Koby Altman speaks on the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers

Koby Altman speaks on the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers

today’s lock on Cavs marks a new era and it’s just because I stuck around and on today’s show I’ll be discussing Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Kobe alin’s somewhat surprising comments in his annual end of the season state of the team Q&A session with members of the media you are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your teams every day welcome back to lockon Cavs how you doing how you doing come on in and sit on down because Kobe Alman said some pretty surprising things starting with the fact that at least at the surface no wholesale changes coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers and to be frank that is a little surprising just considering the body was not even cold with the Cleveland Cavaliers they they were their season had ended they were you know called Dead by the priest they read their read read their last rights from the hospital bed where they said that um they as in the athletic sham Sania Joe Varden um Jason Lloyd and then Brian windhorse from ESPN um and many others myself included kind of got the speculation and understanding that there was going to be some form of wholesale change coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason um with a lot of it uh hinging on Donovan Mitchell’s decision um which we’ll touch on later on in the show today but more so the fact that there wasn’t a lot of clarity or understanding on how this team moves forward with Evan Moy and Jared Allen both being centers and Moy showcasing his chops as a center in those last eight or so playoff games uh dep on whenever Allen just kind of really started to slow down and lose steam in game four or yeah game four against Orlando um two now and then obviously with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell having so much overlap and Garland supposed trade Demand Being in The Ether literally like not even moments after the body was cold for the Cavs um a lot of people thought wholesale change was coming and Alman squashed that notion pretty quick he did sight net rating which is a kind of a skewed and sometimes flawed metric to kind of fully evaluate a team’s ability or legitimacy on the court but I mean there is some validity I guess to it if you want to look through it from that lens of just like the pairing of Garland and Mitchell into it or as a duo or when one is on the floor and one isn’t and also with Mo and Allen and then the four together as well but I think in alman’s eyes the argument makes sense when you look at it through the lens of of the Cavs did not have Evan Moy and Darius Garland for Mid from mid December till about January or February depending on just like the in terms of just being back quote unquote of the season and the Cavs kept clicking and humming and of course found their idealized play style of playing with one guard one big a lot of shooting Pace space etc etc um and maybe that’s more of a head coaching thing which we’ll talk about again soon and because he had some interesting comments about that as well and just you know the decision to let go of picker staff but more so the fact that um the Cavs had the luxury of depth at the top end because without Garland and Moy the Cavs kept humming and clicking with Allen and Mitchell on the floor and inversely like you look at the playoffs when Jared Allen went down Evan Moy was able to step up and kind of just keep the machine humming and I think that just in my eyes at least compounds and confirms the argument that MO is better suited as a center Long Term and I think it’s just kind of tricky to have two centers on the floor and you can’t really bring Allen off the bench because for a team like Cleveland that’s looking to compete for championships possibly $20 million devoted to a bench big is a great and gross mismanagement of assets and so we shall see uh Alman kind of made it clear that like the Cavs have built something special he used examples of how like the Denver Nuggets took almost a decade to become a championship C team it took them Milwaukee Bucks between the duo of and the foundational piece of Chris Middleton and yasmo it took them five six seven years to become like a championship Contender and win their first title and yeah there’s a legitimate argument there and at least in alman’s eyes the cabs are only in year two of this situation and it’s it would be a disservice to what he’s built and again I don’t think anybody’s in terms of just like if you run a basketball team or you trying to like talk about the current situation of what maybe you were directly involved with you’re not going to go out there and say yeah this sucks like well man I built some garbage out here I got to clean this up and tear it down no you want to be as positive as possible despite you know the disappointing end to the season or the change at head coach or anything like that and I think I understand alt Altman’s comments at that level I disagree with them and if that’s the course of action the Cavs do they’ll be interesting see how they play heading into next season if they have all four of these guys back especially if garland does demand a trade which we’ll touch on in a second I’ll read Rich Paul’s comments about it because they were interesting because uh Chris Haynes from Bleacher Report was asked about this and but for me and I think this is the interest most important thing and for alin’s sake you don’t want to