Franchise Name History
When Cleveland received a National Basketball Association franchise prior to the 1970
season, the team owner and founder, Nick Mileti, turned the decision on
the team nickname over to the fans. There were thousands of choices
submitted to the local newspapers, which were narrowed down to 5
possible names for the Cleveland team. Then Nick chose the name of
Cleveland Cavaliers. This was selected as the new team name, and has
been the name since.
Following the contest, the logo of a 17th century Englishman sporting a long saber was created for use by the team.
During the late 80s and throughout the 90s, the Cavaliers were also nicknamed the "Cavs" for short.
By the end of the 2002-2003 season, the owner, Gordon Gund, decided to re-use the name "Cavaliers".
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Franchise history
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1970–1980: Expansion and early hope
The Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team under the ownership of Nick Mileti. Playing their home games at Cleveland Arena under the direction of head coach Bill Fitch, they compiled a league-worst 15–67 record. The team hoped to build around the number one 1971 draft pick Austin Carr who had set numerous scoring records at Notre Dame, but Carr severely injured his leg shortly into his pro career and did not recover sufficiently to become a great pro player.
The following seasons saw the Cavaliers gradually improve their
on-court performance, thanks to season-by-season additions of talented
players such as Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, Jim Cleamons and Dick Snyder.
Cleveland improved to 23-59 in their sophomore season, followed by a
32–50 record in 1972–73, and a small step backwards to 29–53 in 1973–74.
In 1974, the Cavaliers moved into the brand-new Richfield Coliseum,
located in the cornfields thirty miles south of downtown Cleveland in
Summit County. That season, the Cavaliers finished with a 40–42 record,
falling just short of a playoff berth.
In the 1975-76 season with Carr, Smith, Chones, Snyder, and newly acquired Nate Thurmond;
Fitch led the Cavaliers to a 49–33 record and a division title. Fitch
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 locally as the "Miracle of Richfield." However, hampered by
injuries, particularly to Jim Chones, the Cavs proceeded to lose to the
Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs.
Cleveland won 43 games the next two seasons (1976–77 and
1977–78), but both those seasons resulted in early playoff exits. After a
30–52 season in 1978-79, Fitch resigned as head coach. The following
season, after going 37–45 under Fitch's successor Stan Albeck, original owner Mileti sold his shares to minority owner Joe Zingale.
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1980–1983: The Stepien years
In 1980, after just a few months, Zingale sold the team to Nationwide Advertising magnate Ted Stepien.
The new owner oversaw the hiring and firing of a succession of coaches
and was involved in making a number of poor trade and free agent signing
decisions. The result of Stepien's questionable trading acumen was the
loss of several of the team's first-round draft picks, which led to a
rule change in the NBA prohibiting teams from trading away first-round
draft picks in consecutive years. This rule is known as the "Ted Stepien
Rule."
Early on in his tenure, Stepien proposed to rename the team the
"Ohio Cavaliers", part of a plan that included playing their home games
not just in the Cleveland area but also in non-Ohio markets such as
Buffalo, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also introduced a
polka-flavored fight song, which was widely-ridiculed by fans and the
media.
The ensuing chaos was reflected by the Cavs' on-court performance
and attendance woes, going 28–54 in 1980–81 (Stepien's first year as
owner), followed by an abysmal 15–67 mark in 1981–82. The 1981–82 team
lost its last 19 games of the season which, when coupled with the five
losses at the start of the 1982–83 season, constitute the NBA's all-time
longest losing streak at 24 games. Although the team improved its
record to 23–59 the following year, local support for the Cavs eroded
which eventually bottomed out that year by averaging only 3,900 fans a
game at the cavernous Coliseum
which seated more than 20,000. Stepien threatened to move the franchise
to Toronto and rename it the Toronto Towers, but brothers George and Gordon Gund
purchased the franchise in the mid 1980s and decided to keep the team
in Cleveland. (In 1993, Toronto would, in fact, get an expansion
franchise, the Toronto Raptors.)
Two years later, the Gunds changed the team colors from wine and gold
to burnt orange, red and navy blue. Also, the team officially adopted
"Cavs" as a shorter nickname for marketing purposes; it had been used
unofficially by fans and headline writers since the team's inception.
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1983–1993: A new look
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 four players (until Harper was later traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1989 for the rights to Danny Ferry) formed the core of the team, under the direction of head coach Lenny Wilkens, that led the Cavs to eight playoff seasons in the next nine years, including three 50+ win seasons.
However, in 1989, the Cavs were paired against the Chicago Bulls
in the first round of the playoffs. In the fourth game of the
best-of-five-series, Cleveland managed to beat the Bulls in overtime
108–105 to level the series at 2–2. Home court advantage went to
Cleveland. The game was evenly matched, until Cleveland managed to score
on a drive and raise the lead by one, with three seconds left. Chicago
called for a time-out. The ball was inbounded to Michael Jordan, who went for a jump shot. Cleveland's Craig Ehlo
jumped in front to block it, but Jordan seemed to stay in the air until
Ehlo landed. "The Shot" went in as time ran out, with Chicago winning
the series 3–2. Although replay would show that Jordan cleared Ehlo with
his arm in order to get an open look, the buzzer-beater is considered
one of Jordan's greatest clutch moments, and the game itself one of the
greatest. But the pinnacle of the Cavs' success came in the 1991-92
season, when they compiled a 57–25 record and advanced to the Eastern
Conference finals, losing again to the Chicago Bulls 4–2.
