Big Z Goes for Gold

Z has spent his entire 14-year career in Cleveland.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has spent his entire 14-year career playing in Cleveland for the Wine and Gold. He battled through foot problems that forced him to miss nearly three full seasons.  He is the only player on the Cavaliers’ roster that has been with LeBron James since the very beginning.  And tomorrow night against the Phoenix Suns, Big Z will break the franchise record for most games played in a Cavalier uniform.

Ilgauskas currently shares the record of 723 games with Cleveland GM Danny Ferry but was expected to surpass that mark on Saturday night against the Dallas Mavericks. In that contest, however, the Lithuanian center notched his first DNP-CD in a long, long while.

King James publicly criticized Coach Brown for the move saying, “What was on the line was something way bigger than us playing the Mavericks. That was ‘Z’ breaking the record.”  LeBron is a huge supporter of the 7′ 3″ veteran and went on to explain, “[Z is] more than just a teammate; he’s a friend of mine.”  Ilgauskas is now in the final year of his five-year deal, a deal that LeBron played a huge factor in, and has hinted at retiring after this season.