The Cavs are out of excuses in 2021 thanks to the playoffs.
The Cavs are entering year four of a rebuild that seems to be getting worse and worse as the years go on. Jarrett Allen may be allowed to leave in free agency, making the trade for him completely pointless if he leaves. There are trade rumors for Collin Sexton, who despite scoring the ball, does little else. Losing Allen and Sexton aren’t great things, both have talent and both should be part of the team’s future.
Just not for $25 million a season.
Coupled that with Kevin Love‘s tumultuous years with the team, losing Kyrie Irving for next to nothing, abandoning several key veterans that could help the team, questionable choices in the draft, and just bizarre desire to bring in guys like Andre Drummond who already had a bad reputation during his Piston years, and Kevin Porter Jr., who was such a problem that his Top-5 talent fell to the 30th pick.
It’s almost like the Cavs GM Koby Altman is shuffling around the Cavs every six months to see if he can goose a winning streak out of them; like this were NBA 2k or something. He can’t. The 2021 NBA Playoffs have proven that Altman has screwed the pooch, so to speak.
These are the three things the 2021 NBA Playoffs have shown us about the Cavs rebuild.
The “Process” doesn’t work
Tanking for draft picks is not a method of successful team building. Eventually, you’re going to have to justify your moves, otherwise, the entire thing is nerfed. The Process as its been called started in 2013. The 76ers went from 34 wins, and a young All-Star point guard in Jrue Holliday in 2013, to 19 wins in 2014 and Michael Carter-Williams as Rookie of the Year. The 76ers, much like the Cavs, traded away asset after asset to strengthen their draft stock.
Over the course of that entire time, the 76ers added Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton, Jerami Grant, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, and Mikal Bridges to name a few, most were traded. Some on draft night, others not long after. Of all those players, only two; Simmons and Embiid remain on the team.
The team swapped, flipped, or gave up on every other player they drafted. Not even for anything they still have either. They’re all wasted picks.
The Cavs are doing something similar. The team made their first mistake in drafting Kevin Porter Jr, and then they traded him away for next to nothing. The Cavs then bought out Andre Drummond, knowing full well no team was going to trade for him due to his massive contract and inability to play as he deserved it. The team is now also looking at moving on from Collin Sexton and is apparently open to trading away other young players to expedite the rebuild.
It’s like watching the 76ers meltdown all over.
Phoenix’s success proves you don’t need four or five years
In 2018, the Suns won just 19 games. The same number as wins as the Cavs that year. The Suns drafted Deandre Ayton, while the Cavs drafted Collin Sexton. The next year, the Suns bailed on some of their younger players to bring in guys who better fit their team identity. Sure, having Devin Booker there didn’t hurt, but he wasn’t exactly doing it on his own. The Suns were building around him.
They won 34 games during 2019-2020. Then the Suns won 51 games in 2020-2021 and are now going to the NBA Finals. The Cavs didn’t make any major moves to improve their roster in the ’19-’20 season and instead won just 19 games, again. For what it’s worth, Monty Williams has been the Suns head coach since 2018-2019, while the Cavs had four (yes four) head coaches in the same span.
In the 2020-2021 season, the Cavs finally turned the corner and won 22 games. Yay. We’re saved.
The Suns didn’t rest on their young players. They had three guys they liked and got rid of the rest. They didn’t try to rest on the lorels, nor did they just assume they’ll get better the more young talent they drafted. That’s what they were doing before James Jones took over the team and it got them one winning season since Steve Kerr left the team in 2009-2010. With Jones, they went out and got select players that could play their style.
Altman is a man of two minds. He’s both trying to stock up the draft picks like the Suns used to do, but also trying to acquire veterans. Yet, he’s getting guys no one wants for a reason and then everyone is shocked that trades for those players don’t happen.
It’s like sitting at the table during lunch with your tuna and liverwurst sandwich you got the day before in a trade, wondering “why doesn’t anyone want it?”.
Cus it stinks, that’s why.
The Hawks built a team around Trae Young
The Cavs don’t see Collin Sexton as being as good as Trae Young. In fact, the entire league seems to share that thought process. More Lou Williams than Young, Sexton was never the Cavs’ guy. So why was he taken? Who knows, maybe like with the Heat drafting Shabazz Napier, The Cavs hoped they could lure LeBron James to stay with the shiny new rookie.
It didn’t work.
There are rumors of various members of the team having issues with him. Sexton and Darius Garland aren’t exactly an in-sync duo, so it seems like one of them is going to go bye (bye-bye). Yet, the Cavs really don’t see Garland as the guy either, because they drafted Kevin Porter after him, with a thought that Porter could be the top prize. Then they drafted Isaac Okoro the next year, a piece that didn’t compliment anyone but the Cavs’ defense.
Even then, it wasn’t a great fit.
The Hawks got Young in a trade with the Mavericks, where he was taken fifth. The same spot Darius Garland was taken a year later. The Hawks immediately gave Young another shooter in Kevin Huerter, who can spread the floor. Then they drafted two mid-range scorers who can get points inside with Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter. Then they added a defensive-minded rebounder in Onyeka Okongwu after they got all their offense in place. They also acquired Clint Capela for next to nothing and then landed two big shooters in Danillo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic via free agency.
They kept their roster clear of heavily loaded salaries to be able to make these moves. They made sure they were flexible and when the time was right, they made moves to make Young a star.
The Cavs did everything the Hawks did, but not really. They traded all the talent that would compliment Sexton, they locked guys to bad contracts so they had no cap flexibility, they made zero bold trades – instead opting to take guys who had no real value and any free agent the team seemed to land, were traded away for valuable second-round picks.
Because the second round is where you find franchise stars.
Even if Sexton isn’t the guy, the Cavs should’ve still tried to see what he could do with a team built for him. Instead, the Cavs just threw a bunch of players together and went “Yeah, that’ll work”, and then left to go home.