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CHAPTER FIVE

The Orange and Blue Era

“Show people how to have success and then you can push their expectations up.”

—Lenny Wilkens

The Gund brothers now owned Richfield Coliseum, so it seemed like a natural move for them to also purchase the venue’s main revenue producer, the Cleveland Cavaliers. It didn’t take long for the Gund brothers to shake things up by changing the team’s colors from wine and gold to orange and blue. They also replaced the swordsman mascot to the word Cavs, with the V as a net. Theses changes, although small, made a huge impact on the direction of the franchise for years to come. It was a new era in Cleveland basketball, one that would provide fans with hope once again.

The Gunds were new to the world of professional basketball, but it didn’t take them long to place an NBA veteran in their front office to build the team: Wayne Embry. He was chosen to assemble a team that could make a quick turnaround and once again make the Cavaliers a playoff contender. Born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1937, Embry attended and played basketball for Tecumseh High School and from there went on to play basketball at Miami University of Ohio. The St. Louis Hawks drafted him in 1958 before he was traded to the Cincinnati Royals. His pro career covered eleven years playing for the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. After a lot of behind-the-scenes front-office work while playing in Milwaukee, Embry eventually became the first African American general manager of an NBA team after retirement as a player. The Milwaukee Bucks made history by having Embry as their GM for seven seasons. After his seven-year run in Milwaukee, Embry decided that it was time to take a break, and he stepped away from the game for a few years. In 1986, the Gund brothers brought Embry back to the Cleveland Cavaliers headquarters to begin building a dynasty.

Embry’s first move was to bring in a coach to help guide the team. His choice was Lenny Wilkens, a man who would eventually go down as one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. Wilkens was born on October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York. Wilkens graduated from Providence College, where he was a two-time All-American who led his team to its first appearance in the NIT tournament. His time playing at the school was so impressive that years later, in 1996, they decided to retire his number 14 jersey. At the time of his graduation, he was the second all-time leading scorer in school history.

Lenny followed up an impressive college career with an even better professional stint in the NBA. He was drafted by the St. Louis Hawks in 1960 and went on to play eight seasons for them. In his rookie year with the Hawks, the team made the championship round, losing to the Boston Celtics. For the next seven years in Boston, they made the playoffs routinely but never again returned to the championship. Perhaps his most impressive season was in 1967–68, when he finished second to the great Wilt Chamberlain in the season’s MVP voting.

In a surprising move, the Hawks dealt Wilkens to the Seattle SuperSonics in 1968 for Walt Hazzard. Wilkens was named head coach while still playing for the SuperSonics prior to the 1969–1970 season. He was able to perform well, even with the added pressure of coaching, making the All-Star team three more times during his days with Seattle. Not only did the team’s record improve under the direction of Wilkens, but he also managed to average more than 20 points, over 6 rebounds, and 8 assists per game during his playing days there. Those statistics would be great for any player, let alone one who was also focusing his time on coaching. Wilkens was traded from Seattle to Cleveland in 1972 and spent two seasons with the Cavaliers before finishing his career with the Portland Trail Blazers. He retired as a Trail Blazer after the 1974–75 season and then went on to coach with them for the 1976 season.

When Wilkens’s playing career was finished, it would be considered one of the best of all time. He was voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989 for his playing career. He was a nine-time All-Star and the league’s MVP in the 1971 All-Star game. He was masterful at both scoring and assists. He showed how he was an unselfish teammate by leading the league in assists for the 1969–1970 season. The Seattle SuperSonics retired his jersey number, 19, and he was also voted into the All-Time Fiftieth Anniversary NBA team.

Wilkens enjoyed his time as a player and coach in both Seattle and Portland. It was only a matter of time after he retired from playing that he would once again roam the sidelines as a coach. He returned to Seattle, replacing Bob Hopkins, a quarter of the way through the 1977–78 season. The team had only five victories at that point in the season, and the pressure was placed on Wilkens to turn things around. It didn’t take long for him to do so, because the SuperSonics began to dramatically improve: They won 11 of their first 12 games under his direction and never looked back. They used the momentum of the winning streak, along with the masterful coaching skills of Wilkens, to take them all the way to the NBA championship series. The SuperSonics eventually lost to the talented Washington Bullets in the finals. Despite the loss in the championship, it was a sign that Wilkens would have a long and successful career as a coach.

