Koby Altman End-of-Season Media Availability

Koby Altman End-of-Season Media Availability

go mic. Can you hear me? All right, we got it. We got it. Um, we uh hope is going to open up with a statement and then we will take questions. I know we’re in the scrum situation. So, just uh kind of make eye contact with you, raise your hand, I call on you so we’re not talking over each other. Yeah, I’m definitely going to try to get to everyone here and I think that’s part of my opening statement. Just a big thank you um to to everyone here for the coverage this year. Um, I know we had an incredible story on the basketball floor, but you guys certainly helped us elevate uh the stories from within and our players and the profile of our players and our guys, three allstars and the coach of the year and that doesn’t happen without this group here. And I also think because of how invested you guys were in this year and this season um is a disappointment because of how invested you were. Um, obviously we feel it. It’s raw for us. We’re disappointed how it ended. Um, but it was a remarkable year on so many fronts and you guys were all invested in this and we’re not going to go anywhere. Um, we’re going to keep fighting for that championship and this window is is wide open, we believe. Um, and we’re going to get into those those questions, I’m sure. But just wanted to make sure I I level set first and just say thank you because I saw so many of these faces here every single day um supporting this group and elevating this group to a national level. Um so thank you. Question Kobe, you mentioned that you still have a window here. What what makes you believe coming off this playoff run that this group can still compete for a championship as constructed? Yeah, so I I I love our foundation. I love I love our core. Um, you know, our starting lineup is the average age is 26.8. You know, we have two allstars that are 25 and and 23, respectively. And they’re going through it. They’re going through these experiences. They’re going through these battles. Um, and we’re sustainable in a lot of ways. Um, not just because guys are under contract, uh, but our youth, um, our belief in this group. Um, in a lot of ways there’s there’s a newness to this group as well in terms of, you know, our new head coach uh that’s been with us for one year. Um, us figuring out offensive identity um happened this year. And so I’m I’m really high on and optimistic in our future. That being said, uh it can’t just be 82 games. We have to figure out this next 16. We have to figure out how to get over the hump. Um, but this group has shown they can play some of the best basketball in the world. It’s how do we do it on the highest stage and continue to keep pushing uh to get over that hump. What has Dan Gilbert told you in terms of going into the tax? Any kind of roster management restrictions? Um, no restrictions. Um, in terms of going into the tax, we haven’t been a tax team in in in in a long time. Um, I think, you know, with Dan and and Grant and the Gilbert family, um, I think we take for granted like how much they they bring to the table and not just the financial resources that they give us. I think what’s been incredible in terms of this process from rebuild to perennial playoffs to trying to get to that next level is their p you know their patience but their positivity um player engagement. It’s it’s it’s been remarkable to to to work for the family because um even when I’m upset and and going through it, they keep the process of how we’re going to continue to get better and the tax is just a part of that. You know what I mean? That’s just a part of that. It’s it’s it’s just a part of that. And um I’m I’m we’re really fortunate to have Dan and his support, but his optimism, his positivity, fail fast, get up quick. Um that’s all been ingrained into us and that’s been a part of this culture. And so we’re we’re fortunate and yeah, we’ll get into how deep we’ll go into the tax. Obviously, the new CBA creates some challenges for us, but um we’re he’s going to be unwavering in his support. Are you willing to be a tax team in a second apron team, though? Yes, if we need to go there. Speaking of the second from a roster standpoint, how long is it palable in that area? Financially, we don’t know because we haven’t been there yet. Um I do know the good news is we’ve built and constructed this roster um to take those kind of blows. It’s one thing if if you’re still needing to add core pieces and you’re in um the second apron. It’s it’s one another thing if if you didn’t have the success you think you can have um and you’re in the second apron, you have to kind of get out of that second apron to rebuild or reconstruct. Um we like where we are from a roster standpoint. We still feel like we have internal growth. Um you know, I Evan Moy’s 23 years old. You know, if if we don’t think he’s going to break through, um we’re we’re not. So he’s going to break through at some point. He’s 23 years old. This is his third playoffs. um he’s still figuring out this new high usage um um part of his game that that came with Kenny this year. And so he he’s he’s going to break through that that internal growth um is something that we’ve always banked on and we’re going to continue to bank on. And so if we are a second apron team, we still know we have internal growth to get better. Um and so if we land there, we know we have the sustainability to retain our our top talent. One of the things that a few guys mentioned at interviews with us was the team needing to be tougher moving forward. Is that something you think can be learned or is that something that needs to be acquired from the outside? So, that’s an interesting question because um I think there’s a a mental toughness that you have to get through going through these these failures in the playoffs. Um I think people speak to the physicality. Um it was a physical physical uh series against the Pacers, but every watch every single series they’re all physical. They’re all grabbing and holding. They’re all pushing