The most undeserving All-Stars in Cleveland Cavaliers history

Cavalier All-Star No. 2 - Butch Beard, 1971-72

While the success of the 2008-09 Cavaliers helped lift Mo Williams into All-Star success, Butch Beard's All-Star selection in his lone full season with Cleveland is a more confusing case. After a rookie season with the Atlanta Hawks, Beard served for the U.S. Army before joining the Cavaliers for his second year.

The Cavs ended the season with the second-worst record in the conference at 23-59. The young guard was showing signs of true talent and was one of the Cavs' best players, but he was far from one of the Association's elite stars. At this point in NBA history, every organization had at least one representative in the All-Star game, but the bottom-feeding Cavs were somehow awarded two with Butch Beard joining alongside the team's first-ever draft pick John Johnson.

His selection came in the infant years of the NBA, but the league was quickly expanding and had massive talent already present. For reference, Ohio still had two NBA teams - the Cavaliers and Cincinnati Kings. The entire Association was still under construction, meaning numerous subpar candidates earned All-Star appearances at this time.

Beard was far from the upper end of the NBA, averaging 15.4 points in 12.5 attempts per night. His inefficient 46.4 field-goal percentage was a telling sign that he was not a true star. The 24-year-old was a bad player on a bad team who happened to play a lot of minutes. The next year, his numbers dropped drastically to only 6.6 points per game with the Seattle Seahawks in a diminished role. Beard never joined anohter All-Star roster.

Following his departure from Cleveland, Beard spent his single year with the Seahawks before joining the Golden State Warriors for one-and-a-half seasons before being traded back to the Cavs. Finally, he spent his last four seasons with the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers have celebrated historic talents and plenty of All-Stars, but a few have slipped through the cracks. As a small market team, it is fairly uncommon that players get undeserved accolades, often needing to prove themselves time and time again before they are considered among the stars of the coastal squads. These two Cavs, both for their own reasons, are uniquely engraved in Cleveland basketball history.

Whether they truly deserved their All-Star selection or not, the Cleveland Cavaliers are surely not going to reject the notion of having another elite player on their team.