The new millennium did not start out positively for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were trapped at the bottom of the standings to start the 2000s. They won an average of just 27 games from 1999-00 to 2002-03, a run of failure that was painful to watch but ultimately won them redemption.
That came in the person of LeBron James, whom the Cavs drafted first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft. Suddenly their fortunes turned around, and by his third season James had the Cavs back in the postseason; by his fourth they were in the NBA Finals. Over the final four seasons of that decade the Cavs averaged 53 wins.
The Cavs went from the basement to the Finals in the 2000s: what five players defined the decade?
If LeBron James was the spark to ignite the Cavaliers franchise back into relevance, then perhaps Zydrunas Ilgauskas was the firewood that had been there all along. The center made two All-Star teams and played the entire decade for the franchise.
What other players filled around Ilgauskas and James to define the decade of the 2000s for the Cavs? The backcourt was a revolving door, so we will work some lineup magic to lay out a full five-person All-Decade Team. We’ll start with The Professor and end with Big Z.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-2000s Team – G: Andre Miller
The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Andre Miller with the eighth pick of the 1999 NBA Draft, and they instantly knew they had a special passer on their hands. Across three seasons with the Cavs he averaged 8.2 assists per game, including leading the league in that category with 10.9 as a third-year player in 2001-02.
Miller was hardly a pushover as a scorer, either, building to averaged 16.5 points per game as well by that third year. He was not a 3-point shooter but did most of his damage inside, finishing with touch around the rim and drawing a solid number of fouls.
Defensively Miller was developing as a player during the early part of his career but still flashed an ability to pick the pockets of opposing guards. Five times in his career he would rank in the league’s Top 20 in steals per game, and he averaged 1.3 per contest while with the Cavs.
Miller would go on to have a long, successful journeyman career, plying for nine different teams across 17 seasons. His best seasons as a passer came in Cleveland, where he set the bar for a Cavaliers point guard. He not only holds the franchise record for most assists in a single season (882) or assists-per-game (10.9), he holds those records in a landslide. His stay was short, but it was memorable, and earns him a starting spot on the All-2000s team.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-2000s Team – G: LeBron James
LeBron James showing up on this list should be a surprise to no one, and it’s also perfectly reasonable to slot him in on the guard line. He entered the league playing the 2 as a rookie, and plays so often with the ball in his hands that calling him a point guard is a reasonable description of his offensive role.
Wherever you put him, James was incredibly fun to watch and scary to play during the peak of his athletic prime. Entering the league straight out of high school, James won Rookie of the Year in a hotly contested race between he and Carmel Anthony. He made the All-Star team and an All-NBA team the following season as a 20 year-old, and every season after that for his current 17-year streak of being an All-Star and an All-NBA selection.
James’ first MVP award came in the last season of this decade, as he averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game for a 66 win Cavs team, winning the award over Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. He helped to turn the entire franchise around, lifting them from laughingstock to NBA Finals representatives in just a few years.
The Cavs would not win a title until his second stint with the franchise, but James did everything he could to propel them in that direction. Across James’ last nine seasons with the franchise he has won at least one series in every one, including four times to close out this decade. His 12.4 postseason win shares in this span are more than the next three players combined. He was everything to this team, which made it all the more heart-wrenching when he left just a season later.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-2000s Team – F: Drew Gooden
Drew Gooden was a 6’10” forward who bounced around a few teams before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004. He immediately had a career year, with both his 14.4 points per game and 9.2 rebound average the best marks in his career, and played 3.5 years altogether in Cleveland.
The burly big man out of Kansas was not a shooter, but rather liked to mix it up inside. He shot 48.7 percent on 2-pointers while with the Cavs and rebounded 2.8 of his own team’s shots every game. Overall he averaged 8.6 total rebounds, unafraid to throw an elbow (or take one) to survive inside.
The calling card for Gooden was defense, and despite never posting high block totals he was a deterrent inside. By his final year in Cleveland the Cavs had grown into a defensive force that locked opponents down and allowed LeBron James to do everything on offense; Gooden was a key part of making that vision work.
Gooden played a total of 292 games with the franchise in the regular season along with another 33 playoff contests. He was a starter on the 2007 team that went to the NBA Finals, with the pinnacle of his contributions coming against the Washington Wizards when he dropped 24 points and 14 rebounds.
The following season Gooden was traded to the Chicago Bulls as part of the three-team trade that brought Ben Wallace to the Cavs. He would play for 10 teams total across 14 years in the league.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-2000s Team – F: Anderson Varejao
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the last twenty years will not only recognize the name Anderson Varejao, but likely remember it fondly. The Brazilian big man was a fan favorite, with his floppy hair and wild arm movements, and his complete dedication to helping the Cavs win basketball games.
The arbitrary cut-off marks of an “All-Decade” team hurt Varejao as his best years straddle the line. He played the first 11.5 seasons of his career in Cleveland, then joined the Golden State Warriors for 36 games; he came back and played a handful of games for Cleveland last season to round out his career.
In the 2000s Varejao was just growing into his own as an NBA player, slowly increasing his minutes and role on the team. He was something of a sixth-man during the Cavs’ run to the NBA Finals in 2007, and by the final year of this decade (2008-09) was a starter, including starting all 14 of their postseason games.
Varejao rarely shot outside the paint, and that helped him to an efficient 50.2 percent field goal percentage for the decade. Despite playing alongside another big man and LeBron James for many of his minutes Varejao was a solid rebounder, and he played great positional defense. Only James and Desagana Diop rated as better defender by Defensive Box Plus-Minus over the course of the decade (minimum 100 games played).
The active big man was never a star for the Cavs, but he was an enthusiastic participant in what they were trying to accomplish.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-2000s Team – C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas
At 7’3″ tall Zydrunas Ilgauskas was used to towering over the competition, even in the NBA. His comfort taking jumpers allowed him to leverage that size and shoot over defenders, and his strength gave him options for scoring inside.
The Lithuanian center made his NBA debut with the Cavs in 1997 and played the next 12 seasons in Cleveland before playing one final year in Miami with LeBron James. After he was drafted 20th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft he played just one healthy season across the first five years of his career. Then he got healthy and his his stride.
Over the course of the 2000s Ilgauskas played in a whopping 620 games for the Cavs; only five players logged more games for a single team over that span, and they are names such as Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce (and Jeff Foster – shouts). He dropped in 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
Ilgauskas was a force inside, leveraging his size to wall off the rim. He averaged 1.7 blocks per game, top-10 in the entire league for the decade. His best pure statistical season came in 2002-03 when he made the All-Star team as the primary scorer on a last-place team; he married stats and wins more successfully two years later, averaging 16.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in making his second All-Star appearance.
No player other than LeBron James meant more to the franchise across his tenure. “Big Z” as he was called still holds multiple franchise records despite James’ attempts to take them all. No player has more career offensive rebounds, blocks or fouls than Ilgauskas.
Big Z, The King, The Professor. If nothing else the 2000s Cleveland Cavaliers have some all-time nicknames. From the bottom of the ladder to an MVP-winner and NBA Finals appearance, the decade was a roller coaster for the Cavs and their fans. These five players helped to steer the ride as the best the franchise had to offer across that ten-year span.