from afar. Um this was different because it wasn’t like we were getting shoved around. We we went into this uh playoff saying we want to win the possession battle, right? And we did that in large portion. Um we doubled the Pacers in offensive rebounding. So you think about those intangible hustle stats. We had 70 offensive rebounds. They had 35. So, this wasn’t a just push around, we’re not tough. Like, there’s a mental toughness that we’re going to have to get to um that a lot of the Pacers had. A lot of the Pacers had that experience of, you know, conference finals. Pascal Seakum was a champion um second best player on a championship team. You think of the years that Miles Turner has been through, all the playoffs he’s been to, now he’s been to two conference finals. Um we’re not we haven’t got there yet. And I think at the end of some of those games, taking out game four, uh I think that’s what we saw. They made those winning plays at the end. And as much as we won the possession battle and dominated the possession battle throughout the playoffs, that one foul line blackout in the game two, right, that that’s a level of focus and winning that we have to get to and and and it’s going to eat at us. It’s going to haunt us. Um but I just want to be careful on like the toughness piece. It it’s physical. Of course, it’s physical. They picked us up 94 ft. They beat us up. Our point guard wasn’t healthy. We couldn’t handle that pressure a lot of the times. Um, that’s part of it. U, but if you want to talk about the toughness, intangible hustle stats, we actually won that battle. I think it was the I think it was the mental piece and we’re we’re going to get there as we continue this pursuit. Kobe, you mentioned the Okay, you won the possession battle, rebound, all those things we’re into. Yes, Garland was obviously not close to 100%. But their pressure, I mean, you had trouble getting the ball off the floor. What was going on there? Why was it so difficult to get the the kind of offensive stuff that Yeah, and and you know, Terry, we actually had a a pretty good offensive efficiency in the playoffs, even through that. But, um, they picked up full. I I do think, you know, not having Darius there the first two games rattled us just from a you want your point guard to be able to handle some of that pressure. Um give them credit though. You have Nemhard, you had Nith, you had TJ McConnell come off the bench applying pressure 94 ft and it wore it wore us down. Um and so those are the questions that we have to ask ourselves. Is this a performance piece? Is this an endurance piece? Do we get stronger um in the weight room to combat that? Um, but we were still able to get to our offense. Um, at the end of the day, you know, we won the possession battle, we won the offensive rebounding battle, we won the rebounding battle, we lost the shooting battle. Um, and part of that was because they did they did wear us down. And I think that’s a fair point and something that we need to go into. Just know that that Kenny is in the office right now. Like he’s not not going to settle for this. Like this is not Excuse me. Does that say, okay, we need another ball handling guard because Yeah, amateur opinion. I always throw that. But still, they would in front of Tai, he’s back in the ball before and the clock’s picking and your offense. Lenny Wilkins’s favorite word was discombobulating, things like that. And that and they they really good teams going to take you out of your stuff, but um we had some misfortune. And listen, to ask Tai to become a starting point guard in the conference semi-finals, that’s hard. That’s a big ask. to ask Donovan to bring the ball up 94 feet and then create offense, that’s a big ask. Um, not having your all-star point guard healthy was was a big part of that. And that’s, you know, Rick Carlo as a Hall of Famer coach, he knows that like let’s pick up 94 feet, let’s pressure them, let’s not let them get into their stuff. Um, and I think that was a a big part of that. Um, I don’t think they’re able to press you 94 feet every single time down if you have Darius there to navigate some of that stuff to break, you know, to break the pressure to get some open shots, some layups, some threes, to spray out. Um, it would have been different, but we can’t just point to that. We can’t point to that. Is it pointing towards just getting a guy simply a better ball handler? I’m not talking about Well, I think that I’m saying, Terry, is is not having your best ball handler was a big part of that. If we didn’t have Darius, I would say, yeah, probably need to add another ball handler. But I also think there, like I said, there’s a mental toughness piece that we need to go overcome as well. Joe, in terms of that mental toughness, how much of it too is next year learning to play as a favorite, especially in the Sydney game series, too, and knowing more is expected. be a target. I I thought I thought about that a lot um after the season, after the after the loss uh in the playoffs and um I think it’s a great point. I think I think we can all agree that coming into the season, no one predicted us to be number one. I don’t think anyone had, you know, 64 wins. And so I think over the course of the year in a lot of ways we exceeded expectation and because we were so good we recreated the expectation of finals. I think everyone in here saw potential champions which is which is a new space for us. That’s a new space for us. We’ve said the word. We want to compete for it. Now we firmly believe we’re in that space and what comes with that. And I think that’s a great point is like there’s a newness, a freshness to okay, now you’re the number one team in the East. Your expectation is conference finals and potentially finals. And that’s a newness for us that we have to um you know, we have to I say fight through, but like that there’s a new expectation. We want to live in that space. And that’s why everyone’s so disappointed. You get to that final eight teams, everyone’s really good and you’re fighting on the margins and you