The SuperSonics returned to the championship series the very next season. They faced the Washington Bullets again, this time winning the series in a mere five games. The championship was the first and only in Seattle NBA history. Wilkens showed that he could manage a team of All-Stars, including such talents as Gus Williams, Jack Sikma, and finals MVP Dennis Johnson. He also proved he could handle bench talent with his use of reserves Paul Silas and Fred Brown.

When Wilkens left his coaching position in Seattle, it didn’t take long for Wayne Embry to offer him a contract coaching the Cavaliers for the 1986–87 season. This move proved the team was headed in the right direction with the ownership, general manager, and head coach all in place. It would be only a matter of time before winning ways would return to Cleveland.

Cavaliers who played under Wilkens described him as one of the smartest and best coaches they ever played for. They respected him because he played the game of basketball and had a true understanding of what it took to win. As Larry Nance said,

Coach Wilkens understood how to communicate with his players without yelling at them, and that is why he was so successful. We were a great group, and it was because we had the best coach ever. As a person, he was even better because he cared about you and never yelled at you. He was stern and would let you know what you were doing wrong, but then after practice sit down with you and talk about family. He was that kind of coach, and it made us feel like we were part of a family. If I ever coach, or if my children decide to coach, I want them to be identical to that man because he was awesome.

The Cavalier roster was decent but also in need of improvements in certain areas. The pressure was on Embry to make the proper selections in the upcoming draft. It would also be crucial for him to lure free agents to play in Cleveland.

June 17, 1986, would be the day that changed the course of history for Cleveland basketball for many years to come. It was on that day that the Cavaliers drafted Brad Daugherty, a center out of the University of North Carolina. Cleveland acquired the first pick, which Embry used on Daugherty, in a trade the day before that sent Roy Hinson to the Philadelphia 76ers. It was one of the smartest moves in Embry’s career as general manager. Seven picks later, the Cavaliers selected Ron Harper out of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Both players were highly touted college players. The Cavaliers then went on to select Johnny Newman, Kevin Henderson, Warren Martin, Ben Davis, Gilbert Wilburn, and Ralph Dalton in the draft as well. Embry was not done dealing yet on that fateful day, though: He would send a future 1989 second-round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights of Mark Price, who was also a first-round pick coming out of the Georgia Institute of Technology. With the acquisition of Price, the Cavaliers now had three first-round talents on their roster.

Mark Price

Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1965, Brad Daugherty grew into a seven-foot frame that was destined for the hardwood. Daugherty excelled at basketball while playing at Charles D. Owen High School. With Daugherty’s leadership on the court, his high school team reached the 1982 State Finals before losing in the championship game.

Daugherty was a top recruit later that year for Dean Smith and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels, and he would be remembered as one of the few players to play for a Hall of Fame coach in both college and then the pros. Many considered Daugherty to be one of the best centers to ever play for UNC. He was a two-time All-ACC first-team selection and a first-team All-American in his senior season, during which he averaged more than 20 points a game. Based on his impressive college basketball career, Daugherty was later inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Joining Daugherty on the Cavaliers that year was fellow first-round draft pick Ron Harper, who had been a collegiate All-Star and drew many comparisons to Julius Erving for his high-flying style. Harper was a two-time MAC player of the year and made the NCAA All-American second team in his senior season. He immediately showed that Embry’s faith in him was warranted, averaging more than 22 points a game in his rookie season. Harper was voted second for the Rookie of the Year to Indiana Pacer Chuck Person.

