New players pump life into the Cavaliers

The Cavaliers should have left a simple message on the grease board in the visitor’s locker room as they exited TD Garden on Feb. 11:

“See ya in May in the playoffs.”

Signed: The James Gang.

The Cavs played their first road game of the new calendar year in Boston on Jan. 3 and were drilled, 102-88. They looked tired, old and disinterested that day, as they had for more than seven weeks until general manager Koby Altman hit the reset button on Feb. 8 by trading away six players to acquire four — four players that want to be Cavaliers and shoot for a championship.

The four newest Cavaliers all contributed in the 121-99 drubbing of the Celtics before a national television audience three days after the trade in their first game in a Cleveland uniform. For the record, George Hill scored 17 points, Rodney Hood 14, Jordan Clarkson eight and Larry Nance Jr. four points. They were a combined eight of 15 from 3-point range.

Their numbers tell only a page of the story.

Hill, Nance, Hood and Clarkson — and Cedi Osman, too — were like a gallon-sized five-hour energy drink to the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor. At one point, Hill’s pesky defense forced Celtics guard Kyrie Irving into a turnover and soon after that he stood his ground and took a charging call to force another Boston turnover.

Yes, it was only one

game and the Cavaliers need continued improvement to reach a level where they can compete with the Warriors for the NBA championship. Yet for all they’ve been through since the season started going downhill on Dec. 19 with a loss in Milwaukee, the Cavaliers, 34-22, began the day only six games behind first-place Toronto in the NBA East.

“The basketball IQ and passion they play with his going to help us out a lot,” Cavaliers star LeBron James, wearing a wide smile, told Doris Burke of ESPN after the game. “You look at Larry and Jordan, they haven’t played a playoff game. They’re hungry for that.

“You look at George Hill in Sacramento. He’s ready to back to the playoffs. I had so many battles with him when he was in Indiana. And we got Rodney Hood who had a little bit of it in Utah last year. So we got some hungry guys. And we have our guys that have been here. It’s going to be very challenging, but

we’re looking forward to it and we accept it. It’s going to be special.”

Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Dwyane Wade, Iman Shumpert, Derrick Rose and Channing Frye are the players that were shipped to other cities. Shumpert (who rarely played), Wade and Frye were not part of the problem, but the other three were.

Thomas, Crowder and Rose were bad fits. Did you ever need a flat-head screwdriver to do a repair and all you could find was a Phillip’s-head screwdriver? That’s what it was like for Coach Tyronn Lue.

Lue deserves credit for not whining about a situation that had become toxic, and Altman deserves credit for recognizing just how unworkable the situation was. It isn’t that the departed don’t have talent. The talent just didn’t work here.

The new crew gets an Aplus for the way it played against the Celtics. Another test is around the corner.

The Oklahoma City Thunder stormed into Quicken Loans Arena on Jan. 20 and obliterated the Cavaliers, 148-124. That game alone cried for a transfusion.

The Cavs play the Thunder on Feb. 13 in Oklahoma City in their final game before the All-Star break. It will be another measure of how different the new Cavaliers are from the old Cavaliers.

“I think in large part we addressed the culture of the team and the building,” Altman said the day the trades were made. “The lack of energy and enthusiasm was really disappointing to me. I’m really excited about the new guys we have. I think we’re going to be energetic. We’re going to be fun again.”

So far, so good — so very, very good.

Contact Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com; On Twitter: @ jsproinsider.