Cavs: 3 takeaways from Koby Altman’s end-of-season media availability
By Dan Gilinsky
#2: Altman’s belief in the young core/how the Cavs can help them
Altman’s belief in the young core four of Sexton, Garland, Allen and Okoro was the second key takeaway from his media availability.
Sexton showed continued growth last season, and I thought his 4.4 assists per outing, even as more so a secondary playmaker, were notable. He led Cleveland again in scoring with 24.3 points per game, of course, and should be locked up long-term, and could seemingly be via sizeable extension this offseason. The same would appear to apply with Allen, who is set to be a restricted free agent.
Garland, meanwhile, had a bounce-back Year 2, and had 17.4 points and 6.3 assists per outing, and hit 39.5 percent of his three-point attempts. Granted, one would like to see the Garland-Sexton duo shoot more three-point looks next season/looking onward, objectively though, and Altman did reportedly touch on that too.
Albeit both of them are more than capable from there, clearly, and I’d think we could very well see that.
In relation to Allen and Okoro, the latter of whom did appear to get more comfortable as his rookie year progressed, those two and the young backcourt both would seem to be key pieces looking onward, and Altman noted that, via Camryn Justice of News 5 Cleveland.
Justice did state how Altman did say that Cleveland needs to “supplement” that core though, and internal growth/veterans getting healthier, such as Kevin Love and I’d assume Larry Nance Jr. could aid that group.
Cavs GM Koby Altman praised Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen as the future of the team and said, "The next step is we have to supplement that talent...that has to be our next step."
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 28, 2021
Altman did touch on how the Cavs need to aid those pieces with more shooting, such as Love as Altman emphasized, Dylan Windler (if healthy) to an extent. And one would think veteran free agency lead guard targets such as T.J. McConnell, Patty Mills and/or Frank Ntilikina could aid that core/the team make a postseason/play-in push.
In regards to how the Cavaliers can aid that core via the 2021 NBA Draft, Altman highlighted how Cleveland wants to look to add, via Justice, “size and athleticism.” That’s to help Sexton-Garland, in particular, of whom (via Justice), if they can “continue to play well together the goal is to build around them and their play.”
Cavs GM Koby Altman on what the team is looking for heading into the draft: "It's a really deep draft. We certainly want to add size and athleticism."
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 28, 2021
Said if Collin Sexton and Darius Garland can continue to play well together the goal is to build around them and their play.
I’d think the likes of Jonathan Kuminga, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson come to mind in that realm, for example.
Okay, so lastly, we’ll examine the third key takeaway from Altman’s end-of-season presser then.