The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be on the verge of a full-on franchise collapse, and team general manager Koby Altman might ultimately end up paying the price for that.
This past week, Altman held a press conference during which he tried to take a fairly optimistic stance on the future.
“Lot of optimism as to where we are as a franchise,” Altman said.
“A lot of questions were answered. … The future’s really, really bright.”
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, it appears as though people inside the organization aren’t viewing things in the same way.
According to NBA insider Sam Amico, various folks within the Cavaliers don’t see bright skies ahead.
“One source on the inside of the Cavs told FortyEightMinutes that the organization is currently ‘a sh*t show.’ I’ve spoken to several players outside of the organization who have expressed similar sentiments,” Amico wrote.
Still Amico was willing to give Altman the benefit of the doubt.
“Altman painted a very different picture,” he continued. “The truth is likely somewhere in between.”
While Altman’s portrayal of the future was extremely optimistic, it’s hard to look at the circumstances surrounding the franchise and walk away with the same impression.
The Cavaliers finished 22-50 on the season – good for 13th place in the Eastern Conference. That’s not great. But beyond that, their young star, Collin Sexton, is facing some legitimate turmoil.
Sexton’s Cavaliers teammates apparently aren’t particularly big fans of him, and it got so bad that the 22-year-old had to publicly issue a response.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, it didn’t help – and trade rumors around Sexton have been swirling ever since.
Obviously fortunes can change quickly in the NBA. Cleveland could get off to a hot start in 2021-22, show promise and suddenly all past drama will quickly be forgotten.
But if that doesn’t happen, expect Altman’s future to suddenly become much more in doubt and the Sexton trade talk to intensify significantly.
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