John “Hot Rod” Williams could not enter the NBA after he was drafted out of Tulane in 1985, as he was arrested for point-shaving.  Still, he was later found not guilty and was able to join the league for the 1986/87 campaign, where he started all 80 games and averaged 14.6 Points, 7.9 Rebounds, and 2.1 Blocks per Game.  Williams would later see his starts diminish but not his time on the court as the Cavaliers generally used him as their sixth man.  "Hot Rod" would have his best season in 1989/90, when he set career highs with 16.8 Points and 2.3 Blocks per Game, while also averaging 8.1 Rebounds.  

The Cleveland Cavaliers struck gold when they landed the #1 Draft Pick in 2003 to select their home-state hoops prodigy, LeBron James.  After James left, the Cavs were blessed by the lottery Gods again in 2011, when they won the draft lottery and selected Kyrie Irving, the consensus best player in the draft.

Larry Nance spent the first half of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he was an All-Star in 1985.  The Power Forward would be traded in the 1987/88 Season in a mega-deal, and both teams would come out ahead.  The Power Forward brought defensive stability to the Cavaliers, making them a more significant threat in the East.  The Power Forward would be named to two All-Star Games as a Cavalier, and he was a three-time All-Defensive Selection (one First Team and two Second Teams), and he would have five straight seasons averaging eight or more boards per game.  In that same stretch, he never dipped below 2.0 Blocks per Game in a year, and he never fell below 11^th in that metric. 

From the basketball-mad country of Lithuania, Zydrunas Ilgauskas was drafted 20th overall in 1996 and was named to the All-Rookie Team.  Injuries piled up on the big man over the next few seasons, but he would be healthy, and from the 2002-03 season to the 2005-06 season, he would elevate to become one of the top Centers of the time.  In that stretch (which also coincided with the arrival of LeBron James), he would be named to two All-Star Games and averaged 16.2 Points, 7.9 Rebounds, and 2.1 Blocks per Game.  Ilgauskas would play 12 seasons with the Cavaliers, and he is second all-time in Points, Rebounds, and is first in Blocks.  He would have his #11 retired by the Cavs after his career was over.