Mazda Game Changers

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Over the lifetime of the franchise, quite a few Cavaliers have taken home quite a bit of hardware.

The Cavs have had two Rookies of the Year, 16 All-Stars, three All-NBA performers, three J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award winners, a pair of Three-Point Shootout champs and a guy who’s on a few of these lists as well as twice being named the league’s Most Valuable Player as a Cavalier – LeBron James.

But there are a few accolades that’ve eluded the Wine and Gold over the years. And one of those is the NBA’s Sixth Man Award – which no Cavalier has ever won since its inception in 1982-83.

Philadelphia’s Bobby Jones was the first winner of the Sixth Man Award, with the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford winning it most recently. Crawford – who also won it with Atlanta in 2009-10 – is one of only four players to be named the league’s top reserve twice, joining Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf.

Crawford, who’s played for six teams over the course of his 14-year career after originally being drafted by the Cavaliers in 2000, is well on his way to making history this year, once again leading all reserves in scoring at 16.2 ppg.

It’s not that the Cavaliers haven’t had some rock-solid sixth men over the years. Hot Rod Williams was one of the most effective reserves in franchise history with Lenny Wilkens’ squads of the late-80s and early-90s. In the 1989-90 season, Hot Rod averaged 16.8 ppg despite starting just 29 of Cleveland’s 82 games that year. Over a five year span, Williams played in 354 games but started just 78 – averaging 12.6 ppg in that time.

Hot Rod is the gold standard for bench players over the course of the franchise’s four-decade history. But Cleveland’s had some solid sixth (and seventh) men over the years, including John Battle, Ben Poquette, Earl Boykins, Phil Hubbard, Craig Ehlo, Daniel Gibson, Steve Kerr and Edgar Jones.  And the Cavs have a pair of former Sixth Man winners – J.R. Smith (2012-13), Mike Miller (2005-06) – on their current roster.

This year, Jamal Crawford has the inside edge on an unprecedented third Sixth Man Award – with Boston’s Isaiah Thomas, Chicago’s Taj Gibson and the Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson right in the mix.

The odds are against Tristan taking home the hardware. For starters, it’s not an award big men usually receive. Bigs don’t come off the bench with a scoring mentality, especially in Thompson’s case, on a team already loaded with advanced offensive weaponry. Guys like Crawford and Thomas are required to score when they enter the ballgame.

But while Thompson doesn’t score like the guards who’ve hoarded the Award in recent years, he does dominate the boards more than any reserve in the league this year.

In 2014-15, Tristan has led the Cavaliers in rebounding on 23 occasions and in blocked shots 21 times. In 61 games off the bench, Thompson leads all NBA reserves in offensive rebounds per game (3.2) and total rebounds (458) and is second in rebounds per game (7.5). His seven double-doubles off the bench are tied for tops in the league.

Overall, Tristan is 4th in the league in total offensive rebounds (257) and is 5th in offensive boards per game (3.4). On the season, the former Longhorn is averaging 8.5 points on a career-best .547 shooting to go with 8.0 rebounds per contest. And of course, the Wine and Gold’s ironman hasn’t missed a single game in the previous 280 outings.

And Thompson has done some of his best work against the toughest competition. He returned home to Toronto to notch 21 points and 14 boards – nine offensive – in an overtime win over Jonas Valanciunas and the Raptors, becoming the first player since Ben Poquette in 1985 to register numbers like those off the bench.

On Halloween night in Chicago, Tristan became the first bench player in Cavs history to grab 12 offensive rebounds off the bench – part of his 16-point, 13-rebound effort against Pau Gasol and the Bulls. And just last week, going against Pau’s brother Marc (along with Zach Randolph), Tristan came off the bench to lead both teams with 11 boards as the Cavs crushed the Grizzlies at the Grindhouse.

Once the squad’s Achilles’ heel, the Cavaliers bench has been as good as the rest of the squad since mid-January. Matthew Dellavedova brings his unique style of tenacity on both ends, Iman Shumpert has been a godsend on the defensive end and James Jones has been ready to rumble every time his number is called.