Mark Price was the player in charge of keeping things running smoothly. A fellow first-round pick of the Dallas Mavericks, he was the perfect man to lead the charge. Price had grown up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he attended Enid High School. After graduation, he went to play college basketball at Georgia Tech and, with hard work and court savvy, he managed to establish himself as the leader of the team. He was a two-time All-American and the recipient of All-ACC honors for all four years of his college career. In the 1984–85 ACC championship game, he led his team to a win over UNC and his future teammate, Brad Daugherty. He was also named ACC player of the year. Price’s jersey number at Georgia Tech was retired in acknowledgment of his great college career.

Joining forces with the top three draft picks was Cavaliers 1985 draft pick John “Hot Rod” Williams. Legal problems forced him to sit out his rookie season after being selected by Cleveland in the draft. He’d had a solid career at Tulane University and under Embry, and the Cavaliers were willing to look past his somewhat checkered past and place him full into the fold. Former teammate Larry Nance disclosed how it was to play with “Hot Rod”: “He was very underrated as one of the best low-post defensive players that have ever been around. He was a great defensive guy and also a great friend. Once you’re his friend, he will do anything in the world for you. We became great friends and we still talk today.”

Midway through the 1986–87 season, Embry decided to sign free agent guard Craig Ehlo. Ehlo reflected on growing up learning the game:

There was only one game a week on television when I was growing up, so I didn’t really have any one athlete I molded myself after. The most influential person in my life who helped me with basketball was my high school coach Joe Mahaga at Monterey. He was influential in teaching me the fundamentals of the game. He taught us a continuity-type offense, where we would pass the ball about six times before we got anything to look at shot wise. I was blessed in that area because he was determined to teach us the strict fundamentals and the teamwork part of the game, which helped me develop as a player. I wasn’t a very big kid in high school at 6-foot 4-inches tall, so I had to find ways to perform well with using my size against larger opponents. My junior college coach, Ron Mayberry, was also very influential in helping me develop every aspect of my game. I was built to be a swing-type player because I could handle the ball and shoot the ball well at my size.

Ehlo attended Odessa College and Washington State after that. He reflected on that time in his life and his basketball career:

My high school team made it to the regional championships in Texas, and I was lucky enough to lead my team in scoring. However, I think my size may have deterred any school from recruiting me. I didn’t have a lot of offers out of high school, even though my team was successful. I did have a few accolades such as being All-State and things like that. I just chose junior college because it was a better avenue for me and close to my home in Lubbock, Texas. I went down there for two years and that was a big part of my life because I was able to put on some more weight. It allowed me to play more and get better as I played 36 games my freshman year and 31 my sophomore year. I was able to average about 24 points a game my sophomore year with 6 rebounds a game and 7 assists. I think that is what caught the attention of several schools. I received letters from the University of Texas, Houston, Oklahoma, Iowa, and some other smaller schools such as Baylor and SMU. It was Washington State that caught my attention the most, because at the time the PAC 10 was a dominant conference. I felt that it was a chance to play in one of the nation’s premiere conferences. I had a great coach in George Raveling. He taught me a tremendous amount of respect for the game. He taught me how to use my skills, and we were able to finish my senior season in second place in the PAC 10. We only lost by one game to UCLA and were ranked fourth in the country at that time. We made it to the NCAA tournament and beat Weber State in the first round before losing to the University of Virginia in the second round.

Ehlo was picked by the Houston Rockets in the 1983 draft and played for three years in a limited role. Ehlo explained that the draft back then was much different than the draft today:

The draft was not celebrated and exposed as it is today with ESPN covering the whole thing. I was at Washington State working at our summer camps when the draft was happening. I was on an outdoor court helping out with some young children, chasing them around when the camp director came and told me I was drafted by Houston in the third round. I didn’t do much celebrating. Instead, I just went back to work at the camp. That was when they had rookie camps in the middle of the summer and then we would get invited to the veteran’s camp after that. I made that team for the first three years under one-year contracts each time. It was like $40,000 coming out of a college, and I thought I was a very rich man.

