Cavs Add Talent, But Is The Fit Better?

Cavaliers’ GM Koby Altman made another move on Friday executing a sign and trade deal with free agent forward Lauri Markkanen, with fan favorite Larry Nance Jr. and a second round pick going to Portland in the deal.

The Cavs get younger in the transaction as Markkanen, who agreed to a four year deal with Cleveland, is just 24 years old and Nance will turn 29 on New Years Day.

First, let’s talk about the hometown player in Nance. We love his game. He has an old school game in that he does everything well. He averaged 9.5 points per game in his time with the Cavaliers, with 7.5 rebounds and almost three assists.

He was third on the team in assists last year, and might have been the second best passer on the team.

However, he also misses a lot of action. His high in games played since entering the league is 67, and last season, played in just 35 games due to illness and a broken hand.

He also has a game that fits better with a winning team, because he’s a complementary player. He passes, defends, block shots, and can finish at the rim. He will be a very good fit with the Trailblazers, a team trying to win.

Markkanen’s numbers have fallen off since his first two years with the Bulls, when he averaged 15.2 and then 18.7 points per game, and grabbed a career high 9.0 rebounds in his second season in Chicago.

In that second season, he averaged 15 shots per night, second to Zach LaVine. The next season, Chicago drafted Coby White in the first round and they became more of a guard oriented offense with LaVine getting two more shots per game and White taking more shots than the former 7th overall pick who played one season at Arizona.

Last year, he did raise his overall shooting percentage to 48% (his career mark is 44%) and his three point shooting to 40.2% (36.6% lifetime). If that’s a trend, that’s something the wine and gold could really use, as they had the league’s worst shooting from beyond the arc.

Where does he play? Our thought is maybe he starts at power forward giving J.B. Bickerstaff the option of bring rookie Evan Mobley off the bench in his rookie season, backing up at both center and power forward.

We understand there is pressure to start the third overall pick, but as we have discussed, Mobley needs to put on some weight and get stronger, so maybe this is good for his development.

Again, we love what Nance gives you, but really Markkanen is the better player.

We do have a problem with Altman giving up a draft pick, albeit a second rounder. When you are building, you need draft capital, and second round picks can be valuable.

Getting Markkanen really emphasizes the point that there is no role or spot for Kevin Love on the roster and the team would be better off at this point to buyout the veteran. Thank him for his contributions and his part on the championship team, but let him part on decent terms.

This can’t be the last move by Altman either. The Cavs still have an odd fit of players, with small guards and three seven footers who need playing time. The also still need a legitimate small forward, one who can score. Our feeling continues to be that Isaac Okoro’s size makes him a #2 guard.

In terms of talent, the Cavs are better than they were yesterday. In terms of fit? It’s still an weird mix.

We also understand the sadness seeing Nance go, someone who grew up here, was great in the community, and was a link to when the Cavaliers were very good.

Where Is Cavs’ Improvement Coming From?

After the NBA season, Cavaliers’ GM Koby Altman said the plan was for the team to “take the next step” and at the very least get in to the play in tournament for the league’s playoffs, meaning we was hoping to finish in the top ten in the Eastern Conference.

In 2020-21, that spot belonged to Charlotte and they won 33 games last season. The wine and gold finished with just 22. How would the organization make up the ground and also pass up Chicago and Toronto, who finished 11th and 12th in the East?

We are confused because right now, we see no path which leads to the Cavs making that leap and training camp will be starting in about a month.

We said before the draft that picking Evan Mobley with the third overall pick is not the move of a team that wants to start winning next year and we stand by that. While very talented, especially for someone his size, because of his current build, we would be surprised if the rookie made a huge impact in 2021-22. Perhaps the talent was too much to pass up, but Altman’s words and actions seem to be at odd with each other.

The Cavaliers also ranked last in the NBA in three point field goal percentage and 25th in overall shooting percentage. Mobley is certainly not going to help with the former, and we doubt newcomer Ricky Rubio, a career 32.5% shooter from beyond the arc, will help much either.

