Cleveland Cavaliers By Rob Peterson, NBA.com HEAD COACH John Lucas, (Second year) 2001-02 RESULTS 29-53 (14th in East) SEASON OUTLOOK: Cavs general manager Jim Paxson had a summer that would make a Marine drill sergeant proud. Paxson broke down the Cavs by moving a platoon of players out of town with intent to build them back up with nine new recruits. He sent Andre Miller, the league's assist leader, to the Clippers, Wesley Person, the Cavs' third leading scorer, to Memphis and Lamond Murray, the team's leading scorer, to Toronto. After trading Murray, Paxson told the The Plain Dealer: "Lamond goes to a team that's closer to winning and that's what he wanted, and we cleared the deck for our young guys. For the direction we wanted to go, winning a few more games with veterans isn't the answer in the short term. I'm looking at the big picture." The big picture for Cavs fans, at least this season, does not include many wins. With nine unfamiliar faces, including Darius Miles and rookie Dajuan Wagner, the No. 6 pick in this year's NBA Draft, it will take more than a month of training camp for them to get accustomed to each other. That, and the Cavs are one of the most inexperienced teams in the league. Cleveland's main offensive option, Ricky Davis, has started 13 games in his four seasons. And if they could stay healthy, the Cavs have potentially one of the better frontcourts in the East. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is one of the more talented centers in the league, but has played in only 91 games in the last three seasons and Tyrone Hill is still one of the top rebounding power forwards in the East, but missed 56 games. Notoriously cranky, it will be interesting to see how Hill handles the Cavs' youth movement, because if the Cavs progress slowly, it may be a long season for players and fans alike. VIDEO FLASHBACK: GREAT CALL OF 2001-02 Ricky Davis jam: "Ricky Davis with a step. Ricky Davis is gonna come to the hole and punctuate it strong. That's a tomahawk job right there!" 883k avi | QuickTime WHO'S IN: This team has done more shuffling than a Vegas card dealer. Nine new players will don a Cavs uniform this season. Here's the break down: two draftees (Wagner and No. 35 pick Carlos Boozer), one free-agent rookie (Smush Parker), and six guys acquired in trades (Miles and Harold Jamison from the Clippers, Nick Anderson and Matt Barnes from Memphis, Milt Palacio from Phoenix and Michael Stewart from Toronto). WHO'S OUT: Along with Miller, Murray and Person, Bryant Stith was traded to the Clippers along with Miller, Michael Doleac signed a free-agent contract with the Knicks and Brian Skinner signed with the Sixers. BENCH: If the Cavs are looking for offensive punch off the bench, there isn't much. Most of the points will come from the starters. If Ilgauskas isn't healthy, which is a possibility, Chris Mihm will be called on to start. THE CAVS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS IF ... : The league expands the playoffs to include every team. THE CAVS MISS THE PLAYOFFS IF ... : No ifs. The Cavs are the longest of long shots to make the postseason.		Rookie Dajuan Wagner hopes to add a dash of excitement to the Cavs. Fernando Medina/NBAE/Getty Images P R O J E C T E D   S T A R T E R S POS PLAYER SCHOOL YRS PG Dajuan Wagner Memphis 1 SG Ricky Davis Iowa 4 SF Darius Miles E. St. Louis H.S. 2 PF Tyrone Hill Xavier 12 C Z. Ilgauskas Lithuania 4 S C O U T ' S   T A K E "Cleveland is searching for someone to run that team. ... In the middle, they have one of the top five centers in the league with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, if they can find a way to keep him on the floor longer than 20-25 minutes to be a factor. ... Darius Miles and DaJuan Wagner love to play on the offensive end of the floor. They love to put up shots and have fun, so the fans should get their money's worth. ... They have a lot of young guys on that team. ...Wagner has a ton of confidence, he not short in that area. ... He is the type of guy who has been able to get his numbers and his shots, but he's going to need to learn to blend in with the four guys on the floor with him. He's used to having the ball in his hands. It should be a learning process in itself. ... Still, Miles and Wagner will bring a lot of energy, and if that doesn't help, their coach, John Lucas will lend a lot of energy. Cleveland is one of those team that needs to find its rhythm and confidence in order to get some wins." -- Eastern Conference assistant coach 2 0 0 1 - 0 2   L E A D E R S PPG Lamond Murray 16.6 RPG Tyrone Hill 10.5 APG Andre Miller 10.9 SPG Andre Miller 1.56 BPG Zydrunas Ilgauskas 1.35 F A N T A S Y   S L E E P E R Ricky Davis - Guard Davis, the team's fourth leading scorer last season is the only one of the four who returns this season. Davis, with Darius Miles, should become the main option when it comes to the Cavs' offense. T H E   S T A T 22.7 Without Bimbo Coles, Nick Anderson or Tyrone Hill, who are all 34, the average age of the 11 other signed players on the Cavs roster.
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