After his third season, Ehlo moved into free agency, which allowed Embry to sign him. The Rockets reached the NBA finals in 1986 before losing to the perennial powerhouse—the Boston Celtics. Ehlo’s championship-round experience made him even more inviting to the Cleveland Cavaliers organization. He shared how it felt to play for the Rockets, and later in that championship series against the Celtics:

In the next year’s draft, we selected Hakeem Olajuwon and he completed the twin towers that the team had, so I didn’t play a lot. I only got into a handful of games, but I can say I was part of the one-man roster that beat the Lakers in five games in the conference finals before losing to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and those guys in the finals. That was the Celtics year, as they went 40–1 at home and couldn’t be beat. We hung in there, but lost in six games. The last game was a blowout, and I got to play the last few minutes and be out there to score the last basketball before the fans rushed the court. That was my one brief moment in the NBA finals.

Ehlo also explained his decision to sign with Cleveland for the 1986–87 season:

My coach in Houston was Bill Fitch, who was one of the first Cleveland coaches. Cleveland did not have a good team at that point, so coach Fitch would always tease us and say “I’m going to send you to Cleveland” when we weren’t playing well. I was in the Western Conference and only had to go to Cleveland once, and that was when the Coliseum was out there so I wasn’t familiar with Cleveland at all. I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, so I was somewhat familiar with the Browns. I knew that Cleveland fans were a very sports-minded group of people. I got signed to a ten-day contract with the Cavaliers when Mark Price came down with tendinitis. Coach Wilkens was familiar with me from coaching in Seattle when I was at Washington State. I had talked with him several times when I was doing the rookie camps. When Bagley went down with a sprained ankle, it left me with a few others to play as the guards. It was a baptism by fire. We played five games in the ten days I was there, which gave me a chance to perform for them. I was able to sign with them for the rest of the year after that stint. It was a weird way of getting to Cleveland, but I’m very glad that I did. I was brought up loyal to keep your word, and when Houston had called me asking me to come back, I knew that even though it would have been easy to go back to Houston, I had given my word to Cleveland and owed it to them to stay there and start fresh.

The 1986–87 season was a learning and growing experience for the Cavaliers that upper management had expected. The team finished with only 31 wins but showed growth in many ways. John Williams, Brad Daugherty, and Ron Harper all made the NBA All-Rookie team. Despite the sixth place finish, the rookies’ playing skills gave Cleveland fans hope.

The 1987–88 season brought low expectations from many outside of the Cavaliers organization, however. The team had gotten off to a mediocre start before Embry pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal that brought seasoned veteran Larry Nance to town. On February 25, 1988, the Cavaliers traded away Tyrone Corbin, Kevin Johnson, Mark West, and two future draft picks to the Phoenix Suns. In exchange, Phoenix sent Larry Nance, Mike Sanders, and a future first-round pick to Cleveland.

Vince with Larry Nance

Many in the media saw Nance’s acquisition as placing the final piece in the Cavaliers rebuilding puzzle. Larry Nance grew up in Anderson, South Carolina, the youngest in a large family of great athletes. He learned the game of basketball from his brothers, cousins, and uncles. At first his older relatives would not allow him to play with them because he was too small, but then as he grew older and taller, he became very talented, and the family allowed him to play all the time. He spent most of his childhood on the court with his family learning to play and perfecting his skills.

Nance grew up idolizing the great Julius Erving. He was glued to his television every time he had the chance to watch him play. He spent every Sunday afternoon in his own backyard, which he named The Spectrum, pretending to be Dr. J. Nance would later say that Erving was his favorite player until he reached the NBA and played against his idol.

Nance went to a trade school in McDuffie, South Carolina, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a truck driver. While studying basic academics at the school, he also played basketball. Anderson Junior College recruited him to play for a year, but then Clemson recruited Nance. Clemson head coach Bill Foster had already seen Nance play and offered him the last “available” scholarship. Foster’s faith in Nance was strong, and he knew that Nance would be more than worth taking a chance on. It was a loss of a top recruit for Anderson Junior College, but choosing Clemson over Anderson was a no-brainer for Nance. It’s not often that a major ACC college would happen to have an extra scholarship—call it fate, or whatever, but for Nance and Clemson it was the start of a beautiful partnership.