In fact, of guys who played ten or more games for the Cavs last year, the best three point shooter was Taurean Prince (41.5%) and of course, he was the player Altman moved for Rubio. So, on paper, Cleveland’s long distance shooting got worse.

We understand some of the young veterans like Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Isaac Okoro will improve naturally and that should translate into more wins, but will it mean winning 36-40 games that will likely be needed to at least get the 10th seed, if not higher?

Garland averaged 18.8 points and 6.3 assists per game after the All Star Game, how much better can he do this year? Remember, that despite those numbers, Cleveland went 8-28 in the second half of the season.

Perhaps the team will be healthier this year, which would help. Maybe Kevin Love will play more 25 games and Larry Nance Jr. will be available for more than 35 contests. Both of those guys would help in the win/loss department, although you can debate whether or not the former will be on the roster at all this season.

Counting on the growth of the young players in order to make a quantum leap forward would seem to be dangerous if your job was depending on it, and recent reports say ownership is going to reevaluate Altman and coach J.B. Bickerstaff after the first half of the season.

So if Altman thinks his job is on the line (and quite frankly it should be), he is taking an odd approach or he is putting his trust in his evaluation of talent and hoping everything gels for this group of Cavaliers.

If we were making a wager on what will happen, we wouldn’t make any long term financial plans if we were Altman. His plan has a lot of blind faith in it.

Impressions Of Mobley And Other Cavs Stuff

The Cleveland Cavaliers are wrapping up the Summer League schedule, but the reason to watch the games ended last Friday when the organization made the decision to sit first round pick Evan Mobley after he played three games.

The third overall pick averaged 11.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3 assists per contest in his brief appearance, but frankly, why he didn’t play more is a mystery. We have heard the arguments from folks saying it wasn’t needed, but we don’t think players get better from watching, so we would have had him on the court.

Of course, the organization didn’t do him any favors by not having a legitimate point guard on the roster. The playmaking duties fell to last year’s first round pick, Isaac Okoro, who played small forward last year, but in reality is probably a #2 guard.

Our impression of Mobley hasn’t changed after watching him in these games, and we understand these aren’t anything like regular season NBA games, especially in terms of the talent on the floor. What does stand out though is who plays hard, that’s where players can make a name for themselves.

The rookie is frighteningly thin, several times opponents bumped him from behind going for rebounds, and Mobley didn’t grab the ball because the contact. It wasn’t called a foul, nor will it be in the regular season. He also shot just 35% from the floor, again, when he got the ball near the basket, and some contact took place, he couldn’t power through it.

That’s not to say he will never be able to, he will get stronger, and be able to handle this, but for the upcoming season, let’s say we have our doubts.

In fact, we thought for the upcoming season, Mobley might be best equipped to play the small forward spot. He’s a very good passer, as he showed in summer league, finding some easy baskets on backdoor cuts, and he did show a good ability to be able to defend on the perimeter.

No doubt, it would be tough for the man he was guarding to be able to get a clean look at the basket.

At playing him at the three would give him a chance to contribute while getting stronger for an inevitable move closer to the defensive rim. We aren’t saying use him at the spot exclusively, but it would be something to try.

As we said earlier, the Cavs’ front office didn’t do Mobley (or really anyone) any favors by not having a legitimate point guard on the roster. More and more, we have no clue what Koby Altman and his staff are trying to accomplish this season.

It was reported that the team was talking to Collin Sexton about a contract extension because attempts to trade him came up empty. So, you couldn’t get back in trade something commensurate to the value you think he has, and the solution is to give him a big contract?

It would seem that someone has the wrong value on the player. Either way, there doesn’t seem to be a huge market for Sexton, so why would the Cavs get involved in a big contract with him? We have said it before, we would wait until have this season to have any talks with him.

Since the season ended, the Cavaliers have drafted Mobley, and traded Taurean Prince for Ricky Rubio. If that’s all Altman does, we would anticipate another season where fans are hoping to be lucky in the draft lottery.

