History of the Cleveland Cavaliers

70s - Team Play

The Cavalier’s franchise entered the NBA in 1971 as an expansion team. The best season of their early days featured a 49 win season where the scoring load was heavily spread out. That year there were 7 different players averaging double digits in ponts with no one chosen to play on the all start team.

80s - First Superstars

There isn’t much good to say about the franchise in the early 80s as they didn’t crack 36 wins in the first seven years. However their future began to look bright as they acquired two youngs stars in the sharpshooter Mark Price, and big man Brad Daughtery on top of veteran Larry Nance. This team won 57 games but lost to Jordan’s Bulls in the first round.

90s - More Jordan Losses

As Price and Daughtery continue to develop continue to make the playoffs. In fact in the 8 years they played together on the Cavs, they only missed the playoffs twice. Unfortunately they had to face Michael Jordan and his Bulls in five of those years and lost in every matchup. Once both stars left or retired, the franchise began its slow decline back into a rebuild.

00s - The Chosen One

All the stars aligned for Cleveland as they rebuilt while Lebron James, a hometown hero, rose into arguably the most hyped up draft prospect ever. They drafted him first overall out of college and he lived up to his expectations on the court. In 2009 he brought the team to the NBA finals but got swept by the Spurs. The franchise couldn’t surround him with enough help which led him to leave for Miami in 2010.

10s - Return of the King

One season after Lebron left they made another great draft pick in Kyrie Irving. He quickly began to be seen as one of the league’s next superstars and in 2014 Lebron and all star Kevin Love joined the Cavs franchise. In Lebron’s second stint in Cleveland of four years, the team made the Finals all four years and won one championship.