GM: It’s ‘coolest thing we’ve ever done’
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR
Picture an FORCE BASE — airplane hangar with its doors open, a large American flag hanging from the rafters and a hulking C-17 cargo plane parked right outside. Add a basketball court inside the hangar and an NBA team running up and down.
That was the scene Sunday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the Cleveland Cavaliers brought their Wine and Gold Scrimmage to the Miami Valley.
The Cavaliers flew out of Cleveland on Sunday morning, landed at the base and jumped on a bus to tour the facility and have lunch with airmen.
“This is the ultimate team, the Armed Forces is the ultimate team,” Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Just to see how they do things and how they come together as one unit was big for us.”
The Cavs front office initiated the idea of a scrimmage on the base several months ago. They shipped their game floor down from Quicken Loans Arena to stage the workout in front of 1,300 airmen and base employees.
“This is the coolest thing we’ve ever done,” Cleveland general manager Koby Altman said. “Our guys are getting way more out of it that the Air Force base but we’re going to try and re-pay them with a scrimmage.”
The players enjoyed the experience. When they arrived , most of them walked onto the court and took photos of the most unusual “arena” they’d ever played in.
“The size of this place is impressive,” forward Kevin Love said. “Just being able to see everything first hand ... it’s just very, very impressive the things we saw today.”
The defending Eastern Conference champions return several familiar faces with one notable exception. LeBron James left via free agency for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now the Cavs need to go out and cultivate some new fans.
“We’re in a new chapter, a new challenge,” Altman said. “The synergy between us and the Air Force is we want to be fast, we want to be efficient, we want to be smart, we want to be cutting edge and that’s everything this base has.”
Fans got to mingle with players while they were taped up before the game. Lue rebounded for kids he encouraged to come out of the crowd and onto the court.
“I told my Mom, that’s the head coach,” Staff Sgt. Nicole Patterson said after she came out and drained a 3-point shot. “That’s pretty cool that he was out here with everybody.”