Here’s a quick look at some of the more interesting evenings in the sometimes successful, sometimes strange history of Cavaliers’ draft nights …

Before the Cavaliers ever took part in an amateur draft, they had to field a squad – so in the 1970 Expansion Draft they put together a team of players – some notable (Bingo Smith, Johnny Egan, Walt Wesley) and some not (Don Ohl, Loy Peterson).

One player – Butch Beard – was drafted twice before he ever arrived in Cleveland.

He was chosen by the Atlanta Hawks in 1969, but was then selected by a higher power – Uncle Sam – one year later. With the Vietnam War raging, Beard was drafted, but luckily served his stretch at Fort Knox. When he was done, the Cavaliers chose him with their first pick in the Expansion Draft. He played in the 1972 All-Star Game and was eventually part of the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warriors squad.

The original Head Coach of the Cavaliers was Bill Fitch, a Midwestern guy and former Marine Corps drill instructor, who liked the rough-and-tumble world of the Big Ten. Of the first five Cleveland drafts, three of the top picks – John Johnson (Iowa), Jim Brewer (Minnesota) and Campy Russell (Michigan) – were Big Ten guys.

Before he was done, Fitch had drafted 15 players from the Big 10 and 11 players overall from schools in Ohio.

One of the Big Ten players Fitch selected was center, Luke Witte – (now the ordained minister, Luke Witte). The OSU star was the first seven-footer ever chosen by the Cavaliers and a Buckeye teammate of Al Hornyak – who was drafted by Cleveland 31 picks earlier – and Jimmy Cleamons – who was acquired by Fitch at a later date.

But Witte attained notoriety not from his rebounding prowess in Columbus, but from an ugly brawl in Minnesota in 1972.

Witte committed a hard foul against Gopher guard Bob Nix early in the game. After being knocked down in return for that foul, Minnesota guard Corky Taylor extended a hand to help Witte up. But as he did, Taylor kneed Witte in the groin and punched him in the head. Luke’s teammate, Mark Wagar, attempted to come to Witte’s aid, but was jumped by a pair of Golden Gophers – namely MLB Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield, and future Cavalier, Jim Brewer.

Witte received 29 stitches in the affair and went on to be an integral part of the Miracle of Richfield team.

The Miracle team had its share of colorful characters, including John Lambert, who was chosen No. 1 – 15th overall – out of Southern California in 1975.

Lambert had matinee idol good looks, but when he finally reached the screen, he was in costume. Lambert played six seasons with the Cavaliers and also played a “Sleestack” on the appropriately short-lived pre-historic children’s show, “Land of the Lost” – the adventures of Marshall, Will and Holly on a routine expedition.

At least he didn’t get cast as “Chaka.”

In 1977, the Cavaliers drafted a scrappy guard from Rutgers by the name of Ed Jordan.

Of course, he now goes by "Eddie" Jordan and has faced his former team in the First Round of the Playoffs the last three seasons as Head Coach of the Washington Wizards.

Twenty-two years before selecting LeBron James, the Cavaliers struck gold in 1971, landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, which they used on Notre Dame’s Austin Carr.

The Cavaliers didn’t use another first round choice on a member of the Fighting Irish until 1979, when they used their first two picks on Golden Domers. The first pick – Bruce Flowers – played one year in Cleveland, averaging 4.9 ppg in 53 contests. That year's second-rounder played two seasons with better numbers, but went on to bigger and better things after leaving the Buckeye State.

That man was Bill Laimbeer and his coach for 41 games in 1981-82 – Chuck Daly – must have seen something he liked. The two won a pair of World Championships with the Detroit Pistons.

Oh, and Laimbeer was also once a Sleestack on “Land of the Lost.”

In 1980, the Cavaliers used their first round pick on a guard who starred on the North Carolina-Charlotte team that reached the Final Four in 1977, Chad Kinch. The 6-4 combo guard had a short run – 29 games – in Cleveland, and, unfortunately, had an equally short life.

Kinch died at 35 of complications from AIDS on April 3, 1994.

