The 2002–03 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 33rd season for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association. The Cavaliers received the sixth overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Dajuan Wagner from the University of Memphis, and also selected power forward Carlos Boozer out of Duke University with the 34th overall pick. During the off-season, the team acquired Darius Miles from the Los Angeles Clippers, acquired Milt Palacio from the Phoenix Suns, and signed free agent, and undrafted rookie point guard Smush Parker.

With the addition of Wagner, Boozer and Miles, the Cavaliers got off to a 2–2 start to the regular season, but then suffered a dreadful 15-game losing streak between November and December afterwards. Head coach John Lucas was fired after an 8–34 start to the season, and was replaced with assistant coach Keith Smart, as the team later on held a 10–40 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, Tyrone Hill was released to free agency, and re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, while Bimbo Coles was also released and signed with the Boston Celtics. The Cavaliers posted a seven-game losing streak between February and March, and finished in last place in the Central Division with a 17–65 record, which was tied for the worst record in the league along with the Denver Nuggets; it was also the team's worst record since the 1981–82 season. The Cavaliers also missed the NBA playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.

Ricky Davis showed improvement averaging 20.6 points, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while Zydrunas Ilgauskas averaged 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, and Wagner provided the team with 13.4 points per game, but only played just 47 games due to a knee injury. In addition, Boozer provided with 10.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, while Jumaine Jones contributed 9.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, and led the Cavaliers with 111 three-point field goals, and Miles averaged 9.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Parker contributed 6.2 points and 2.5 assists per game, Chris Mihm averaged 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, and Palacio provided with 5.0 points and 3.2 assists per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, Ilgauskas was selected for the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team; it was his first ever All-Star appearance. Meanwhile, Wagner and Boozer were both selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as members of the Rookies team. Davis finished in fourth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Ilgauskas finished tied in 21st place, and Boozer finished in seventh place in Rookie of the Year voting.

The Cavaliers finished last in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 471,374 at the Gund Arena during the regular season, which was 29th in the league. Following the season, Jones was traded to the Boston Celtics, while Palacio signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors, and Smart was fired as head coach.

Offseason

Free agents

Trades

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College / Club Team 1 6 Dajuan Wagner Guard Memphis 2 34 Carlos Boozer Forward Duke

Roster

Note Bold = All-Star selection

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

October

Record: 1–1; Home: 0–0; Road: 1–1

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 1 29 October 2002 Cavaliers 67–94 Kings NA Ricky Davis (17) 0–1 2 30 October 2002 Cavaliers 98–96 Clippers NA Ricky Davis (25) 1–1

November

Record: 1–15; Home: 1–6; Road: 0–9

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 3 1 November 2002 Cavaliers 74–78 Suns NA Ricky Davis (21) 1–2 4 5 November 2002 Lakers 70–89 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (24) 2–2 5 6 November 2002 Cavaliers 100–107 Wizards NA Ricky Davis (27) 2–3 6 8 November 2002 Cavaliers 84–108 Sixers NA Ricky Davis (31) 2–4 7 9 November 2002 Wizards 93–79 Cavaliers NA Two-way tie (19) 2–5 8 12 November 2002 Cavaliers 75–95 Pacers NA Darius Miles (19) 2–6 9 13 November 2002 Mavericks 103–99 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (34) 2–7 10 16 November 2002 Spurs 90–77 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (22) 2–8 11 18 November 2002 Cavaliers 78–104 Spurs NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (25) 2–9 12 19 November 2002 Cavaliers 80–97 Rockets NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (24) 2–10 13 22 November 2002 Cavaliers 79–120 Nets NA Smush Parker (18) 2–11 14 23 November 2002 Hornets 97–84 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (24) 2–12 15 26 November 2002 Kings 91–85 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (22) 2–13 16 27 November 2002 Cavaliers 80–112 Bucks NA Ricky Davis (23) 2–14 17 29 November 2002 Sixers 106–99 Cavaliers NA Dajuan Wagner (29) 2–15 18 30 November 2002 Cavaliers 79–85 Heat NA Dajuan Wagner (28) 2–16

December

Record: 4–11; Home: 4–6; Road: 0–5

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 19 2 December 2002 Cavaliers 93–125 Knicks NA Dajuan Wagner (25) 2–17 20 4 December 2002 Bulls 101–111 Cavaliers NA Dajuan Wagner (29) 3–17 21 7 December 2002 Cavaliers 104–112 Bulls NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (28) 3–18 22 9 December 2002 Bucks 140–133 Cavaliers 2 Ricky Davis (45) 3–19 23 11 December 2002 Raptors 83–96 Cavaliers NA Dajuan Wagner (33) 4–19 24 13 December 2002 Cavaliers 100–115 Celtics NA Ricky Davis (42) 4–20 25 14 December 2002 Nuggets 104–111 Cavaliers NA Two-way tie (29) 5–20 26 16 December 2002 SuperSonics 111–98 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (20) 5–21 27 18 December 2002 Pistons 111–106 Cavaliers 1 Zydrunas Ilgauskas (29) 5–22 28 20 December 2002 Cavaliers 107–109 Pistons 1 Ricky Davis (42) 5–23 29 21 December 2002 Celtics 89–82 Cavaliers NA Dajuan Wagner (25) 5–24 30 23 December 2002 Heat 72–74 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (33) 6–24 31 27 December 2002 Pacers 113–89 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (21) 6–25 32 29 December 2002 Suns 103–84 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (15) 6–26 33 30 December 2002 Cavaliers 88–102 Nets NA Ricky Davis (24) 6–27

