The era of King James is over in Cleveland and though the Cavaliers will never admit it, the team has entered a rebuilding era. This season will feature a stripped down version of the Cavs with a lineup of Mo Williams at the Point, Anthony Parker at the two, Jamario Moon at small forward, Antawn Jamison at the 4 and Anderson Varejao at center. Oh, and let’s not forget new head coach Byron Scott.
Look for the Cavaliers to compete but be completely overwhelmed in the rough and tumble Eastern Conference.
The Cleveland Cavaliers begin their 40th anniversary season as Head Coach Mike Brown begins his 6th leading the club and the biggest question surrounding the club is do they have enough fire power to take the Eastern Conference title. Adding Shaquille O’Neal was a considerable help but is it enough? With only three players averaging double figures, barely, (James 29.6, Mo Williams 16.9 and Shaq 10.7) the team may have trouble down the stretch. With the power teams of the NBA having 4 to 6 players in double figure averages, it stands to reason that the Cavs may need more.
LeBron James, of course, may disagree. He currently has his team sitting #1 in the Eastern Conference (32-11) with Boston, Atlanta and Orlando hot on their heels (27-13, 27-14 & 27-15 respectfully). Injuries have taken a toll on the team; Leon Payne is out due to knee surgery, Jamario Moon is out with an abdominal strain and most recently, Mo Williams went down with an abdominal strain.
The Cavaliers franchise began as an expansion team in 1970 with Bill Fitch as the first head coach of the team and posted a 15-67 record in that first year. With their first draft, they selected Austin Carr with the number 1 pick. Carr, who played his collegiate ball at Notre Dame would succumb to a number of injuries that hampered his playing and he never panned out like the franchise had hoped.
By the 1975/76 season, the team had players Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, Dick Snyder and added Nate Thurmond. The team finished with a 49-33 record, winning their first Division Title. Coach Fitch won the Coach of the Year award and the Cavs slipped into the playoffs facing the Washington Bullets who they defeated 4 games to 3. They would move on and face the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics would take advantage of an injured Jim Chones and move on to win the NBA Championship.
The Cavs would continue having successful seasons as they won 43 games the next two years but both seasons ended with early exits from the playoffs. In the 1978/79 season, Coach Fitch resigned after amassing a 37-45 record. He was succeeded by Stan Albeck. Soon thereafter, team owner Nick Mileti sold his portion to minority owner Joe Zingale. Zingale would hold the team for only a few months then sold it to Ted Stepein. Stepein would prove a cancer to the franchise as the teams under his leadership frequented the bottom of the standings for the next several seasons going 94-234 between 1980 and 1983. Stepein eventually sold the team to the Gund brothers George and Gordon.
George Karl led the team between 1984 and 1986 and was fired by the franchise 66 games into the season. He was replaced by Gene Littles who missed the playoffs by one game. The team retooled after the season and hired Lenny Wilkens as its new coach. Through a series of trades and via the draft, the next Cavaliers team to take the court included Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance and Ron Harper. The team continued to improve and would make it into the playoffs over the next nine seasons.
By 1989, the Cavaliers found themselves in the NBA Playoffs and facing Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. With the series tied at 4, the final game was at home in Cleveland and it came down to the wire. With the game tied with only three seconds remaining, the Bulls inbound the ball to Michael Jordan who shot a jump shot. Cavalier Craig Ehlo went up for the block but somehow Jordan miraculously hung in the air until Ehlo was back on the ground. Jordan hit “The Shot” as the buzzer sounded giving the Bulls the victory and the series. They would win 57 games the next season and enter the Eastern Conference Finals only to again be knocked out by the Bulls. Following the 1992/93 season, the Cavaliers were booted out of the playoffs early and Coach Wilkins left the team to coach at Atlanta.
Mike Fratello became the next Cavaliers head coach and he would stress defense. While his teams relied on surpurb defense, they didn’t have enough on the other end to compete and by the end of the lockout shortened 1998/99 season, he was let go. A string of coaches would follow to include Randy Wittman (199-2001), John Lucas (2001-03), Keith Smart (2003), Paul Silas (2003-05) and Brendan Malone (2005). In 2003, the Cavaliers drafted future Hall of Fame Player LeBron James. James would win the Rookie of the Year award in 2004.
The franchise was sold to Dan Gilbert who immediately went out and hired former Cavalier Danny Ferry as the new general manager and former Spurs assistant coach Mike Brown as the new head coach. The Cavs would improve over the next few seasons.
In the 2006-07 season, the Cavaliers finished the year with a 50-32 record and marched into the playoffs. Matched against the 7th seeded Washington Wizards swept them in four games. They next met the New Jersey Nets and took them out 4 games to 2. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs faced the Detroit Pistons and lost the first two games on the road. Back home, the Cavaliers took the next three games and the teams headed back to Detroit and eliminated the Pistons, winning their first ever Eastern Conference Title. In the 2007 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers met the San Antonio Spurs and were outmuscled and out coached as the veteran Spurs team swept the Cavaliers 4 games to none.
The following season, the Cavaliers lost in the second round of the playoffs and in the 2008 off-season traded Damon Jones and Joe Smith for high scoring point guard Mo Williams. The following season, the Cavaliers won 66 games which included a 13-game winning streak. Coach Brown won Coach of the Year and LeBron won the NBA MVP Award. Entering the playoffs with the #1 seed, then swept their old nemesis the Detroit Pistons. They followed that up with a sweep of the Atlanta Hawks. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs met the Orlando Magic. After losing game 1 by one point, the won game 2 by one point. Orlando eventually took out the Cavs in six games.
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