have this expectation. That’s new for us. And I think going into this off season, um, we’re not going to go anywhere. This team is not getting any worse. Um, I don’t know if we have 64 wins left in us, but we certainly are going to compete for the best record again. And what does that mean going into the playoffs? Um, I think that’s a that’s a great point and something that um, I thought a lot about because coming into this year, I don’t think anyone had that expectation for us. We recreated the expectation and now we have to live with that. And I think that’s a space we want to live in. um and and take that into the playoffs next year knowing um you know we’re going to have to change that narrative knowing that we have to get over the hump. And then just in terms of big man and center depth, where do you feel like you are just after Jared? You feel like you got another big man? That’s a good question. Um I think you know having Evan Mobley next to Jared gives us a lot of relief because he can play a lot of the five. Um, this is a big off season again for Evan. You know, we’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go. And we’ve had that conversation with Evan. Um, you know, Kenny and we we joke about this literally still unpacking his bags from France. You know, when we hired him, he was competing for a gold medal with team France. And so, a big reason why we hired Kenny Atinson was for the offseason program. You know, we’re going to be still rooted in player development. I think you see a lot of players get better. Um, wrapping his arms around Evan this off seasonason, getting Evan Houston, the usage that we we we portrayed this year is a big part of that. And Evan, can he play three? Can they play four? Can they play five? In the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 uh field goal attempts a game, right? That that’s new. That’s new for Evans. There’s another jump. And so, um, to that point, like Kenny’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about, and we’re going to see some internal growth there. Um, and we think we have one of the best big men in the game in Evan Mobley. After the after game five, I talked to Donovan and he said that he was going to go to bat for his guys uh, and he would die for them. When I was asked him if he still had that even that core, I know you had the internal belief. as these guys were leaving the building, what were you hearing from them in terms of this roster as is taking that next step? I I think we’re all we were all um disappointed. Um there’s a hurt. There’s a there’s still it’s still raw. It’s hard for me to watch playoff basketball right now because I still think we should be playing. Um but these are these are the experiences that you have to go through to get to that next level. Um and it happens. I mean, Oklahoma City last year, number one team in the West, lost in the second round, and this year they got over that hump game seven. Um, and it’s incredible job by them sticking with it. Um, you keep going down the list of of Denver’s core that they’ve kept together and finally breaking through for a championship. Took seven years of the Celtics to break through and and win a championship. Um, this is year three um for the core four. Um, and they’ve had incredible success, right? Playoff se success needs to come next. Um, but but uh I think there’s an internal belief because of what we proved this year during the regular season and what we’re capable of um to to run it back and and see what we can do. But it’s not just running it back. It’s another year of of Kenny. It’s another year of, you know, look, we had the the second best offensive rating in the history of the NBA this year. um as an offensive group. That’s a new identity for us. And we kept and maintain our defensive identity at the same time. And so, you know, there was a newness of freshness this year. I know this is year three, but there’s a newness of freshness that we’re going to take into next year. Um you know, having failed again in the playoffs and knowing how much that’s going to hurt. Um and and we’re going to get over the hump. This group is going to get over the hump. You mentioned Kenny’s offseason program when he got here. I think there’s an emphasis on the physicality and and just the player development on the court and you’ve been mentioning the intangible stuff that they can learn from this. Is there a way to foster that uh as a as an organization, the development of those intangibles, the experiences, the losing and and being able to take that mental toughness up to that next level. It it it just happened, right? It just happened though. It just happened in round two of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Um, those are experiences that you can’t teach. You have to go through them and that has to eat at you, but it has to fuel you. And and believe me, like, you know, we’re going to need more usage out of Evan in the playoffs next year. And so that’s going to go into the offseason program. Um, it’s actually interesting, Terry probably should have used him more as a ball handler, right, to alleviate some of the guards. That’s going to go into an offseason program. So, we’re we’re not done with internal development. Um, and again, like I said, 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. 