It looks right now like even a spot in the play in tournament is a long shot.

Cavs Sitting Back And Hoping

Since last Thursday night, the NBA has been full of action with the annual draft and then the beginning of free agency. Teams all over the Association have been making moves, trying to get into next year’s playoffs.

We guess the exception would be the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When you’ve won 60 games like the Cavs have done, you probably don’t need to do much. Oh yeah, those 60 victories have come in the last three regular seasons combined.

We realize there is still time, but more and more it looks like GM Koby Altman continues to be delusional in thinking the island of misfit toys roster he has assembled right now is going to result in at least a spot in the (very stupid) NBA play in tournament.

Right now, J.B. Bickerstaff has two players with the correct size and skill set for the NBA, point guard Darius Garland and center Jarrett Allen. Quite frankly, those are two pretty good building blocks to start.

But the rest of the starting lineup is made up of Collin Sexton, a relentless scorer, but still undersized compared to most of the teams in the NBA at 6’2″, Isaac Okoro, a 6’5″ small forward (by the way, on the Summer League roster, he is listed at 6’6″ and as a guard), and if they are starting rookie Evan Mobley at the four, he certainly has the height, but not the bulk.

Besides the drafting of Mobley, the major acquisition so far this summer is Ricky Rubio, a point guard, further crowding the backcourt. Bickerstaff now has to find enough minutes for Garland, Sexton, Rubio, and Okoro, who again, should be playing guard, although is his offense good enough to play that spot.

And although they might not be reliable sources, rumors are out there that Altman is pursuing a shooter, who likely will also add another body to the backcourt.

The roster screams for someone in the 6’7″ or 6’8″ range that can put the ball in the basket. We haven’t forgotten Larry Nance Jr., who probably should start at SF, but while he does a lot of things very well, he isn’t known for his scoring prowess.

We also know technically Kevin Love is on the roster. Actually, Love would be a good fit (still) at the #4, and would allow Bickerstaff to break in Mobley slowly, but if he’s not buying in to yet another rebuilding season, it’s best to move on.

This rebuild is moving at an iceberg’s pace, because Altman didn’t accumulate any draft picks. He did use some draft capital to get Kevin Porter Jr. two years ago, but we know how that ended. Nor, did he have any cap space, and apparently Cleveland couldn’t really participate in free agency because they didn’t have cap room.

We also think he made a mistake in not offering a qualifying offer to center Isaiah Hartenstein, who came over in the JaVale McGee deal last season. The big man showed he can play, and the Cavs shouldn’t be losing those types of players for nothing.

We know the drafting of Mobley precipitated the move, but you can’t get rid of players who have talent when you have one of the worst records in the NBA.

It would be prudent to level off the talent instead of having the roster super-stacked at two or three spots and devoid of players at other spots.

We have read that the team is targeting 2023-24 because they will have some cap room. That would mean five years of wretched records for the Cavaliers. That’s a tough sell to the ticket buying public.

Again, there is still time to make moves, but it doesn’t look like anything is imminent. Maybe all of the Cavs will get a lot better and their games will magically fit. That doesn’t seem like a good plan for success.

Cavs Take Mobley, Hopefully More To Come?

It has been rumored for the last couple of weeks that the Cleveland Cavaliers were taking Evan Mobley with the third overall pick in the NBA Draft, and they did just that last night.

Mobley, 7’0″, 215 pounds has tremendous skills, and is a shot blocker. Our concern with him is his weight. Can he withstand the pounding playing interior defense or if an opponent can get into him, could he be pinned to the floor.

We assume the Cavs want to retain Jarrett Allen, making a qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, so can Mobley and Allen play together?

Mobley has talent, but can he be an impact player next season? Because that’s what the wine and gold need, not another developmental piece. If he and Ricky Rubio (more on him later) are the only significant moves for Cleveland, our fear is another season of 25 wins or less might be the result.

