A Year Makes A Huge Difference For Cavs

It is amazing what a difference a year makes for the Cleveland Cavaliers. A year ago at the halfway mark of the season, the wine and gold were sitting at 36-6 and visions of a playoff run into the NBA Finals dancing in their heads.

Today, they are sitting at 23-19 and if the season ended today, they would be in the Play In Tournament. At the beginning of the year, we said it was pretty much a certainty that the Cavs would end up in the playoffs. We still would be shocked if they didn’t make it, but it is no longer the certainty it was.

Yes, injuries are a factor. But Kenny Atkinson’s squad was healthy on Monday night against Utah, and they Cavs laid a gigantic egg at home, losing to the 14-25 Jazz by 11 points, falling behind 23-4 in the first quarter.

There clearly is something missing.

The obvious problem is the defense. Last year, Cleveland ranked 8th in the NBA in defensive rating and this year they have dropped to 14th. Since they held Golden State to 99 points in a loss on December 6th, they have allowed more than 120 points eight times in the last 17 contests.

And in three of those other games, they’ve given up 119, 118, and 117.

In their most impressive win in that span, a victory over San Antonio on the road, they allowed the Spurs just 101 points. Let’s just say it’s a lot easier to win when you don’t need to put up 125 points to do it.

And last night, another impressive win, and again, they held the Sixers to 107.

They have forgotten to defend the three-point shot. Last season, they ranked 13th, allowing opponents to hit 35.9% of the long-range shot. Currently, they rank last, giving them up at a 38.6% rate.

Overall, they aren’t too bad, ranking 13th in defensive field goal percentage as a whole, but even that is a drop from last year’s #3 ranking. Isaac Okoro doesn’t make that much of a difference, folks.

Speaking of Okoro, the player he was dealt for, Lonzo Ball, seems to be out of Atkinson’s rotation. We liked the deal at the time because he added size and playmaking to the backcourt, but his shooting has fallen off a cliff.

He was a career 40% shooter overall and 36% from three, but with the Cavs is making just 31.2% from the floor and an abysmal 27.6% from beyond the arc.

And reports are that last year’s addition at the trade deadline, De’Andre Hunter, wants out. Hunter is still solid in the midrange and also provides the only real size Cleveland has on the wings, so hopefully that situation can be worked out.

However, a career 36.6% shooter from three, and last season, hit 42.6% for the Cavs, Hunter can’t find his long-range stroke, hitting just 31% this season.

And as a second apron team, team president Koby Altman’s options are limited. He will have to be very creative to make a significant move.

We will say it again; this team needs to add size. Long athletic teams give the Cavs trouble.

What Altman needs to do is add size, but if he works a trade involving Hunter, he is trading his tallest wing. So, that doesn’t do anything.

Sure, the Cavs could put it together and reel off six or seven wins in a row. But more and more it feels like this team is broken and the title window which appeared to be wide open last season, is only open very slightly.

Cavs Need To Start Playing Better…Now!

One can make a very good argument that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the most disappointing team in the NBA this season. As the season is closing in on the halfway point, Kenny Atkinson’s squad is around .500 at 22-18, currently the #6 seed in the East, but just a game and a half out of the 4th spot.

While no one was expecting the type of season the wine and gold had last year, starting off the campaign with 15 straight wins, and finishing at 64-18, we don’t think many had them being around the breakeven mark at this point in the year.

Yes, injuries have been a factor. Donovan Mitchell leads the Cavs in games played with 35, so every other player on the team has missed at least five contests. And it is difficult for a team to find a rhythm when there are different players on the court every night.

Still, in watching the 2025-26 Cavaliers, it is clear something is off. Can it turn around before the playoffs start? Of course, but again, the second half of the schedule is on the horizon.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said the other day that Atkinson sees a lack of intensity with his team. Against Minnesota on Thursday, he started Craig Porter Jr., a player who plays hard on a nightly basis, to have some intensity.