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. Um, fail quick and and get up, lick our wounds, and and move forward. So, you were just talking kind of about the offense being number two in the league and maintaining that defensive identity. Why do you think in this particular series against Indiana that offensive identity kind of went by the wayside? I think we had um a level of misfortune and I’m not like that that’s not an excuse because you got to give the Pacers a ton of credit. You know, they had great game plan. Um they have experience, they have a Hall of Fame coach and they really shot it incredibly well. 50% from the field, 40% from three, and and we didn’t match that that skill set in terms of the shooting, which we did all year. Um, we had a bad week and a half. I think we give them credit for being a conference finals team, which were they were last year. I think we really do need to give the Pacers a little bit more credit. Um, and and when you get to that last eight teams, everyone’s really good. And it’s on the margins where um you you get that that win, that foul line blackout, right? Game two is going to haunt us. You know, we’re 1-1 going into Indiana. It’s a different series. Um and we we have to learn that. We have to learn that we can’t have a, you know, 8-second violation, right? You can’t you have you have to make sure we inbound the we have to shove and push and get open, right? Those kind of things, right? we have to we have to be able to do uh to win that game to win that series. Um and so you know um it’s interesting like we actually were scoring the wall pretty well. We were playing in the 110s and 120s a lot of those games they just scored more. They outscored us. So we got to figure out um you know a few things. I think to me like there’s going to be a mental toughness hurdle that we have to get over. Um and and the Pacers did a did a remarkable job. And when you mentioned the the Denvers and the Bostons and the OKC’s keeping their core together, stuff like that, how is it difficult at all to not be reactionary when you have the same result two years in a row just because it is a business where it is bottom line? Well, I’ll say I’ll say this. Last year, um, if we were going to be reactionary, it would have been last year after everything that was written about that group and, um, all the rumors and all this and that and we stood pat and look what happened, right? Um, I think the same thing now as you lean in even more to what we’re building. Um, the culture that we have here, um, the internal growth, the youth, uh, the sustainability of that. Um, I think there’s a there there’s a championship window that we have here. Um, 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. Um, and so forth. So, we’re not done by any stretch. Um, but I would say like, you know, if there was a time that, you know, that we were going to crumble, potentially would have been last year. Certainly not after what we’ve seen from this group this year is something where we we’re going to we’re going to break up a group that’s been together three years and has accomplished what they’ve accomplished and is ready to take that next step. Um, as disappointing as this ending was. Jeff, hey Kobe. Um, you guys have won 163 games in the last three years, but only two semi conference. So my question is, is there any chance that you guys are a better regular season team than a playoff team? I think Jeeoff, you you you make a point of like you never we’re never figure it out and it’s never an exact science, but I will say that we’ve become very very good at the regular season, right? 82 games. Um we’ve been brilliant. There’s 50 win season in there. There’s a 64 win season in there. Last season was three allstars. Um and now the next step is um we need to figure out how to win uh at the highest level when everyone’s juices are up when everyone’s competing at the highest level when it’s more physical. Um and I think for us I’d rather be where we are now trying to figure it out being one of those elite eight teams that are trying to figure out that know we can come back with that strong group again. Um, this is where we want to live, right? With the expectation of championship. And when we fall short of that, everyone’s upset. I want to live in that space. I don’t want to live in the space where we were, was it 3, four years ago? Um, when we’re worried about ping pong balls, right, when it was 19 wins, 19 wins, 22 wins. Like, I I I love the trajectory that we’re on. That’s why I love this this foundation. Um, and we’re going to keep pursuing that championship. But to your point, um, as many games as we won the regular season, that has not translated to the playoff success and we need to figure that out. Jason, you’re talking about I think Jason, there’s a a level of misfortune that we had this year. Um, only because I feel like we navigated the regular season so well with injuries. Um, this was by far in a way our best year from an injury standpoint or prevention, I would actually call it prevention standpoint. Um, with the plan we laid out with how Kenny used the bench to alleviate minutes throughout the year. Um, you know, Darius played a career-high 71 games. Um, you had Donovan in in the 70s was the first time for us, 71, I believe. Jared Al played 82 games. Um, Evan was at 71, I believe. Um, so that that led to incredible regular season success. Um, the misfortune certainly with Darius toe and Evan and Evan played through injury. Um, to your question, even though he he sprained his ankle pretty bad. Um, but you know, and I’m not using this as excuse at all, but there’s there’s a reason that the four conference finalists have zero rotational players missing. Zero. Knicks Pacers, uh, Oklahoma City, uh, and Minnesota, zero rotational players missing. And so when you get to this level and it’s the highest level of basketball, um, and you’re not 100% and you’re chasing it, that that impacts you. Um, and so I think the the hard part was the plan that was laid out over the course of the year um, was phenomenal from a performance standpoint. Um, the year before, you know, we were limping into the playoffs. We didn’t want we didn’t want that. Like we didn’t want that. So minutes come down. Let’s elevate them at the end of the year. Let’s have some ramp up. Um even though there’s you know some time off in there um but let’s be let’s be our best as we’re heading into the playoffs and we were in the first round and I think there was some misfortune that we had. Um but we can’t point to that. I think that I think it’s the intangible toughness when things get tight. How do you get that foul line rebound? How do you get the ball in? like that. That’s what I’m looking towards because I think that’s going to end up winning games