In 1985, the Cavaliers selected a homegrown player, Charles Oakley – the rugged forward from Virginia Union. But Oak, who played high school ball at Cleveland's John Hay High, never donned the Wine and Gold. Instead, he was shipped to Chicago for the rights to Memphis State forward, Keith Lee.

Lee played two years with the Cavaliers, averaging an underwhelming 6.7 points per contest in 125 games. Oakley went on to win multiple NBA Championships with the Bulls, was an All-Star in 1994 and twice led the league in rebounding.

If the 1985 Draft featured a big blunder, the Cavaliers made up for it the next season, swapping forward Roy Hinson – their 1983 first round pick – and $800,000 for the rights to the top pick in 1986: Brad Daugherty.

Seven picks later, the Cavaliers selected high-flying two-guard Ron Harper from Miami of Ohio.

And later that day, they made a deal with Dallas for the No. 25 pick – a smallish, slowish guard from Georgia Tech named Mark Price.

Daugherty went on to be a five-time All-Star, but four of the next six players chosen in that Draft attained infamy in a less productive way.

Maryland's Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose before ever playing a game for the Celtics and William Bedford, Chris Mashburn and Roy Tarpley had more than their share of off-the-court problems before their forgettable careers came to a close.

Ten years after choosing the most prolific big man in franchise history, the Cavaliers hit big with another center that would also be selected multiple times to play in the mid-season classic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Big Z would go on to make two All-Star squads and be the first big man to lead Cleveland to the NBA Finals – going eight years between Playoff appearances.

Although Ilgauskas was chosen in 1996, foot surgery kept him from playing his rookie season. So in 1997, he joined the Cavaliers trio of picks – Derek Anderson, Brevin Knight and Cedric Henderson – in a lineup that produced four players in the Schick Rookie Game at the All-Star Game in New York that year.

Z was named MVP of that contest, netting a game-high 18 points. The Large Lithuanian was also one of three rookies to play in all 82 games (81 starts) that season. Later that year, Z went on to great success against Indiana's Rick Smits in the First Round of the Playoffs – averaging 17.2 points and 7.5 boards per game against the veteran center.

In 1999, the Cavaliers had a bittersweet Draft. They had the 8th and 11th overall picks. One, Andre Miller, would go on to have a stellar NBA career that is still productive to this day. The other, Trajan Langdon, not so much.

Miller is now a guard for the Sixers and is still the only Cavalier ever to lead the league in assists – doing so three years after being drafted.

Langdon struggled in three seasons with the Cavaliers, averaging just 5.4 ppg in 119 contests. But the Alaskan Assassin did have some success overseas. He was named Finals MVP after winning the Euroleague Title with CSKA Moscow.

The Cavaliers had another tough Draft night in 2001, when then-coach John Lucas used the No. 8 overall pick on a raw seven-footer from Oak Hill Academy – DeSagana Diop. The Senegalese center was dubbed “Baby Shaq” by Lucas, but never came within a fraction of living up to that moniker. After three frustrating seasons in Cleveland, Diop signed with Dallas, where he eventually got within a game of an NBA title.

The remaining Cavalier drafts have unfolded before our eyes, most notably in the person of LeBron James – who is on pace for a Hall of Fame career. Two years ago, the Cavaliers tabbed Michigan State's Shannon Brown in the first round and discovered a diamond-in-the-rough – Daniel Gibson – in the second.

Brown battled nagging injuries throughout his rookie season and occasionally showed glimpses of the off-the-charts athleticism that made him the No. 25 overall selection as a sophomore. This past February, Brown was shipped back to his hometown in an 11-player trade that sent the former Spartan to the Bulls, for whom he played sparingly.

Gibson, on the other hand, made himself a household name at the end of his rookie season – gaining momentum through each round of the NBA Playoffs. In the deciding Game 6 against Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals, Gibson scored 19 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and propelled Cleveland into the NBA Finals.

This past season, the No. 42 overall pick went on to improve his numbers across the board, and was named MVP of the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge – leading everyone with 33 points after canning a record 11 three-pointers. The next day, Gibson finished second to Jason Kapono in the Foot Locker Three-Point Shoot-Out in New Orleans.