The Clock Is Ticking For The Cavaliers

LeBron James made his decision where to play in 2026-27 and it wasn’t Cleveland. We aren’t one of those Cavaliers’ fans who are upset with James, who is still a good NBA player at 41, turning 42 in late December.

He averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and six rebounds per game last year, and would have been an improvement over analytics darling Dean Wade in the Cleveland starting lineup. But that’s here, nor there.

Our problem is with the Cavs’ front office, notably president of basketball operations Koby Altman, who hasn’t done anything to improve the team that did go to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

That’s not entirely fair, he did resign journeyman big man Thomas Bryant, who couldn’t get on the floor in the playoffs, and let guard Keon Ellis and Wade depart via free agency. So, as it has most times since Altman has been in charge, the Cleveland bench has a collection of 6’3″ to 6’6″ players, making it impossible for coach Kenny Atkinson to get them all enough minutes.

There’s Max Strus, Sam Merrill, Dennis Schroder (who everyone believes will be dealt soon), Jaylon Tyson (who should be the starter at small forward in our opinion), Craig Porter Jr., Tyrese Proctor, and he drafted another one in Meleek Thomas.

There are still no bigger wings, although Atkinson has alluded that last year’s second round pick, Saliou Niang, who is 6’8″ will likely be on the team and of course, Nae’Qwan Tomlin also 6’8″ returns and hopefully will have a more meaningful role, as he was largely ignored after the moves around the trade deadline.

There are rumors about the Cavs being very interested in 6’7″ forward Jonathan Kuminga, the 7th overall pick in 2021 and a player in this third year averaged 16 points a game for Golden State. However, he was in Steve Kerr’s doghouse for the past two seasons, was traded to Atlanta, and the Hawks declined to bring him back.

He played in 36 games last season and averaged 12.2 points per game. We’ve liked him, and just because Kerr didn’t play him isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Coaches may not like something about a player’s game, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play.

There are also rumors Cleveland is interested in Mario Hezonja, a former first round pick of Orlando, who has played overseas the last six seasons. Now 31, he averaged 7 points per game in five NBA seasons with the Magic, Knicks, and Trailblazers. He’s 6’8″.

We will keep harping on this, but as currently constituted, the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have enough size. They need bigger, athletic wings, the “3 and D” guys talked about frequently. They need more big men than just having Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

And preferably, they need someone inside who has some girth. Allen and Mobley are tall, but in NBA standards, slender. A “bruiser” would be very welcome in Cleveland.

So, Altman is on the clock. Several teams in the East look to have passed the Cavaliers. Certainly, James’ new team, the 76ers, but also the Raptors if they work out the Kawhi Leonard trade. Also, the Pacers get Tyrese Halliburton back, the Pistons had a better regular season record, and Atlanta keeps getting more experience.

From where we are sitting, maybe the Cavs should have promoted Mike Gansey. There is still time to improve the team, but we are worried the wine and gold are now in the rut where a chance for a title might be out of reach.

Like Thomas, But Once Again, Cavs Go Small

The Cleveland Cavaliers participated in this week’s NBA Draft, trading out of the first round, moving back five spots to select Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas. Thomas was projected by several draft gurus to be a first round pick, so Koby Altman got value it appears.

It is interesting that the Cavs list Thomas at 6’5″, but everyone else lists him at 6’3″ or 6’4″. We use NBADraft,net as our guide and they list him at 6’4″. We guess the Cavaliers are a little sensitive to drafting guards whenever they get a chance.

The scouting report on Thomas is good. His shooting is his highest grade, following by quickness, defense, athleticism, and ball handling. Sounds like a potential contributor in the league.

Following the draft, Altman said when they are picking in the 30’s, you really can’t draft for need, which is utter baloney. The next two players selected after Thomas were his Razorback teammate, Trevon Brazile, a 6’10” player with a 7’4″ wingspan (ode to Jay Bilas) who would have addressed the wine and gold’s glaring need for size.

After him was Baba Miller, a seven-footer out of Cincinnati, who also has extensive international experience.

Don’t forget Altman also traded down, and the player selected in their original spot was 6’8″ forward Alex Karaban from Connecticut, who would have provided the team with some “winning” attitude, seeing he played on two NCAA championship teams with the Huskies and reached the title game last season.

We think winning is learned, by the way.

It is certainly early in the off-season, so there is plenty of time for the Cavs to add the size they desperately need, but time and time again, when they have a chance to get bigger, Altman goes back to his comfort zone and adds another player in the 6’4″-6’6″ range.

In other words, Koby Altman has a type.

Look at the Cleveland roster, these players are all in that height range: Max Strus, Jaylon Tyson, Keon Ellis, Sam Merrill, Tyrese Proctor, and of course, James Harden. And we aren’t counting 6’2″ Donovan Mitchell, 6’1″ Dennis Schroder, and 6’1″ Craig Porter Jr.

That’s nine players shorter than 6’6″. In today’s NBA. People wonder why coach Kenny Atkinson likes to play four guards at the same time. Maybe, it’s because more than half of the players available to him are guards.

Free agency starts this week, so again, Cleveland has a lot of time before training camp to reshuffle its roster. Atkinson has already indicated the other of last year’s second rounders, 6’8″ Saliou Niang, will likely make the team next season.

And perhaps the Cavs will move two or three of the glut of small wings to get a bigger wing. One who will be able to combat the size other teams in the NBA already have.

Once Harden opts out of his player option and resigns at a lower number per year which would get Cleveland out of the second apron, Altman can start making moves. It will be interesting to see what direction the Cavs go in.

Despite getting to the conference finals, we don’t think this roster can win a title. What does Koby Altman think?

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.