The Cleveland Cavaliers will participate in a big NBA Draft coming up later this week as they hold the #3 pick in this year’s draft. Cavs fans around the globe are anxiously awaiting to see what the Cavs decide to do at that pick. The Cavs could stay there at No. 3 or potentially move up or down depending on various opportunities.
I’ve been preaching for a while now that the Cavs should make every attempt at moving up to that No. 1 spot and taking Cade Cunningham, the talented big man out of Oklahoma State. I believe he’d be a game changer for the organization.
In preparing to cover this big draft by the Cavs I’ve ventured down memory lane reminiscing about what the Cavs did over 35 years ago in the 1986 draft, and how that draft had defined this organization for such a long stretch of time prior to Lebron James’ arrival in 2003. I believe it’s worth the time of the Cavs’ front office to review their history books once in a while to see what has worked and what hasn’t worked. I understand that times change and what might have worked then might not now, but the Cavs are in a position of trying to get better and, in this case, history repeating itself would be fine by me.
A tumultuous series of events had the Cleveland Cavaliers in rough shape leading into the 1986 NBA Draft.
The Cavaliers began as a franchise in 1970 and from that point to 1986 the team only had three winning seasons. George Karl had been the Cavs’ coach before that 1986 NBA draft, but the Cavs got rid of him and general manager Harry Weltman toward the end of that 1985-86 season where the Cavs finished at 29-53.
So the Cavs were without a coach or general manger as they prepped for the draft. They had actually gone through eight coaches in the seven years prior to 1986. Yikes!
After the departure of Weltman as GM the Cavs hired Wayne Embry, an Ohio native and former star at Miami (OH) University. Embry had a long NBA career with teams like the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
With little time after his hiring with the Cavaliers Embry immediately went to work and so began a stretch in its organizational history that will forever be remembered as the first time the team was very successful for a sustained stretch of time.
Looking back at the historic 1986 NBA Draft: The Picks
Roy Hinson, the third year forward that the Cavs had drafted in 1983 at pick No. 20 out of Rutgers University, had his best season as a pro during the 1985-86 season, averaging just under twenty points and pulling in eight boards per game. Cleveland had the No. 8 pick in the upcoming 1986 NBA Draft. Embry, now the GM of the Cavs, was able to somehow convince the Philadelphia 76ers to part with its No. 1 pick for the aforementioned Hinson and $800, 000 in cash. That was it! Really!
Now to be fair to 76ers, they weren’t sold on the top talent available that year in the draft and their front office thought the Cavs’ Hinson would be a comparable replacement for any draft pick. The 76ers’ story at this juncture is even more bizarre too as they also traded away the great Hall of Famer and big man Moses Malone that same day.
Brad Daugherty, the big 7-footer out of North Carolina, was being considered by most analysts at the time to go No. 1. Embry thought that same thing and knew the Cavs needed a big man to be the center piece to their team. Len Bias, the talented player from Maryland was also a possibility for the Cavs at No. 1 but Bias ended up going second to the Boston Celtics. A week after Bias was drafted he died tragically from a drug overdose.
The Cavs took Daugherty at No. 1. They still had their No. 8 pick and with that they took Ron Harper, a very talented 6’6″ player from Embry’s old stomping grounds Miami (OH) University. Harper became a huge piece to the Cavs’ initial ride of success. In a story for a later time, Harper was traded by the Cavs surprisingly in November of 1989 to the LA Clippers.
The Cavs’ GM still was manipulating the draft. The Dallas Mavericks took a young guard from Georgia Tech named Mark Price with the first pick of the second round at No. 25, but Embry made a deal with the Mavericks, giving them a 2nd round pick in 1989 for the rights to Price. Cleveland had their own 2nd round pick at No. 29 where they took another guard named Johnny Newman from the Richmond Spiders.
Back in the previous 1985 draft the Cavs had picked up a post player named John “Hot Rod” Williams. He didn’t play in 1985 because he had been part of an investigation at Tulane University where he and his team were being looked at for a gambling situation. Williams was never charged with anything.
At this point the Cavs had picked up Daugherty, Harper, Price, Newman and Williams. In January of 1987, during that first year of them playing together, they also picked up Craig Ehlo as a free agent from the Houston Rockets.
In the following 1987 draft the Cavs picked up a young kid named Kevin Johnson who went onto his own fame with the Phoenix Suns. That happened because the Cavs traded Johnson and fellow Cavaliers players Mark West and Tyrone Corbin to the Suns in February of 1988 for the rights to Larry Nance Sr. and Mike Sanders. It was the final piece to the puzzle for these young Cavs to pick up a talented veteran like Nance to help them down that road of winning.
Looking back at the historic 1986 NBA Draft: The Lake Effect
The talent was there and now the Cavaliers needed a veteran coach who had had success elsewhere. Cavs General Manager Embry was friends with Lenny Wilkens, the current GM of the Seattle Supersonics, who had previously coached the Super Sonics to a NBA championship in 1979. Embry was able to convince Wilkens to return to coaching with the Cavs, and so began a seven year run with Cleveland where he finished with a 316-258 coaching record.
The first season of 1986-87 was still tough as the Cavs tried to gel and finished at 31-51. The following season though they finished above the .500 mark at 42-40 and made the playoffs where they lost a close series (3-2 )to the Chicago Bulls and their nemesis Michael Jordan. By the 1988-89 season the Cavs were geared for a great season. They finished that season at 57-25 and entered the playoffs as favorites against the Bulls. Things didn’t pan out for the Cavs again as Michael Jordan hit “The Shot” over a defending Craig Ehlo to help the Bulls escape that series.
The next several Cavaliers seasons finished with playoff appearances but not many playoff series wins and usually a loss to the Bulls at some point. The Bulls eliminated the Cavs in the playoffs in 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993 and 1994. Now young Cavs fans you might understand a bit more why the Bulls and specifically Jordan strike a chord of disdain with older Cavs fans.
Nonetheless, it was a run of success, reaching the playoffs so many times and even the Eastern Conference Championship in 1992. And it all started because of that spectacular 1986 draft and drafting a big man like Daugherty and a point guard like Price and taking a chance on a veteran coach like Wilkens.
I certainly hope that this current Cavs front office reviews their history books occasionally. Knowledge of the past is priceless when planning for the future.