really be at a position of like disadvantage or whatever let me read Rich Paul’s comment before I kind of elaborate on this so Paul um CEO of clutch Sports and also Darius Garland’s direct representative in terms of just an agent um was asked by Chris Haynes about like the supposed demands and Paul said this there’s not much to say I think people have their own opinions of what works and what doesn’t work and for me I think people around the league know and you definitely know this about me I’m very matter of a fact with my Approach on everything if there is something to be discussed I would discuss it as of now there’s nothing to discuss on that my job is to evaluate every situation for every guy that we as a company represent I’m a representative of players and I must help advise them on business decisions it’s a lot more to that than negotiating contract for four years some guys choose to do that and only focus on that I’m Different I try to look at everything you’ll try and he talks about the draft for a second and so these guys have to make sure they understand that having the talent they have in the production allows them to maintain value that value transitions into compensation when you sum it all up it’s really just a good ass job and sometimes you have to protect that for as long as you can that’s where my mindset is for all the guys no matter if they’re a max player or a minimum guy my job is to prepare educate and execute for my clients and Rich Paul best in the business for a reason he is one of the the NBA’s best overall just representative to have I’d say uh in terms of just having an agent but like it’s pretty transparent like I think Garland will request a trade because from what I’ve gathered and heard he’s just like frustrated sharing the court with Mitchell because it doesn’t maximize his chances on the floor and also he was toted as the franchise guy until the Cavs traded for Donovan Mitchell and I think maybe there could be some hurt feelings there maybe that could be fixed but also it might be for the best if Garland goes to like San Antonio or Minnesota or Brooklyn or somewhere just to get like a mental reset on top of the physical reset said that Alman in Cleveland’s coaching staff kind of stressed to him in their one-on-one exit interviews but I think at least like Altman putting this stuff out there too does help because like if a public trade demand comes down from high from clutch Sports to the Cav saying like hey Darius wants out because Donovan agreed to an extension um the Cavs are going to be at a bit of a position of disadvantage in terms of negotiations because it’s going to come out to the ether like the Wes the Shams the jamals let’s put all let’s put all the people on Mount Rushmore here um we’ll talk about the fact that like it’s a public trade demand teams will know that going into it but the Cavs like you know make it pretty clear from the beginning one like hey we won’t trade this guy no not at all um it makes it easier to get a better possible return if you’re Cleveland because you’re hedging your bets a little bit because in the event like Garland demands a trade it’s the cabs you say like well we’re not looking to trade him but you know it’ be to service not to like you know entertain conversations I guess now that it’s kind of publicly known he wants out and it gets the Cavs a little bit of a better return in terms of maybe some of the more middling discussions uh the previous era of lock on Cavs discussed and so that’s a way to look at it too and also and this is maybe being a little bit cynical on my part it it’s a good way to save face if you’re the Cavs too because let’s say they do trade Garland now the Cavs can just say well Darius is the one who asked for a trade we didn’t want to trade him and again that’s the cynic and me talking a little bit that could 100% not be the case um maybe the Cavs are looking at from every angle and they are trying to bring all four these guys back but it will be an interesting thing to watch as things go on because I did find it kind of interesting that Altman didn’t make it really clear and push back on the idea that the Cavs don’t really need to make any wholesale changes they need to um on the roster at least uh but they need to work on the margins and they need to kind of figure out what they do and don’t have with this team I think they did figure some of that out just the whole depth situation in terms of like Sam Marl and Craig Porter Jr two guys uh that Alman did shout out during his end of season media availability and um yeah we will see but there is one big change coming and that is at the head coaching position which kobon had a lot to say about but I actually have a lot to say about today’s first sponsor eBay Motors so let’s hear from them as I had mentioned just seconds ago today’s episode of lockon Cavs is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning a championship also keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain and level your vehicle up to Peak Performance they have supercharges roof rack exhaust kits LED headlights and more and whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you want and with the eBay guaranteed to fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because of eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the needed Parts at your desired prices it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge dubs keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com El items only exclusions apply EB guaranteed fit is only available to customers based