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1993–2003: A long struggle
Soon after, the Cavaliers entered into a period of decline. With the
retirements and departures of Nance, Daugherty and Price, the team lost
much of its dominance and were no longer able to contest strongly during
the playoffs. After the 1992-93 season, in which the Cavs boasted a
54–28 regular-season record but suffered an early exit from the playoffs
in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to the Chicago Bulls, Wilkens
left to coach the Atlanta Hawks.
Following the hiring of Mike Fratello
as head coach starting with the 1993–94 season, the Cavs became one of
the NBA's best defensive teams under the leadership of point guard Terrell Brandon.
But the offense, which was a half-court, "slow-down" tempo installed by
Fratello, met with mixed success. Although the Cavaliers made regular
playoff appearances, they were unable to advance beyond the first round.
In 1994, the Cavs moved back to downtown Cleveland with the opening of the 20,562-seat, state-of-the-art, Gund Arena. Known by locals as "the Gund", the venue also served as the site of the 1997 NBA All-Star Game.
Later on, players like Shawn Kemp and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas added quality to the team, but without further success. Fratello was fired following the shortened 1998-99 season.
An all time low for the Cavs was set by Ricky Davis
on March 16, 2003. With Cleveland ahead in the game 120-95, Davis was
one rebound short of a triple-double with only a few seconds left on the
clock. After receiving an inbound pass at the Cavs' end of the floor,
Davis banged the ball off the rim and caught it in attempt to receive
credit for a rebound. Utah's DeShawn Stevenson took offense to this
breach of sportman's etiquette and immediately fouled Davis hard. The
play did not count as a rebound since firing at your own team's basket
does not count as a shot attempt, and in fact is a technical foul under
NBA rules. However, since the referees had never seen anyone shoot at
their own basket before, they were unfamiliar with the rule and play was
allowed to continue. This and bountless other selfish acts contributed
to the Cavs trading of Davis later that year, and ushering in a new type
of team.
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2003–2010: The LeBron James Era
Several losing seasons followed which saw the Cavaliers drop to the
bottom of the league and become a perennial lottery draft team. After
another disappointing season in 2002-03, the Cavaliers landed the number
one draft pick in the NBA Lottery. The Cavaliers selected high school
phenomenon LeBron James.
Also in 2003, the team colors were changed from burnt orange, red and
navy blue back to wine and gold along with a new primary logo.
James' status as both an area star (having played his high school
basketball at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in nearby Akron) and as
one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history led many to view
his selection as a turning point in the franchise's history. Embraced by
Clevelanders as "King James," the 2003-04 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 2004-05 season. James increased his
production in terms of points, rebounds, and assists per game. Despite
the loss of Carlos Boozer in the offseason, James teamed with Žydrūnas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden
to form the core of the team. After a promising start, the Cavs began a
downward spiral that eventually led to the firing of coach Paul Silas and general manager Jim Paxson. The team failed to make the playoffs that year, tied with New Jersey Nets for the final playoff spot, however the Nets owned the tiebreaker.
The Cavaliers made many changes in the 2005 offseason. Under new owner Dan Gilbert, the team hired a new head coach, Mike Brown, and a new general manager, former Cavaliers forward Danny Ferry.
The team experienced success on the court in the following season,
clinching their first playoff appearance since 1998. After a first
round win over the Washington Wizards, the Cavaliers rebounded from a 2–0 deficit in the second round against the Detroit Pistons,
winning three consecutive games to come one game away from the
conference finals. However, they lost a close Game 6 at home, and
followed it with a 79–61 loss in Game 7. The playoff rounds were a
showcase for the emergence of LeBron James, who achieved many "youngest
ever to..." records during the run.
The Cavs continued their success in the 2006-07 season. The team
earned the second seed in the East with a 50–32 record, generating a
series of favorable matchups in the playoffs. They battled 7th-seeded
Wizards, who struggled with injuries near the end of the season. The
Cavaliers swept this series 4–0, and defeated the New Jersey Nets, 4-2, in the second round.
The Cavaliers faced the Pistons for the in the Eastern Conference
Finals. After again losing the first two games at Detroit, the
Cavaliers won the next three to take a 3–2 series lead. This time, the
Cavaliers eliminated Detroit in Game 6. The wins included a 109–107
double-overtime game at the Palace of Auburn Hills
in Game 5, in which LeBron James scored the last 25 points for the
Cavs, and his performance in this game is recognized as one of the best
in NBA history. They continued to a dominant 98–82 win at home in Game
6. Rookie Daniel "Boobie" Gibson
scored a career-high 31 points in the series clincher, and the
franchise won its first ever Eastern Conference championship. The
team's first trip to the NBA finals was a short one, as they were
outmatched and outplayed by the very strong San Antonio Spurs, who swept the Cavs 4–0.
The Cavs took a step back in the 2007-08 season. They battled
injuries and had many roster changes, including a three team trade at
the trade deadline in which the team acquired Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, and Delonte West.
The Cavs finished 45-37 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.
In the 2008 off-season, the team made a major change to its lineup,
trading Damon Jones and Joe Smith for point guard Maurice "Mo" Williams.
This trade was made in hopes of bringing another scorer to aid James.
In the 2008-09 season, the Cavs made astounding progress, finishing with
a record of 66-16, making this the winningest season in the franchise's
history. The year also marked other notable franchise records. Such
records include winning streak and road and home record. The Cavs enter
the playoffs as the #1 seed in the NBA with home court advantage
throughout the playoffs. The home-court advantage helps the Cavaliers,
who finished the season 39-2 at home, one win short of the best all-time
home record. The Cavs lost to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Confrence Finals, 4-2.
In the 2009 offseason, the Cavilers aquired Shaquille O'Neal from the Phoenix Suns for Aleksandar "Sasha" Pavlović and Ben Wallace. They also signed Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker.
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