Loading color scheme

Site Admin

Site Admin

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 11th 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.

Brad Daugherty was the number one Draft Pick of 1986, a pick they obtained many years before in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.  Along with Ron Harper and Mark Price who they also picked up that season, Daugherty was the literal centerpiece of a Cavs team that would regularly win 50 Games, and he was named an All-Star five times, and while he may not have been on the upper tier of NBA Centers, he wasn't far from it.  Daugherty was a Third Team All-NBA Selection in 1991/92, and he would have six straight seasons where he averaged 9.0 Rebounds per Game, with the last four seeing him go over 10.  Daugherty would also have three straight 20 Points per Game Seasons (1990-91 to 1992-93).