Ten names could easily have made the top five role players in Cleveland Cavaliers history. These guys are the security blankets of the stars, bailing them out with big shots, key offensive rebounds or pivotal stops. In six different decades, the organization has had quality players star in their duty to help the Cavaliers get to the Finals, Playoffs or just through the year.
The term “role player” often gets treated like a dirty phrase when using it to label an athlete. But it shouldn’t be because, in the NBA, 85% of the players are role guys. The background players, similar to band performers who aren’t the lead singer or guitarist, are still good enough to make an All-Star team through their impact. In the right situation, a role player could have a hall-of-fame-worthy career. I submit Golden State’s Draymond Green and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert (yes, him too) as evidence for guys who will likely enter Naismith.
Yet, in most cases, they will be the dudes who sacrifice significant minutes, touches and their bodies. The stars are the primary difference makers, but a role player can change a series. Ray Allen’s corner equalizer in 2013 (when he was a senior citizen), Fred VanVleet’s long-range precision in 2019 and more recently, Mitchell Robinson going berserk on the boards for New York against the Cavaliers in 2023 has taught me enough.
Below are some of the finest rough riders to don Wine and Gold threads.
Honorable Mentions
The mobile Brazilian center was drafted with the first pick of round two in the 2004 Draft by the Orlando Magic but wouldn’t get traded to The Land until a month later. He was mostly used as a high-energy reserve who was a capable roller after the screen and was acknowledged on the NBA’s Defensive Second Team in 2010. He was a flop merchant as well.
In both seasons the Cavaliers won at least 60 games in 2009 (66) and 2010 (61), Varejão was 15th and 20th in minutes among centers. Those were his best two years finishing in the restricted area at marks of 70% and 69.1%, per Basketball Reference. LeBron James assisted on 211 of Varejão’s buckets in those years, regular seasons plus post.
The original switchblade for the Cavaliers in its inaugural season stood at 6-foot-8 and played power forward. The rookie Sorenson averaged 11.3 points per game in 79 outings. In the outfit’s first win, 16 matches into the campaign while visiting Portland, Sunshine (Sorenson) supplied 12 points and six rebounds off the bench.
That year, he turned into a focal point against some matchups, scoring at least 20 points on 10 occasions, four of which were wins. Keep in mind that the Cavaliers only won 15 games in 1970/1971. On plenty of other nights, he was a jag (just a guy) assisting an expansion team.
Sorenson appeared in 165 games for the Cavaliers across three seasons before getting traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in November 1972.
Sorenson died of cancer in Findley, Ohio, on July 9, 2002.
Zabonis (Ilgauskas) logged 23,839 minutes in the regular season and Playoffs combined for the Wine and Gold, per Basketball Reference. He even made two All-Star teams in 2003 and 2005.
The Lithuanian’s jump shot and footwork made him a fan favorite and a preferred target for playmakers. But he could buy a bucket on his own, too, as evidenced by teammates only assisting on 63.1% of his two-point field goals.
Ilgauskas averaged 12.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game during the 2007 Postseason in which Cleveland made its first NBA Finals.
The Cavaliers retired his jersey on March 8, 2014.
John Howard Williams was a late second-round pick (45) in 1985. He missed his real rookie season (1986) while waiting to clear his name in a point-shaving trial but played for the Rhode Island Gulls and Staten Island Stallions of the United States Basketball League in the meantime.
When he got to Cleveland, after being found not guilty, for 1986/1987, he earned All-Rookie First Team honors playing next to the latest #1 overall pick, Brad Daugherty, and eighth pick Ron Harper, who also were recognized.
In Williams’ second season, he helped the Cavaliers reach the Playoffs for the fifth time in its history. In the 1992 Playoffs, he averaged 15 points and 7.6 rebounds per game through 17 outings as the group reached its second Eastern Conference Finals. For the third time since 1988, the Chicago Bulls eliminated the Cavs, but that season was the first time it won multiple rounds in the Playoffs.
Williams played with Cleveland until 1995. His numbers sit at 10th in made field goals, eighth in rebounds and fifth in blocks for the Cavaliers in the Playoffs.
He died of colon cancer on Dec. 11, 2015.
Drafted fourth by the Cavs in the 2011 Draft, Thompson soon emerged as one of the top offensive rebounders and switching centers in the league. In his first five seasons, he missed just 22 games. At one point, he suited up for 447 straight nights without an absence until he injured his thumb in 2017.
He was a lob threat and solid screener, too, offensively, who earned generational wealth mainly off keeping possessions for James alive.
In the first quarter of Game 6 of the 2016 Finals, Thompson picked up nine rebounds as the Cavaliers raced out to a 20-point lead over the defending champions. In Game 7 at the Oracle, he blocked a lob to Festus Ezeli and then victimized him, rejecting his dunk on a rim roll two-and-a-half minutes later.
Thompson led the 2015 and 2016 Finals in offensive rebounds. He also finished third in Playoff minutes for the team behind James and Smith and first in offensive rebounding.
Ehlo was a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who succeeded in Cleveland, his second NBA stop. He is infamously remembered by most young people who have seen the tape of Michael Jordan’s game-winner against the Cavaliers on May 7, 1989, but Ehlo had 24 points on nine of 15 shots that night. And fun fact: the two players he mentioned when asked who he hated guarding the most were Larry Bird and Clyde Drexler.
He was a good rotation player, assisting on 17.5% of his teammates’ field goals in Cleveland, per Basketball Reference. Mr. Everything (Ehlo) was a tough shot-maker and was decent on defense as well, being able to guard multiple positions.
In seven seasons with Cleveland, Ehlo played at least 80 games four times and completed three full campaigns. Ehlo is 10th in regular season Cavalier assists and 12th in made triples.
J.R. Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers. John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Smith was traded to Cleveland on Jan. 5, 2015 as a throw-in thanks to Phil Jackson, then president of the New York Knicks. As a Cavalier, he became the starting shooting guard for the group that went to four consecutive NBA Finals (2015-2018) and helped the team win its first league title in 2016.
He was an incendiary shooter, an active cutter, a stellar athlete and a vital point-of-attack defender. In Game 3 of the 2016 Finals, Smith shattered Golden State’s perimeter protections with five trifectas on 10 tries in the blowout win.
In Game 7, apart from undercutting Andre Iguodala’s dash to the basket so LeBron James could catch up and pin the rock to the glass, Henny God (Smith) uncorked the Cavalier’s second-half offense with Draymond Green and Klay Thompson covering him. That night, Smith held the Larry O’Brien Trophy with his teammates.
Two years later, Smith was made the butt of jokes when he recovered an offensive rebound in Game 1 of the Finals at the Oracle and ran to the perimeter with the match tied, sending it to overtime. James had 49 points then and was visibly frustrated with Smith. It wasn’t pretty, but most people who ripped him never noticed that before George Hill got to the line, James had the ball and traveled. Had the ref seen it before the pass, it’s curtains. Check the tape.
In his tenure with the Cavaliers, Smith finished as No. 2 in playoff minutes, 3-point makes and steals behind James.