Nance was picked by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 1981 NBA draft following a good career at Clemson. Nance reflected on the excitement and emotion of being drafted by Phoenix:

To come from a small town like Anderson, it felt really good because making the pros was never a realistic expectation growing up. I just loved to play basketball and playing hard, and because of playing hard, things worked out. When I realized I was going to get the opportunity to go to Phoenix and play, it was just awesome. Upon arriving in the pros, I continued to play the only way that I knew how to play, and that’s just work hard and try to develop to make myself better. That approach turned out a successful basketball career.

It didn’t take Nance long to blossom into a superstar. He participated in and won the 1984 Slam Dunk Championship contest, following in the high-flying footsteps of his hero, Dr. J. The trade that brought Nance to Cleveland would go down as one of the signature moves of the Wayne Embry era, but it was a rough trade at first for Nance, as he explained:

At the time it was the worst thing that could happen to me because I loved playing in Phoenix, plus I loved racecars and was able to get to the track several times a week. I was under the impression that if you played hard and kept your nose clean you would always be with the same team. The night I got traded I was upset because it was cold in Cleveland. There were two places I never wanted to play: Cleveland and New York. It was the worst time in my life, filled with pressure because I was supposed to bring the change. Then I met my new teammates and things began to change. I started to be around them and play with them, and I realized what great people they were with the great coaches that we had and things started changing—we started winning. All of a sudden this trade turned out to be the best thing in my life. I became best friends with “Hot Rod.” We became a very successful team with a great point guard. Things just began to work out better, and I became very happy to be here.

The Cavaliers played well for the final 27 games of the season because of Nance’s addition. They had a modest 42–40 season record, finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference Central Division. They made the playoffs for the first time in several years. The Cavaliers lost to Chicago in the first round, taking the Bulls to the limit by forcing a deciding game five in the best of five. It was the first trip to the playoffs for this young group, and also the first showdown with a player who would become a familiar enemy: Michael Jordan.

It didn’t matter to the team who the leading scorer was each night. Their philosophy was to feed the hot hand on any given night. They were unselfish, which was the key component to why they were so good. There weren’t any egos on the team, a true sign of teamwork and great coaching. Longtime radio play-by-play man Joe Tait had these words to share about the team dynamics:

That was a ball club from top to bottom that was a more talented team then the “Miracle Team,” but in the same token the league was much better as well. Michael Jordan was playing in a league of his own. You had Isiah Thomas with the Pistons, Malone and Stockton with the Jazz, and the best pound-for-pound player, Magic Johnson, who could play all five positions. It was the same in the standpoint that the fans really got pumped, but in the same token the league was loaded with talented teams at that particular time.

It was common for the Cavaliers to have a two-hour practice followed by a one-hour meeting in the locker room. They loved to talk and spend time with each other so much that after most practices they would all go over to a teammate’s house to bond some more! Larry Nance shared his view of this magical time:

I think it is because we loved each other and it didn’t matter night to night who was the leading scorer. We didn’t care who was going to be the leading scorer—we just wanted to win. Our goal was to find the guys with the hot hands and keep feeding them the ball. There were no egos ever, anywhere or anytime! We never got into an argument about someone taking too many shots; it never happened. We truly loved being around each other, and so did our wives and families. I was never part of a group that was like that before or after. That kind of teamwork and chemistry is what made us successful. I don’t see that type of thing anymore with today’s athletes and teams. That’s why so many people when I go places say they loved our group. They enjoyed watching unselfish team basketball.

