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With the Cavaliers getting swept by the Warriors this season, a lot of the talk has been about whether this is the worst supporting cast that LeBron has taken to the Finals. There have been plenty of comparisons with the team that he took to the Finals way back in 2007 which got swept by the Spurs.
While both would get swept, the two teams were polar opposite in style. The 2007 Cavs were a defensive minded team, ranking 5th in Defensive Rating, while the 2018 Cavs were an offensive juggernaut, ranking 5th in Offensive Rating.
We know everything about the current Cavs, so I decided to look back at that 2007 team and check where they are now. Only LeBron James is currently playing in the NBA from that team and ironically Mike Brown who coached the team is currently the assistant coach at Golden State.
Note: We'll only be looking at the major rotational players.
#10 Donyell Marshall
Drafted 4th overall in 1994 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Marshall never quite lived up to expectations and had a solid but unspectacular career. The major highlight of Marshall's career, was in 2005 when he tied Kobe Bryant's then-record for most 3s in a game with 12 against the Sixers.
He'd already had pitstops at Golden State, Utah, Chicago and Toronto before joining the Cavaliers in 2005. With the Cavs Marshall played a bit part role, coming off the bench in all 3 seasons with the team.
He played around 16 minutes a game on the 2006-07 Cavs, averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds. His production like that of most of his teammates, dipped in the Finals, averaging a paltry 3.8 Points on 31% shooting from the field and a miserable 18% from deep. He would be traded the following season to the Sonics and after one season with the Sixers, Marshall retired in 2009.
Now: Post-retirement, Marshall spent some time as a post-game analyst for the 76ers after which he went into coaching. After multiple gigs as an assistant coach, he finally got a head coaching job in 2016 at Central Connecticut State.
#9 Eric Snow
A 2nd round pick in 1995, Snow played for the Sonics, Sixers, and Cavaliers in his 14 year NBA career. A key component of the Sixers teams of the early 2000s, Snow was traded to the Cavs in 2004. He would be a backup in his 1st season with the Cavs but would take over the reigns the following year.
Towards the end of the 2006-07 season, Snow was back on the bench and further down the pecking order with the emergence of Daniel Gibson. He finished the campaign averaging just 4 points and 4 assists. Snow was a non-factor in the Finals, playing around 10 minutes a game, averaging 1 point and 2 assists. Clearly, in decline and now bogged by injuries, he played his last game in 2008 but remained on the team as an assistant coach. He would officially retire the following season.
Now: Snow was released by the team in 2009 and began working as an analyst for NBA TV. Then in 2014, he took over as Director of Player Development at SMU for two years, after which he got the assistant coach gig with the Florida Atlantic till 2016.
#8 Larry Hughes
The 8th pick in the 1998 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, Hughes was a pretty good player for much of his NBA career. After successful stops at Golden State and Washington, Hughes arrived in Cleveland in 2005, as probably the only big name free agent the Cavs got in LeBron's first stint with the team.
His 3 seasons with the Cavs were marred by injuries at just the wrong time and 2006-07 was no different. After averaging 15 points and 3.8 assists during the season, Hughes injured his leg in the playoffs. He tried to play through it in the Finals but had to sit out after Game 2. He could only muster 2 points and 2 assists through two games. He would be traded in 2008 and after bouncing around the league, he retired in 2012 playing his last year with the Magic.
Now: Hughes runs the Larry Hughes academy nowadays and he played in the BIG3 league in 2017.
#7 Damon Jones
Undrafted in 1997, Damon Jones made it to the NBA in 1999 with the Nets. In a 13 year NBA career with 10 teams, Jones made a name for himself as a quality role player. He finally got a chance to start, with the Heat in 04-05 and had a career year which led to the Cleveland Cavaliers signing him in free agency in 2005.
Jones came off the bench with the Cavs and in 2006-07, averaged 6.6 points and 1.6 assists, playing around 20 minutes a game. He however only managed to average 4 points in the Finals. Jones was traded after the 2008 season to the Bucks with whom a spent a year after which he played in Puerto Rico and Turkey. He came back to play in the D-League for a season and then retired in 2012.
Now: Jones joined the Cavaliers coaching staff in 2014 and has been rising up the ranks pretty quickly. He made news this season after J.R Smith threw a bowl of soup at him.