But the man in the middle off Cleveland’s bench has been productive, durable and consistent all season. He might not win the Sixth Man Award when the regular season wraps up, but he and his teammates have their eyes set on a bigger piece of hardware anyway.

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Mazda GameChangers: Pleading the Sixth

Just based on physical appearance, you might expect that Mark Price would be the Cavaliers’ all-time leader in assists.

As a second-rounder out of Georgia Tech, Price was an undersized point guard – even back in the 80s – whose game wasn’t that different from the NBA’s all-time assist man, John Stockton, who at 15,806, still has over 3,000 more helpers than the next guy on the list (Jason Kidd - 12,091) and over 5,000 more than the next active player (Steve Nash – 10,335).

Anyone who’s ever watched LeBron James play a single game knows why he’s on the verge of passing Price on the franchise’s all-time assist mark. His intelligence and court-vision is unrivaled. But sometimes it’s still a shock that a player with LeBron’s size and skill – physically faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound – would be so adept at sharing the basketball.

But on Saturday night, when he notched his eighth assist of the night in a win over Phoenix, LeBron tied Price atop the franchise’s all-time assist list with 4,206. On Tuesday night against the Mavericks in Dallas, he’ll jump to the head of the class.  Maybe ….

”I’m not passing it for the rest of the year,” James joked following Monday’s practice. “I want to stay right there with Mark Price; I’m staying right there with the legend. I’m not passing him.”

That’s probably not going to happen. LeBron has already surpassed Price once this year – taking the Cavaliers’ three-point mark from the sleepy-eyed assassin early this season. (And doing so in style – during a 41-point effort in New Orleans.)  LeBron now has 862 treys and counting, passing Price’s mark of 802. The four-time MVP now tops the Wine and Gold’s all-time lists in points scored, scoring average, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, steals and even turnovers. And against Dallas, despite his deference to Price, LeBron will own the assist mark as well.

LeBron has been making history all season long with the Cavaliers. He surpassed Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson and his good friend Ray Allen on the NBA’s all-time scoring list – moving into 21st place. And during Cleveland’s recent win over the Pistons in Detroit, he became the top assist man among forwards in league history, eclipsing Scottie Pippen’s record of 6,135.

After breaking Pippen’s mark, doing so less than two months after his 30th birthday, James reflected on the accomplishment.

”It means way more than what I did, passing Allen Iverson,” explained James. “I get more of a rush seeing my teammates succeed more than myself – and that’s what an assist is all about. Seeing my teammates succeed is always something that I’ve cared about more than anything.”

Price and LeBron are the two top assist men in Cavalier history – with John Bagley (2,311), Terrell Brandon (2,235) and Foots Walker (2,115) rounding out the top five. The No. 7 man on that list, however – Andre Miller – is still the only Cavalier to lead the NBA in assists for a single season, averaging 10.9 per game in 2001-02 (no small feat considering the 29-win team surrounding him).

Both Miller and James did have the good fortune to find Zydrunas Ilgauskas – the franchise’s second-leading all-time scorer – at the other end of their passes. But James has broken the record while also sitting at the top of that scoring list, just one more astounding accomplishment over the course of his still-unfolding Hall of Fame career.

LeBron has been a local (and national) legend dating back to his teenage years. And that’s where he first learned teamwork, unselfishness and cooperation.

“It comes from my little league coaches who always preached there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team,’” recalled the 11-time All-Star. “And no matter how good one individual is, in order to win championships you have to do it as a team, and everyone has to be involved. It started from my little league coach, Frank Walker, to my AAU coach and Coach Dru Joyce and all the way in between there.”

”They taught me the right way,” LeBron concluded. “And for some odd reason, I’ve always loved the success of my teammates more than myself. I’ve always been like that since I was a kid. Even when I first started playing basketball, we had a kid named Sonny on our team that was younger than all of us and he couldn’t catch. In order for him to catch, we had to roll the ball to him so he could pick it up and shoot it off the ground. But when he finally made one, it was like the greatest thing for all of us. I’ll always remember that. It just came natural.”

