The seat should be getting hotter for the Cavs’ President of Basketball Operations.
After reaching the postseason in 2022-2023, Cleveland Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman was tasked with elevating the roster for another run. The results, as just seen against the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics, were mixed. That has turned the heat up on Altman and the rest of Cleveland’s front office to get things right this upcoming summer.
While 2023-2024 was a better season than the one prior, there were some obvious issues. The biggest ones were that the bench as a whole was still not good and the Cavs never had a true backup point guard or center.
The bench, once again, did not have nearly enough shooting or wing depth. Georges Niang, Caris LeVert, Dean Wade, and Isaac Okoro all had varying levels of success throughout the season but were never able to sustain their performance. Niang was frustratingly bad, LeVert was subjected to being the backup ball handler, Wade had issues staying healthy, and Okoro once again took only a marginal step forward. Even with the addition of Max Strus, the wing depth on the roster was weak.
Now are all of these things Altman’s fault? No, not necessarily. The health of a player is a game of chance, but there were some red flags in Altman’s moves. Sticking with LeVert seemed like a risky decision given his hot-and-cold play. Niang certainly did not live up to his contract and was borderline unplayable for the majority of the season, but he is a favorite of Donovan Mitchell’s. Wade and Okoro remained what they were last year: playable at best, but flawed.
There may not have been an acquisition that moved the needle. Maybe there was a strong belief in the core to make the big leap on their own. Either way, the Cavs won fewer regular season games this year than last year and regressed both offensively and defensively as a unit. Some of that blame falls on Altman.
As for backup point guard, there was not enough of an emphasis on it in the offseason. Even a healthy Ricky Rubio, while regarded as a great teammate, was likely never going to be as effective as he was in 2021-2022 when he and Darius Garland were one of the best duos in the league. Ty Jerome, even when healthy (which, he wasn’t), is at best a third point guard. The Cavs had to rely on un-drafted rookie Craig Porter Jr. for significant minutes in the regular season. Porter played pretty well all things considered, but it's not enough for a team that had greater aspirations.
Altman should have made it a greater priority to solve the backup point guard issue. Figuring out a trade for someone like Tyus Jones, who wasted away on a terrible Washington Wizards squad, would have been a real commitment to solving a clear issue. Instead, Altman hoped Rubio would return to form. Instead, the Spaniard retired. As for the backup center, Damien Jones was unplayable almost from the beginning. Cleveland’s bigs were abused by the New York Knicks in the playoffs last season, and more should have been done than getting Jones for nothing and signing an aging Tristan Thompson (who himself was suspended for 25 games). This put the Cavs in a precarious position when Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen went down with injuries.
Altman received a contract extension, a rarity from owner Dan Gilbert. But there is a case to be made that Altman’s seat should’ve been just as hot as J.B. Bickerstaff’s. While the latter was relieved of his duties, Altman should be put on notice as well. The offseason moves were not aggressive enough to fix the Cavs’ issues. There is something to be said about running it back, but the Cavs ran it back with largely the same problems they had one year prior: no true backup point guard, no true backup center, and poor wing depth.
Now, in a critical offseason, Altman will have to move with greater urgency not just for his job security but for the Cavs’ short and long-term outlook as well.
