[ESPN] Ex-coach John Lucas: Cleveland tanked to draft LeBron

Makes on pine for the days of the regional draft.

 

And the sky is blue.

 

And the Net's just play ball so they can get on Dancing with the Stars...

 

While they probably did tank to get Lebron (who wouldn't have?), Gund is right; those trades were pretty much all justifiable. Who wants to pay Andre Miller max money or keep mediocre, old players like Lamond Murray and Wesley Person instead of developing young talent?

 

And tanking that year was the wrong thing to do because......

 

If you Drink and Drink you'll go to jail.

 

I can see that it does no favors for the coach, who gets a worse record and then gets fired halfway through the season.

 

say wut?!

 

If Rockets did what they were supposed to be doing, they would have had Brandon Roy locked up.

 

I don't think John Lucas would have been safe that year in Cleveland putting up another 29 win season with the established veterans that were traded away.

 

How low of them!!!nobody expected the rockets 2 b
Where their @ now.we cldv easily tanked the season
Ths yr but they played hard no matter wt.dats f'd up
Of them.now I do hate da cavs.cheatin a** ppl.n guess
Wat hahaha dey still hvnt won s***t!!!

 

Like just having two drinks?!?!? Oh no-zers, I am so screwed.

 

If you drink and drink you will post like this.

 

LOL! Nice.

 

:grin: haha. so true. so true..

 

Exactly, thank you.

In 2002 they landed Darius Miles, who at the time seemed like a major get. They also had Dajuan Wagner, whom IIRC was their 6th pick in the first round. Not to mention a then unheralded Carlos Boozer from the 2nd round. Ricky Davis was a prolific (albeit cancerous) scorer and Z was a top tier center. On paper it seemed like a nice little group to try to build around.

Compared to the previous season where guys like JUMAINE JONES, WESLEY PERSON, and LAMOND MURRAY were major pieces of the team. I remember playing NBA Live thinking 'what a f'n boring POS team to use' but as a diehard Cavs fan I could never use another. "Tyrone Hill for 2, and a miss" I love this game.

In hindsight we know Miles gave as much effort in his whole career as Tmac did in the Toronto game, Dajuan quickly disappeared from the league, Boozer broke out after Lebron came, and Ricky Davis likes to get triple-doubles by rebounding his own miss on the Cavs' own basket.

Yes, the Cavs wanted Lebron. But they were legitimately trying to 'reboot'. The Cavs were stuck in a cycle of rotating average NBA journeymen since the Price/Daugherty era ended.

 

Our education tax dollars at work.

 

"Nice strategy"

 

Tanking doesn't even ensure you the #1 Pick.