#6 Anderson Varejao
Varejao began his career in France with Franca in 1998 and after a stint with Barcelona, he decided to go to the NBA. Drafted in the 2nd round in 2004 by the Magic, he was traded a month later to Cleveland. While he was good in Cleveland, Varejao dealt with injury issues throughout his career.
He did manage to play 81 games in 2006-07, averaging 6 points and 6 rebounds, playing around 24 minutes a game. He averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds in the Finals. Varejao was with the team till 2016, when they traded him to the Blazers who released him straight away. He then joined the Warriors for the next 2 years and despite being waived in 2017, he got a championship ring from them for that season.
Now: Varejao currently plays in Brazil for Flamengo.
#5 Daniel Gibson
A 2nd Round pick by the Cavs in 2006, Gibson was another solid player on the team. His continual improvement in his rookie season led to him taking more and more minutes off Eric Snow and by the end of the year became an important piece of the puzzle.
Gibson only averaged 4 points a game in the regular season, playing just 16 minutes a game but he Gibson played a key role in the playoffs. He scored 31 points in the closeout Game 6 of the Conference Finals as the Cavs knocked off the Pistons. In the Finals he was one of Cleveland's better players (not saying much there), averaging 10 points and 2 assists. He was with the team till 2013, after which the Cavs didn't re-sign him.
Now: Gibson retired in 2015 to pursue a career in rapping.
#4 Sasha Pavlovic
Pavlovic began his career in Montenegro in 2000 and was selected 19th overall in the 2003 draft by the Jazz. He was then selected by the Bobcats in the expansion draft of 2004, only to be traded to the Cavs right after. He spent 5 years with the team, mainly as a bench player.
Pavlovic did have his best season in 2006-07, averaging 9 points and 2 rebounds, numbers that he matched in the Finals. He would be traded in 2009 to the Phoenix Suns, who bought out his contract. He bounced around the league, playing for 5 teams in the next 6 seasons after which he left for Europe to play for Partizan Belgrade.
Now: Pavlovic joined Panathinaikos in 2015 and was released by the team the following year.
#3 Drew Gooden
The 4th pick in the 2002 draft by the Grizzlies, Gooden had a pretty good NBA career, playing for 10 teams in 14 seasons. He was traded to Orlando Magic in his 2nd season and then to Cleveland in 2004. He spent 4 seasons in Cleveland as the starting PF.
In 2006-07, Gooden averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds in the regular season and was the 2nd leading scorer in the Finals for the Cavs behind LeBron at 12 PPG. He was traded to the Bulls in 2008. Gooden retired in 2016, having played for the Wizards the last 4 years of his career.
Now: Gooden now works as an analyst for CSN Mid-Atlantic, covering the Wizards.
#2 Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Ilgauskas began his career with local club Atletas in Lithuania in 1993. Three years later he was picked 20th in the draft by the Cavaliers. He was a 2-time All-Star for the Cavs and one of their better players in this century.
After many years of great production, 2006-07 was a bit of a down year for him, averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds. His scoring dipped further in the Finals, as he averaged just 9.8 points. He bounced the next couple of years, but by 2009 the end of the road was in sight. He joined the Heat along with James in 2010 but retired after that season. Ilgauskas had his jersey retired by the Cavs in 2014.
Now: He returned to the team as a special assistant to the GM in 2012 and in 2015 became an assistant coach at a High School.
#1 LeBron James
The lone star on the 2006-07 Cavs, LeBron James led the Cavs on what became one of the most surprising playoff runs in recent time. Drafted 1st overall in 2003, James toiled in Cleveland for 7 years with not much around him but managed to somehow make it to the Finals once.
Averaging 27 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6 assists that season, he led them to the 2nd seed in the East. Against the Pistons in Game 5 of the Conference Finals, he had one of the greatest games of his career, scoring 48 points, including 29 of the Cavaliers final 30 points in an OT win. He would average 22 points, 7 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the Finals, but had little to no help. Fed up with the lack of talent, James would leave in free agency for the Heat in 2010.
Now: He would return to Cleveland in 2014 and lead them to their 1st title in 2016. With the lack of talent around him now though, James has an option to leave Cleveland again next month.
Guess the Lakers players!
