Cavs: 3 takeaways from Koby Altman’s end-of-season media availability

The 2020-21 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers ended out in less than stellar fashion, as they ended up losing 12 of their last 13 games. Injuries that were piling up in the closing batch of contests didn’t aid the Cavs’ cause though.

That’s not solely the reason for the L’s stacking up after Cleveland did appear poised to make a push for a play-in berth, but it didn’t help Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and company.

On a positive note, while a 22-50 record wasn’t screaming out a boatload of success, there was internal growth from the likes of Collin Sexton and a bounce-back season for Darius Garland. Isaac Okoro showed his share of nice signs as the season progressed and even more so from April-onward offensively, and defensively, I thought his play was better as the season wore on, even with such difficult matchups.

Players such as Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens even made things happen, too, and Wade, because of his stretch big qualities and defensive play, I believe was Cleveland’s top bench player in this now-past season.

Anyway, for the Cavaliers, their season did end up wrapping up on Sunday, May 16 at the Brooklyn Nets, in what would end up being a 123-109 loss. It was a bit odd that Cavs general manager Koby Altman for nearly two weeks following that hadn’t publicly addressed the media, but he did eventually do so in relation to the season on Friday afternoon.

You can that full presser here, via the Cavs, and Altman/the front office wanted to give the club/players time to decompress and there were reportedly two rounds of exit interviews that were done with players anyhow, even with the lack of publicly addressing the media.

In relation to that, there were a few key takeaways that jumped out from him to me.

We’ll touch on those here from Altman, with three coming to the forefront from my perspective as a Cavs fan.

The first of those had to do with Altman looking set to stick around, and in his current role.

#1: Altman appears set to stick around as the Cavs GM

There were recently a few reports that made it seem as though Altman might not be back next season as the Cavaliers general manager, of which you can view more on here. It’s either that was potentially in question, or it looked as if Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert could be set to bring in a voice or prior player of high esteem that could be trusted for oversight of Altman and the Cavs current front office.

That was per a report from Sam Amico of Forty Eight Minutes and OutKick, and Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com stated in an article (subscription required) that Altman’s resume will be put “under the microscope” by Gilbert this offseason.

Nonetheless, it still didn’t necessarily seem that Altman would actually be terminated or demoted, and though we’ll have to see, a few comments from him regarding how Gilbert views the situation cleared things up more for me.

Altman stated that him and Gilbert have had “candid talks” about how after four straight trips to the NBA Finals amid the LeBron James return then, Cleveland just being three seasons removed those times wasn’t much time to be well-equipped to be a major player again just yet. That was via Tom Withers of the Associated Press.

From there, Altman expressed that Gilbert, who is still recovering from a stroke suffered in 2019, is still “very much engaged,” via Withers, and that he and the Cavaliers owner have had “good conversations about the future.”

There have been some hiccups from Altman, who is a young general manager, but with the Kevin Porter Jr. trade situation, in particular, there were layers to that and issues off the floor/immaturity concerns that led to the decision.

And the draft picks of Sexton, Garland and Okoro I believe have been quality ones, and the trade acquisition of Jarrett Allen from the Brooklyn Nets in mid-January has typically fit in well.

So from there, the second takeaway was involving the young core, of which consists of those four players especially.

#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.

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.”

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.

#3: Altman’s thoughts on Love’s outlook with the Cavs

It was hardly a memorable campaign for Kevin Love, who was severely limited as far as appearances mostly due to a right calf strain. While the condensed season schedule didn’t help Love and all NBA teams had to deal with it, Kevin was active in only 25 games in 2020-21.

Love did have some quality games post-All-Star break, and his presence on the floor as a perimeter shooter does aid help from a spacing standpoint, but it was apparent that much of this past season for him, he was seemingly out of rhythm.

Love hit 36.5 percent of his three-point attempts per outing, albeit there were plenty of instances where he was not shooting nearly that rate. And a few big shooting games comparatively realistically aided the overall deep shooting clip for him.

While Love did again have some quality games, and I thought his rebounding was solid defensively, to go with his secondary playmaking, only 12.2 points per outing in his appearances was underwhelming. He averaged less than 25 minutes per contest, but Love was not nearly as impactful as one still would’ve liked to have seen.

In any case, with Love, though it wasn’t close to the same as a few incidents in 2019-20 in terms of the attitude, his inexcusable display at the Toronto Raptors late in the season when he batted the ball in-bounds was still one that there was no rationalization for.

He did reportedly apologize to teammates, and the situation was reportedly handled internally involving that, per Altman, but it still was ridiculous and it should probably have warranted a suspension, benching and/or fine.

Anyhow, on the plus side, it does seem as though Love is a believer in the Cavs’ young core, based on these comments from Altman, but he is still frustrated about the losing. Altman and the organization do apparently believe Love still is a key leadership presence for young players, though, and that his presence in that way is still felt, even while the “outside” doesn’t believe so, via Davies.

Davies hit on how Altman believes, however, that this is a crucial offseason for Love to get back on track and fully healthy, and that seemingly even with his prior extended absence, that he wasn’t fully back just yet to be his best before. Perhaps next season could be different for Kevin; we’ll have to see.

But objectively, while it would seem to be somewhat far-fetched with him still set to have two years and over $60 million left on his contract, the Cavaliers could, theoretically, perhaps look to waive-and-stretch Love before next season. I wouldn’t expect that to play out, to be clear.

Could a potential buyout occur down the road? In theory sure, albeit we’ll again, have to see on that one.

For now, whether or not he truly believes it, Altman did still state to the media how he views Love as a high impact player for this Cavaliers team and seemingly as a key leadership presence to aid the young guys. So maybe he can get off to a good start next season?

It’s difficult to say what the outlook exactly is for Love within the Cavs’ dynamic, but Altman still is a believer, to some degree it still appears. He wouldn’t say otherwise publicly, though, as fans get.