The Cleveland Cavaliers hosted their preseason media availability on Tuesday for president of basketball operations Koby Altman and head coach Kenny Atkinson. They spoke on a wide variety of topics, but the overall tone was optimistic. This is a core they believe in.
Let’s get into some takeaways from their season-opening press conference.
The Cavs are still a good basketball team. This is easy to forget because of how poorly things went down in the second round against the Indiana Pacers last postseason.
But, for as awful as that was, that one loss doesn’t have to define this era of Cavs basketball.
“This is a special group, this is a special era,” Altman said. “We hope to encapsulate that with some real playoff success and a championship to come. But this group has accomplished a lot, and they’re still young, and hungry, and still growing.”
The team’s core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen are largely responsible for that success. They’ve anchored one of the most successful three-year stretches in team history despite lingering questions about whether this group is an optimal fit together.
Altman isn’t eager to move on from a group that he’s assembled. They’ve continually shown that they can win games together. That isn’t something to take for granted.
“I’m not breaking that up,” Altman said when asked about this core group. “This is something you want to stick with. Like I said, don’t take this era for granted.”
The Cavs are relying on internal growth to take them to the next level. The organization isn’t banking on an all-in move or another return from their prodigal son to save them.
The CBA doesn’t allow for teams in the Cavs’ position to easily bring in outside talent, even if the ownership group has deep pockets. No, their path forward is through player development. That’s why they hired Atkinson in the first place.
Internal development worked for them last year. They’re banking on that again to take them to the next level after Atkinson has had a full offseason with the team.
“We really hired Kenny to do what you’re talking about, to get roots down and create this player development program for our players,” Altman said.
Mobley remains the key to getting this all to work. He’s the one with the highest ceiling. Whether or not he gets there remains to be seen, but there aren’t many players in NBA history who have his combination of size, quickness, athleticism, and overall offensive skill. Whether or not he puts it all together will determine whether this is a fun era highlighted by bankable regular-season success or if this is an era defined by championship contention.
“We go as he goes,” Altman said. “As he continues to rise his level, or elevate his level, our organization continues to grow.”
Mobley’s next step requires development off the floor as well. We’ve seen him make noticeable progress every year on the court. That culminated last season with him being named to the All-NBA Second Team and winning Defensive Player of the Year.
While he still has room to continue to develop those skills, taking steps to be a leader for this team is just as important. It’s also something he’s working on.
“If you watch him this offseason, he’s been locked in,” Altman said.
“He is really serious about taking a leap to be a top five player. His work ethic, his character. … His leadership too. He hosted a player-led mini camp in LA this offseason. Most of his teammates were out in LA working with him. And so he’s growing. He’s still 24 years old, but now he’s becoming a grown man in terms of his body, his emotions, his maturity level has always been super mature for his age, so I think he’s ready to take that next step.”
Mobley’s approach to this season is different.
“You can just feel it,” Atkinson said. “You just sense that he’s ready to make another jump. The seriousness in which he approached his offseason from a body perspective. And then from a basketball perspective, he’s different. I don’t know how to exactly define that, but I feel like there’s confidence growing here that maybe we haven’t seen before.”
Mobley isn’t the only big who can still improve going into next season. Atkinson believes that there are still ways to unlock Allen.
“He’s a heck of a player and a vital piece of our core four,” Atkinson said of Allen. “That was one of the offseason deep dives. How can we use him better? How can we take advantage of him?”
Allen is overlooked for how skilled he is. We’ve seen that in glimpses, most notably during a few-month stretch during 2023-24 season when he briefly showed that he can operate well out of dribble handoffs when he was forced to do so with Mobley out of the lineup. That’s just one example of the skills that he has as a big man.
The issue is that he’s usually sharing the court with other, more skilled offensive players, which can force him into becoming a passive observer on offense or relegated to a few simple tasks.
“When you have a player that good and that talented, it’s on us as coaches to help them,” Atkinson said. “I do think you’ll see some shifts there on how we use him. Not radical by any means, but we really want to lean on his strengths.”