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Mazda GameChangers: Passing Price

You don’t have to be a bad guy to fall under the category of a player who’s labeled ‘a guy you love if he’s on your team and hate if he’s not.’

Anderson Varejao is a perfect example. The Wild Thing is the most easy-going, funniest, friendliest guy in the world. He’s one of LeBron James’ all-time favorite teammates. But fans in opposing arenas can’t stand him. And he does a pretty good job of getting under an opponent’s skin on the floor, too.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Cavs made official what had been rumored for days when they inked center Kendrick Perkins for the rest of the season. Perkins has been known to ruffle some feathers, himself. He’s got a gruff, rugged style on the floor that’s probably rubbed people wrong along the way. He’d admit it. On Tuesday night, he did.

“I know a lot of teams don’t like me, but that’s fine,” Perkins smiled before suiting up for his Cavalier debut in Detroit. “I’m a good guy if I’m on your team. Other than that, that’s fine. I feel like if another team don’t like me, then I've done my job for the night.”

He got booed by the Motown crowd when he checked in and his first personal foul in the wine and gold was a second-quarter forearm directly to the chest of Anthony Tolliver.

The 12-year veteran – selected 27th overall in the famed 2003 NBA Draft – doesn’t bring eye-popping numbers to the Wine and Gold. He’s averaged 5.6 points, 6.0 boards and 1.2 blocks in 727 career games, including 560 starts – one of three he’s started this season against the Cavs at The Q on January 25.

But here’s the two numbers that really matter: 135 and 1. That’s the number of playoff games he’s played in and NBA titles he’s won – winning a ring with the Celtics in 2008. (Missing a chance to win another when LeBron and his Heat won it in 2012.

”(Kendrick)’s a guy that’s highly-experienced, has played in championship-like situations, so for us to add him is going to really help our interior play,” said Kevin Love before Tuesday’s shootaround. “But also just getting another really big body out there helps us. You love having him on your team, you hate playing against him. He’s definitely one of those guys. He brings a different edge, a different mentality to the team – and he’s a guy that instantly fits because of that mentality”

In Tuesday night’s stormback win, the Wine and Gold didn’t need Perkins’ toughness in the second half, when they locked down and blew by the Pistons. He was 1-for-1 with two fouls in his brief first-half stint. Cleveland’s frontline did pretty well on its own: Kevin Love tied a career-high with his eight three-pointers. Timofey Mozgov continued his rock-solid play – recording four of the Cavs’ six blocks and going 5-of-6 from the floor.

But Coach David Blatt refused to call his new big man an insurance policy on Tuesday night.

“I don’t want to call Perk an insurance policy,” said the first-year coach. “He’s a guy that can really contribute. If you look at our team one of the areas that you would address, if you were thinking, ‘OK how can we get a little better at this stage of the year.’ That’s one of the things you would put your finger on is the fact that we could use one more player with size and experience that can give us physicality and great defense and presence.”

Perkins was actually part of a deal with the Pistons at the Deadline, a three-team deal with the Jazz that brought Enes Kanter to OKC. He was waived by the Jazz two days later and his phone began to ring. One of them was NBA royalty.

“(LeBron) just said, ‘Let’s make this happen. (It’s) been a long time coming,’” explained Perkins. “He’s right. I’ve been wanting to be on the same team with him for a while. So I feel like everything happens for a reason at the right time.”

LeBron, who played AAU with Perkins way-back-when in Oakland, California, knows exactly what the Cavs are getting in the veteran center.

“He knows what it takes to win it all,” said James on Tuesday morning, still wrapped up from the frigid Auburn Hills winter. “He brings toughness to our interior. A great locker room guy. All he cares about is winning. That’s very important to our chemistry. It’s very important to what we’re building here. And we’re happy to have him.”

Perkins won his ring with Doc Rivers in 2008. When he came calling, it was a tough call.

”Yeah (the decision) was hard,” admitted the native Texan. “It was extremely hard. But (Doc) was real honest with me. He told me, ‘I think your best two situations right now is either us or Cleveland.’ So I was like: ‘Doc? Or I have a chance to go play with the King. Doc? The King?