Again, not categorizing Mobley as a bad pick, it’s just hard to see him being a guy who can play 30 minutes a game effectively next season. In three years? He could be a stud. If you want to tag on another two seasons among the bottom of the league, then we would guess you are okay with this.

GM Koby Altman has still assembled an odd roster. He has Darius Garland, who looks like he can be a good point guard in the league, but he has also drafted an undersized #2 guard in Collin Sexton and is using player who has #2 guard size at small forward in Isaac Okoro.

Now he has the twin towers in Allen and Mobley. Can this group win together? Maybe, we never rule anything out, but the general history of professional basketball says they would face an uphill battle.

One would assume the addition of Mobley also means the end of Kevin Love in Cleveland, probably as the result of buyout, meaning Altman gets no return for a key piece of the 2016 title team.

And it wouldn’t be a draft day without Altman getting another guard, this time trading Taurean Prince to Minnesota for Rubio and a second round pick. Rubio, who will turn 31 in October, will take over the Matthew Dellavedova guard mentoring role, except the Spaniard is a better player.

Rubio has been a starter for the majority of his seven year NBA career, and knows how to the play the game. He averages 7.6 assists per night for his career. He’s an excellent free throw shooter at 86.7%, but not a three threat from beyond the arc, just 32.5% lifetime.

There is still a long time between now and training camps opening in September, but it still feels like the Cavaliers need to retool their roster. They appear to have some rim protectors, which they will probably really need because the defense out front isn’t very good. Remember, J.B. Bickerstaff used Okoro on virtually every opponent’s best scorer, which created mismatches in other places.

Hopefully, more moves to change the roster will be coming with the free agent period starts, which is another time the league sees a lot of deals. They still need a legitimate scorer at small forward. They need more size in the backcourt or the ability to use Okoro there.

Said it all along, collecting talent is fine, putting talent together that fits and leads to wins? That’s a tough job.

Asking Questions About Cavs And The Draft

The NBA Draft is three weeks away, and the rumors abound not only about what the Cleveland Cavaliers will do, but what the teams who have the first and second selections will do as well.

It is the silly season, that’s for sure.

There have been rumors about the Cavs trading up to #1, presumably to draft Cade Cunningham, the consensus (at least he has been) best player in the draft.

However, we have heard a lot of crazy stuff for sure since the draft lottery put Cleveland in the #3 position.

We heard one pundit say Jalen Green is going to average 30 points per game someday. Does that guy understand how hard that is?

Since 2010-11, there have been 10 occurrences of a player averaging 30 points per game, and six players have accomplished the feat: James Harden (3X), Bradley Beal and Stephen Curry (both twice), and Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant.

That’s it.

We aren’t saying Green will never be able to do it, but predicting that is just insane to us.

We have also seen a lot of discussion about the Cavs taking Evan Mobley if he is sitting there when the Cleveland picks. We would be very, very careful about that pick, mostly because we don’t know if Mobley can defend inside.

Yes, he will be able to block shots, but can he handle the pounding he will receive with his slight frame? We heard someone saying he might be a good NBA player in 2024, and that’s exactly the point here. We aren’t sure Koby Altman and J.B. Bickerstaff can wait.

It is our opinion that pretty much everyone who plays in the NBA can put the ball in the basket. Obviously, the best players in the game are the ones who can do it on an every night basis, but unsung guys will have games where they score 25 points one night. It happens all the time.

However, playing time is earned on what you can do on the defensive end. Yes, yes, we’ve heard folks who don’t understand the game say no one in the NBA plays defense. We would instruct those people to watch a few of the more recent All Star Games, where no one is really interested in stopping anyone.

So our question is can Mobley be good enough defensively to get significant playing time or is he a project? And if the latter is true, it’s difficult to use the third overall pick on him.

We also believe in size. Of course, everyone can come up with cases where an undersized player or team has succeeded in the NBA, but by and large, if you have skilled bigger athletes who can play the position, you have a better chance.

