The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
History full of highs, lows and LeBron
Established in 1970 as an expansion team in the National Basketball Association, the Cavaliers are the youngest of Cleveland’s three major professional sports franchises.
In their 48 seasons, the Cavs have experienced the highest of highs and some deflating lows.
The franchise is coming off the headiest of those highs, a four-season run that produced 212 regular-season victories, four straight playoff runs to the NBA Finals and the 2016 NBA title. All of that was enabled by the return of LeBron James in July 2014 after his four-year sojourn with the Miami Heat.
In the regular season, the Cavs have an all-time record of 1,829-2,059. Their best regular-season finish was 66-16 in 2008-09. Their worst was 17-65 which happened in the 1970-71 season and again in 2002-03. They have posted 26 winning records and 22 losing records.
In 22 playoff appearances covering 46 series, they are 125-104.
The franchise has had six majority owners, 11 general managers, 381 players (through the 2017-18 season), 20 head coaches (including Mike Brown twice) and played home games in the Cleveland Arena (197074), Richfield Coliseum (1974-94) and Gund Arena/ Quicken Loans Arena (1994-present).
TOP 10 PLAYERS 1 >> LeBron James
The numbers and impact he had on the franchise speak for themselves.
In two stints with the Cavs covering 11 seasons, the Akron native and onetime teenage prodigy out of St. Vincent-St.Mary High School averaged 27.2 points, 7.4 assists and 1.6 assists per game during the regular season. He was even better in nine, pressure-packed playoff runs with averages of 30.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.7 steals.
From the moment James joined the Cavs as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft, the franchise was transformed. He averaged 20.7 points as a rookie, leading the Cavs to 35 victories. They’d won 17 games the previous season.
With the man nicknamed “The King” in a Cleveland uniform, the Cavs were 549-342 in the regular season and 88-56 in the playoffs. They claimed six Central Division regular-season titles and five Eastern Conference playoff championships. They made five appearances in the NBA Finals, the first in 2007 and the next four consecutively beginning in 2015.
In the four seasons between James leaving as a free agent in July 2010 to join the Heat and his muchballyhooed return as a free agent in July 2014, the Cavs were 97-215 (includes the 2011-12 lockout)
James practically owns the Cavs’ record books for the regular season and playoffs.
In the regular season, he is tops in games (849), points (23,119), points pergame (27.2), total field goals (8.368), 2-point field goals (7,118), 3-point field goals (1,251), free throws made (5,130), assists (6,228), total rebounds (6,190), steals (1,376), minutes played (33,130). and minutes pergame (39.0)
He has the franchise playoff records for games (152), points (4.573), total field goals (1,628), 2-point field goals (1,381), 3-point field goals (247), rebounds (1,388), assists (1,188) , steals (264), blocked shots (162), minutes played (6,421) and minutes per game (42.2).
Impressive as the numbers are, they tell only part of James’ story with the Cavs.
He won two of his four NBA Most Valuable Player awards with the Cavs. He was the face of the franchise and its driving force. At 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, he mixed power and the skills to play any position. He represented the team and Northeast Ohio with consummate grace, gave freely of his wealth to worthy causes. He poured millions of dollars back into his hometown of Akron and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind on important social matters.
As long as James was wearing the Cleveland uniform, the Cavs had relevance and visibility.
2 >> Brad Daugherty
True centers are almost an afterthought in today’s NBA.
That definitely was not the case when the Cavs used the first overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft to select the 7-foot, 245-pound pivot out of the University of North Carolina.
Daugherty averaged 15.7 points and 8.1 rebounds as a rookie. With fellow rookies Mark Price and Ron Harper, he gave the Cavs hope for the future in the wake of former owner Ted Stepien’s inept stewardship of the franchise.
The North Carolina native was an accomplished low post scorer and one of the best passing big men of his era. In eight seasons, Daugherty averaged 19.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He was a five-time NBA All-Star and key contributor in six playoff runs, averaging 19.1 points and 10.2 rebounds.
Unfortunately for Daugherty and his teammates on those Lenny Wilkenscoached teams, they kept running into Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the postseason.
Daugherty is third in the franchise’s all-time regular-season records in points (10,389) and rebounds (5,227). He n the top 10 in many other statistical categories as well, despite having to retire after eight seasons because of chronic back injuries.
3 >> Kyrie Irving
The enigmatic point guard assured his place in the history of the franchise and Cleveland sports by making the go-ahead 3-point shot in the final minutes of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Irving’s rainbow jumper propelled the Cavs to victory and gave Cleveland its first professional sports championship in 52 years.
Selected by the Cavs with the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Irving was the most hyped player in that draft despite having played only 11 games at Duke in his injury-plagued freshman season.
