Cleveland Cavaliers: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history
By John Buhler
- Five seasons w/Cavaliers (1982-87)
- 375 career games w/Cavaliers
- 9.4 points, 6.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds per game w/Cavaliers
John Bagley was one of the greatest players in the history of the Boston College Eagles. He led the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in 1981, when he was named Big East Player of the Year. Bagley earned First-Team All-Big East honors in both his sophomore and junior seasons in 1981 and 1982, respectively. After leading the Eagles to the Elite Eight in 1982, along with being a Third-Team All-American, Bagley declared a year early for the NBA Draft.
Cleveland would take the gifted point guard No. 12 overall. He played his first five NBA seasons with the Cavaliers, emerging as the team’s starting point guard in year three in 1984-85. Bagley nearly averaged 10 points per game, as the Cavaliers made it to the Eastern Conference Playoffs that season, ultimately falling to the Boston Celtics in four games in the first round of their best-of-five series.
Always a sound distributor of the basketball, the scoring didn’t always come easy for Bagley at the professional level. It took until year four in the league and in his second year as a starter to average double figures in scoring. Bagley’s 1985-86 campaign is arguably his best in the pros. He averaged 11.7 points, 9.4 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in 31.7 minutes per contest.
In what was his final season with the Cavaliers in 1986-87, Bagley netted 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in 30.3 minutes per contest. After five years with the Cavaliers, Bagley was traded to the then-New Jersey Nets along with Keith Lee for James Bailey and Darryl Dawkins.
Bagley set his career high in scoring in his first year with New Jersey in 1987-88 with 12.0 points per game, but his play would rapidly decay from there. After two years with the Nets, he was traded to the Boston Celtics for a pair of future second-round picks. Bagley played three seasons with the Celtics over four years before ending his NBA career with the 1993-94 Atlanta Hawks.
In five years with the Cavaliers, Bagley averaged 9.4 points, 6.2 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. Though never the go-to scorer he was coming out of Boston College, Bagley proved to be a valuable draft selection for the Cavaliers in the middle of the first round back in 1982.