Did Cavs Purposely Lose In 02-03 To Get LeBron?

[Big Bid'Ness]

From:Realgm.com

During the 2002-03 season, John Lucas was head coach of the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers. He believes team brass had a mission to lose enough games to get a shot at LeBron James, who was then a senior in Akron.

"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 said in an interview with 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.''

Gordon Gund, then the principal owner and now a Cavaliers' minority owner, denied the team was tanking during that 17-65 season to get James.

"As angry as I am about the situation of being there, I was there at the wrong time,'' Lucas said. "But, for the organization, it was absolutely the right move. I'm angry because I should be a big boy because I got paid a lot of money (Lucas was fired with 1 ½ years left on his contract). But you want a chance to be able to be there for a while. You knew what the mission was. You just hoped you could get there to get that."

 

[playmaker7]

Duh they weren't gonna win another way...