The 6-foot-3 Irving more than lived up to his billing. A dynamic scorer, he averaged 18.5 points as a rookie and was a two-time NBA All-Star when James rejoined the Cavs in time for the 2014-15 season.
Together with Kevin Love and James, Irving was part of the “Big Three” that made the Cavs perennial NBA title contenders.
After averaging a careerhigh 25.2 points in the 201617 season, Irving told the Cavs he wanted off the team and out of James’ shadow so he could emerge as a star in his own right.
Traded to Boston in August 2017, Irving left the Cavs having averaged 21.6 points during the regular season and 23.9 points in the playoffs.
4 >> Mark Price
The sharp-shooting point guard from Georgia Tech originally was taken by Dallas at the top of the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft. He was dealt to the Cavs shortly after for a second-round pick in the 1989 draft.
It was one of the best trades the Cavs ever made.
Price averaged 16.4 points and 7.2 assists during his nine seasons with the Cavs, who made seven playoff appearances while the 6-foot Oklahoma native was running the show. He averaged 17.4 points and 7.0 assists in the postseason.
In the all-time records, Price is fifth in points (9,543), second in 3-point field goals made and attempted (802-for-1,960), second in free throws made (2,741), first in free throw percentage (.906) and second in assists (4,206) and steals (734).
5 >> Larry Nance
Today, many fans know him best as the proud father of current Cavs forward-center Larry Nance Jr.
In his day, the elder Nance was one of the smoothest and most consistent power forwards in the NBA.
At the trade deadline in February 1988, Cavs general manager Wayne Embry engineered a deal with the Phoenix Suns that brought Nance and small forward Mike Sanders to Cleveland in exchange for Tyrone Corbin, Kevin Johnson, Mark West, a first-round pick in the 1988 draft and second-round picks in the 1988 and 1989 drafts.
The price was steep, but Nance and Sanders were immediate contributors to a Cavs team that won 57 games that season and initiated a run of six playoff appearances in seven years.
Nance was the far better player of the two with the Cavs, averaging 16.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots in six-plus seasons.
In the all-time records, the 6-foot-10 native of South Carolina is first in blocked shots per game, third in total blocked shots (1,087), third in field goal percentage (.530) and ninth in points (7,257).
6 >> Zydrunas Ilgauskas
All-around talent and persistence were the hallmarks of “Z’s” 12 seasons with the Cavs.
Selected by the Cavs with the 20th pick in the first round of the 1996 NBA draft, the 7-foot-3 center from Lithuania missed what was supposed to be his rookie season with the first in a series of foot injuries that threatened to derail his promising career.
He made an auspicious debut in the 1997-98 season, averaging 13.9 points and 8.8 rebounds as the Mike Fratello-coached Cavaliers made the playoffs.
Foot injuries cost him all or parts of the next three seasons. Ilgauskas battled back, though, returning for good to start the 200102 season.
He was a stalwart after that, twice earning NBA All-Star honors while averaging 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds.
Teaming with LeBron James, he helped the Cavs make the playoffs in five straight seasons.
Ilgauskas has an exalted place in the all-time records. He’s first in offensive rebounds (2,336) and blocked shots (1,269), second in points (10,616), total rebounds (5,904), games (771) and minutes played (21,820).
7 >> John Williams
Far better known by his nickname, “Hot Rod,” Williams was a versatile forward and center who was one of the NBA’s best sixth men during his nine seasons with the Cavaliers.
Selected by the Cavs in the second round of the 1985 draft, the 6-foot-11, 215-pound Louisiana native had to wait one year to make his NBA debut until he was cleared of point-shaving accusations stemming from his four years at Tulane.
Williams was a double-figure scorer in all of his seasons with the Cavs, finishing with averages of 12.9 points and 7.1 rebounds. He averaged a career-high 16.8 points during the 1989-90 season.
The Cavs made the playoffs in seven of the nine seasons Williams was on the team.
In the all-time records, he is second in blocked shots (1,269), fourth in rebounds (4,669), sixth in games played (661) and steals (587) and seventh in points (8,504) and field goals (3,198).
Williams was 53 when he died in December 2015 of complications related to prostate cancer.
8 >> Austin Carr
The man sometimes called “Mr. Cavalier” has been associated with the franchise for most of its 48 years, first as an accomplished player and now as the analyst on Fox Sports Ohio’s telecasts of Cavs games.
Coming off a 15-67 finish in the expansion season of 1970-71, Cavs coach Bill Fitch selected the AllAmerica guard out of Notre Dame with the first overall pick in the 1971 NBA draft.
The 6-foot-4 Carr averaged 21.2 points in his first season and made the AllRookie team. He was an NBA All-Star honoree during the 1973-74 seasons, averaging a career-high 21.9 points. Playing through the pain of knee injuries over the balance of his nine seasons with the Cavs, Carr posted overall averages of 16.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
Carr is the fourth-leading scorer in team history with 10,265 points. He is second in field goals (4,272) and sixth in games (635) and minutes(10,265).