Minnesota took a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, and while Cleveland recovered and led at the half, they were obliterated in the third quarter.

Team president Koby Altman put together a roster of players with high character, stuck with them through three straight playoff disappointments, but no they don’t seem to be playing with intensity?

We aren’t putting the blame on all of them. Mitchell plays tough, second year player Jaylon Tyson plays hard, and we mentioned Porter does as well. Nae’Qwan Tomlin plays with his hair on fire. But the body language on most of the roster seems off.

And part of being playing with intensity is having a good basketball IQ, and recently we question the shot selection by the team. If the last two losses, to Detroit and Minnesota, late in the game, the Cavs took questionable three-point shots with the game in the balance.

Against Detroit, Lonzo Ball, shooting 26% from three was faced with a wide open 3 with the Cavs trying to comeback in the 4th quarter. He even hesitated before shooting. He knew it wasn’t a good shot. He took it anyway. He missed.

In the Minnesota game, with Cleveland down six with :35 seconds remaining, Evan Mobley got the ball beyond the arc. The big man has improved his three-point shooting, but he’s still at 34%. We are sure that’s not what the coach wanted at that juncture.

Anyway, Mobley shot and missed, and the Cavs couldn’t recover.

Yes, yes, we know, people will say they like the confidence there, but that’s where having a good hoops IQ comes into play. Mobley has to know either take the ball to the rim or find a better shooter.

And that’s part of intensity. Knowing when the team needs a basket or a stop to slow the opponent’s momentum.

The bigger problem is, because of the salary cap situation, there isn’t much Altman can do about it. The Cavs have hamstrung themselves, so either the players come together and play with more mental toughness and intensity, or it will be another disappointing post-season for the so-called “Core 4”.

Looking At Local Teams Heading Into ’26

Happy New Year to everyone and here’s hoping we will all be a little nicer to each other.

As we start 2026, we wonder what the sports year will hold for northeast Ohio with the three professional sports teams.

Looking at the Cavaliers, certainly there is some concern because last year’s regular season was so good with a 64-18 record, but a disappointing second round loss to Indiana in

the playoffs.

This year has been filled with injuries to key players, but still, something is different. It is true that Kenny Atkinson is doing some experimenting, but it can also be true the league has changed since Koby Altman put his team together with the emphasis being on Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.

The NBA has gotten more long and more athletic and those teams seem to bother this group. With the Cavs over the second apron in terms of payroll, it will take a lot of creativity on Altman’s part to tweak the roster.

To the president of basketball operation’s credit, he did find a gem last year in Jaylon Tyson, who is averaging 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game playing the wing. If Atkinson hasn’t realized it yet, he is one of the Cavs’ best players.

The Cavaliers will probably make the playoffs this year barring injuries, but how much they can advance will depend on what tweaks Altman can make before the trade deadline.

The Cleveland Guardians have won back-to-back AL Central Division titles, but the latest came despite one of the worst offenses in the game. With spring training about six weeks away, the front office hasn’t addressed this problem, but we do think a move is coming.

The front office has talked about not wanting to block the development of some young prospects, but they need to have a “Plan B” in case those players don’t pan out.

What they should be doing is going into the season planning for Chase DeLauter and/or George Valera to have significant roles in 2026, but getting a couple of right-handed bats, proven hitters, to be improve the offense. And if the young players are as advertised, it will make for a group that can finish in the top half of the AL in runs scored.

And we wouldn’t mind getting another starting pitcher to add some depth.

One more wish. Increase the payroll to a level where they are on par with other smaller market teams like Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Cincinnati.

That shouldn’t be an issue.

That brings us to the Browns. So much of what will happen in ’26 depends on what happens after Sunday’s game in Cincinnati. They could (and should) be looking at a new GM and new coach, but based on what has been reported, we don’t think that will occur.

To think an NFL team, bring back a duo that has gone either 7-27 or 8-26 over the last two seasons seems ludicrous. Especially in their fifth and sixth years in charge.