and series and you can’t give away playoff games. Can’t give away game two like that. That’s going to haunt us forever. And that last minute minute and a half like you can point to a few things where we need to be tougher and I think everyone would agree with that. Hey Kobe. Um you mentioned rewriting the narrative for next season. And Donovan said that look, they could go 82 and0 next season and it really isn’t going to matter until April. A lot of people are already writing them off. How do you get them to kind of quiet that noise outside to just stay focused on the task at hand knowing that the outcome has been the same the last two seasons? Yeah, I think that’s actually what Jeff asked, right? Great regular season success. That’s that’s all they can do. And again, um, I’m just not gonna write off Evan Mobley and say Evan’s never gonna make it. Like second round, that’s it. He’s done. That second round, that’s his peak. There’s no chance. I’m not writing off Donovan Mitchell. But that that’s internal, right? That’s internal. Externally, um, the narrative is going to be the narrative. People are going to write what they’re going to write. We have to change that. That’s on us. That’s not on you guys. I don’t need you comat to combat and say, “Well, they were the second best offense. Look all the stuff they’ve done. 64 wins. Like we have to change that narrative. And the only way to do that is win. If we if we won that uh Pacers series, there would be no questions about toughness and regular season team and all. We have to live in that space. We have to own that space and and and we have to create our own narrative and have a great regular season because it’s important. I still think having a number one seed um was so important for us and it’s going to be important for us. So, we still have to compete for that. Uh, but knowing once we get to the playoffs, unless we get over that hump, that is going to be the narrative that’s attached to this team. Sarah, uh, you mentioned um, you know, about getting over that hump. This is three straight postplayoff series where the players have used the same phrases though about the mental and the physical topics. And you know, conventional wisdom would say you’re fueled by the disappointment from the year before. So what is it about this group that you know that the fourth time is going to be the charm for them to I guess have that switch flip? Yeah. Fourth, fifth, sixth. I mean, we’re not going to stop, right? Even next year, we’re not going to stop. So I will say, you know, there is some still some newness, some freshness, and youth here. I’m not saying we’re ahead of schedule because we put ourselves in this position. Um, but when you know one of your best players is 23 years old, you have to live with that. You know, you have to live with that. This is the again, this is the first year that we’ve elevated or I should say Evans elevated his level to where he’s an all-star NBA defensive player of the year. Um, he has to take another jump. You know, he again I say we go as Evan Mobley goes. I think everyone believes that, which is exciting because he works. He’s an incredible person. He has a great foundation with his family. He has a great belief from from everyone here. Um, and so if everything were to remain the same, then no, I don’t. But how how are we going to get better? But if you don’t believe a 23-y old Moley is going to continue to make these jumps and leaps, um, then you’re not studying it. You’re not studying the evolution of of great players. and and so that is where we put our trust in and and certainly Kenny and his staff to to continue that growth. Same thing with Darius stronger, right? Habits, all the stuff that goes into these championship teams. Um and getting older, you know, I think they had some veterans, they had some vets that have been there, championship, multiple conference finals. We’re we’re just starting. Um, and believe me, I I I think we are um at so much more in the beginning of the story than the end of the story. Even in year three, right, that that’s that that’s beginning of a core that’s shaping themselves, that’s had tremendous regular season success, and that’s going to realize this is what we have to do to to to get to that next level. And you guys showed that you can win so many different ways during the regular season and adapt to the opponent. What was so challenging in the injury situation aside? Yeah. What was so challenging with adapting to way the way Indiana played in that series? Again, let’s I got to give Indie a lot of credit. They play different. You know, they get up and down. Um they play a five out program that that’s different. You don’t guard that all the all the time, right? And so Jared goes to the paint as opposed to goes and contests the three. Uh they shot incredibly well. Um but they have guys that have been there. They have guys that have been there um that are incredibly talented players. Um Seakum, which I think we did a good job on the first two, three games, started to find his own four and five, right? Kind of, you know, you could kind of see him getting stronger as the series went on because guess what? He’s been the second best player on a championship team. He took his level there. That’s where we got to figure out. That’s how we have to get there. But, you know, to your point, I I felt really good going into this playoffs. Obviously, the first round um you know, being healthy and and showing what we can do um scoring wise, but also rebounding wise. You know, we talked about the possession battle, talked about getting ourselves more possessions, offensive rebounds, the intangibles, the 50-50 balls. A lot of that stuff we were we did really well. We were there’s positives to be taken from that. Um but did they jump on us? Did they they did they pick us up full? that that that gave us some some issues and we need to learn from that and we’re going to take deep dives into that. Um but I do think that we we do need to give Rick Carlau and his group some credit. Um they were really