Koby Altman Kenny Joins the Broadcast

Koby Altman Kenny Joins the Broadcast

[Music] It is a 32-29 lead for the Cleveland Cavaliers. And now we bring in two gentlemen who are solely responsible for carrying LeBron James and the Cavaliers. It was tough 2016 NBA title. Here’s the 10 year anniversary. It is crazy. I’m coming back. Trust me. Well, by the way, based on how he’s handled this broadcast so far, he’s making sure that he doesn’t have to pay for a meal or a drink. He has spoke so glowingly about you guys. Well, you’re doing a good job. Here’s Kobe Abby, the president of the Cleveland Cavaliers. There is Jaylen Tyson. So, how’s your offseason been? Oh, man. Um, it’s been great. I mean, listen, it’s it’s it’s tough the way we ended. Um, a lot of expectations this year that we hadn’t had in years past. And it’s, uh, it’s a space we want to live in. As Channing knows, like, uh, for four straight years, we had expectations of finals. And, that’s a different space to live in. And, we’re excited to live in that space. Now, I think for me, is it harder to now that you have championship aspirations and that pressure to add the right piece or is it easier when you were trying or harder when you were trying to like rebuild that championship thing? I think the hardest part was getting the talent uh back to Cleveland, right? You know, after LeBron left the the second time, we had to rebuild it uh from the ground up and and we’ve done great job in the draft and then timely trades obviously Jared Allen and Donovan Mitchell. um and now surrounding them with the talent to to get to the next level um is what we need to do. But um I think this year it’s internal growth. Obviously Evan Mobley is still 24 years old um and still growing. So uh his internal growth, Darius is 25. Uh we’re still young, but now we live in a space of let’s try to get to that NBA finals and see what we can do. Um and so around the edges to your point Channing is what we’re looking at. Six-point lead here for the Cavaliers. Shannon, go ahead. firing on a three. Tomlin Niang is special. And now how did you find how do you find a kid like that? And then we were talking about how interesting it is that you get to see him work with him now and maybe stash him. It justifies the overseas budget you have for all the time you and Mike Gy spend on a plane in Europe. Gi’s insane. I mean, he goes way too many games overseas. As we watch actually Naquan Tomlin get the steal and put the head. You know, Nate Bond’s actually uh someone I wanted to discuss a little bit because as a two-way player, sort of a diamond in the rough play for our charge live in Las Vegas, Cavs have their largest lead of the game. Channing Fry, Jared Greenberg. We’ll hear from Dennis Scott. We’ve got Kobe Alman, the president of basketball operations for the Cavs. You you were starting to talk about Naquin Tomlin, the the two-way guy you have and how impressive he has been. 30 points the other night, Kobe. Yeah. No, he’s he’s he’s stayed the whole summer in Cleveland after the season. Great uh regiment as we watch. Oh man, Tyson Tyson missed that three, but uh Thomas has worked hard. I wanted to say also Craig Porter is out with the injury, but him, Naqucoin, and Jaylen have been in the gym uh since the season’s been over, and this is sort of like their Super Bowl. They’ve been working really hard towards this. Jaylen Tyson’s uh slimmed down a little bit, added some some some muscle. Um and he’s taken this summer league very seriously. I noticed that. I said that at the beginning. It just looks different. What are what what about those three guys that you think how can they help the Cavaliers get to where they need to get to? Well, I think everybody has uh talked about the second apron at Nauseium and a team where we are. Can we rename that by the way? I know it’s it’s we’re in the second apron, but um what we have to do is have young talent um that grows from within. You know, you can’t keep everybody. I think we’ve we’ve um added a lot of value to players uh this year with Kenny. Um but now the young guys have to step up and fill some of the void um because the second apron puts you in such a tough position. You know, Evan Mobley obviously getting defensive player of the year, second team allNBA. he jumps in salary and so that puts downward pressure on your roster. And so guys like Jaylen Tyson, uh Tyrese Proctor who we we drafted the 49th pick, we have to develop these guys internally to potentially become rotational players cuz it just becomes really difficult to keep everybody in that second apron. I spent a lot of time in in Cleveland during the playoff run. Lucky you. I I enjoyed myself. I tell you, you come to Cleveland, people like, man, this beautiful lake and it’s fun and the food is great and people are awesome. And once they get there, they’re like, “Man, I didn’t realize you had had a lake.” I’m like, “Well, it’s a it’s a great lake.” Actually, Joe Kim Noah set you guys back a few years. It’s it’s kind of his fault. Uh, but there was a WNBA player that