Cavs: 3 takeaways from Koby Altman’s Friday media availability
By Dan Gilinsky
Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman seems to be very confident that his team is going to turn it around in the near future, and he demonstrated that in his media availability on Friday.
The Cleveland Cavaliers seem well aware that their rebuild can not be short-circuited, and in his Friday media availability, general manager Koby Altman relayed that long-term approach. Cleveland finished the 2018-19 season with a disappointing 19-63 record, but as we’ve discussed countless times, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic, and Altman seems to be saying the right things at this point in relation to that.
Based on the progress shown by Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic, who project to be key pieces in the coming years for the Cavaliers, the train appears to be well on the tracks for Altman going into the offseason.
Cleveland also is tied with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks in having the highest odds to win the 2019 NBA Draft lottery (a 14.0% chance, per Tankathon), and from a three-team deal near the 2019 trade deadline they acquired the Houston Rockets’ first-rounder for this year (which is going to be 26th, according to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert), which should help Altman and company, too.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to know that those sort of selections (along with several future second-round picks) are the crucial ingredient to their rebuilding process being a success in the next few years, along with continuing to develop players such as Sexton and Osman.
Obviously, the next step to that is actually getting production out of those eventual picks, and considering the Cavs and previous head coach Larry Drew reportedly mutually agreed to part ways on Thursday, a significant portion of that responsibility will be headed towards whoever their next head coach is.
The first takeaway from Altman’s Friday media availability is the organization is going to be preaching patience and fit with Cleveland’s next head coach.