Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a National Basketball Association team based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Founded: 1970

Home Arena: Gund Arena

Uniform colors: Wine, Gold, Dark Blue, and White

Logo design: A gold sword through a stylized "Cavaliers" text on a basketball background.

NBA Championships:

Owner: Dan Gilbert, David Katzman, and R&B singer Usher Raymond

Coach: Michael Brown

2004-05 Record: 42-40

Contents

1 Franchise history 2 Players of note 2.1 Basketball Hall of Famers: 2.2 Not to be forgotten: 2.3 Retired numbers: 3 Current Roster (updated April 24, 2005) 4 Coaches and others 4.1 Basketball Hall of Famers: 5 External links

Franchise history

The Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team. Under the direction of coach Bill Fitch, they compiled a league-worst 15-67 record. However, the team began to build around the 1971 draft pick, Austin Carr.

In the 1975-1976 season, with Carr, Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, and Dick Snyder, Fitch led the Cavs, as the team is commonly nicknamed, to a stunning 49-33 record, which was the best record in the Central Division. He received the league's Coach of the Year award as the Cavs made their first-ever playoff appearance.

The Cavs won the series against the Washington Bullets, 4-3. Because of the many heroics and last-second shots, the series became known as the "Miracle of Richfield." However, hampered by injuries, the Cavs proceeded to lose to the Boston Celtics in round two of the NBA playoffs.

In the 1980s, new owner Ted Stepien quickly hired and fired a succession of coaches and even threatened to move the franchise to Toronto. However, brothers George Gund and Gordon Gund purchased the franchise in the mid 1980s and decided to keep the team in Cleveland.

In 1986, under the Gund brothers as owners, the team acquired, either through trades or the draft, Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper, and Larry Nance. These players formed the core of the team that led the Cavs to eight playoff seasons in the next nine years, including three 50-wins plus seasons. The pinnacle of the Cavs' dominance came in the 1991-1992 season, when they compiled a 57-25 record and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, losing to the Chicago Bulls 4-2.

However, after the Cavs' glory days came several losing seasons. Those seasons saw the Cavs drop to the bottom of the league, becomming a perennial lottery draft team. After another disappointing season in 2002-2003, the Cavs landed the number one draft pick in the NBA Lottery. The Cavs selected high school phenom Lebron James. The 2003-2004 season offered great hope for the future, as James rose to become a dominating player, winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Hope was even greater for the 2004-2005 season. James blossomed into a superstar, increasing his points average, shooting percentage, assists average, and rebounds average. Despite the loss of Carlos Boozer, James teamed with Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to form the core of the Cavs team. After a promising start when the team seemed to be locked firmly into the Eastern Conference's 5th playoff spot, the Cavs began a downward spiral that eventually led to the firing of coach Paul Silas and general manager Jim Paxson. The Cavs failed to make the playoffs that year, tied with the resurgent New Jersey Nets for the eighth (and final) playoff spot (the Nets owned the tiebreaker over the Cavs).

The 2005 offseason brings both hope and despair for the Cavs. The team will have a pick in the top 14 of the NBA Draft; also, they must look for a new coach. However, the franchise also sees great hope in rising star LeBron James, whom many have compared to basketball-great Michael Jordan.

Players of note

Basketball Hall of Famers:

• Nate Thurmond
• Lenny Wilkens (Inducted as both player and coach.)

Not to be forgotten:

• Carlos Boozer
• Terrell Brandon
• Jim Chones
• World B. Free
• Shawn Kemp
• Campy Russell
• Hot Rod Williams

Retired numbers:

• 7 Bingo Smith
• 22 Larry Nance
• 25 Mark Price
• 34 Austin Carr
• 42 Nate Thurmond
• 43 Brad Daugherty

Current Roster (updated April 24, 2005)

Starters

• PG - #0 Jeff McInnis (North Carolina)
• SG - #14 Ira Newble (Miami (Ohio))
• C - #11 Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Lithuania)
• PF - #90 Drew Gooden (Kansas)
• SF - #23 LeBron James (St. Vincent-St. Mary's HS, Akron, Ohio)

Bench

• C - #52 Missing image
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  DeSagana Diop (Senegal)
• SG - #12 Lucious Harris (Long Beach State)
• F/C - #32 Robert Traylor (Michigan)
• SG - #3 Sasha Pavlovič (Montenegro)
• PF - #17 Anderson Varejao (Brazil)
• SF - #44 Jiri Welsch (Czech Republic)

Injured Reserve

• SF - #33 Luke Jackson (Oregon)
• G - #2 Dajuan Wagner (Memphis)
• F/C - #47 Scott Williams (North Carolina)

Coaches and others

Basketball Hall of Famers:

• Wayne Embry (Current team president and first African-American to serve in that role in the NBA; inducted as a contributor.)
• Lenny Wilkens (Inducted as both player and coach.)

External links

• Cleveland Cavaliers official web site (http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/)
• Cleveland Cavaliers/Lebron James Official Summer Pro League web site (http://www.summerproleague.com/)
• AmIAnnoying.com - Cleveland Cavaliers (http://www.amiannoying.com/view.aspx?id=11504&collection=3069)Template:NBA

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