INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Mere minutes before the NBA’s trade deadline expired, Cavaliers president of basketball operations stepped out of his office with a phone to his ear.
Would he pull off another deadline deal?
For the first time since he took over as Cleveland’s top basketball official, the answer was no.
“We just didn't feel like anything was going to really move the needle for us,” Altman said. “I scoured the market and talked to every team I could. We could have made a move that was lateral, multiple moves that were lateral, that I didn't think appreciably made us better.”
And so the young Cavs, which Altman noted their starting five is tied for the second youngest behind Oklahoma City in the league, will be able to show what they can do down the stretch and hopefully into the playoffs.
It’s an opportunity that Altman felt this team deserved and he didn’t want to risk shaking up the locker room just for the sake of making another trade.
“I think there's value in continuity,” Altman said. “I think there's value in giving this group a runway, and sometimes as a GM you just say to yourself, don't mess this up. And I think that was a big key for us.”
The Cavs are 35-22 and fourth in the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games in front of the Brooklyn Nets, who just blew up their roster by trading Kyrie Irving to Dallas and then Kevin Durant to Phoenix.
With the volume of activity around the NBA in the last 48 hours, the temptation to make a move was there for Altman, but he took a deep breath and decided it wasn’t worth it.
“I didn't see anything that was appreciably going to make us better and put us over the top,” Altman said. “I'm really happy with where we are and where we're going.”
Altman made his big splash over the summer when he acquired All-Star Donovan Mitchell from Utah.
With Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, Altman believes the days of needing to look for a big splash are over.
“We don't need to take swings, we don't need to find this incredible talent that you have to build around,” Altman said. “I think we've found that which is the hardest part and now does it work within the group and does it make the team better?”
For Altman, he believes experience is what will make the Cavs better.
“There's no trade I could have accomplished that was going to account for Darius Garland playing in his first playoff series. Evan Mobley playing in his first playoff series, Isaac Okoro playing in his first playoff series,” Altman said. “We have to go through those experiences. We're going to have to go down the stretch here and battle for our position. We're going to have to go hopefully, knock on wood, go into a playoff series and see what that feels like.
“I'm excited about that and that's the growth, that's the maturation that I want to see from this group down the stretch and really take a step back and let them experience this kind of basketball that's very, very new for us and give them the runway to achieve have setbacks and grow from those experiences.”