Cavs GM Koby Altman on Trade Deadline Shake-Up: Felt Like We Were on Death March

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the most active team leading up to the NBA trade deadline, and general manager Koby Altman thought it was necessary to change things up.

"We felt like we were on a slow death march, and that's not something I wanted to be a part of," Altman said Thursday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.

The Cavaliers announced the trade of Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. for Isaiah Thomas and more, and they also acquired George Hill and Rodney Hood in a three-team deal.

Cleveland also sent Dwyane Wade back to the Miami Heat, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The team has reached the NBA Finals in each of the last three years and was a favorite to get back there at the start of this season, but things haven't gone as planned the past few weeks. After a 24-9 start, Cleveland is 7-13 in its last 20 games.

The 31-22 overall record puts the Cavs in third place in the conference, seven games behind the Celtics for first place.

On Sunday, the front office gave Tyron Lue a public vote of confidence to dispute any notion that he would lose his job, per Wojnarowski.

"I just think our mindset needs to change," Lue said after Saturday's blowout loss to the Rockets, via Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. "I think we need to do things harder."

A revamped roster could certainly change the mindset.

By adding some younger, more athletic players in the backcourt around LeBron James, the Cavaliers might have gained the type of boost they needed to win the conference.