LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James didn't think Koby Altman could do it. Tyronn Lue didn't know if he would.

The vast majority in NBA media circles -- whose members are connected to players and agents and rival general managers -- didn't believe it was even Altman's place, given the current setup of the Cavaliers' front office.

So there was no shortage of shock and surprise when Altman, the 35-year-old, first-time GM of the Cavs, reshaped the team's roster with three major trades on Feb. 8.

It was Altman and his staff who targeted Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance of the Lakers, George Hill of the Kings and Rodney Hood of the Jazz. There was no directive from owner Dan Gilbert, no plea from James, no nudging from Lue, to go and get those players, specifically.

Everyone was wrong about Altman. Everyone.

"I think Koby did a heck of a job of understanding what our team needed," James said this week, after the rejuvenated Cavs -- to use an Altman word -- beat Oklahoma City, 120-112.

"It just wasn't working out for us, and he felt like, obviously you guys saw his quotes, he made the changes that he felt best fits our team," James continued.

The Cavs enter the All-Star break as the talk of the NBA. They've won four straight, tore up half their roster and are being discussed again as a legitimate contender while playing with a renewed sense of energy since Hill, Clarkson, Nance and Hood arrived.

Altman's stamp is now on this team and specifically on the roster in a way that it wasn't before. He swung into action to clean up a mess that was created by him, by James and by Lue.

Altman moved off two players sought by him and Gilbert: Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder. He traded the point guard Lue recruited (Derrick Rose) and the future Hall of Famer James brought to town -- James' best friend, Dwyane Wade.

This is the story of how the mismatched collecting of big names by the Cavs' new GM, their coach, and star player went so poorly -- how a team went from a virtual lock to reach another Finals to losing 13 of 19 games and needing a total makeover.

They created a team that simply didn't fit, on the court and then off.

'Peanut butter and jelly'

Wade and James sat with ESPN's Rachel Nichols in October. They called themselves "peanut butter and jelly." They're Team Banana Boat. Best friends and two-time champions together.

Does that sound like a pair of superstars who'd be OK with a trade to break them apart some four months after they were reunited?

Yet, neither James nor Wade batted an eye when Altman traded Wade back to the Miami Heat (where Wade and James won those titles) for a 2024 second-round pick.

On the surface, this seems unfathomable. James' previous distrust of Altman and contempt for Gilbert were well known. Yet they peeled the jelly right off of peanut butter without so much as a peep from James.

James and Wade both said post-trade that Wade's heart was in Miami, and that James was "happy as hell" for Wade. Wade told ESPN's Jorge Sedano that he would not try to recruit James to join him on the Heat as a free agent.

"There's no story there," James insisted, when pressed about the Wade trade.

A team source said if anything, James felt relief from the Wade trade -- relief from a pressure point he'd helped create.

Santa Barbara

When James held his annual, voluntary preseason workouts in Santa Barbara, Calif., Rose looked fast and sharp. He knew he'd open the season as the team's starting point guard, with Thomas out for at least three months rehabbing hip injuries.

The team, with seven new players since the Cavs' 2017 Finals loss to the Warriors -- including Jeff Green, Jose Calderon and rookies Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic -- had a positive, free-flowing vibe coming out of Santa Barbara.

In the hours leading up to the start of training camp, though, Wade secured a buyout of his lucrative contract from the Chicago Bulls. He wanted to join James, at James' urging, on the Cavs, and the team's front office didn't feel it was in a position to say no.

The move crushed JR Smith, who is otherwise close to James and is represented by the same agent, Rich Paul. Lue wanted Wade to come off the bench and for Smith to remain in the starting lineup, but Wade had never been a bench player in each of his first 14 seasons.

So when Wade opened the season starting alongside Rose, Smith was devastated. It took just three games for Wade -- who struggled as a starter -- to request a move to the bench, but Smith's recovery took months.

Wade's arrival also meant the team had to trade Richard Jefferson, a popular veteran who was here for the 2016 championship. But by far Wade's biggest impact was on Smith.

Good move, bad move

Wade's move to the bench was good for him. By the time he was traded, he was averaging 11.2 points and shooting a career-high .329 from 3-point range. He'd taken command as the second unit's point guard. Lue was using Wade to close games with James, and in November and December the Cavs won 18 of 19. Wade was being pushed as an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate.