Why is LeBron James so great? One reason is he has the skills of a small forward, and is bigger than pretty much anyone he plays against. Someone once said about him that if you are as big as him, you aren’t as quick, and if you are as quick as him, you aren’t as big.

That sums it up.

And that’s another reason we feel the Cavs’ roster needs an overhaul, no matter who they draft at the end of this month.

If they draft Green, he could play small forward, but then where does Isaac Okoro fit in? Height-wise, Okoro is probably a #2 guard, but the Cavaliers already have Darius Garland and Collin Sexton. And Green probably fits better as a scoring guard anyway.

The same is true if they draft Jalen Suggs, the point guard out of Gonzaga. The players who fit the team’s biggest need, a small forward, would be the players considered to be the 5th and 6th best players available, Jonathan Kuminga and Scottie Barnes.

Then you have the age old problem of drafting for need instead of talent. That would be a tough thing to do considering the Cavs are a team that needs impact talent too.

We are interested in seeing how it all plays out…

Where, Oh Where Is The Cavs’ Front Office?

It is kind of a tradition for the point man for professional sports teams to be the general manager, and normally that person speaks to the media when a major event happens or when the season ends.

That’s why it is peculiar at best that Cavs’ GM Koby Altman has not been neither seen or heard from since he completed the Jarrett Allen trade on January 13th.

Look, we get it. It’s not a pleasant task to discuss what went wrong after a losing season, especially one that ended as dismally as the Cavaliers did, losing 13 of their last 14 contests.

On the other hand, as we tell our children, would you like a list of things we have to do that are part of our job that we don’t particularly care for? It’s part of the gig to stand up and talk to the media about both the good things and bad things that occurred during the season, and to answer questions about the future.

The underlying question must be is Dan Gilbert contemplating a restructuring of the front office. Will Altman emerge from the restructuring with his job or just a new boss? That has to be the only option, because otherwise not having availability with the media after the season concludes is either a bad look, or just plain fear.

We have said before we believe someone else needs to be involved in the future planning of this basketball team and that person cannot and should not have the last name of Gilbert. It needs to be someone who has played or coached in the league, and should be someone not that far removed from doing those things.

And in our opinion, it needs to be someone from outside the organization, meaning someone with a fresh viewpoint on the players on the team. For example, the Cavs have put a lot of stock in Collin Sexton, but what do others not in the Cleveland organization think of him? Who does that person think should be the building blocks of the next winning team wearing wine and gold?

We understand Sexton is a lightning rod among Cavs’ followers, so we can pick out another example. Can Dean Wade be a key piece for a playoff team? He averaged 6 points and 3.4 rebounds playing 19 minutes per game, playing in 63 of them. He’s a stretch four, shooting almost 37% from beyond the arc in 2020-21.

However, to us, he’s a 10th-12th man on a good team. We watch the NBA playoffs and we can’t see him getting meaningful minutes. We don’t think he’s a good enough defender to play at that level.

We think it’s time for a second set of eyes at this point. Perhaps someone new will come in and think Altman is 100% correct with his assessment of things, and if that happens, it will still give another basketball person a chance to evaluate players.

But if that person thinks the future of the franchise is best served by going in another direction, say, building around Jarrett Allen, then that should be the course taken going forward.

We maintain the problem isn’t talent, nor is it coaching, it’s fit. And we are right, then Dan Gilbert and his family have to do the right thing.

People have always taught us that the smartest people know what they don’t know.

Cavs Need A Large Step In The Winning Direction

People’s views on the just finished Cleveland Cavaliers’ season probably depend on what their definition of progress is.

Yes, the Cavs have improved in each of the last three years since LeBron James departed for a second time via free agency. In the first season, they were 19-63, a .232 winning percentage.

The following season, the win total stayed the same, but due to the COVID pandemic, the season was shortened to 65 games, so they won at a 29.2% rate. That was followed by an increase in the win column, from 19 to 22, again in a non-traditional 72 game slate, so the winning percentage increased to .306.

The last two seasons came with a draft pick selected in the top five.