Garland also has room to improve. His injury could be a “blessing in disguise” as it allows him to add some much-needed strength so that he can take his game to the next level.
“So I think it’s gonna sound counterintuitive, because he was hurt, but he had a really good off-season,” Altman said. “Only because he focused on the things that we’ve been talking about for a long time with him, which is weight room, strength, and because he couldn’t touch a basketball for a month, he had to just lift and so he’s stronger.”
Cleveland’s other All-Star guard has proven to be a top-ten level player. The next step for Mitchell is figuring out how to peak during the playoffs. His last two postseason runs were either cut short or severely limited because of injuries. That needs to change if they’re going to have any type of postseason success.
The team knows this and is putting steps in place to try to keep that from happening again.
“I think we have him on a really good plan,” Atkinson said. “I think he’s keenly aware of his body, espeically this offseason. He’s going to try to have this marathon. We want to play into June. So I think he’s very cognizant of what he needs to do to be his best when it matters.”
The Cavs believe there’s more to De’Andre Hunter’s game than what we’ve seen. Atkinson went out of his way to praise Hunter saying that he was arguably the team’s “best player” this offseason.
Hunter has the skills to be an elite NBA player. That, unfortunately, hasn’t fully come to fruition on the court. Players usually don’t have a breakout season at age 28, but maybe this is a situation conducive to taking an unexpected leap forward.
Cleveland’s offseason moves were done with the playoffs and this core in mind. It’s readily apparent how Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance Jr. can help on both ends of the floor. They have a level of versatility that few in their most recent postseason rotation did. That should help.
Atkinson is particularly excited to see Ball play. He brings a level of basketball IQ that you can’t have enough of. Atkinson pointed to two changes that they’ve already made to their system based on suggestions from Ball.
Keeping Ball healthy during the season is a priority. The team has a program in place to ensure that he’s physically peaking for the playoffs. Whether or not that results in him playing postseason basketball for the first time in his career remains to be seen.
Altman did a great job of finding cost-efficient veterans this offseason with Ball, Nance, and Thomas Bryant. They should all be able to help in the postseason, but the long-term runway of this team will be more predicated on how their young players develop.
It’s difficult to keep core players together with the CBA. It’s even harder to supplement them without outside talent. The goal is to continually replenish departing role players, like Ty Jerome, with cost-controlled players on rookie contracts, which is easier said than done.
Jaylon Tyson appears to be the most likely young player to step up. Atkinson has been impressed with what he’s seen from him this summer.
“We keep saying that he has NBA skills,” Atkinson said. “How hard he plays every possession. … That’s kind of what you have to do [as a role player]. So he’s checking that box. I think he’s had a phenomenal offseason. I’m just really excited.”
The Cavs’ lack of toughness apparently isn’t seen as an issue now, even though it was brought up by Altman immediately after their playoff loss to Indiana.
“Listen, I don’t know what your definition of tough is because I think we are extremely competitive,” Atkinson said when asked about what the process is for getting tougher. “I think we’re extremely competitive. We’re one of the most competitive teams in the league, so I think we’re tough enough.”
Competitiveness is something that Cleveland has continually shown throughout the regular season. They’ve been extremely resilient when faced with adversity and injuries the last few seasons. However, that hasn’t carried over into the postseason. And until it does, this will continue to be a fair question.
Only the players on the floor can change this narrative.
The Cavs will face pressure this season, but they believe in this group. Altman mentioned that they were one of a handful of teams that could conceivably win a championship this season, and he’s correct. That fact alone doesn’t mean that this is the core’s only remaining chance to do so. Altman still believes that there’s a long runway to compete and they still haven’t reached their peak yet.
“We set ourselves up for a runway with the guys that we have,” Altman said. “I’ve been almost more excited about our internal growth more than what we’ve done as a front office, if that makes sense. And so we’re going to continue to focus on this group. This group has had enormous success…how do we get over the hump? It’s going to come from those internal pieces that continue to grow.”