David Griffin, who’s had as efficient a mid-season as he did a blockbuster offseason – has both the league’s best player and its best recruiter.

It’s way too early for anyone to call Kendrick Perkins a game-changer with the Cavaliers. But the two people that chased him were a doc and a king. That should tell you if he is or not.

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Mazda GameChangers: "Perk"

Whatever their record has been heading into the midseason classic, the Wine and Gold’s representatives have almost always done well on All-Star Saturday night. And Kyrie Irving has a chance to continue that trend Saturday night.

In his first three years in the league, Kyrie has made All-Star Weekend his own. In three trips – to Orlando, Houston and New Orleans, respectively – Irving’s gone 8-of-8 from long-distance for 34 points and the MVP Award in the Rising Stars Challenge as a rookie, win the Three-Point Shootout and net 15 points in his first All-Star Game as a sophomore and win the MVP of the 63rd annual contest last year in New Orleans – scoring 15 of his 31 points in the final period, helping the East overcome an 18-point deficit and lock up the 163-155 win.

This Saturday night in Brooklyn, Kyrie will try to repeat the feat. But the competition is daunting, with James Harden, Wesley Matthews, Kyle Korver, the Splash Brothers, J.J. Redick and last year’s winner, Marco Belinelli, rounding out the field.

Kyrie, who’s one of three Cavs on the current roster to win the shootout – James Jones won in Los Angeles in 2011 and Kevin Love, the following season in Orlando – topped San Antonio’s Matt Bonner to win the completion in 2012, finishing two shy of the all-time record with 23 points for the win.

“I felt like I was a darkhorse in this competition,” said a then-20-year-old Irving. “I just want to go out there and prove that I was one of the premiere shooters out here with all these guys – Steve Novak and Matt Bonner. I never thought I’d beat those guys.”

With that win in Houston, Kyrie becomes the second Cavalier in franchise history to win the Three-Point Shootout – following in the footsteps of another prolific point guard, Mark Price, who won it in back-to-back seasons in 1993 and ’94.

Even with the Contest in its early stages, Price joined a group of repeat winners. Larry Bird took the first three and after Dale Ellis won it in 1990, Craig Hodges proceeded to capture the next three.

Price won his first Shootout in Salt Lake City, dethroning Hodges as well as B. J. Armstrong, Dana Barros, Dan Majerle, Reggie Miller, Terry Porter and Kenny Smith. The following night in the All-Star Game, Price went 6-for-9 from long-distance for 19 points.

The diminutive point guard from Georgia Tech was even better the next year, scoring 24 points – still second all-time – to win it again the following year, taking down Armstrong, Barros, Dell Curry, Dale Ellis, Steve Kerr, Eric Murdock and Mitch Richmond. And he was even better again in the Game itself the next night in Minneapolis – going 8-for-10 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from long-distance, for 20 points and five assists.

The Cavs have had other players in the three-point contest over the years. Price finished 5th in 1988 and 7th in 1990; Craig Ehlo, 5th in 1990 and 6th in 1992; Bob Sura finished 8th in 2000, Wesley Person, 2nd in 2002, Damon Jones, 5th in 2007, Boobie Gibson, 2nd in 2008 and 5th in 2011. Kyrie tied for 4th last year before making up for it with his MVP award the next night.

The Skills Challenge is a relatively new feature to All-Star Saturday night, and three Cavaliers – LeBron James (2006, 2nd place, ’07, 3rd), Mo Williams (2009, 3rd) and Kyrie (2012, 6th) have participated in it thus far.

The Cavaliers have featured three players in the Slam Dunk contest (although it’s been a while). Roy Hinson finished 7th in 1986, Ron Harper finished 5th in 1987 and 7th in 1989. Bob Sura took 5th place in 1997.

Dating back to 1994, the Wine and Gold have had 23 players participate in the Rookie Challenge – by whatever name it’s called. At All-Star Weekend in New York in 1998, four Cavaliers made the Rookie squad – Brevin Knight, Cedric Henderson, Derek Anderson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas – with Big Z taking home MVP honors.  Daniel Gibson canned 11 treys to win MVP of the Rookie-Sophomore game in 2008 and Kyrie took top honors at the Rising Stars Challenge in 2012. (Tristan Thompson was almost as good in that game, going 8-for-8 from the floor for 20 points to lead Team Shaq.)

