CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 the Fan) – Listening to Koby Altman talk Friday for the first time since before the season began, you’d think the Cavs were on the precipice of greatness.
Never would you realize that Cleveland’s basketball team has been the worst in the league over the last three seasons combined, winning just 60 games following four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and the second departure of LeBron James.
Altman put quite a spin on the state of the team coming off a season that so minimal progress.
“There's just a lot of optimism where we are as a franchise, and to be honest, it’s really tied to the young core that we put together,” Altman said.
“The future is really, really bright with what we’ve put together through the draft.”
Altman praised Collin Sexton and “the incredible strides” he continues to make.
Darius Garland is “a huge part” of the Cavs future and had many “holy s*** moments throughout the season, especially the end of the year.
Isaac Okoro “evolved” according to Altman. “He’s going to be a wonderful player for a long time in the NBA and for the Cavaliers,” Altman said.
Altman said the trade for center Jarrett Allen was “one of our biggest successes this year. He remains a remarkable fit for us, this team.”
The Cavs finished 22-50, tied for the fourth-worst record in the league.
“While this year was a lot about development, it was about evaluation too,” Altman said. “I think a lot of questions were answered for us in terms of the excitement level for that young core.
“The next step for us is, we have to supplement that young talent.”
Altman attributed the delay in him addressing the season, which has been over for two weeks, to wanting to complete exit interviews with players which took additional time because he wanted them to step away for a bit before sharing feedback on the year that was.
He also wanted to “decompress” and gather his thoughts following what he described as an “emotional season” so he could “put some thought behind where we are.”
Altman declined to get into specifically what went wrong behind the scenes to force him to trade Kevin Porter Jr., arguably the best player they’ve drafted since James but troubled off the floor, to Houston.
Sitting Andre Drummond before buying him out was the right thing to do according to Altman and it was mutually agreed upon by both parties.
Altman views Kevin Love, despite his consistent grumpiness behind the scenes, as a cornerstone of the franchise. Altman justified Love’s occasional temper tantrums, including in games, as being “unique” and believes his willingness to be vulnerable to his teammates and apologize makes him a leader.
“I think he can really help us. I really do,” Altman said.
What Altman fails to see is that Love’s behavior is a terrible example to set for impressionable young players, with or without apologies for it.
Another key factor in the failure was the wine and gold was pretty black and blue all season too.
Love, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman, Taurean Prince and Dylan Windler all missed significant time and Altman believes all of them “makes us a better team.”
Altman noted that they had a combined over 300 games missed due to injuries this past season, but emphasized multiple times that he was not using that as an excuse for the team’s shortcomings on the floor.
In the end, Altman on multiple occasions acknowledged that the time to start winning games is upon them.
“Our fans, they want some winning basketball again and I totally get that,” Altman said. “It’s not lost on me that we need to push this thing forward and start winning some basketball games. In terms of being in year three [of the rebuild], we’re in a really good position and they need to understand that. We ask for patience, but we do know we’re going to get better next year and there’s going to be some really exciting basketball that’s going to be played.
“There's no quick fix, I can't snap my fingers and turn this thing around. But I do know that we are set up for sustainable success.”