we’ll we won’t bring up that. Oh my goodness. We’ll get her there. You know, we have the WNBA coming in 20 28 and the women get to have the best of Cleveland, right? The four months of summer, right? That’s unbelievable. But we just saw Evan Mobley. Um, and I I couldn’t understand the amount of of negative conversation in Cleveland about what Evan and Barrett Allen need to do better and need to do more and there’s this toughness question and are you soft and all this stuff and we had Kenny Atkinson on yes uh two days ago and he said, you know, the next step for for Evan is to be in the MVP conversation in the next few years. That’s crazy. Do you like what do you think about all this local conversation about the toughness and what needs to be improved by that those two frontline players? Look, I mean, first Jared plays all 82 games. Um, Channon, you know that you got to have some toughness to play all 82 games, correct? Um, you know, we were top seven in defense. You have to have some toughness to to defend. I think, you know, even the Indiana series, um, which unfortunate, we actually won the possession battle. We won the offensive rebounding battle. Um, do we have to find some mental toughness? I think so. But these, let’s watch Nate Quan sideep lay. Um, by the way, I don’t want you to lose your job, but you have a future. Um, but no, I listen, Evan, if I told you at 24 years old, the defensive player of the year, second team allNBA, um, you know, career highs across the board, points per game, rebounds per game, and three-pointers, um, we’d all be doing back flips and that’s what happened. And so, look, you know, we have to go through these trials and tribulations. Uh, they hurt. Um, they sting. You know, we we wake up every day thinking about that those second round losses the last two years, but it’s part of our story. It’s going to make us stronger. Yeah. I think people kind of forget about the history of the NBA that most teams that win a championship lose before they win. OKC did. OKC lost in the second round last year. Last year, right before, by the way, the Cavs on a 150 run here. That’s because Kobe Alman sitting with us. Their team is performing. Tyler Smith cannot end that run. How about Darius Garland and the point guard position? you lose not only Tai Jerome to free agency, but now Garland’s got the toe surgery. So, at the beginning of the season, what happens with that position? No, it’s a great question. I think uh two things is 170 over and and and not to um we talked about Evan a lot. Evan’s going to bring the ball up a lot more. Um and not that he’s going to be the point, but he’s going to play some point forward for us. Obviously, the addition of Lonzo Ball. Um Darius, as much as I’m a big, we’re excited about him. Kenny’s the most excited about himself. Uh when you keep your head coach happy, that’s a good thing. Um but um you know, Darius, I actually think and again, no one wants to have surgery, no one wants to be injured, but this offseason is going to be huge for him to add that um that that weight. We want that strength, that armor, um for him to really become on a different level. And you know, Channing, I mean, I’m not comparing him to to Steph, but Steph during those finals is a different animal than what he is now. So strong. Crazy. And and that’s where we want Darius to get to. You know, we want Darius to add that armor. And you know, Stephen Curry totally is a great example of how you can continue to grow and evolve uh with your body type with that skill set. And that’s what we want Darius to do. And I think this offseason because he can’t touch a basketball for the next couple uh months. He’s going to be in that weight room. And he’s in Cleveland now working with the great Gio uh the best PT in the world. Um and they’re getting it in. They’re getting it in the weight room. Great put back there. by Alat who’s getting his first run here. Cavaliers have a have definitely have an emphasis on offensive rebounding. Got a lot more got a lot more questions here, but only 18 seconds to go in the half. So, well, thank you for your time. Enjoy the rest of your summer. Congrats on the success last year, I think. Thank you for covering us uh Channing. We will celebrate uh the 10year anniversary of that illustrious campaign. Hopefully hopefully we celebrate it together. That’ be awesome. 10 years is great. Are you inviting him back? Yeah, of course. I’m coming back anyways. I’ll be there. I appreciate Unbelievable. No, no. I I can’t wait to go back and we still talk about Cleveland and and the people and especially the food. Uh so it’ll be exciting to watch you guys next year. Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. We’re going to take a quick time out. Kobe Alman, thanks for joining us here with 58 5.8 to go in the half. We’ll come right back with that.

Cleveland Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman joined the NBATV broadcast during the Cavs second Summer League game to discuss the impact and growth he’s looking for from our newer players.