The 02-03 Cavs bubble up again

[Icness]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... et_lebron/

Quick recap for all those who weren't paying any attention to the Cavaliers back then, which is most everyone except me & Outlaw...

John Lucas was the head coach. He put on one of the worst all-time coaching displays that year. He actually stated in a press conference that he was trying to turn the game into 5 different 1-on-1 battles because he thought that suited Ricky Davis and Darius Miles. His defensive philosophy was to cherry-pick up the court once your man beat you, which Ricky embraced better than anyone. Now he comes out and says management might have been tanking the season?!? How 'bout your sorry self being a pathetic coach and a bitter discard that can't even get assistant jobs anymore. He got fired halfway through that year and it was half a season too long.

That team started 2-2, including a whipping of the Kobe Lakers. They then lost 16 in a row. Still they had a chance to finish out of dead last in the league, but Darius Miles missed a follow-up dunk with under 2 seconds remaining in the 2nd to last game and the Cavs fell to Detroit by a point. They actually finished kind of strong, winning 4 of their last 8 under Keith Smart, who shortened the bench, sat down Diop and preached movement and penetration on offense. Milt Palacio and Jumaine Jones were starters and DaJuan Wagner and Smush Parker were the #3 and #4 scoring options after Ricky (who was nothing if not prolific) and Z (who was just rounding back into form). That roster stunk because of years of ineptitude before it, not anything they did on the court that year. Shut up and go away John Lucas!

[Furrski]

The Cavs had a team in 2002? Before LeBron?

I sat courtside for a win over the Clippers in the Kieth Smart era. Sagana was a monster! He looked at me when I yelled his name. Loved Ricky, too, at the time.

As far as coach Lucas goes, just a bitter guy who couldn't get another shot at coaching, perhaps trying to justify his time here. Don't think its a real big deal, though.

[B Mac]

I managed to get to see, I think it was, 6 of their wins that year. You can only imagine how many games I actually went to, to see that many wins.

Ahh, those were the days back when I was younger, unmarried, and had no bills to worry about. Not to mention tickets were a lot cheaper and easier to come by.

I havent been to a game since the playoff win over the Pistons when LeBron dunked on Sheed a couple years back.

Man I need to get back to the Q. Im not sure how I went from 10+ games a year all the way down to 0.

[L&H_05]

Those 02-03 Cavs went down as heros, every single one of them..In fact, we're coming up on their 10th anniversary... Should hold something special for those guys...

[Gordon Bombay]

sure the atmosphere at the gund sucked back then but tickets were so cheap - like 50 dollars for lower bowl center pretty much courtside give or take...50 dollars now will get ya a ticket about three rows from the top of the building lol

it may have been tanking but it certainly paid dividends for this franchise. and i don't necessarily believe the team was tanking on the court...they just weren't very good stemming from a multitude of horrible front office moves (intentional or incompetent ones the like)

[Niko23]

Didnt Bimbo Coles mention something like this?

[Rise Against]

Tanking? This was the roster..

1 Carlos Boozer F-C 6-9 258 November 20, 1981 R Duke University
3 Tierre Brown G 6-2 189 June 3, 1979 1 McNeese State University
12 Bimbo Coles G 6-1 180 April 22, 1968 12 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
31 Ricky Davis G 6-6 195 September 23, 1979 4 University of Iowa
52 DeSagana Diop C 7-0 300 January 30, 1982 1
32 Tyrone Hill F 6-9 240 March 19, 1968 12 Xavier University
11 Zydrunas Ilgauskas C 7-3 238 June 5, 1975 4
33 Jumaine Jones F 6-8 218 February 10, 1979 3 University of Georgia
4 Chris Mihm C 7-0 265 July 16, 1979 2 University of Texas at Austin
21 Darius Miles F 6-9 210 October 9, 1981 2
10 Milt Palacio G 6-3 195 February 7, 1978 3 Colorado State University
17 Smush Parker G 6-4 190 June 1, 1981 R Fordham University
13 Michael Stewart C 6-10 230 April 25, 1975 5 University of California
2 Dajuan Wagner G 6-2 200 February 4, 1983 R University of Memphis

[JonFromVA]

John Lucas was the head coach. He put on one of the worst all-time coaching displays that year. He actually stated in a press conference that he was trying to turn the game into 5 different 1-on-1 battles because he thought that suited Ricky Davis and Darius Miles.

Well, that and Paxson ensured they'd stink by not bothering to sign a PG.

Heck, Larry Brown has already beaten us twice this year using the same offensive strategy.

What I think Lucas is being rather dumb about is complaining that he was told not to play his vets....

'cause the only vets who didn't get a lot of minutes were Hill and Coles, who were at the falling off the cliff point in their careers. They never played more minutes for any other team after that season.

Lucas hasn't gotten another job in the NBA for the same reason Paxson hasn't.

[gflem]

Talk about the all time no chemistry team. Wrong way Ricky, Darius Miles, and Smush? Wow, I forgot how bad things really were. I took my son to see that team when he was 7, good thing he didnt know squat about basketball, or that might have ruined him as a hoops fan.

[Baseline Runner]

I followed the team that year. I was pretty high on Darius Miles. He had some great performances when he looked like a walking triple double. He could have been a great player but he had no heart.Zydrunas was in his prime that year and playing great. The problem with that team wasn't lack of talent but lack of heart, chemistry, coaching and a PG (Bimbo Coles and Milt Palacio. Our PG situation was so bad that Miles would often bring the ball up the court.

[vct33]

I don't know if they tanked, but they were damn lucky that they won the lottery that year. If they hadn't, they would have found a way to screw the pooch with their pick. We probably would have gotten Darko or M Sweetney. I have never seen a front office wiff on so many early draft picks.