in the United States of America what is up everyone we are back with more lock on Cavs your number one podcast covering all things Cleveland Cavaliers and while we’re getting you your fill in on just me because it’s only me now welcome to the uh hav damal era I got to ask are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day do you have to turn down all that shouting from skip bis showing off his shoes make the switch to locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming channel that is programmed for all year every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming lock on sports today brings you to can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app it’s part of the locked on podcast Network including locked on Cavs which features your team every day so w Kobe Alman did say that no wholesale change is coming to the roster and they’re going to work within the margins which means they’ll probably use all of if or at least a good portion of the $ 13.1 million mid-level exception they have or the uh 20th overall pick in the NBA draft where I think I think at least they should take a a junior a senior that can be an immediate impact player to kind of round out the rotation in terms of just depth and shooting not a guy that needs to play immediately but a guy that can contribute if you call on his number versus a rookie you’re going to stash in the G league for God knows how long and maybe Luke Travis andifa yop come over too it could be an ex interesting Dem Cavaliers but just looking at the head coaching position Kobe Alman open by saying that he wanted to thank JB Baker staff for everything he had done to get the Cavs to this point because Alin did kind of make it clear and it staggered me for a moment but this is the first time in half a decade the Cleveland Cavaliers are conducting a head coaching search because they parted ways of JB picker staff as everyone knows at this point and I think that makes it tough Allman called it a very difficult decision because professionally and personally he’s very close to bicker staff um JB’s father Bernie is one of Kobe’s top advisers and I think that you know makes it tough and also when you have a guy guy that was a big part of what you were trying to build all throughout this process and he kind of puts this team up to the position they’re at him as in bicker staff um it does make it tough but also Alman did make it clear that the Cavs do need a fresh set of eyes they need a new voice they think when he looks at this team in something that he kind of reiterated on several occasions is this Cav team can’t afford to become complacent just because the Celtics are young and they’re not getting any older anytime soon Jason Tatum’s only like 19 I think because of the Benjamin Button effect um they have to kind of find ways to remain competitive and not complacent in the East especially if they want to level up and be able to hang with Boston become a team that can either push the Celtics out of the playoffs I mean Milwaukee too even though they’re ancient in terms of age or I mean the Pacers are getting going to be really annoying and Scrappy the magic are going to get better uh the Knicks are going to get better I think just the Eastern Conference is kind of not in a windfall but they’re leveling up all around and the Cavs need to kind of maybe just take full perspective of things and it’s something the players reiterated as well like Max stru was actually the first player according to Altman to say like the Cavs cannot afford to be complacent like they have a good team um and they have the ability to really become like a serious threat in the Eastern Conference and the Cavs just cannot afford to be complacent just rest on The Laurels of regular season success and get balanced in the second round every single year like you don’t want to be the Mike buen holes or Atlanta Hawks or the second LeBron era Toronto rapt free Kawhi Leonard Toronto Raptors where LeBron James just kicked her teeth in every single time you met in the postseason you don’t want to be a team like that where you’re really successful in the regular season and just flame out in the second round and I think that’s just going to kind of be part of the Cavs approach when it looks at this next head coach a um because a lot of the players did like tell Altman in their exit interviews individually that um the Cavs at least the players believe that they have the ability to build like a legitimate title thre like a legitimate Contender they think they have something here they think they’re close I think Health did play a factor in their eyes against Boston but it’s more so the fact that the Cavs just firmly believe that they do have something special and they can build like a legitimate Championship level team and I think that does require a new head coach a new voice A New Perspective maybe a guy who if Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are both here next season can figure out a way to unlock both of them and maximize their potential on the floor if Jared Allen and Evan Moy are both here next season to maximize that duo and put them on the floor all four are back next season to maximize those opportunities and just how to do everything on the floor and I think again the free agency decisions will have a part in that and also just the fact that um the Cavs will just have to be competitive but Altman wasn’t really firm on who or what they’re looking for uh like Kenny ainson was listed James Breo was listed I’ll be having guys on the show all throughout this week