If you like a slow rebuilding process, these Cavaliers are for you. But at this pace, the wine and gold will make the playoffs around when this decade ends.

That may not be fair, but this franchise hasn’t made the NBA playoffs without James since the 1997-98 season, so pardon everyone if they are skeptical about the future of this team.

It has been reported that owner Dan Gilbert is contemplating making some changes to the front office, so we guess that would put the man at the top in the not so patient class.

If Cleveland had approach the 30 win mark this season, a figure that should have been attainable, we doubt anyone would be calling for a review of how things have been done over the past three seasons. As Bill Parcells famously said, you are what your record says you are.

However, there is more to putting together a basketball team than collecting talent. And we don’t know if Altman and the current front office understands this. You need players that can play off each other, amplify the strengths of their teammates and minimize the weaknesses.

In short, you need players who play for the rest of the men on the roster.

You also need someone with a vision. Can they see the team winning with Darius Garland and Collin Sexton getting the most minutes at the guard position? And if you go forward with them as a backcourt duo, what do you have to do around them to lead to victories.

And what to do with Isaac Okoro, who played well as a rookie and took the task of defending the opposition’s best scorer pretty much on a nightly basis. Okoro can play in the NBA, but his size screams that he’s a two guard. Can he provide the offense that position requires?

The point is all three of those players have talent. In a vacuum, you would say Altman made solid choices on each player. But can you win with them playing point guard, #2 guard, and small forward? We wouldn’t bet our career on it.

We have said this before, but improvement in the win column has to be a priority. No matter what happens with the draft lottery this season, it should be made clear the franchise doesn’t want to be involved in it again following the 2021-22 season.

We believe winning is a learned skill, and it hasn’t been taught around this franchise since James left. That has to change right now, and that starts with ownership and Altman, or whoever is in charge of the basketball part of the operation.

The Cavs don’t need to be a playoff team at this time next year, but they need to take a significant step in that direction.

Time For A Change In Philosophy For Cavs

We know we are late to the party, but the Cleveland Cavaliers really are a depressing franchise unless it includes LeBron James on the roster.

The last time the Cavs won a playoff series without #23 in the wine and gold was 1992-1993, which is 28 years ago, and right now, it looks as though that streak could very well extend to 30 years before it concludes.

We are grateful for James’ time here, including that title in 2016, the only professional sports championship for the city since 1964. But the next time he will be part of a celebration in northeast Ohio will likely be his jersey retirement ceremony.

So, for the Gilbert ownership group, it’s seven seasons without James in a Cleveland uniform, and the most wins by any of those teams would be the 33 in 2013-14, the year before LBJ came back to town.

We suggest it is time for the ownership to re-examine the way they run the franchise, but quite frankly, it’s been mediocre at best under their guidance.

We understand that Gilbert spent and spent big when James was here in an effort to end the city’s title drought and we are grateful that he did. He should be commended in a big way for that.

However, the basketball decisions made outside of spending big could be described as a mess. His unwillingness to give any of his general managers second contracts, outside of Koby Altman, is well publicized, and really, none of the rebuilding movements after each of James’ departures has taken hold.

And Altman doesn’t really want to address it. He seems reticent to answer questions about what is going on with the franchise.

The time to change this is now.

After this season, it’s time to clean out the front office of this basketball team and provide a clear direction for the operations of the franchise going forward. Step one should be to stop hoping for lottery luck and the next great player in the NBA to fall in their lap like James did.

Actually, Gilbert didn’t even own the team when the Cavaliers won the lottery to beat all lotteries, getting James in 2003.

Bring in an experienced basketball executive that has playing experience if possible. It doesn’t have to be a former GM, but should be someone who has been around the game and has talent evaluation in his background. Find someone like James Jones, the current Phoenix GM, who played on the title team in 2016.

And then, stop meddling and give them time to build something.

The playing experience is important because with the movement towards analytics and looking at numbers, it’s important for someone who has played to be involved in building the team. Basketball is a game where it is important for the pieces to fit, it’s not just all about putting a bunch of talent together and hope it works.