And then you have the cloud of Deshaun Watson, who the Browns keep talking about to the media, hovering over the franchise. This is a team that has made three playoff appearances in the last 26 years and won just one post-season game.

Of course, keeping Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski would fall in line with the lack of accountability the Browns have had recently. And we are looking at you Bubba Ventrone.

On the other hand, we are thankful to witness the greatness of Jose Ramirez and Myles Garrett, two surefire Hall of Fame players, who play for our local teams. It would be nice for them to play for a title someday.

2026 will mark ten years since the Cavaliers won the NBA title. That’s not the 52 years we endured from 1964 to 2016, but when we started being aware of sports in 1965, it was just a year removed from the Browns’ title in ’64.

Ten years is long enough.

Altman Didn’t Adapt As The Game Did. Are Cavs Paying For That?

The fine line between patience and moving on is very delicate in professional sports, especially when a team is trying to come up from the bottom.

We remember the early days of the Cleveland Cavaliers. As an expansion team, they were terrible in their first year, going 15-67 after starting the season 1-27. The next year, they won 23 games, and in their third season, they added Lenny Wilkens and won 32.

They looked poised to make the jump to a .500 squad in the team’s fourth season. But after the third year, coach/GM Bill Fitch traded two then starters, John Johnson and Rick Roberson to get the second pick in the draft, and selected Jim Brewer.

They took a step back, falling to 29 victories, to take a leap forward to 40 wins and the following year went to the Eastern Conference finals.

To be fair, Fitch also added Jim Chones and other pieces in those two seasons, but the point is Fitch knew he needed to make a change to get the max out of his squad.

Fast forward to the current Cavs.

After being eliminated in the first round by the Knicks after Donovan Mitchell’s first year in town when the Cavs won 51 games, president of basketball operations Koby Altman has pretty much stood pat.

The next year was understandable, it was the team’s first year with Mitchell and you would hope for growth the following year. But in that series loss to New York, the wine and gold could not match the opponents’ physicality. That was obvious.

When the Cavaliers were bounced in the second round the following season, after needing seven games to win over a young Orlando team in the first round, the excuse was injuries to Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

Last season, with a new coach, Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland won 64 games, breezed through a round one series against Miami, before losing in five games to the eventual East champs, Indiana.

No changes to the four stars either drafted or acquired by Altman to form the foundation of the team.

And so here we are with this team, sitting at 15-14 after the 64 wins a year ago.

The NBA is always evolving, always changing. A few years ago, the league was dominated by quick guards who could shoot from long range. In 2020-21, the first of Nikola Jokic’s MVP wins, Curry, Chris Paul, and Damian Lillard all finished in the top ten of the vote.

The following season, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, Curry, and Paul were top ten. In the past draft, of the top ten picks, six were guards who were over 6’6″.

Look at the Cavs’ two most recent losses to Chicago look how Josh Giddey at 6’7″ and a solid playmaker played. Rookie Kon Knueppel hurt them in last Sunday’s loss to Charlotte. He’s 6’6″.

Last year, the Cavs played at a high pace and shot the three ball remarkably well. This year, more teams are playing faster, taking the example of how the Pacers played in the playoffs a year ago when they got to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Miami and Chicago both play faster this season. Toronto is long and athletic, they’ve beaten the Cavs three times this season.

Yes, the Cavs have had a lot of injuries this season. But it is also true they need to adapt to the way teams are playing in the 2025-26 campaign.

Altman wanted to be patient, but he was stubborn in thinking the foundation of this roster didn’t need tweaking.

As in all sports, there is a thin line between patience and stubbornness.

Cavs Need To Show Progress, Like It Or Not

The Cleveland Cavaliers open their NBA season this week and it goes without saying this is their biggest season since LeBron James left via free agency following the 2017-18 campaign, the last of four straight Finals appearances.

This is Donovan Mitchell’s fourth season with the wine and gold, and each year the Cavs made the playoffs. The year prior to his arrival, Cleveland qualified for the play in tournament.