After taking home the Shootout trophy two years ago, Irving said: “Every award and everything I do, the All-Star Weekend is dedicated to the Cavaliers organization, trying to be a great representative for our team.”

He’ll have another chance to represent the Cavaliers organization this year in the Big Apple. But for the first time, he goes into the weekend with his squad fully entrenched in the postseason chase. He and LeBron will be looking to bring home some hardware from New York, but that’s just a warmup for the trophy they and their teammates will be seeking when they return.

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Mazda GameChangers: Mr. Saturday Night

You never know what a player is actually like until he’s part of your squad’s locker room, until you see him play and practice every day. You think you might know what he’s like from articles and SportsCenter snippets. But you don’t.

On January 5, when we first learned that Dion Waiters had been dealt as part of a three-team that would bring Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to Cleveland from New York, there was some trepidation. Waiters was a known commodity and once one cut through his tough South Philly exterior, he was a pretty great guy. Fans knew Shumpert as a tough perimeter defender with cool hair and Smith as a streaky shooter, former Sixth Man winner and the guy who had a penchant for untying opponents’ shoes at the free throw line.

But since J. R. Smith came to Cleveland, all he’s done is produce and be productive – on both ends of the floor and in the locker room. Since his insertion into the starting lineup, the Cavaliers are 8-3 – riding an eight-game win streak heading into this weekend’s back-to-back against Sacramento and Minnesota.

In that first start, as the Cavaliers tipped off a five-game West Coast trip at Golden State, Smith went 11-for-23 from the floor for 27 points and five boards. And it seemed immediately like the well-inked 11-year veteran and the Cavaliers was a marriage made in heaven.

"I just play – when I get an open shot, I shoot; when I don’t, I try to make a play for one of my teammates," summarized Smith. "The way we scramble, the way we hustle, it’s my type of game. We play up and down. It just seems like a perfect fit."

Two games after dropping 27 on the Warriors, Smith followed up with a 29-point outburst in Phoenix. Two nights after that, the Wine and Gold topped the Lakers, snapping a six-game losing streak. That January 15 win in L.A. – in which Smith finished with 14 points – was the first victory he’d played in since November 22, when the struggling Knicks topped the equally beleaguered Sixers.

Since leaving New York, just about all Smith and Shumpert have done is win – including Wednesday’s victory over the Blazers at The Q. Somewhat lost in the Kyrie Irving Show, Smith finished with 11 points, four assists and a steal – the eighth time in 11 starts with Cleveland in which he notched double-figures.

And going back to the earlier point of not knowing a player until you see him every night, Smith’s been just as good on the defensive end since his arrival in Cleveland – as the Cavs’ defensive numbers continue to improve since his acquisition.

"It’s clicking – defensively, we’ve stepped it up," said Smith, following this week’s win over Utah. "On offense, we share the ball and even though we missed a lot of open looks tonight, everyone fell into a good rhythm. When you have that, when everyone is in a good rhythm offensively, we’re sharing the ball, defensively we’re helping one another – the game is fun."

In his 11 starts, Smith has averaged 15.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. Before being dealt to Cleveland, he’d played in 716 career games -- averaging 13.3 ppg with New Orleans, Denver and New York. The 6-6, 220-pounder is a career .370 shooter from beyond the arc and has made at least 100 three-pointers in seven of his last eight seasons.

After a pair of losses in his first two starts with the Wine and Gold, Smith has been an integral part of eight straight wins that have transformed the entire season. So, it’s fair to say that J.R. Smith has been a serious game-changer since his arrival. And we get to watch it unfold on a nightly basis.

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Mazda GameChangers: Mr. Smith Comes to Cleveland

When Anderson Varejao went down with a season-ending Achilles injury on December 23, some were worried that losing their starting center could permanently derail the Cavs’ season. And, although Tristan Thompson has been rock solid manning the middle since Andy’s injury, the Wine and Gold certainly have struggled over the ensuing weeks.