January

Record: 3–11; Home: 1–3; Road: 2–8

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 34 3 January 2003 Cavaliers 81–80 Raptors NA Ricky Davis (29) 7–27 35 4 January 2003 Cavaliers 79–85 Bulls NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (27) 7–28 36 6 January 2003 Bucks 106–94 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (22) 7–29 37 10 January 2003 Cavaliers 99–115 Lakers NA Ricky Davis (27) 7–30 38 12 January 2003 Cavaliers 87–79 SuperSonics NA Ricky Davis (22) 8–30 39 13 January 2003 Cavaliers 94–118 Trail Blazers NA Ricky Davis (17) 8–31 40 15 January 2003 Cavaliers 80–108 Warriors NA Ricky Davis (21) 8–32 41 17 January 2003 Cavaliers 80–97 Nuggets NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (26) 8–33 42 18 January 2003 Cavaliers 78–95 Jazz NA Ricky Davis (25) 8–34 43 21 January 2003 Magic 103–94 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (35) 8–35 44 25 January 2003 Hawks 102–101 Cavaliers 1 Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19) 8–36 45 27 January 2003 Clippers 100–104 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (32) 9–36 46 29 January 2003 Cavaliers 108–113 Magic NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (22) 9–37 47 31 January 2003 Cavaliers 91–96 Hawks NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (21) 9–38

February

Record: 2–9; Home: 2–5; Road: 0–4

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 48 2 February 2003 Trail Blazers 114–95 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (20) 9–39 49 4 February 2003 Cavaliers 84–93 Wizards NA Dajuan Wagner (19) 9–40 50 5 February 2003 Rockets 102–105 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (21) 10–40 51 11 February 2003 Cavaliers 96–107 Pacers NA Jumaine Jones (25) 10–41 52 12 February 2003 Timberwolves 102–91 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (26) 10–42 53 16 February 2003 Pistons 90–75 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (19) 10–43 54 18 February 2003 Bulls 107–101 Cavaliers NA Carlos Boozer (23) 10–44 55 21 February 2003 Sixers 119–99 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19) 10–45 56 23 February 2003 Cavaliers 103–116 Sixers NA Dajuan Wagner (23) 10–46 57 25 February 2003 Nets 90–93 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (29) 11–46 58 28 February 2003 Cavaliers 95–118 Timberwolves NA Two-way tie (16) 11–47

March

Record: 3–12; Home: 3–5; Road: 0–7

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 59 2 March 2003 Magic 102–76 Cavaliers NA Two-way tie (14) 11–48 60 4 March 2003 Cavaliers 80–89 Knicks NA Ricky Davis (24) 11–49 61 5 March 2003 Hawks 111–105 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (27) 11–50 62 7 March 2003 Cavaliers 76–102 Hornets NA Carlos Boozer (16) 11–51 63 8 March 2003 Grizzlies 115–89 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (18) 11–52 64 11 March 2003 Heat 77–75 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (19) 11–53 65 16 March 2003 Jazz 95–122 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (28) 12–53 66 18 March 2003 Cavaliers 93–114 Mavericks NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (30) 12–54 67 19 March 2003 Cavaliers 101–128 Grizzlies NA Carlos Boozer (27) 12–55 68 21 March 2003 Cavaliers 85–109 Magic NA Milt Palacio (15) 12–56 69 23 March 2003 Nets 88–93 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (29) 13–56 70 25 March 2003 Warriors 103–124 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (28) 14–56 71 26 March 2003 Cavaliers 83–89 Raptors NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (25) 14–57 72 28 March 2003 Cavaliers 95–104 Celtics NA Ricky Davis (31) 14–58 73 29 March 2003 Celtics 110–106 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (38) 14–59

April

Record: 3–6; Home: 3–2; Road: 0–4

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Leading scorer Attendance Record 74 2 April 2003 Pacers 103–82 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (27) 14–60 75 4 April 2003 Cavaliers 93–95 Bucks NA Ricky Davis (26) 14–61 76 5 April 2003 Hornets 76–79 Cavaliers NA Ricky Davis (17) 15–61 77 8 April 2003 Wizards 100–91 Cavaliers NA Zydrunas Ilgauskas (23) 15–62 78 9 April 2003 Cavaliers 81–100 Hornets NA Jumaine Jones (21) 15–63 79 11 April 2003 Cavaliers 89–109 Hawks NA Tierre Brown (15) 15–64 80 12 April 2003 Knicks 99–104 Cavaliers 1 Ricky Davis (37) 16–64 81 14 April 2003 Cavaliers 88–89 Pistons NA Ricky Davis (25) 16–65 82 16 April 2003 Raptors 86–96 Cavaliers NA Smush Parker (17) 17–65 Green background indicates win. Red background indicates loss.

Player stats

Regular season PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG 81 54 25.3 .536 .000 .771 7.5 1.3 .73 .62 10.0 15 0 11.2 .458 .000 .786 2.0 2.6 .87 .00 4.3 79 76 39.6 .410 .363 .748 4.9 5.5 1.58 .46 20.6 80 1 11.8 .351 .000 .367 2.7 .5 .41 1.01 1.5 81 81 30.0 .441 .000 .781 7.5 1.6 .69 1.88 17.2 80 12 27.6 .434 .354 .687 5.1 1.4 .84 .28 9.8 52 0 15.6 .404 .000 .724 4.4 .5 .35 .73 5.9 67 62 30.0 .410 .000 .594 5.4 2.6 1.00 1.03 9.2 80 46 24.7 .418 .216 .747 2.9 3.2 .85 .20 5.0 66 18 16.7 .402 .322 .831 1.8 2.5 .73 .18 6.2 47 0 5.3 .378 .000 .667 1.2 .1 .04 .32 .8 47 24 29.5 .369 .316 .800 1.7 2.8 .81 .15 13.4

Player statistics citation:

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Milestones

All-Star

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Development League

References

External links

Cleveland Cavaliers on Basketball Reference