Each of the three years Mitchell has been here have ended in what is called a “gentleman’s sweep”, meaning a five-game series, and really, Cleveland hasn’t been competitive in any of the series in which they have been bounced from the tournament.

After being eliminated by Indiana in the second round last season, Mitchell told the media it wouldn’t matter if the Cavs went 82-0 this season. He’s right.

We said before Kenny Atkinson’s first year at the helm that for a team like Cleveland, the regular season didn’t matter, so while the 15-0 start was great, and so was the 16-game winning streak later in the season, the proof for how much this team improved would not come until the playoffs.

That’s why we would have reshaped the roster this summer. We could make a very solid argument that as currently constituted, the Cavaliers aren’t tough enough to win in the playoffs.

Yes, we know about the injuries. Darius Garland was hampered. Evan Mobley had a bad ankle. Mitchell’s calf and ankle weren’t 100%. But it’s the playoffs, every team is banged up at that point in the year.

Indiana used its size to force the Cleveland offense further away from the basket and they pressured the ball in the backcourt forcing the Cavs to use more time off the shot clock.

Team president Koby Altman did make some roster changes, but not to what the organization calls “the Core Four”, consisting of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.

We will find out this year if that gamble pays off.

Altman and GM Mike Gansey did bring in Lonzo Ball, a 6’6″ guard to provide the Cavs with some size in the backcourt. However, Ball has played just 35 games combined in the last three seasons, and 70 contests in the last four years.

If he can stay healthy, Ball can provide Atkinson with someone who can handle the ball and see over the top of the defense. They also signed Larry Nance Jr. to provide another big player and a very shot blocker.

The Cavs have gotten off to great starts the last three years and kind of faded a bit or at least weren’t playing their best with the playoffs came around. It would be better if the Cavs found out about some younger players early in the year, to see if they can help with late April and May come along.

With Garland and Max Strus missing time early in the year, last season’s first round pick, 6’6″ Jaylon Tyson should get a chance to claim some minutes. And Strus’ spot looks like it will go to De’Andre Hunter, who will provide more size to the starting lineup at 6’8″.

Barring some significant injuries, the Cavaliers will be in the playoffs at the end of this season. After winning 64 games last year, what really matters for this group is doing enough to qualify for the playoffs and going into the final month of the year playing their best basketball.

This team is good enough to get to the NBA Finals. Anything less than making the conference finals will likely result in a drastic roster shakeup next summer.

Atkinson and his team simply have to make progress. That’s what this season is all about.

Cavs Still Need To Get Longer

The NBA season does not start next week, so there is still time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to add to their roster. However, in the first frenzied week of NBA moves, Koby Altman and Mike Gansey really didn’t get involved.

We’ve already talked about the trade for Lonzo Ball, and getting a taller (6’6″) ball handler who can shoot a bit and defend was a solid move for Cleveland. Being able to pair Ball with either Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland in the backcourt eases a bit having those two smaller guards.

Of course, the big caveat is Ball’s health. How many games will he be able to play in the regular season and will he be available in the playoffs?

We also like the addition of Larry Nance Jr., making his second visit to the franchise where his father’s jersey hangs in the rafters. Nance adds some size at 6’8″ and he’s a player we have always liked because he’s smart and versatile.

He’s also made himself a threat from the perimeter. He shot 34.6% from three with the Cavs from 2018-2021, but the last two seasons, he’s converted on over 40%.

Nance gives Kenny Atkinson another player with size who can play upfront with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, something the franchise needed last season.

But more work needs to be done.

Cleveland is still small on the wings. They have De’Andre Hunter who is 6’8″ and we would like to think he moves into the starting lineup next season. He scored 14.3 points and grabbed 4.2 rebounds after coming over to the Cavaliers last season and shot 42.6% from three.

He’s still the only wing Atkinson has that is over 6’6″, and we would still like to see another big man who can play in the post.