But help was on the way, and in the days before the Cavs departed for their annual mid-January West Coast trip, general manager David Griffin made a pair of big deals to shore up the squad. The first sent Dion Waiters to Oklahoma City in a three-way deal that brought back Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. The second saw Cleveland send a pair of protected first-rounders to Denver in exchange for Timofey Mozgov and the Nuggets’ 2015 second round pick.

The Cavs still haven’t gotten into the win column with Mozgov in the fold, but it’s already obvious the 7-1 Russian is going to make a huge difference. Literally.

(Even his large fellow teammates were a little wowed by his size. After Delly introduced himself to Mozgov when the team arrived in San Francisco, he had to admit: “That’s a big unit.” And Timofey’s deep, Ivan Drago-nian Russian accent doesn’t hurt.)

In his first game against Golden State, Mozgov – who was part of the bronze medal-winning Russian National team coached by David Blatt in the 2012 London Olympics – made an immediate impact, finishing with nine points, eight boards and a blocked shot.

“I think it was not bad for the first time, especially,” said the soft-spoken 28-year-old. “Every time you can be better and every time you can do worse. I think it was not bad preparation, especially with a new team and a new starting offense and defense and everything. The guys with me are so good, make me a part of the family on the first day, so I love it.”

Before joining the Cavs, the St. Petersburg native started 35 games for the Nuggets this season, averaging 8.5 points on .504 shooting to go with a career-best 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per contest.

Mozgov had nine double-doubles coming into the trade and, in his first start as a Cavalier on Sunday evening in Sacramento, notched No. 10 – finishing with 14 points and a team-high 12 boards.

The Russian big isn’t someone who drew Cleveland’s interest only after Varejao’s season-ending injury. He’s actually been on the Wine and Gold’s radar for some time.

"With Andy going down, obviously we really needed a big center to give us size and to give us presence around the basket,” said Coach David Blatt.  "We needed another excellent pick-and-cut player which Timofey is. He’s also an athletic, very big center. His size does not take away from his speed and his ability to run the court which will serve us extremely well."

Blatt continued, "In all honesty, Timofey Mozgov was on our board this summer. He’s a guy that we wanted here in Cleveland. It took a little bit longer but kudos to David Griffin and the management for finding a way to bring him (here)."

It’s no secret that the Cavaliers have struggled through the holidays and in the early part of 2015. But their heavy weaponry is getting healthy and when the team is whole again, they’ll have a true big man in the post. And LeBron James has a long history of making those around him better.

Nobody can accuse Cavs fans of being impatient. And that patience will eventually pay off when the finished product – including Mozgov in the middle and Shumpert on the perimeter and James running the show – finds its rhythm in the season’s stretch run.

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Mazda GameChangers: Man in the Middle

Now one-third through the 2014-15 campaign, the Cavaliers’ offseason for the ages seems like a long time ago. But the fruits of the Wine and Gold’s busy summer continue to pay dividends today.

Of all the moves made over the summer, perhaps the most surprising was the hire of Head Coach David Blatt – who had accumulated a prolific record overseas, but had never coached a game in the Association. And not long after taking the job, Blatt learned that he would be coaching arguably the game’s greatest player – and be expected to lead a team that hasn’t touched the postseason in four years back into the tournament and beyond.

The 55-year-old Blatt is no stranger to success. In his final season with international powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, his squad won the Israeli League, Israeli Cup and Euroleague Championship. In his six seasons with Maccabi, his team won six Israeli League Championships and finished a combined 225-55 over his last four – including a 70-13 mark in 2011-12.

The Boston native also coached the Russian National Team for six seasons and in 2007, led Russia to a FIBA European Championship over then reigning World Champion Spain in Madrid. In the 2012 London Olympics, he led the Russian team to the bronze medal – the only Russian basketball team to medal since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

But in the world of professional sports, it’s always a matter of “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately.” And in that respect, Blatt is still an NBA rookie. And none of those major accomplishments matter at this point.