Then, allow that new leader to hire the coach he wants to carry out the vision. And that vision should be something the organization can hang its hat on, such as defense, ball movement, etc. Players who can carry out the plan are the guys to keep.

They need to bring in someone who can teach the young players to win. We believe everybody wants to win, but some players need to be taught how to win. There are few players on the current roster that don’t put out effort.

We like J.B. Bickerstaff and maybe he’s the right guy, but if you hire a new GM, you have to give him the opportunity to bring in his own person.

Changing GMs, hoping to catch lottery magic isn’t working. Yes, the Cavs and all professional sports are in the entertainment business. And the goal of that business is winning, and that requires a plan, and allowing people to carry out that blueprint.

When the team wins, everyone can share in the credit. Look at the championship team. Yes, LeBron was the star, but this area loves players like J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, who were key pieces to the title.

It’s okay to admit when something doesn’t work. That where the Cavs’ management should be right now. There is apathy surrounding this basketball team right now, and that has to change. It’s time to start winning again.

Cavs Need To Do A Deep Evaluation.

In the business world, well run companies periodically go through an internal audit. They look at their systems and processes to see if they make sense or could they be improved.

Even though the Cleveland Cavaliers have won 20 games this season, an improvement over the past two seasons with 16 games remaining on the slate, perhaps they should undertake the same endeavor.

Virtually the entire roster, save for Kevin Love, has been put together by GM Koby Altman, which means he saw something in each of them to make him want to secure them for the organization. However, should Altman’s evaluation of each player or his vision for the team be beyond approach.

There are many general managers who have earned the right to not be second guessed. People like Pat Riley, Jerry West, R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich in San Antonio have a proven record of putting teams together that can compete in the upper tier of the NBA.

Right now, Altman isn’t in that class, and it seems fair to bring in someone with a long background in the game to consult with Altman and make sure that his vision for the team can be attained soon, and how many players on the roster can be part of that success.

It has been brought up by several media members over the past couple of weeks what exactly will happen if the Cavaliers get one of the top five picks in the upcoming NBA Draft.

According to draft “experts”, of the top six players in the draft, five of them are either point guards or wing players, with only USC big man Evan Mobley being the exception.

Over the past three years, Altman has spent three top ten picks on players who play those positions, Collin Sexton (8th overall), Darius Garland (5th), and Isaac Okoro (also 5th). So, unless Mobley is there when Cleveland makes its selection, doesn’t the rookie take the place of one of these high draft picks?

The first question an outsider should have is what kind of team does Altman want to put together, and does his vision coincide with that of coach J.B. Bickerstaff?

Does he want to have a defensive oriented team, or a team based around the three point shot and one-on-one play? Because if you don’t have a vision on how to win in the NBA, how can you construct a roster?

Without a direction, you are simply just collecting talent, and as we have seen throughout the years, just putting together talented players doesn’t always lead to winning. The players have to play as a unit, complement each other.

Should there be any untouchables on the current roster? We’ve identified at least one, although our guess it is not the same person the front office has in mind. It would take an awful lot for us to consider trading Jarrett Allen, a soon to be (tomorrow) 23-year-old 6’11” rim protector, who also has a good feel for the game.

In our eyes, height still matters in professional basketball. There are always exceptions to the rule, but if you can find players who have the skill set needed for a position, but are also bigger than average, that’s optimal.

We saw LeBron James at 6’9″ and 250 (conservatively) pounds playing small forward, because he had the skills to do it (heck, he has the skills to play anywhere), and he was dominating. His size isn’t the sole reason, but he was unguardable because he was larger than the guy trying to guard him.

The Cavs aren’t real playoff contenders this season, and it appears they don’t want to get in this year anyway. But when will this be unacceptable? It should be next season.

The organization can try all kinds of marketing schemes, different uniforms, etc. The best marketing tool is winning basketball. Are there any pieces that can lead to that already here? And are those pieces the same ones the front office thinks they are?