The Cavaliers opened up the season on the road against the Western Conference powerhouse, the Sacramento Kings. It was a blowout from the very first bounce of the ball. Sacramento exposed the lack of firepower and lack of ability to move the ball by the Cavaliers, holding them to only 67 points. The final score was 94–67, and the game looked as bad, as the final score demonstrated. And without a starting point guard, it didn’t appear that the Cavaliers would be improving anytime soon. It was a clear indication of how the entire rest of the season would go for the team. They were set up to suffer and prepared to let their fans also suffer as they plotted for the arrival of the Chosen One.
Following that opening night, the Cavaliers continued in their downward spiral with a 15-game losing streak. By December, their record was 6–24, with no improvement in sight. Things didn’t get much better after that, and by the all-star break, John Lucas was fired as head coach. He left the team with an 8–34 record. In just over a season and a half as coach, Lucas barely led the team to a paltry 37 wins. Additionally, the franchise was going through some serious growing pains.
Cavaliers assistant coach Keith Smart took over as head coach, replacing John Lucas, but he didn’t have any better luck, as the team finished the season tied with the Denver Nuggets for the worst record in the league at 17–65. It was the Cavaliers fifth straight season missing the playoffs, and the team had gone through four head coach changes in that same period of time. This instability was very uncharacteristic for a Gordon Gund–owned team, and he was on the lookout for change to arrive quickly.
The silver lining in the dark cloud of that season was the fact that Žydrūnas Ilgauskas played in 81 games—a great sign that he had fully recovered from years of foot injuries and surgeries. Ilgauskas was so impressive that year that he was voted onto the Eastern Conference All-Star Team. He averaged 17.2 points a game, along with 7.5 rebounds. He also led the team in blocks with 1.9 a night. For the Cavaliers to improve, the physical health of Ilgauskas would come to be a vital component of the overall effectiveness of the team. He solidified the frontcourt and served as a key player for a number of years to come. Additionally, the impact of the friendship that Ilgauskas would go on to have with LeBron 11 years later would also prove vital to future success the team.
Equally impressive was the play of rookie standout Carlos Boozer. He played in 81 games, averaging 10 points a night and a strong 7.5 rebounds per game. The dream of Boozer in the frontcourt ripping down rebounds and scoring points looked bright for the Cavaliers, as he was quickly shaping up into a major player that the Cavaliers hoped to be able to count on to be their starting power forward for a long time to come.
The 2003 NBA draft was regarded as one of the strongest in history. The top five picks produced four of the best players currently playing today. Cleveland selected LeBron James with their number-one pick; two picks later, Denver selected future all-star Carmelo Anthony from Syracuse. The Toronto Raptors selected Chris Bosh—one of the top players in the game today—out of Georgia Tech with the fourth pick. The fifth pick went to the Miami Heat, who struck gold with their selection of Dwayne Wade. (The Heat would eventually combine Wade with Shaquille O’Neal and win the NBA Championship just three years later.) The draft was loaded with talent, but it was clear that Cleveland was receiving its top prize.
Opening night for LeBron took place on the West Coast when the Cleveland Cavaliers visited the Sacramento Kings; he scored 25 points against them and set an NBA record for the most points scored by a prep-to-pro player in his debut outing. The Cavaliers lost the game 106–82—the team couldn’t do much to help LeBron and couldn’t stop the high-powered Sacramento attack. Fans in Cleveland and the world over didn’t mind staying up late to watch LeBron’s professional debut. With the final score not in Cleveland’s favor, it was a very promising sign that LeBron was not discouraged and still put together a fine opening-night effort.
Despite LeBron’s playing well, the Cavaliers lost their first five games of the season before winning back-to-back games at home against Washington and New York. As a rookie, LeBron handled the pressure of his position well. The team, however, did not, enduring an eight-game losing streak from late November through early December. Davis and Miles spent their court time hogging the ball when they really needed to find a way to hand the ball off to LeBron. On Monday, January 12, 2004, the Cavaliers hit a new season low of 15 games under 500. It was then that the winning combination of LeBron and Boozer began to form. LeBron showed great improvement during his first year and instantly became the team leader. Without the negative influence of Miles and Davis controlling the team, the other young players were able to grow together and make drastic and encouraging strides in the right direction. The writing was on the wall for Miles and Davis.
The Cavaliers rattled off several winning streaks, including a seven-game clip in early March that put them in the playoff hunt. In a late-season match-up with the New Jersey Nets, LeBron scored a season-high 41 points—becoming the youngest player, at age 19, in league history to score at least 40 points in a game. Not only were the great plays of LeBron helping the team, but a couple of key midseason trades by general manager Jim Paxson helped as well.
In a second-round draft pick, the Cavaliers traded Davis, Chris Mihm, and Michael Stewart to the Boston Celtics for Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown, and Eric Williams. The team later decided to also trade Miles to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jeff McInnis. It was a clear sign that with LeBron leading the team, all selfish ball-hogs had to go—with Miles and Davis at the top of the list. McInnis was a key pickup, as he could shoot and pass while providing instant offense every time he touched the ball. Williams was another important addition who brought a certain sense of veteran leadership to the team.
Despite the added support, the Cavaliers would go on to tire out late in the season and slump through a seven-game losing streak in the final weeks. The team did close out the year strong, however, with three straight wins despite already being eliminated from playoff contention.
Finishing with averages of 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game, LeBron went on to be named the NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2003–04 season—the first Cavalier in history to receive the designation—joining Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game in their rookie year. LeBron played in 79 of the 82 games that season, demonstrating his durability as a player despite his very physical style of play.
Jerry Mires, host of The Sports Fix on IHeartRadio, provided his take on LeBron coming into the league:
I sensed when he was in the ninth grade that he would have the impact on the NBA one day that he did. We all knew! He was raised to be an NBA player. He was 10 years old when people around him figured it out and changed the course of his life because they knew what he was meant to become. I don’t think anyone was surprised at his total and utter domination at such a young age of all competition that stood in his path.
Roda wasn’t surprised either with LeBron’s dominant first season in the league:
His rookie year was better than anyone else ever coming out of high school and better than any of us have seen or even expected. He deserved to be the 2003–04 Rookie of the Year. He even exceeded my hopes for him. He went out and did better than anyone’s expectations. It was an incredible thing to witness firsthand.
In the 2004 off-season, Drew Gooden was brought in to fill the void at power forward left behind by Carlos Boozer. He was a former fourth overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. The hopes for Gooden were high after a great college career at Kansas. In 2002, he led the league in rebounds and was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches National Player of the Year. The Jayhawks went 33–4, including 16–0 in the Big 12 Conference play to win against Kansas—its first conference championship since 1998. Gooden had two forgetful years with both the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic,