Report: Did Cavs tank the 02-03 season to get LBJ?

[.40 Cal Flakes]

Did the Cleveland Cavaliers tank the 2002-03 season to ensure a better shot at drafting LeBron James? Former Cavs coach John Lucas, who was fired during that season, said he believes that's the case, according to a published report.

"They trade all our guys away and we go real young, and the goal was to get LeBron and also to sell the team,'' Lucas told AOL FanHouse. "I didn't have a chance. ... You can't fault the Cavaliers for wanting to get LeBron. It was hard to get free agents to come there.''

The Cavaliers finished the 2002-03 season with a 17-65 record, tied with the Denver Nuggets for the worst record in the NBA. Cleveland won the NBA's draft lottery and selected James with the No. 1 pick. Lucas was fired midway through that season.

Lucas said he was ordered to play young players.

Guard Ricky Davis, who was a member of that Cavs team and is now a member of the Clippers, said that Lucas was in a no-win situation.

"It was tough on [Lucas],'' Davis told AOL Fanhouse. "They were forcing him to lose and I know it's nothing he wanted to do. It's just the position he was forced in. But it's tough. ... It worked, whatever they did [to get James] so it's hard to knock them. They got what they wanted. But it was hard on Luke.''

I guess it's possible. Who wouldn't want a better shot at landing LBJ? The hype behind him at the time was like nothing ever seen before.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4825853

[A00715890]

i highly doubt it....if your doing shitty, and have no chance at the playoffs, then of course you want to see what the young players can do....

and this isn't the nfl, just because you have the worst record doesn't mean your automatically gonna get the no.1 pick.....

imo, its just a former coach who is still bitter about being let go...

[Hotshot]

I don't know, the Cavs pretty much sucked even without trading away some of their top guys.

Most of the guys on that team had inflated stats anyways which is why the Raptors got fooled in trading for Lamond Murray who sucked big time playing for the Raps.

[Apollo]

I'm not sure I buy into that. I mean the worst team in the league only has a 25% chance at winning the lotto.

[verbatim]

tanked. and why not?

[.40 Cal Flakes]

I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that the Cavs organization may not have done all they could have to win that season, in order to have a better chance at landing LBJ.

[Eze]

I'm not one to really buy into the conspiracy theory, but, there sure have been some oddities when it comes to the lotto.

You get a lot of small market teams (in terms of the NBA) who tend to get the #1 pick when there is no clear #1...say like the year you guys got AB...or between Orlando and the Bobcats with Dwight and Emeka or the Bucks with Bogut.

But, then you have these major markets in need...say like the Clippers (the team isn't a major market, but the LA market is)..and they get the #1...or Chicago randomly gets the #1 with a 1% chance...and you have these markets like Chicago and Cleveland getting their "hometown" guy.

Ironic how it continues to happen.

Watch New Jersey get Wall this year to compete with the Knicks in their move to BK.