good. How would you characterize your um degree of interest in attaining Tiger? I’d love to we’d love to keep I mean listen we’re hopeful. I would say that um um I got to be careful because he’s you know he’s going to be unrestricted free agent and he is our so we can talk about Tai in that in that vein. um you know, part of Kenny’s uh system, which is again, we’re always going to be rooted in in in player development, which is great. And so it, you know, when guys um find that confidence in this system, their value gets driven up, right? Same thing with Sam Merrill. um you know, you want to call these guys end of bench players before that have become real rotational players and valuable within the ecosystem, not just us. And so I think the good news is um you know th those guys are going to be they’re going to do really really well for themselves. Um and the good news is also is that we know because of our program we’re going to be able to continue to develop our end of bench guys to become rotational guys. that’s going to be part of our evolution and also how we navigate some stiff penalty taxes. Um we have to continue to develop from within and those two stories are incredible success stories from um you know development programs and putting them in a position to be successful. Um and so yes, we’d love to keep Tai um but we’ll see what the the marketplace holds. Jared Allen obviously last year was so weird because he missed the playoffs with the rib. this year. He comes back and he plays in every game. Every game. Um the last two games, you know, the rebounding wasn’t there for him. Um you know, and he talked about that, how do you assess his fit with the rest of the court forward in the playoff environment and kind of given all the steps that you’ve seen him make and and the way it ended against Indiana? Yeah, I think Jared’s the easy target, right? Let’s point to Jared in game five. um when he wasn’t his best, I think he’d be the first to tell you that in that space, that’s where he needed to elevate his level. But we all kind of did, right? We all need that that mental toughness um to get game five home and force the series back to Indie. Um but you have to have some toughness to play 82 games um and play every single playoff game and play 91 games for the for the season. Um, and I think he’ll tell you like game five, like how do we all turn turn that screw um to be even more hyperfocused um and better. Um, and certainly, you know, rebounding is part of his job. You know, we’re not we’re not denying that. Um, game four we kind of throw out. We just got absolutely obliterate. That’s a different story. Um, but Jared remains incredibly important to us. Um, and and we’re not a 64 win seed, uh, one seed without him. Um, and I think this is part of his story. You know, it’s it’s interesting. I I thought about this too. Talk about Jared. Um, nobody talks about Miles Turner like they used to, right? Remember Miles Turner the the how many times he was in trade rumors and do they resign him? And I don’t think guys remember we played them the the first iteration the when we were the title contenders years ago. We played against Miles Turner and that Indiana Pacers team went to five straight first round playoffs and lost and all of the, you know, do we resign them? Do we trade them? And now Miles Turner is an intricate part to what the Pacers are doing. Two conference finals, they’re not who they are without Miles Turner. And so, um, again, like we got to take caution before we say, well, you know, be better out without Jared or find something better. Miles Turner is an incredible example of how you stick with with a guy and they’ve reaped the benefits of that and he went through um way worse than Jared in terms of the public trade rumors and and not resigning. And now um you know Turner’s huge part of their success and so it’s we got to be careful like you know Jared was a former all-star played 82 games. Um you’re not going to get much better um if you’re talking about you know moving away from Jared. Jared’s an important part of the score. Jim, y how do you balance the patience that you’re preaching with with the weight on these young guys with the urgency to win a championship? There’s always going to be urgency. Um there’s always going to be urgency. I think you see um we’ve seen great growth and and and it started, you know, from 22 wins to 44 wins. and seeing that of, you know, you saw Evan at as a rookie, Darius take a big step, and Jared take a big step, and then we go out and get Donovan Mitchell, and that sort of jumpst starts your championship trajectory. Um, and and now we firmly believe in that group of players. They’ve actually answered a lot of questions in terms of can they fit together? And now it’s time to to to really take off. And um, like I said, I want to live in this space where you’re asking that question. How do you have the patient? Like, yeah, we have patience because we keep knocking on that door. I I want to be in that space where we’re the final eight teams, we’re the final four teams, and if we don’t get it done, there’s a level of disappointment and frustration and how do we come back, um, and and go after this thing again? That’s the space we want to live in. Um, but I also will say, um, you know, the patience, um, comes from up top, you know, from Dan. Um, like I said before, we all, you know, talk about the resources and the best example is I want at some point when you’re downtown by Tara City, go um by Hiron Road and just take a peek over and look down the river. We’re like two months away from topping out of the most massive practice facility complex in the world. Like that is doubling, tripling down on culture, player experience, um, engagement, all of it. it it’s growing rapidly. It’s incredible what’s going on down there. Um and and that just shows you the strength, resilience, and we’re not going to stop. That’s going to be the same question five years from now just because that’s how we’re thinking. Um and we have the talent to do it. We have the used to do