Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star forward Kevin Love had no plans of going into tank mode after former franchise superstar LeBron James departed for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a Q&A with Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated, Love said he spoke with general Koby Altman that he wanted to stay competitive with the Cavaliers.

“I had a talk with Koby Altman, I had a back and forth with Dan Gilbert—I just didn’t want to be on a tanking team. I still wanted to be competitive. I wanted to give ourselves a chance. If Bron was going to be in a new chapter, we could still make some noise, especially in the East. That was something I had to talk out and make transparent between all of us”

LeBron’s departure from Cleveland the first time around sent the team to the bottom of the league. However, the Cavaliers chose to remain competitive by signing Love to a four-year, $120 million extension this past summer.

While the Cavaliers are obviously no longer the championship contenders they once were with LeBron in town, they still have a roster that can stay afloat. In a relatively weak Eastern Conference, they can definitely still sneak into one of the lower-tier spots in the playoffs.

Love is obviously the captain of the ship. Veterans like J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, George Hill, and Tristan Thompson look to provide leadership to some of the team’s young prospects, such as Colin Sexton and Larry Nance Jr., who turned out to be the two biggest trade chips that the Cavaliers received in their roster overhaul at the trade deadline last season.

With head coach Tyronn Lue revamping the offense by pushing the pace this season, the Cavs are definitely one of the more interesting teams to watch out for, mainly for the reason of how they would look like sans LeBron James.

The new-look Cavaliers open their season on October 18 against the also new-look Toronto Raptors led by Kawhi Leonard.