But Wade turned 36 in January. The wear and tear would show some nights. When he played on the second night of back-to-back games he struggled, and coaches grumbled that he was slow to get back on defense.

As things started heading south for the Cavs in January, Wade was an instigator in the infamous team meeting Jan. 22, hours before they flew to San Antonio.

Yes, Thomas was upset that Kevin Love went home with an illness before a 24-point loss to Oklahoma City had concluded on Jan. 20, and that he was not at practice the following day. But, sources said, it was Wade who first made an issue of it on Monday, challenging Lue to disclose where Love had been. Numerous players verbally attacked Love, who eventually explained his absence as part of a wide-ranging, heated discussion in which virtually no one was immune from criticism.

Wade's name began to arise in trade discussions then, sources said. Days later, when Wade's agent Henry Thomas died, Heat president Pat Riley sought out Wade at Thomas' funeral to smooth over rough edges from their falling out when Wade left the Heat as a free agent in the summer of 2016, sources said.

Altman said Wade was not traded because of the meeting, but because of fit. Lue wanted to give more playing time to younger players like Osman, and Altman wanted to afford Wade the choice to stay or go back to the Heat. Wade took the ticket home.

Rose's thorns

Wade's emergence as the captain of the Cavs' second unit turned out to be maybe the unluckiest component of another unlucky season for Rose.

Lue essentially recruited two players last offseason: Green, with whom he had a relationship from their days together in Boston; and Rose. Unlike with Wade, where the front office didn't see a fit but felt that saying "no" to James wasn't an option, Altman and his staff were on board with Rose.

Though he was turning 29 in October and his 2016-17 season was cut short by a torn meniscus -- another in a long succession of injuries for the former MVP -- Rose could still score. He'd come cheap, for the veteran's minimum of $2.1 million.

When Rose signed in July, the Cavs knew they'd be trading Kyrie Irving, but didn't know where or for whom. Rose was brought to town under the assumption that he'd be the backup point guard to someone, and he was obviously a security blanket in the event the Cavs didn't get a starter back for Irving.

When the Cavs shipped Irving to Boston for Thomas, Crowder, Zizic and two draft picks, and Thomas' hip injuries would keep him out to start the season, Rose emerged as the natural choice to run the first team.

The Cavs won their first two games with Rose and Wade as their starting backcourt, but in Game 2 against Milwaukee, Rose suffered a nasty left ankle sprain in the fourth quarter. He missed the next four games and when he returned he wasn't the same player. He left the lineup again on Nov. 9 because of complications from that sprained ankle, and didn't play again until Jan. 18.

In the meantime, the Cavs won 13 straight and 18 of 19, Wade put the clamps on his second-unit role and Rose even left the team to consider retirement. He was suffering from a bone spur in his left ankle in addition to the sprain, and was weighing his apparent lack of a role against the reality of another long rehab and maybe even surgery.

Bloom off Rose

Rose apologized to teammates when he returned in early December, and publicly most players welcomed him without rebuke. Privately, some starters and rotation players figured the organization would move on from Rose, either leaving him on the bench or trading him once he was healthy.

But that's not what happened, at least initially.

Lue, who brought him to the Cavs, looked to shoehorn Rose into the rotation. First, Lue said, Rose would play on nights when Wade needed a rest. Lue ended up playing the two together, and using Rose alongside Thomas.

The Cavs wanted to split James and Thomas, who weren't meshing well, so Thomas saw more time with the second unit. But that was Wade's unit, and now Rose was out there too. Also, James wasn't playing nearly as much with Kyle Korver, who thrives off of catching James' pinpoint passes for 3s.

Rose's contract was not only cheap, but it also expires after this season, which made him an easy trade chip. But whatever fit he'd had with Cleveland when he signed was long gone.

LeBron, IT, Altman, Gilbert

Much of Thomas' struggles with the Cavs are well documented. His struggles to shoot, to play with the speed and quickness he exhibited in Boston before the injuries, and the stunningly negative impact he had on both sides of the ball upon his return in January made for reams of copy and hours of discussion for media outlets across the country.