it. So, this is going to be a long runway. And so, it’s almost part of it to have that patience. Uh but you can have that patience if you have the talent that we have, the guys under contract that we have, um and and the ownership that we have. I think the second apron makes it a little hard. Yeah, the league did that to us. It’s unfortunate actually. You know, I don’t know if it was intended for small markets, but it’s hitting the small markets worse than the teams that were so extraordinarily in the tax. It was to take them down a notch. But, um, no, finish your question. I I I it’s it’s part of it and we have to figure out how to navigate it, but we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out. The one thing it does allow you to do is retain your best talent. You got to make some you got to make some tough decisions and it puts downward pressure on the roster. But we get to retain our our best players and that was the hard part. That was the heavy lift from, you know, the 19 1922 wins that we had for three years. The heavy lift was how do we get the best talent? And now we know we have that in house. Now we have to refine it, right? We have to get better in terms of playoff situations. How do we win on the margins? You know, all the stuff. How we get stronger? how we working on our diet, our sleep, all this stuff that goes into winning. Um the heavy lift was getting the talent here and even with some really stringent rules put in place, we can keep our top talent two things that revolve around Garland. Number one, are you concerned about his durability? And then secondly, the smaller background. Yep. So, I think one we can dispel that Darius and Donovan can’t play together. Um, that can be thrown out in terms of their success that they had together this year. Two allstars, all-star back court is pretty phenomenal. Um, Darius’s durability, um, they played a careerh high this year in games at 71 games. Um, but I do think there’s a level that he can get to that he hasn’t tapped into yet. And it’s a conversation we’ve had with Darius. He’s so gifted. He’s so talented. He’s so skilled. Um, like I said, he helped regenerate the excitement in Cleveland basketball. Like, he deserves a lot of credit for making this place fun to play again. His next step is going to be how do I get stronger? Well, this Yeah, this one this one was was difficult. I think the last two years have been difficult. Like, he lost 15 pounds from, you know, and you can make all these excuses. I think this is like I’m talking about for him the next level. Take away the jaw injury aside. Take away the fact that, you know, he jammed his toe and and and really was playing on nine toes. Like, throw that out, right? He needs to get stronger, right? So he can compete at the highest level, right? He needs to get stronger so he can compete at the highest level. It’s the same thing that with with Stephen Curry when we picked on Steph. Now, Steph’s all world, you know, not making the comparison, but Steph got so strong over his maturation of his years. um he’s a different physical specimen, Stephen Curry, than he was when we first started playing him. It’s the same thing that has to happen with Darius. And so that’s a durability question, but it’s more how does he get physically stronger? How does he get mentally stronger? U and he’s still 25. So he’s young, but there’s a level that he has to get to from um a body standpoint, and that’s on all of us. That’s on all of us. The two small guys, you know, we talked about regular season success, but how about in the Does that change? Have you seen anything there? No, I you know I I wish again I wish we had a the healthy back court against Indiana. Um but you know that this is this is who we are. We we supplement um what you would call the small back court with with tremendous size and length. You know adding DeAndre Hunter was a huge piece to that. I also am excited about having DeAndre for a full training camp and how do we implement him and um there’s a lot more there from DeAndre that we haven’t tapped into yet even from an offensive standpoint. Um so I think that we have enough there to be look we were fourth we were fourth um in the playoffs defensively. So we actually took a step up in terms of the defense because that would be what you point out to right we dropped defensively because we don’t have the height from the guard perspective. we actually ramped up defensively. Um, and so we have the personnel around to absorb that. Um, to me, we have to get over that hump and it’s not one thing I can you could just point to. Um, there’s several things and and we’re doing a dive on that and we got to improve. Uh, you covered everything, but just real quick, I was curious, what’s your timeline for rebounding? You know, even us, we’re just covering, but like there is an emotional investment piece. You can empathize with feel and just how you guys feel. What’s that timeline typically for you look like to really digest and feel like you can rebound and then do you have a pulse on how like players react to or is that just something you entrust to the Austin? Oh man, that’s a great question. I don’t know if you fully recover until you start playing basketball again like um and that’s part of it. That’s we we care a tremendous amount about the players, their families, their well-being, their their there there’s so much spotlight on them from social media to how how the game’s covered uh to the immediate reactions that takes its toll. It really does on these guys, especially now. Um and you can’t have it all right now. Like you just can’t. Um and so this is part of our story. It’s part of our experience. Um, you know, for me, I’m still raw. It’s still emotional. Um, it’s still disappointing. It’s hard to put on that basketball game. Um, because I I do I mean, everyone saw the level of basketball we were playing this year. Some of the best basketball in the world. And so, can we get to those heights in the playoffs? And that’s the question that’s going to linger um in our heads and in our