2003–04 Cleveland Cavaliers season

2003–04 Cleveland Cavaliers season
Head coach Paul Silas
Owner(s) Gordon Gund
Arena Quicken Loans Arena
Results
Record 35–47 (.427)
Place Division: 5th (Central)
Conference: 9th (Eastern)
Playoff finish Did not qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television Fox Sports Net Ohio, WUAB
Radio WTAM
Cleveland Cavaliers seasons
< 2002–03 2004–05 >

In the years following their 1998 first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Cavaliers dropped to the bottom of the league and became a perennial entrant in the annual NBA Draft Lottery. The franchise's freefall bottomed out during the 2002-03 season, as the Cavs fell to a 17-65 record, tied with the Denver Nuggets for the league's worst.

However, the fortunes of the franchise shifted dramatically in May 2003, when the Cavs won the first overall pick in the draft lottery. The Cavaliers selected high school phenomenon LeBron James from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in nearby Akron, providing the team with a centerpiece player around which to build.

The Cavs revised their look for the 2003-04 season, introducing a new logo and a variation on the wine and gold color scheme used by the club during the 1970s. Dark blue was also added as a trim color.

Contents

Offseason

Despite James being with Cleveland for the first season, Cleveland still did not make the playoffs, still needing improvement.

Draft picks

Main article: 2003 NBA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club Team
1 1 LeBron James Forward USA St. Vincent-St.Mary (Akron, OH)
2 31 Jason Kapono Forward USA UCLA

Regular season

Standings

Central Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Indiana Pacers 61 21 .744 – 34–7 27–14 20–8
x-Detroit Pistons 54 28 .659 7 31–10 23–18 17–11
x-New Orleans Hornets 41 41 .500 20 25–16 16–25 14–14
x-Milwaukee Bucks 41 41 .500 20 27–14 14–27 15–13
Cleveland Cavaliers 35 47 .427 26 23–18 12–29 14–14
Toronto Raptors 33 49 .402 28 18–23 15–26 11–17
Atlanta Hawks 28 54 .341 33 18–23 10–31 10–18
Chicago Bulls 23 59 .280 38 14–27 9–32 11–17

Player stats

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Tony Battie* 50 1 19.5 .427 .125 .768 4.8 .7 .36 .94 5.4
Carlos Boozer 75 75 34.6 .523 .167 .768 11.4 2.0 .99 .73 15.5
Kedrick Brown* 34 16 16.5 .465 .388 .643 2.3 1.1 .38 .15 5.3
Mateen Cleaves 4 2 23.0 .304 .000 .500 1.8 4.8 1.00 .50 3.8
DeSagana Diop 56 3 13.0 .388 .000 .600 3.6 .6 .46 .91 2.3
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 81 81 31.3 .483 .286 .746 8.1 1.3 .48 2.48 15.3
LeBron James 79 79 39.5 .417 .290 .754 5.5 5.9 1.65 .73 20.9
Jason Kapono 41 3 10.4 .403 .477 .833 1.3 .3 .32 .05 3.5
Jelani McCoy 2 0 6.0 .000 .000 .000 2.0 .0 .00 .00 .0
Jeff McInnis* 31 31 35.4 .417 .388 .836 2.6 7.5 1.16 .13 11.7
Lee Nailon* 22 4 18.0 .451 .000 .800 3.0 .8 .18 .05 7.7
Ira Newble 64 25 19.5 .391 .105 .783 2.4 1.1 .39 .30 4.0
Kevin Ollie 82 7 17.1 .370 .444 .835 2.1 2.9 .62 .10 4.2
Dajuan Wagner 44 4 16.1 .366 .360 .681 1.3 1.2 .59 .16 6.5
Eric Williams* 50 36 27.5 .366 .253 .787 3.8 1.9 .96 .16 9.4

* Statistics include only games with the Cavaliers

Award winners

References

  1. ^ basketball-reference.com, James 2003-04 Game Log, accessed April 27, 2007.
  2. ^ espn.com, James receives 78 of 118 first-place votes, accessed May 7, 2007.
  3. ^ nba.com, LeBron James: Player Info Page, accessed April 27, 2007.
  4. ^ nba.com, LeBron James: NBA Bio, accessed April 27, 2007.
  5. ^ basketball-reference.com, 2003-04 Cleveland Cavaliers, accessed April 27, 2007.
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