in the coming days as well just to talk about their experience with bgo Retson and kind of give some insight on possible candidates bman said like they don’t have a list yet they haven’t really put put anything to paper yet they are going to take this Memorial Day weekend and then reconvene on Tuesday just because one out respect to biger staff and kind of what he built with his team and also kind of like to cleanse themselves of the emotional hangover that came with making a very hard um franchise altering decision but they’ll reconvene on Tuesday and I think somewhat encouragingly because you know when you hear Dan Gilbert is involved in the process it gives some fans some AA just because Dan can sometimes do the outside of the box thinking like we all know is white whal still is to have a college coach coach this team probably Tom but he’s offered John caliper and like sheski more money than God to coach this team before too and they both politely declined that’s before the nil came around so maybe that changes the trajectory a little bit but it’s how you got John Bine I at least part of it that the story is might gan’s wedding but whatever but according to halman um Gilbert will be involved he’ll provide his input but it’ll be more so in the final stages of the coaching search I think the Cavs at least under Altman this is what he said like he and his staff will be doing the leg work they’ll be doing the interviews they’ll be doing the feeling out process the kind of vetting and evaluating of coaching candidates um they’ll compile a list of finalists and then present that list of finalist to Dan gilber who maybe interview the coaches during these final or the coaching candidates during these final steps or maybe they kind of look at what their options are when they get to that point but Dan will be involved but he’ll be more of a final sign off which I think you know as owner this and Governor this team the guy who is one of the wealthiest men in America who’s pumped a lot of cash into making the Cavs like a championship level organization um has earned that honor but I don’t think it’s going to be as like dreary as some fans might fear it to be um but it’ll be interesting to see just kind of how this whole process evolves and just kind of keeps moving but a lot of it does hinge on the last really big Dom in this entire offseason for Cleveland and that’s Donovan Mitchell which Kobe had some interesting things to say about um in terms of just like what Mitchell’s future looks like with this team and how it will likely and will set the tone for this entire offseason for Cleveland surprise no ad break got you though but during his one-on-one exit interviews which for folks who are wondering if the players will speak they won’t they’ve all gone home for the summer and the offseason to improve um but on the way out the door uh Altman will sit down on each player individually I think his some of his staff are probably present for the conversations as well um just to like ask the players like hey what do you make of the Season what you what can we do to improve um just speak of them all one through 18 technically speaking just to kind of figure out like also just like if they’re a free agent like what is your what is your general Vibe and one of those guys was Donovan Mitchell um who had some pretty interesting comments although like Altman was asked almost I want to say immediately hey is Donovan Mitchell gonna have you do you have any updates and Alman you know handled it well um worked within the legal ramifications and guidelines and said like like no we cannot have those conversations until July when the free agency period opens um but don’t be surprised if Cleveland almost immediately like as soon as the clock hits the proverbial Midnight at the start of free agency that Mitchell has offered that four-year 28.5 I think is the number off the top of my head million dollar contract extension to stick with the Cavs and Altman did give some reason for encouragement though to say like we there were positive conversations because the way Alman painted the picture is Donovan Mitchell told Alman that he is excited he is a Mitchell about the future of this Cavaliers team he’s excited about the prospects of this Cavaliers team he believes they are and he’s one of the guys who said like they have something special here that could become a championship Contender now granted he didn’t say that Al or Alman didn’t say that like Mitchell said oh yeah and I’ll be here as part of it too but like the way Mitchell painted the picture made it seem like he’s very committed to what the Cavs are building and wants to be involved in the process because Alman was asked soon after like will Donovan be involved in the coaching search will he be involved in free agency decisions and Kobe kind of spun it it more positively to make it seem like Mitchell’s not like the guy running the show which he isn’t um he’s not the president of basketball operations goe Alman is but um more so the fact that uh Mitchell provide input because Alin shared the example of last season Mitchell was the guy who recruited maxre to Cleveland um he is the guy who helped bring George and yang here he’s the guy who helped bring Tai Jerome here too the C of course had a close the deal and really sell the upside of playing for the Cavs under bigger staff at the time but like Mitchell probably had to give some insur assurances to these guys too to like really make it worth their while too so Al they made it clear that like yeah they’ll be running free agency