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Cavaliers exec Koby Altman's stated desire to keep Cavs' core four is believable | Ulrich
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- Cavaliers exec Koby Altman's stated desire to keep Cavs' core four is believable | Ulrich
INDEPENDENCE — A year ago, Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman told the truth about his desire to keep the core four intact.
When Altman held a season wrap-up news conference on Monday, May 19, at Cleveland Clinic Courts, he doubled down on his appetite for maintaining the status quo with All-Star guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland , All-Star forward Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen .
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And because Altman kept his word last offseason, his most recent expression of faith in the core four is particularly believable.
Altman is smart enough to know his stance won't be popular among all Cavs fans, not with their wounds still open from a severely disappointing 4-1 series loss to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
"If we were going to be reactionary, it'd been last year after everything that was written about that group and all the rumors and all this and that," Altman said at Cleveland Clinic Courts. "And we stood pat and look what happened, right? I think the same thing now as you lean in even more to what we're building, the culture that we have here, the internal growth, the youth, the sustainability of that. I think there's a championship window that we have here that's wide open, and that's one that we're going to try to pursue next year and the year after and the year after and so forth.
"So we're not done by any stretch. But I would say if there was a time that we were going to crumble, potentially would've been last year. Certainly not after what we've seen from this group this year is something where we're going to break up a group that's been together for three years and has accomplished what they've accomplished and is ready to take that next step — as disappointing as this ending was."
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Decision-makers for professional sports franchises are not always honest in their public messaging, and they can always use competitive advantage or leverage as justification for setting smoke screens.
However, it doesn't appear to be the case with Altman's approach to this NBA offseason and the core four. Feel free to send emails full of taunts if this proves to be the wrong read, but Altman's thorough defense of the core four and the reasons he cited for optimism about the group's future came across as genuine.
Altman realizes some outsiders are lobbying for splitting up the core four after the Cavs went 64-18 in the regular season and earned the Eastern Conference's No. 1 playoff seed, only to be bounced from the second round of the postseason by the fourth-seeded Pacers.
Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman fields questions during a news conference, May 19, 2025.
Here are the arguments Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman presented for keeping the Cavs' core four
The core four has been together for three seasons, starting with the arrival of Mitchell in September 2022 via a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz . The Cavs were knocked out of the opening round of the playoffs by the New York Knicks two years ago, lost in the second round to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics last year and were humiliated by the Pacers in Round 2 this year.
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With those results, Altman knows his arguments in favor of core-four continuity must be strong to limit how many eyes roll out of Cavs fans' heads.
Altman explained this iteration of the Cavs has new elements on several fronts, pointing to …
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NBA Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson coming off his first season with the franchise
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Atkinson's offense, which produced the second-best offensive rating (121) in league history in the regular season
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Championship expectations the team created with its success
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Aside from fresh factors, Altman mentioned the four conference finalists — the Pacers and New York Knicks in the East and Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves in the West — "have zero rotational players missing" because of injury.
It's Altman's way of reminding everyone Mitchell (calf strain, sprained ankle), Garland (sprained big toe), Mobley (sprained ankle) and backup wing De'Andre Hunter (sprained shooting thumb caused by dislocation) dealt with injuries during the playoffs. Mitchell played in every postseason game, Garland missed four of them and Mobley and Hunter each sat out one.
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Altman also listed the Thunder, Celtics and Denver Nuggets as examples of organizations benefiting from staying the course with a core.
And perhaps the concept Altman sought to emphasize the most is in-house improvements. He went there several times with Mobley, a first-time All-Star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the 2024-25 season, but he included other members of the core four, too.
"I'm not counting out a 28-year-old Donovan Mitchell, who showed the most efficient year of his career and is dying to get to that next level," Altman said. "I'm not counting out 25-year-old Darius Garland. I'm not counting out a 23-year-old Evan Mobley . This is where we're going to get better, and this is where we're going to lean into, but we have to go through these experiences as tough as they are, fail quick and get up, lick our wounds and move forward."
Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) shoots the ball while Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) defends during Game 3 of a second-round playoff series May 9, 2025, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Is Cleveland Cavs center Jarrett Allen going to be the odd man out in the Cavaliers core four?
Will the Cavs move forward with the 27-year-old Allen?
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Barring something completely shocking, Mitchell and Mobley are locks as the faces of the Cavs for the foreseeable future, so dismantling the core four would almost certainly mean trading Garland or Allen.
On one hand, Allen was conspicuously absent from Altman's quote about internal growth. On the other hand, Altman went to bat for Allen when the executive was asked about the big man's fit with the core four. Altman even compared Allen to Pacers center Myles Turner , citing Turner as an example of an organization being rewarded for sticking with a player whose future has been doubted by fans and media members.
"They're not who they are without Myles Turner," Altman said. "And so, again, we gotta take caution before we say, 'Well, we're better without Jarrett.'
"You're not going to get much better if you're talking about moving away from Jarrett. Jarrett's an important part of this core."
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The Cavs had virtually the same roster for the 2024-25 season after losing to the Celtics in last year's playoffs. They didn't re-sign late-season addition and veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr . They also welcomed back guard Ty Jerome , who missed all but two games in the 2023-24 season with an ankle injury and surgery.
It took until the Feb. 6 trade deadline for Altman to significantly stray from roster continuity. It's when he acquired Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for guard Caris LeVert , forward Georges Niang , three second-round draft choices and two pick swaps.
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Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) drives to the basket as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill (5) defends during Game 1 of a second-round playoff series May 4, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
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As Altman made his presentation about the viability of the core four, he didn't convey a clear message about running it back with the same supporting cast.
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When Altman was asked how he would characterize the degree of interest he has in retaining Jerome, who's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, he started to ask rhetorically if he were allowed to discuss Jerome's contractual status. Team brass, of course, is permitted to talk about its own players, and Altman quickly pivoted to doing so. He said, "We'd love to keep Ty, but we'll see what the marketplace holds." He mentioned guard Sam Merrill, another soon-to-be free agent, in the same breath as Jerome, saying they found confidence in Atkinson's system and thereby increased their value.
Reading between the lines, Altman sounds more like someone who's planning to try to fix the roster around the edges than messing with the core four.
If it's a valid interpretation, the Cavs would be more likely to move on from role players like Jerome, Merrill and forwards Dean Wade and Isaac Okoro instead of starters. The Cavs could let Jerome and/or Merrill walk in free agency. Wade and Okoro are under contract for next season, so they would only leave in a trade.
Two candidates to join the core four in the starting lineup, small forward Max Strus and Hunter, are probably in a category of players less likely to be considered expendable.
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Altman should definitely make some changes. And any moves executed this offseason must be done to add legitimate playoff toughness and experience to the roster. A lack of physicality and mental fortitude, especially in pressure-packed moments, resulted in the demise of the Cavs.
Whether the Cavs can gain enough of it while preserving the core four is a needle Altman will seemingly attempt to thread.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com . On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavaliers' Koby Altman makes believable case for keeping Cavs core 4