This kind of team bond was and still is very rare in professional sports. Craig Ehlo explains the camaraderie of the team during this time:

The main thing was team chemistry and that we made ourselves available for fans by living in the local area. Our chemistry was built with several factors in place, one of which was the fact that Larry Nance had a pond we would go fishing in before practice behind his house. We played together, and it didn’t matter that we had All-Stars because we still played together. I think people really enjoyed our team because of our method of playing. It didn’t matter who led the team in scoring as long as we won. I think it was a fun time for people to come out and watch a team play together like that. Then in the off-season we all stayed in town and none of us moved out of state. I lived in Fairlawn, Mark and Brad lived in Hudson, Larry lived in Bath, and “Hot Rod” lived in Akron, so we were visible. We would go to Summit Mall and constantly interact with fans. I think because we were visible and stayed in the community through the year it helped the fans’ relationship with us. I think it helped having Joe Tait around, too, because if he was doing something with his horses at the racetracks or events with women’s groups, it was amazing. I never thought I would spend my summers in Cleveland, but then I found that there was lots to do by sticking around. There were plenty of golf courses and many other things to do. I think our visibility in the community is what won over the hearts of the fans.

Ehlo went on to explain how everyone on the team got along so well together:

Our wives would get mad at us after the games because we would sit in the shower for over an hour after the game like a bunch of old women just talking. We would walk out in that cold garage in the Richfield Coliseum and our wives would be like, “What is taking you so long?” It was just an amazing time listening to “Hot Rod” talking about Louisiana or Larry talking about cars, or even listening to Tree Rollins talk about how many kids he had. Gary Briggs, our trainer, was the glue that held us together.

The fans flocked to the Coliseum to see this unique and unselfish team-orientated basketball. The Coliseum was rocking nightly as the fans gravitated to the players on the court because of their workmanlike approach. The total season attendance was 730,925, a number good enough to finish 5th out of 25 teams in the league. It proved once again that when Cleveland produces a winner, the fans show up to the games.

The 1988–89 season was the first full season with the core team in place, and it quickly showed as the Cavaliers continued to improve. They managed to win a club-record 57 games, good enough to finish second in the Eastern Conference Central Division. The key factor to the improvement was how well the team bonded. They were friends on and off the court and truly cared for one another. This was a factor in building their chemistry and made them dangerous to any opponent.

The first-round playoffs matchup was against the Chicago Bulls, a team they had beaten all six times that they faced them in the regular season. With homecourt advantage and the dominant regular season record in place, it seemed that the Cavaliers would easily get revenge for the previous season’s playoff outcome. Sadly, with expectations high, they promptly lost game one of the series at home 88–95. They bounced back with a game two victory of 96–88 and traveled to Chicago with the series tied. The Bulls wasted no time in reclaiming the lead in the series with a 101–94 game-three win. A thrilling game-four overtime win for the Cavaliers sent the series back home to Cleveland for the deciding game five.

In game five, Craig Ehlo played the game of his life, scoring 24 points, 4 assists, and 4 three pointers off the bench, and gave the Chicago defenders fits all afternoon. His last-few-seconds go-ahead layup gave the Cavaliers a 100–99 lead. Then Chicago called their last timeout to set up a final play. Seconds later, Jordan hit “the shot,” and Cleveland was knocked out of the playoffs for the second straight year by the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan finished with a game-high 44 points, and his game-winning shot would go down as one of the most famous of all time. Larry Nance related why, after such a great season, things went wrong in the playoffs:

Not to make excuses because the team from Chicago was very good, but injuries hurt us late in the season. I know I had some ankle problems that may have held me out of the next round. I truly feel that when our team was healthy we could beat any team in the league, including Chicago. I’m not making excuses, but I’m just saying we weren’t healthy and they went on to win. It’s just part of life in basketball.

This was an incredible 1989 season in which the Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls six times but just couldn’t get past them in the playoffs. Craig Ehlo shared what he thought happened during that playoff run:

We just owned the Bulls that season, as we won a lot more games than they did. We secured the three seed and they had the six seed, which led to the matchup in the first round. It was the first year the Bulls decided to wear black socks and black shoes and it gave them this special mojo. It’s not that Michael needed the extra help, but it seemed to make his teammates play better. We had played poorly in game four and should have lost that game, but Jordan missed two free throws. It allowed us to take that game in overtime and win. It gave Jordan some added fuel as we headed back home for the fifth and final game. Every time you hear Michael Jordan talk about playing against Cleveland, he mentions he hated the fans because it was such a great rivalry, despite the amazing games he had against us. We were such competitive teams, and it led to some great games between us.