decision by him I think Mitchell will be a guy who’s kind of recruiting free agents and helping the Cavs find options to work within that midlevel exception that accentuate Mitchell’s talents and what the Cavs have built presently and just continue to build upon that and Mitchell did it last season without an extension you’d assume he’s going to be in the same vein and probably reup on that extension before he does it because I think if he’s a believer in what the Cavs are building that gives you a reason for optimism on what they are trying to do and what they’re trying to form as this season just kind of keeps evolving and growing and it’s an interesting time for sure like you you can’t like firmly say like oh yeah we know what Donovan Mitchell’s doing no one knows what Donovan Mitchell’s doing other than Donovan Mitchell but it’s encouraging at least to me in my eyes and I got the sense that like if Mitchell’s going to be involved in the free agency process if he’s going to be giving his opinion on the head coaching hires because he has input on it too the cabs are treating him like the franchise player that he is they’re giving him their respect that he wants in terms of just like building this team and making them like a legitimate title threat and Contender and if he’s already married or somewhat married not like fully divorced to the idea of what the Cavs are doing right now I think that gives you reason to be optimistic and reason for encouragement to say okay Donovan Mitchell is definitely warming up to the idea of the Cavs being where he plays the better part of his Prime and everything else and we shall see what the next steps are but I feel comfortable in saying that Mitchell is going to reup with the Cavs in some capacity maybe it’s not a full four-year Max maybe it’s something that has a little bit more of a an Avenue to allow him to exit to free agency earlier if he wants to but also this money is Monopoly money these guys are all multi-millionaires and these owners are multi-billionaires at this point too it’s easier for players to move on when they want out as well but it’ll be interesting to see what happens but I think now that the biger staff Domino’s fallen and we know the Cab’s looking at a new head coach Alman said ideally they’d have him him as the coach in place before this June’s NBA draft but that’s kind of an unrealistic timeline the Cavs will be patient and pragmatic in terms of evaluating every best candidate because they want to find a guy who can maximize this roster and I think Donovan Mitchell will be a guy who gives a lot of input on that too but we shall see what the next steps are for the Cavs um it’s kind of an interesting time but I think there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about their Futures in terms of just keeping Donovan Mitchell maybe they don’t break up the entire foresome of Moy Mitchell Garland and Allen and you only see one of those guys go and maybe the Cavs also just kind of put themselves in a nice position where they aren’t scrambling to find a possible return for guys who either went out or guys who maybe hurt their value a little bit by putting a little bit of a trade demand out there in The Ether but we shall see but for this week we’ll be talking with uh cuddley teddy bear and um having a Tik Tok intervention with Mac robinsson to talk about the state of the Cavs and probably more on alman’s comments that I didn’t address today um more so on some of the coaching front stuff although Alman said there isn’t a list out there there’ll be some conversation with uh Chuck mocker from former lockon Clippers H to talk about um Kenny ainson I’ll be talking to um Adam arre from lockon Nets to talk about Kenny ainson when he coached the Nets I’ll be talking with Doug Branson and um from lock on the Hornets and um the guys from locked on Pelicans to talk about James bgo and his head coaching time with Charlotte and also just like what he’s done offensively for the Pelicans this year to kind of give him perspective on that and we’ll just be kind of keeping our finger on the pulse um as this is the new era of loon Cavs where I didn’t abandon you I’m still here um I’ll still be doing the show and um yeah check me out and write down ID if you want as well and I’ll be back tomorrow with more on the Cleveland Cavaliers but enjoy your Memorial Day everyone have fun stay safe wear some sunscreen and if you want to stay inside while you’re staying cool just want to remind you that everyone and everywhere that locked on has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube it’s called locked on sports today and it’s here for you 247 covering the top sto Sports stories of the day with local Experts of lock on plus their National shows covering every League just go to locked on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming Channel again folks I’m Evan damal it’s just me now I do all the audio video and talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers but I’ll be joined by a boatload guest this week and over the coming weeks to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers and preview their ongoing off season and talk about any moves that may come

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs, Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) discusses Cleveland Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman’s end-of-season comments regarding the future of the team, Donovan Mitchell’s plans and how breaking things up may no longer happen.

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