While Thomas suffered through career lows in shooting and career worsts on defense, Crowder showed to be a poor fit in Cleveland, too. His problems were merely less combustible than Thomas' issues.

James' play tanked along with the team's in January, and his effort was increasingly called into question as he apparently played in protest. He saw Thomas as an extension of Gilbert, who coveted him in the trade for Irving last summer, although Altman has repeatedly attempted to take ownership of that trade and of pushing to get Thomas.

Either way, James didn't like the idea of trading Irving, who wanted out, and replacing him with Thomas -- who was hurt.

In the meantime, James and Lue continued to suggest their communication with Altman had not been the same as it was with former GM David Griffin -- Altman's predecessor and a mentor. James felt Altman wasn't close enough to the team, and Lue felt Altman should be more vocal during turbulent times.

(The Cavs' front office disputed these criticisms, pointing to James' close friends Brandon Weems and Randy Mims and the roles they hold on Altman's staff, and to Cleveland's two No. 1 picks, which required Altman to spend more time scouting than Griffin.)

Lue, meanwhile, felt he had to play Thomas even as his struggles continued, that doing something drastic like starting Jose Calderon or even Wade was out of the question.

James, Lue, and much of the league was waiting to see if Gilbert (not necessarily Altman), would act. So when Altman swooped into action like he did, he detonated a prevailing thought about him.

"People speculate all the time about how hands-on (Gilbert) is and how much he's involved," Altman said the day he executed the trades. "It's funny to me because I ask, 'if you had a $2 billion franchise, would you be hands-off and be at a distance?' I don't think you would be either. (Gilbert is) a part of the process ... but in terms of this trade deadline, I was working the phones and trying to put these deals together and obviously keeping him informed of the process."

New money

Gilbert, according to sources, was on the phone with Hornets owner Michael Jordan to discuss Kemba Walker, but didn't get far. Also, Gilbert was at the hospital with his son, Nick, who developed a brain tumor and needed surgery.

Gilbert of course approved each of Altman's trades. Also, contrary to reports of Gilbert's intentions, and James' perception of Gilbert's intentions, the Cavs' owner said yes to taking on new money without getting a long-term commitment from James.

Clarkson, Nance and Hill are guaranteed a combined total of about $65.2 million on their contracts over the next two seasons, and Hood will be a restricted free agent at season's end.

According to ESPN, between their contracts and a potential new deal for James this season, Gilbert's payroll could reach $300 million. Altman was able to push all of this through.

Both James and Lue have nodded, publicly and in private, in approval of Altman's work.

"He made some good moves, man," Lue said.

Challenge remains

Thomas was maligned in the press and in some locker room circles for his criticism of the Cavs while he struggled personally. He sent shockwaves when, on the night Lue missed the second half of a game against the Magic with an illness, Thomas said the coaches had struggled all season to make in-game adjustments.

Lue said Thomas was wrong, but Thomas was not the only player who shared those feelings. Players, some of whom have since been traded, felt Lue did little to create a system where many of the new players fit, or adjust when he had a full complement of players.

The Cavs were at their best when Thomas, Rose, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert were out with injuries. When everyone was healthy was when they played their worst.

The challenge will come Lue's way again next month when Love returns from a broken bone in his left hand. The new players are younger and faster. They can switch on defense from any position, can push the pace and either score on their own or wait for James to find them.

Love, an All-Star, has adjusted throughout his time in Cleveland, and is equipped to do again. But Lue's going to have to make the lineup and rotation work.

It could mean returning Thompson to the bench, or Osman. Or giving less playing time to one of the new players. Or to Korver. Or to Love. Or all of the above.

James' new, old role

James, meanwhile, seemed to take some ownership of his role in the Cavs' bad month this week by reasserting himself as the leader in the locker room.

In James' first three seasons, he spoke frequently about leading -- something he seldom discussed once Wade and Thomas were here.

"I know the guys that's here, they're very excited about this opportunity, and it's my job to keep them excited about being here," James said. "They're joining something that obviously the last couple months hasn't been what we expected, but over the course of the last four years since I came back has been really good basketball.

"So it's my job as the leader of this team to make sure that I acclimate the new four guys to be around a culture that's built on winning and practicing championship habits."