Ehlo elaborated on what happened with “the shot”:

We had a simple give-and-go play moments before with me and Larry Nance that led to me hitting the go-ahead shot to put us up by one point with seconds to go. The play worked to perfection—all five of us on the court did our job to execute it. The problem was that it left three seconds for the greatest player of our lifetime. To tell you the truth, we did something that we never did before. Coach Wilkens was one of the coaches that kept someone on the vision of the ball, but for some reason he chose to pull Nance off that assignment and called for a double team on Jordan. I think if I had been playing one-on-one with him, I would have played him harder, but because I had the help I may have slacked off a little bit. When Jordan juked Larry on the first move, I ran over to catch him and by the time I got there Jordan was already coming back the other way, so I went flying across him like E.T. across the moon and went right by him. I kept my hand in his face as long as I could, but he had the ability to stop on a dime, pull up, and hit the shot. When I watched it go in, it was the agony of defeat. Those three seconds seemed like slow motion to watch him get that shot off and make that play. When you talk to Michael or anyone with the Bulls at that time, they will all say that shot was exactly what propelled them into their championships.

The following 1989–1990 season was known for some critical injuries to Daugherty and Nance, as well as a controversial trade. Wayne Embry took a major chance that never panned out when he traded away young phenomenon Ron Harper. On November 16, 1989, the Cavaliers traded Ron Harper and three future draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams. It was a calculated risk based on the large amount of hype surrounding Danny Ferry’s amateur career.

Danny Ferry went to Duke University after being considered one of the best high school athletes in America. He was voted Parade magazine’s “Prep Player of the Year” from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. Because Ferry played so well during his college basketball career, many considered him to be the next Larry Bird. He was a two-time ACC player of the year as well as a 1989 NCAA All-American first-team member. Also that year, United Press International voted him College Player of the Year. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers as the second overall pick in the 1989 draft. However, Ferry had no interest in ever playing for the Clippers. Instead, he chose to play in Europe for the Italian League. He continued to excel while playing in Europe, averaging 23 points a game. The Clippers eventually grew tired of waiting for Ferry to come home to play for them, so they traded his rights to the Cavaliers. Once Ferry agreed to play for Cleveland, Embry signed him to a 10-year contract. Sadly for Cleveland fans everywhere, Ferry would go down as one of the biggest NBA busts of all time, because he never lived up to his expectations. He averaged just double digits in scoring twice for his entire NBA career.

The Cavaliers did manage to make the playoffs that year despite the injuries. They finished with a 42–40 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference Central Division. They ran into Charles Barkley and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. Sir Charles and his teammates eliminated the Cavaliers in five games.

The 1990–91 season got off to a horrible start because the Cavaliers lacked their full complement of draft picks due to the Danny Ferry trade. Things went from bad to worse as All-Star point guard Mark Price suffered multiple injuries and appeared in only sixteen games all season. Power forward John “Hot Rod” Williams suffered season-long injuries as well, and the Cavaliers finished with their worst record in years at 33–49.

The 1991–92 season, on the other hand, would be remembered as one of the best in Cleveland Cavaliers history. It was a perfect mix of players in their prime, young players improving daily, and veterans playing with the energy of rookies, blended together with a Hall of Fame head coach. With a full roster all season and confidence growing daily, the Cavaliers cruised to an impressive 57–25 record. They finished in second place in the Eastern Conference Central Division with high hopes to go far into the playoffs.

