons, winning 23, 32, and 29 games. The Cavaliers ultimately endured five consecutive losing seasons before achieving a winning record in 1975-1976, finishing with a 49-33 regular season record, second in the Eastern Conference. Often referred to as the “Miracle at Richfield” season, the 1975-1976 season proved instrumental in drawing interest from Cleveland sports fans, with Richfield referring to the location of the team’s stadium. The team capped off the memorable run with a seven-game series win over the Washington Bullets, the first postseason victory in franchise history, followed by a six-game series defeat to the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA Finals.
Cleveland managed to reach the playoffs with back-to-back 43-win seasons, but could not advance beyond the first round. The franchise subsequently slipped into one of the most unproductive periods in Cavaliers history, suffering nine consecutive losing seasons, including a 15-67 record during the 1981-1982 season. The down period included one first-round exit from the playoffs.
The Cavaliers began turning things around in 1987, winning 42 games and again making the first round of the postseason. The off-season additions of Tree Rollins and Darnell Valentine catapulted Cleveland back into the playoff picture, resulting in a then-record 57 regular-season wins, good for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Over the next decade, the franchise established itself as a perennial playoff team, highlighted by another 57-win season in 1991-1992 and the team’s second trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, this time losing in six games to the Chicago Bulls. By the turn of the century, however, Cleveland had regressed to a lottery team, failing to reach the playoffs between 1999 and 2005.
The franchise enjoyed a new era of success with the arrival of local star LeBron James, an Akron, Ohio native. The team went 50-32 in both of the forward’s first two seasons and advanced to the NBA Finals in his second year, the first NBA Finals trip in Cavaliers history. The season ended in a four-game sweep to the San Antonio Spurs, but James led the Cavaliers to at least the second round of the playoffs in each of his first five seasons in the NBA.
James departed the franchise for the Miami Heat in 2010. While Cleveland managed to draft star point guard Kyrie Irving, the team struggled to win games. However, after four seasons in Miami, James returned to Cleveland and, along with Irving and shooting forward Kevin Love, formed a core that reached four consecutive finals, including a historic come-from-behind victory over the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
In 2023, the Cavaliers made the playoffs without James for the first time since drafting him nearly two decades earlier. The 2024-2025 Cavaliers won 64 games, second only to the team’s 66-win season in 2008-2009.
About Jeff Scafaro
Jeff Scafaro is a Cleveland-based labor relations consultant and director of employee and labor relations at LifeBridge Health, Inc. With experience on both the union and employer sides, he advises organizations nationwide on collective bargaining, grievance management, and workforce strategy. He is also the founder of Vanguard Consulting Group, LLC, and an active member of professional labor relations associations.