The Cleveland Cavaliers are also known as the Cavs, based in Cleveland, Ohio are professional basketball team. They started playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the year 1970 as a development team and won their first Eastern Conference Championship in the year 2007.
Under the ownership of Nick Mileti, Cleveland Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team. The Brett Tomko and Jerry Tomko’s father submitted the winning entry to name the team the "Cavaliers" through a competition sponsored by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Under the direction of head coach Bill Fitch, playing their home games at Cleveland Arena, they compiled a league-worst 15–67 record. Cleveland Cavaliers hoped to build around the number one in 1971 draft pick Austin Carr who had set uncountable scoring records at Notre Dame, but Carr severely injured his leg shortly into his pro career and never was able to realize his potential.
The coming seasons saw the Cavaliers gradually improve their on-court performance, because of season-by-season additions of talented players such as Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, Jim Cleamons and Dick Snyder. Cleveland improved their performance to 23–59 in their sophomore season, followed by a 32–50 record in the year 1972–73, and a small step backwards to 29–53 in the year 1973–74.
|