9 >> World B. Free
The franchise was at a low ebb, nearing the end of Stepien’s ownership, when the Cavs obtained the highscoring guard in a December 1982 trade with Golden State.
Free averaged 24.2 points per game in his first season with the Cavs. He brought back fans to the Richfield Coliseum who had been alienated by Stepien’s mismanagement of the franchise and the losing it caused.
The 6-foot-2 Georgia native averaged 23.0 points during his three-plus seasons with the Cavs and led them to a playoff appearance in 1984 after a six-year absence from the postseason.
10 >> Kevin Love
After being the best player on bad teams during six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Love was traded to the Cavs in August 2014. He joined a Cavs team with legitimate NBA aspirations after the return of LeBron James.
There was a period of adjustment as he learned to play third fiddle to James and Irving, but Love has been a key contributor ever since to a team coming off four straight appearances in the NBA Finals.
Love has averaged 17.1 points and 10.0 rebounds during the regular season for the Cavs. In the postseason, his averages are 15.3 points and 9.7 rebounds.
Top 10 moments 1 >> Winning the 2016 NBA title
The Cavs made plenty of history on Sunday, June 19, 2016 both at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. and on the streets of Cleveland.
It was Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Cavs versus the Golden State Warriors.
Having erased a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series to force Game 7, the Cavs rallied late to beat the Warriors, 93-89, to give the franchise its first title in 46 years and Cleveland’s first pro sports championship
since the Browns won the NFL title in December 1964.
“Cleveland, this is for you,” James screamed in the postgame celebration on the Oracle Arena floor.
Back in Cleveland, tens of thousands of fans who come downtown to watch the game and share the experience roared their approval when James said those words. The celebration lasted long into the wee hours of the morning.
2 >> The Shot
With 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining in Game 7, the Cavs called a timeout. They came out of the timeout with a play designed by head coach Tyronn Lue, a play that ended with Kyrie Irving taking and making a 3-point shot over Warriors MVP guard and Cavs nemesis Stephen Curry with 53 seconds remaining. The scoring logjam was broken and the stage was set for the Cavs to win the game and title.
3 >> The Block
The sequence that led to Irving making that epic 3-pointer had been enabled by James’ full-court, fullspeed, chase-down block of an attempted lay-up by Golden State’s Andre Iguodala with 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining. Iguodala makes that shot to give the Warriors a 91-89 lead and the complexion of the late stages of the game could have been entirely different.
4 >> The Parade
An estimated 1.5 million people made their way to downtown Cleveland on June 22, 2016 to be part of the victory celebration for Cleveland’s first professional sports championship in 52 years. James and his teammates basked in the glow as the vehicles in which they were rid-
ing made their way down streets packed with joyous fans.
5 » The Return
None of the above happens if James, four years after going on national TV to announce he was “taking his talents to South Beach,” doesn’t work with Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins to write the letter made public on July 11, 2014.
“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home.”
6 » Birth of a franchise
The narrative culminating with the Cavs winning the 2016 NBA title began in February 1970 with the awarding of an expansion franchise to Cleveland.
7 » 2003 NBA Draft lottery
The Cavs, coming off a 17-65 finish in the 200203 season, learned on May 22, 2003 they’d won the rights to the first overall pick in the 2003 draft. That pick would be used on Akron high-school prodigy LeBron James.
8 » LeBron’s 2018 playoff tour de force
In 22 of the most scintillating postseason performances in NBA history, James essentially carried a flawed team to the NBA Finals. He made shots to win games at the buzzer and to keep the Cavs in games they had to win. Playing 41.9 minutes per game, he averaged 34.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9.0 assists.
Maybe he already knew he’d be going to the Los Angeles Lakers when it was over. Maybe he still wasn’t sure how his free agency would track. No matter, he demonstrated why he was still the best player on the planet at 33 and in his 15th NBA season.
9 » Miracle of Richfield
After five seasons in the expansion basketball wilderness, the Cavs made their first playoff appearance a memorable one. They beat the heavily favored Washington Bullets in seven games. They did it on the road and in front of roaring sellout crowds at the Richfield Coliseum. Unfortunately, Cavs center Jim Chones broke his foot in practice before the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston. The Celtics won that series, 4-2.
10 » 1997 All-Star Game
What then was called Gund Arena played host to the All-Star game and the NBA’s celebration of its 50th anniversary. The centerpiece of the weekend was a tribute to the 50 players chosen as the best in NBA history. All but three of the all-time greats took their bows in front of the capacity crowd.
Michael Jordan recorded the first tripledouble in All-Star Game history. Terrell Brandon represented the host Cavaliers.