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October 21, 2013
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The Cleveland Cavaliers will retire Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ number 11 in a ceremony on March 8th according to Cleveland.com’s Mary Schmitt Boyer. Ilgauskas’ number will be the seventh raised to the roof at the Quicken Loans Arena.
Zydrunas ranks in Cleveland’s top five in nearly every statistical category you would want a center to do so. He is the team’s second leading scorer in franchise history with 10,616 points, and its most prolific rebounder.
He is currently general manager Chris Grant’s assistant.
Back in 2008 Andrew broke down the case for Ilgauskas’ jersey retirement.
[Related: Cleveland Uni talk- Cavaliers]
12 Comments
Good for Z! If I can, I hope to make it to the game
This is borderline acceptable if your franchise is around for 40 years without doing much of anything But.while you’re up in those rafters, please let the Nate Thurmond and Bingo Smith jerseys fall to the floor. Those are a joke, even for an org desperate to invent warm fuzzies. Otherwise it really isn’t much of a tribute to Z.
I’m mixed on this but given the other #s already retired what’s the difference.
#GibsonIsNext!
I agree. I understand why they did them at the time, but we don’t need those jerseys up there anymore.
The most pathetic collection of retired jerseys in professional sports — Z was AVERAGE.
When healthy, he was better than average. He wasn’t an all-time great in the history of the NBA. He wasn’t a transcendent talent in any sense of the word. But he was a good player on some really good teams with the Cavs. He might have been better if not for all the foot injuries…which really is a crying shame. His heart has always been Cleveland.
THERE’S NO ROOM FOR SENTIMENT IN SPORTS!
He was a guy who seemed destined to be a draft bust with his injuries, but he fought through them and forged a solid NBA career despite them. He gave his heart and soul to the team to the point that he became embedded in the local community and still lives and works here. So, yeah, his play may not really merit the jersey in the rafters, but his story sure does.
At a minimum, he has more blocks, points and rebounds than any other player (not named Lebron) in team history. He won’t go down as an NBA great…but he’s certainly a Cavs great. To me, this isn’t about retiring a number because of NBA history…but because of Cavs history.
Cavs history is pathetic. If you want to perpetuate the sorry past, then retire his number. His career arc mirrors that of Billy Paultz, Tom Owens, Dave Robisch, Clyde Lovellette, and SWEN NATER (based on win-shares). Why is mediocrity accepted/honored in Cleveland? Ridiculous.
He’s one of the best (and classiest) Cavaliers in our “pathetic” history. If you don’t like the Cavs, go root for another team. If you don’t like the Cavs, why are you posting here…other than to troll?
No, Ben, the Cavs are the team I grew up with and will always root for (and I live in L.A., getting bombarded with Lakers talk on the radio all year). I agree that Z is classy, and was a great teammate during his years in CLE. I am posting here because I disagree with their standards for retiring jerseys. I would be all for Z being in the Cavs Hall of Fame (does that even exist?), but retiring numbers should be for NBA HOF guys only (that played significant years with the Cavs). Like it or not, the Cavs history IS pathetic — and trust me, I wish it were different.