The Cavaliers promptly disposed of Dražen Petrović, Derrick Coleman, and the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the playoffs, earning a matchup with the elite caliber arsenal of the Boston Celtics. The matchup with Boston proved to be a classic as it was a back-and-forth battle that went on for all seven games. Early on, the Cavaliers fell behind in the series 2–1. Then pivotal game four went into overtime at the Boston Garden. Behind a 32-point performance from Larry Nance, the Cavaliers left Boston with the win. Game five at the Richfield Coliseum was a tight one throughout the first half, with neither team able to pull away. The Cavaliers, behind the halftime adjustments from Wilkens, came out in the second half with full guns blazing. They outscored the Celtics by 11 in the third quarter and never looked back, winning the game and taking a 3–2 lead in the series. Craig Ehlo described how it felt to advance so far so quickly in the playoffs after early exits in previous years:

The final game of Larry Bird’s career was in the old Richfield Coliseum, and it was very loud. It was a rough go for me because I had torn my MCL about six weeks prior. So when we got into the playoffs, I was still reeling and had to guard Petrović in the first round. Then in the second round I had to guard Reggie, who had been averaging 35 points a game against us. In the finals, we had to face Chicago again, and even with Gerald Wilkins it was a nightmare. I thought we had finally reached the pinnacle of all those years that we had put together before losing in six games to the Bulls.

Unfortunately, after a great fifth game, many Cleveland fans would like to forget game six as the Cavaliers got crushed 122–91. Nance reflected on reaching the Eastern Conference championship by beating Boston and on the overall atmosphere in the Coliseum that day:

Derrick Coleman wore me out in the first round; he was very tough. Then it was incredible to beat Boston, with it being Larry Bird’s last ride. I thought that if another team played together as well as we did, it was Boston because they really did play as a team. That series was two great teams out there playing great team ball, which made it very enjoyable. Then we ran into “the man” again.

A loud crowd packed the Richfield Coliseum on May 17, 1992, to see the final game of the exciting series. The Cavaliers ended Larry Bird’s Hall of Fame career on a losing note when they defeated the Celtics 122–104. Just like many times that season, the win was a total team effort with all five starters scoring in double digits. John “Hot Rod” Williams, who was coming off the bench in that series, also managed to have 20 points. The Cavaliers were off to the Eastern Conference Championship round for the first time since the “miracle season.”

Waiting for the Cavaliers in the 1992 Eastern Conference Championship round was their old friend Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers managed to make the series interesting by winning a couple of games, but in the end the developing dynasty of the Bulls was too much for the Cavaliers to overcome.

The following season, Cleveland would reach the playoffs yet again, this time making it to the second round before getting swept by Chicago. The addition of superstar Gerald Wilkins from the New York Knicks proved to be helpful but still not enough to get past the Bulls. Sadly, that series marked the last Lenny Wilkens would spend in Cleveland as head coach. The Cavaliers made the decision after the playoffs to go with Mike Fratello, a former head coach from the Atlanta Hawks turned analyst. It was a move that brought to a close one of the brightest eras in Cleveland basketball history.

Lenny Wilkens went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He coached in Atlanta, Toronto, and New York before retiring from the bench in 2005. By the time his career was over, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame again, this time as a coach who had won 1,332 games during his tenure. By the time he retired from active coaching, he had the most wins in NBA coaching history (before Don Nelson broke that record in 2010). In 1996, the NBA voted Wilkens as one of its all-time 10 greatest coaches. Craig Ehlo also shares his admiration of Coach Wilkens, saying,

It was unbelievable, as I had watched him with his Sonics teams. He had a mild-mannered disposition, but he also had a rip-your-heart-out competitiveness in him as well. You may not see it in his body language, but that was the way he plays and coaches. I loved that and that’s exactly what I wanted to be like. I remember I rode with him on the plane the first day I got there, and he was trying to explain to me some of the offensive things we were going to try and do. I remember after that the game when I didn’t play, he called me in and told me I would play the next night, which was a great thing because he really took me under his wing. He made me feel wanted and needed, and it was all because of him having that kind of demeanor. He loved us no matter what because it was a hard-working town and hard-working team. The people of Cleveland still loved us no matter what happened.