hearts all off seasonason. I think it’s going to fuel us. Um, but I also know I don’t have a a timeline on when I’m going to um not be depressed, right? like uh um but I’ll get over it. And you know, part of it is we have great attitudes in this building. We have a great culture. Um you come in I came in today to get ready for for this and and Kenny’s already working out and he’s got all these ideas. I said, “Kenny, you want to take the press conference for me, man? Just you know, you can you can do it.” So we we we have the belief uh from top down. We have incredible culture. Our guys, this is genuine. We have everyone that wants to be in Cleveland, right? This is what we created here. that’s genuine. Um, so it makes it easier. You know, if we were going to an offseason full of questions and um and and and controversy, um, we got to get better on the court. All the other stuff is all our stuff is is great and we’ll continue to grow and uh, be great culturally and our player engagement and the families and all the stuff that we’ve grown here. It’s the 94 feet that we know that that’s the that’s what we need to tackle and um, that’s okay. That’s that’s part of it. Ask Chris Kobe, you were mentioning trying to take that next step and and Evans a part of that and his growth and Darius and his growth. How can you get those guys on the same timeline as somebody like Donovan who was clearly more ready for playoff basketball? Donovan that. No, but Donovan Donovan a part a big reason why they’re he resigned, right? Um is is Evan Mobley and Darius Garland and obviously having Jared Allen to help protect the rim and and be who he is. Um, but when you sit down with with with Donovan and again, let’s give Donovan an incredible amount of um accolades and and and praise for what he did this year. Could easily go out there and say, I want to average 29 points a game and chase the MVP. Like that’s what he could have done. And he said, I’m going to take a step back because I want to get Darius back to an all-star level, which is going to help his confidence and help our runway. And Evan has to take a leap. I want to play with Evan in that second unit so I can force feed him. I’m not going to go cra second unit. He could have gone crazy and and and and and try to juice his stats. It’s not what he did. I want to force feed Evan to make sure he he’s going to be ready for the playoffs. And that’s not going to stop. You know, that’s not going to stop. And I think we got to give Donovan so much praise for his leadership this year. He’s had maybe better statistical years, even though this is one of the most efficient years he’s ever had. Uh but he’s taken took a step back in minutes. he took a step back in in um in usage and and field goal attempts to make sure that these guys grow because we have to get them there right to meet Donovan’s level. There’s no doubt Donovan’s on a very very high level even though he’s never broken through. Um he’s one of the best players in the NBA. We’re fortunate to have this kind of leader um that’s really selfless and cares and genuine and wants to be a part of this community. um he he knows his job is how do I get this and that’s on us too. It’s not just it’s not just Donovan. It’s on Kenny. It’s on myself. Um what are we doing all throughout the course of next year to get Evan ready for higher usage in the playoffs, right? Uh but let’s let’s give Donovan a lot of credit on that question. Um because he made a he made a deliberate decision to resign here knowing and he had a lot of other options. It was well documented, but like Evan’s 22, 23. I have to I have we have to wake this out because when he hits, we’re going to hit. And we’re a lot Listen, this year was new because Evan did hit. And so there’s a lot of newness to that and now we have to take that into the next year and really build on that. And that gives us, like I said, um this championship window that we believe we’re like we’re going to pursue this thing again next year and the year after and the year after. uh because Evan’s gonna continue to do this and I think Donovan saw that. And then last year you had some ambiguity with Jarrett’s injury and then this year with Darius as well. Do you feel like there’s anything that you guys have to do differently from an organizational standpoint in terms of injury designation classification so that some of these things don’t continue to happen to your guys? What do you mean classification designation? In terms of how you like classify the injury dayto-day, questionable versus doubtful, things like that. So it doesn’t like raise questions to everybody about what’s going on with with these particular Yeah. I think the bigger question is is how do we um because that’s just a meant that that’s again protecting our own and making sure that we give ourselves a chance to win versus designation. I think the question is how are we healthy in the playoffs like that that that that’s more of a bigger question and nobody has a crystal ball to that. Um, you know, we need to figure out, we we kind of we figured out how to be healthy heading into that playoffs this year. Donovan wasn’t playing on one leg. He was playing some of the best basketball headed into the playoffs. Um, how do we, like I said, the final four teams have zero players missing from from the rotation. We need to figure that out because on the margins, we can’t have all stars being out or half healthy or whatever the case may be. Um, hear you on on the designation stuff. There’s a way bigger question there that we got to figure out. I think largely we figured out for the for the uh regular season. Um, it’s the playoffs that we need to be healthy, stronger, and mentally mentally tough. It’s going to wrap for Kobe. Thank you guys. Thank you guys. TV stations that want to still stand up on the court, you can. Uh, if not, thanks for coming out. Thank you guys. Who do you like?

Cavaliers President of Basketball Operation Koby Altman speaks with the media from Cleveland Clinic Courts on May 19, 2025 to discuss the 2024-25 NBA season.