What does matter is that he has the Cavaliers cruising along through the early part of the season, taking a 18-11 record into this Sunday’s matchup with the Pistons at The Q. But it hasn’t been easy. The new-look Cavs have gotten teams’ best shot every night, have taken it on the chin in a pair of nationally-televised games and will be without starting center Anderson Varejao for the remainder of the season.

And Blatt himself is adjusting to the NBA. The games are four minutes shorter overseas, the schedule isn’t nearly as congested as it is stateside and – although the witty Princeton grad has proven to be the king of pre- and post-game press conferences – he often jokes about the intrusiveness of the questions being asked regarding starting lineups and strategy.

The hire of David Blatt was indeed a game-changer. The Cavaliers could have opted for the proverbial “hot assistant” or dipped into the NCAA ranks. But instead, they went outside the box – and the entire country – to find their man. Coach Blatt has his team right in the thick of things in the East, but the true test will come later this spring.

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Mazda GameChangers: Overseas Import

In Friday night’s loss in New Orleans, LeBron James notched a season-high 41 points – including nine straight to end the third quarter, roasting Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt in the process.

During LeBron’s rousing run, he stepped back behind the arc and, with 1:14 remaining in the period, splashed home the 803rd career three-pointer as a Cavalier – placing him atop another all-time list within the organization and surpassing the great Mark Price to take the top spot.

Younger fans might not even remember the player that James eclipsed this past weekend. But lifelong Wine and Gold aficionados know that if there was ever a game-changer who wore the Cavs uniform, it was Mark Price.

In the franchise-altering 1986 NBA Draft, the Cavaliers tabbed North Carolina center Brad Daugherty with the top overall pick and a crafty two-guard from Miami (Oh) – Ron Harper – seven selections later. At the top of the second round, the Mavericks selected Mark Price with the 25th overall pick. That night, the Cavaliers sent their second-round draft pick in 1989 and other considerations to Dallas in exchange for the rights to the 6-foot, 170-pound All-American from Georgia Tech.

While Daugherty and Harper each started as rookies, Price came off the bench as an apprentice for the incumbent, John Bagley. But once he cracked the starting lineup, there was no looking back.

Frequently considered one of the best shooters in NBA history, Price led the Cavaliers to one of their most successful runs in franchise history. With the exception of the 1990-91 season in which he tore his ACL and played only 16 games, the Cavaliers made the playoffs and won at least 42 games every year Price was a starter.

Though he certainly didn’t fit the NBA mold, the sleepy-eyed point guard from Enid, Oklahoma was named an All-Star four times (1989, 1992-94) and at the time of his retirement was the only Cavalier to be named to an All-NBA Team more than once (1988-89, 1991-94), including All-NBA First Team in 1992-93.

Price led the NBA in free throw percentage twice (1991-92, ‘92-93) and won the NBA’s Long Distance Shootout in back-to-back years (1993-94). Not just a shooter, Price ranked in the top 10 in the league in assists in five of his nine seasons as a Cavalier.

With the emergence of Terrell Brandon, who the Cavaliers drafted with the 11th overall pick in 1991, Price was dealt the Washington Bullets before the start of the 1995 season. But during his nine-year run, he re-shaped the franchise’s record books.

Until LeBron broke his three-point mark, Price held the all-time record with 802 treys. He’s still the Cavaliers all-time leader in free throw percentage (.906) and assists (4,206). He also ranks among the top 10 all-time in franchise history in steals (2nd), three-point field goal percentage (3rd), points scored (5th), free throws made (5th), field goals made (6th), field goals attempted (6th), games played (6th), minutes played (7th) and free throws attempted (7th).

Price was named to the Cavaliers’ All-Time Starting Five during the Cavaliers 30th Anniversary season. He was also the leading vote-getter on the Cavs All-Time Team, as voted on by the Cleveland fans, and his jersey No. 25 was raised to the rafters on November 13, 1999.

LeBron has broken nearly all of the squad’s offensive records since donning the wine and gold as a rookie in 2003. But there’s a classic Cavalier right behind him who had the same burning desire – but nowhere near the same physical tools -- who also elevated the franchise to completely new levels of success.

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Mazda GameChangers: The Price is Right

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