Maybe the plan is to see what they have in Nae’Qwan Tomlin early in the season, and if it is, then Atkinson should use him early in the season to see if he can be an option once the regular season ramps up after Christmas.

But Houston let 6’11” Jock Landale go, and the Cavs should have been interested. He signed with Memphis. He averaged 4.8 points and 3.4 boards in 12 minutes per game last season. We believe he could’ve helped.

Perhaps, the Cavaliers will give Jaylon Tyson and maybe Craig Porter Jr. opportunities in the first 20-25 games next season to see what they can do. But they still need some longer wings. This is a league now where players in the 6’7″-6’8″ range are plentiful. Cleveland just doesn’t have nearly enough of them.

Look at the recent NBA draft. Of the top ten players taken, only two (V.J. Edgecombe and Jeremiah Fears) were 6’5″ or smaller. The shortest player taken in the top 20 was 6’3″ Walter Clayton. The league is looking for long, athletic wings.

Cleveland doesn’t have enough of them.

After all, the Cavs should be pretty confident they will make the playoffs next season. They won 64 games last season, so even if they win say, 10 less contests, they will still win over 50, and that surely gets you a top four seed.

There is still time for the front office to find some more size on the wing. Let’s hope the roster for 2025-26 is still taking shape.

On Cavs’ Trade And Draft

The off-season in the NBA officially started with the draft on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The Cleveland Cavaliers did not have a pick in the first round but had two in the second round.

They used their first pick on guard Tyrese Proctor from Duke. The scouting report on Proctor is that he has a high basketball IQ and the good shooting touch, thriving in a half court setting. The rap on him is although he played both guard spots in college, his ball handling needs to get better.

Our first thought is everyone has a type, and Koby Altman’s is 6’5″ players. He collects them like some people collect trading cards. He can’t get enough of them.

However, the Cavs won 64 games last season and are projected to be in the mix for the best record in the conference again this year. That means it is doubtful that Proctor sees much court time, if any, with the Cavaliers this season. He will likely get mostly G League minutes to see how he performs.

Cleveland had the penultimate pick in the draft and used it on Saliou Niang, a 6’8″ forward from Italy. He will play this season there.

The report on him is he is very raw, but has quick feet and good lateral mobility, which means he should be a factor on the defensive end of the floor. He also has a high free throw rate, which means he is aggressive on the offensive end.

The bigger news was a trade over the weekend, a rare one for one player deal. The Cavs shipped Isaac Okoro to Chicago for the injury plagued Lonzo Ball.

When healthy, Ball is a very good ball handler with size at 6’6″, a perfect pairing for the Cavs’ small backcourt combination of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. In his career spanning 287 games, he’s averaged 11.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per contest. His shooting percentage from three is 36.2%, much improved from his first two years of 30.5% and 32.9%

The key phrase in that paragraph though is “when healthy”. Ball has never played more than 63 games in any season, and that’s the only season he appeared in that many. And since 2021-22, he missed the entire next two seasons and played in 35 games last year.

The Bulls used him just 22 minutes per contest and maybe reduced time will keep him in the lineup more. But he’s far from a “for sure” in the Cavs’ rotation.

Besides, the cost for Ball wasn’t much. Okoro simply never developed enough of a reliable offensive game to be on the court in the playoffs. Perhaps he was miscast as a “three and D” wing, because it seems like all the Cavs did for him offensively was put him in the corner for the three.

We wondered why the front office extended him last off-season, and now that has been rectified.

The one surprise, at least to us, was signing Sam Merrill to a four-year deal, pretty much closing the door on Ty Jerome’s tenure in wine and gold. The latter averaged 12.5 points per game a year ago and was up for sixth man of the year honors.

Merrill is more of a one-dimensional player, but that dimension is shooting and guys who can shoot get paid in today’s NBA.

It’s a good start to the off-season for Altman, GM Mike Gansey, and the Cavs, but they still haven’t addresses length on the wing and another solid power forward/center.

Hopefully, we will hear on those spots soon.

For Cavs, Fit May Mean More Than Numbers

It has now been a couple of weeks since the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated in the second round of the NBA playoffs by the Indiana Pacers, who will start participating in the NBA Finals tonight.

We know president of basketball operations Koby Altman said he is willing to run it back next year with a roster that did finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference, but we also know that is talk at a post-season press conference.

What we mean is Altman isn’t going to tell anyone what he intends to do in the media.

We have listened to several people in the media who we feel know the game, and talked to people we have coached hoops with, and it is interesting to note they all agree with our thoughts on what to do with the Cavs.

All of these people say it is time to revamp the Cleveland backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and obviously Mitchell is not going anyway.

This is not to denigrate Garland, who is a two-time All-Star, and through six NBA seasons has averaged 18.9 points and 6.7 assists per contest on 45% shooting, 39% from three. No doubt he can play and score.

But many of the people we have heard and/or spoke to all talk about “fit”. And to us, we just don’t see this combination fits.

The famous example of this is the 1971-’72 Los Angeles Lakers, who replaced an aging, injured Elgin Baylor with a 6’5″ small forward in Jim McMillian and almost immediately embarked on a still record 33 game win streak and eventually an NBA title.

Obviously, McMillian wasn’t as good as Baylor, an all-time great, but he fit with the rest of that group.

So, while we usually error on the side of talent, in basketball, how the pieces fit matter greatly. We also would argue on the side of size, and we don’t mean getting a smaller player with a freakish wingspan that Jay Bilas would love, we mean actual height.

We have argued for a few years now the Cavaliers have to get bigger at guard and at the three. De’Andre Hunter can start at small forward and would take care of the latter. He’s listed at 6’8″.

The two teams in the Finals have size. Oklahoma City’s starters are 6’4″, 6’6″, 6’6″, 7’0″, and 7’1″. The smallest of their three primary reserves is 6’4″.

Indiana’s starters are 6’5″, 6’5″, 6’5″, 6’8″, and 6’11”. Their three main reserves are 6’9″, 6’1″, and 6’6″.

Notice only one player under 6’4″, and the Cavs start two guards who are under 6’3″. And it is tough to play against players who are bigger than you.

That’s part of the fit problem for Cleveland. And the front office of the Cavaliers, nor its fans should be looking strictly at numbers when looking at a change. Again, Garland is a very good player and put some very good numbers, but we just think putting a bigger player opposite Mitchell would help in the long run.

We would say Altman should add more size or at least open up playing time for some bigger players. They need a serviceable backup for Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen for sure, but we’d like to see someone like 6’8″ Luke Travers and 6’10” Nae’Qwan Tomlin get a good opportunity as well.

Jarrett Allen? He’s Not The Problem With the Cavs

The postmortem on the Cleveland Cavaliers season and roster continues and one of the scapegoats seems to be Jarrett Allen. Yes, we know Allen wasn’t much of a factor in the last two losses to the Pacers. Frankly, no one was a factor in the blowout that was Game 4, and we agree he didn’t play well in the last contest.

However, he, along with Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus were the best players wearing wine and gold in the first three games of the series.

He had 12 points and 5 rebounds in the first game, 22 points and 12 boards in Game 2, and 19 points and 12 caroms in the Cavs’ only win of the series.

The criticism comes from those basketball “experts” who believe the only way you can win playing two big men is if one of them hoists a bunch of three pointers.

But Kenny Atkinson made it work in the regular season (yeah, we know) by using a lot of motion so the lane was clear for drives by the guards. That seemed to ebb as the season went on, and the Pacers took them out of that style completely with their constant ball pressure by their backcourt.

The real problem is that Koby Altman put together a roster with only two big men who can actually play and contribute. Allen was probably overexposed against the Pacers because their “five out” style takes Allen away from what he does best, being a rim protector.

And too often, Allen was tasked with guarding Tyrese Haliburton on the perimeter because of switching. He did not allow the Pacers’ star to drive, but did give up threes because, let’s face it, it’s a terrible match up for the 6’11” Allen.

But what was Atkinson to do?

He was pretty much using De’Andre Hunter as the back up 4/5, a spot that at 6’8″ he really isn’t big enough for. Dean Wade could’ve been an option, but offensively he seems afraid to shoot and when he does, it wasn’t going in. Besides, much like Hunter, Wade is really a small forward.

We had been saying all year the roster needed another 4/5 that could contribute and preferably get one who could shoot from outside. The Cavs had several chances to add a serviceable big man but used their open roster spots on Javonte Green and Chuma Okeke, both of whom are in the 6’5″ range.

Maybe Nae’Qwan Tomlin can become a contributor next season. He’s 6’10” and averaged 20.8 points and shot 34% from three in the G-League this past year.

Remember that comment about the lack of size on the roster. Because if you move Allen, you need to get another big in return. That’s not to say Allen is untouchable, anyone can be moved if it upgrades the roster. But as it currently stands, the Cavs have no depth up front.

So, while you criticize Allen for what he’s not, remember he’s a rim protector and a solid rebounder, things you need over the 82-game schedule. We like to look at what a player does well and try to enhance those things.

Jarrett Allen isn’t the Cavs’ biggest issue. Was he overexposed in the Pacers’ series? Perhaps. But isn’t the real problem that Atkinson had no alternative?

That’s something the front office needs to think about this summer as they put together the ’25-’26 edition of the Cavaliers.

Was Altman’s Presser A Smoke Screen? It Should Be

Cavs’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman held his after the season press conference on Monday and we file it under the category of “What else did you want him to stay”.

Altman expressed confidence in the “Core 4” (this is the last time we will use this term, a label like that must be earned) and talked about the journey to a championship, that it takes time to get there, and said you could see the improvement of the team with a 64 win regular season.

Again, what did you want him to say? That it is obvious the current roster isn’t good enough to win a championship, and changes have to be made? That wasn’t the forum for that kind of discussion.

Much like it didn’t matter what the Cavs did during the regular season in 2024-25, what Altman says doesn’t either. His actions prior to the start of training camp this fall will tell you what he thinks.

We have heard people comparing the timeline to that of the Boston Celtics, who took seven years to get to the top of the mountain and win the title in 2023-24. There is a major difference though. Those Celtics’ teams went to the conference finals five different seasons in those seven years.

The Cavaliers have yet to get past the second round with this group.

The centerpieces of those Boston teams are Jaylen Brown, drafted in 2016 and Jayson Tatum, picked in the first round of 2017. Their usual starting lineup the year Tatum was selected was Brown and Tatum, and the other three starters were Al Horford, Aron Baynes, and Kyrie Irving.

They lost to the Cavs in the conference finals in seven games.

Over the years, their starting lineups featured many players. Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, and even Tristan Thompson were prominent for Boston until they traded for Derrick White at the deadline in 2022.

The following off-season, Brad Stevens brought in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and won it all last season.

They did not stick with the same group over that entire period of time.

Getting De’Andre Hunter was a good start. He’s long, athletic, and can shoot the ball. In our opinion, he should be a #3. Too often, Kenny Atkinson had to use him at the #4, and he’s not big enough there.

In terms of players being “untouchable”, we don’t believe anyone is that. Now, that doesn’t mean it is likely a player like Donovan Mitchell would be moved, but let’s say the Nuggets offered Nikola Jokic for him. Altman would be crazy to not deal for the league’s best player.

And remember, Mitchell has a player option on his contract following the 2027-28 season, and everyone knows how badly he wants to win a title. Plus, he will be 29 by the time training camp gets under way.

There is a fine line between patience and stubbornness. We would get it if the Cavs stood pat after one five game loss in the playoffs, but this group has been defeated in five games the last three seasons and won two playoff series in that time.

When you build a team, you should keep tinkering until you get it right. The Celtics did just that. Can Altman do the same?

His actions this summer will speak louder than his comments earlier this week.