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Žydrūnas Ilgauskas
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas
Ilgauskas during a Cavaliers game in November 2009.
No. 11
Position: Center
League: NBA
Personal information
Full name: Žydrūnas Mecilovas Ilgauskas
Born: June 5, 1975 (1975-06-05) (age 48)
Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality: Lithuаnia Flag / Flag of the United States Lithuanian / American
Physical stats
Listed height: 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
Listed weight: 260 lbs (118 kg)
National Basketball Association career
Debut: 1996 for the Cleveland Cavaliers
Final season: 2011 for the Miami Heat
Career information
High school: Saint Ignatius
(Cleveland, Ohio)
NBA Draft: 1996 / Round: 1 / Pick: 20th
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Playing career: 1993–2011 (18 years)
Coaching career: 2012–present (12 years)
Career history
As player:
1993–1996 Atletas Kaunas (Lithuania)
19962010 Cleveland Cavaliers
2010–2011 Miami Heat
As executive/coach:
20122015 Cleveland Cavaliers (Special advisor)
2015–present Saint Ignatius (Assistant coach)
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points: 10,976 (13.0 PPG)
Rebounds: 6,191 (7.3 RPG)
Assists: 955 (1.1 APG)
Steals: 421 (0.5 SPG)
Blocks: 1,327 (1.6 BPG)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball–Reference.com

Žydrūnas Mecilovas Ilgauskas (born June 5, 1975) is a Lithuanian–American former professional basketball player who played the Center position. The 7'3" Ilgauskas played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1996 to 2010 and played for the Miami Heat during the 2010–11 season. He was named to the 1997–98 All–Rookie First Team and is a two–time NBA All–Star. Ilgauskas played in the 2007 NBA Finals as a member of the Cavaliers. He is known for his accurate jump shot, for his rebounding, and for overcoming difficult injury challenges during his career. Nicknamed "Big Z", Ilgauskas is the Cavaliers' career leader in blocked shots; his jersey no. 11 has been retired by the team in 2014.

In 2012, Ilgauskas joined the Cavaliers' front office, becoming a special advisor to the organization.

Professional career[]

Atletas (1993–1996)[]

Ilgauskas made his professional debut in his birthplace of Kaunas, with local club Atletas in 1993. He averaged 20.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game in the 1994–95 season.

Cleveland Cavaliers (1996–2010)[]

Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 2007

Ilgauskas with the Cavaliers in April 2007.

Ilgauskas was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 20th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. On August 1, 1996, he signed a multi–year deal with the Cavaliers. In the earliest parts of his career, he suffered through a myriad of foot and ankle injuries. He spent the entire 1996–97 season on the injured list due to a broken bone in his right foot.

He was named the most valuable player of the Rookie Challenge during All–Star Weekend and selected to the All–Rookie First Team in 1997–98. He signed a contract extension in 1998 that was worth $70.9 million over 6 years. However, Ilgauskas played in only 5 games over the next two seasons. On January 26, 2000, he had a surgery on a fractured navicular bone in his left foot.

He re–gained the starting Center spot for the Cavaliers in 2000–01. He was injured again in December 2000 and was out for the season. The injury dealt a blow to the Cavaliers. After winning 15 out of 23 games with Ilgauskas, they finished with a 30–52 record.

He returned in December 2001 and was mostly used as a backup to Chris Mihm for the rest of the season.

Ilgauskas averaged 17.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2002–03. He was selected as an All–Star, but the Cavaliers finished with the third–worst record in team history (17–65) and landed the number one draft pick.

The Cavaliers drafted high school phenomenon and future NBA MVP LeBron James in 2003. James teamed up with Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden to form the core of the team. Ilgauskas only missed nine games over the next three seasons and was selected as an All–Star again in 2005.

Zydrunas Cavs

Ilgauskas attempting a free throw in April 2009.

On July 12, 2005, Ilgauskas signed a contract extension with the Cavaliers. The deal was reportedly worth over $55 million over five years.

For the next four seasons, Ilgauskas was the starting Center for the team, which had turned into a contender. They reached the NBA Finals in 2007 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009. In summer 2009, the Cavaliers acquired Shaquille O'Neal. When asked about the trade, Ilgauskas responded: "I was just reading the news. That means I'll probably be coming off the bench." On December 2, 2009, Ilgauskas came off the bench in a game against Phoenix Suns to break the team record for career games played, overtaking general manager Danny Ferry.

On February 17, 2010, Ilgauskas, along with a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldžič, was traded from the Cavaliers to the Washington Wizards as part of a three–team, six–player trade that sent Antawn Jamison from Washington to Cleveland, Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles, and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland. On February 25, 2010, the Wizards bought out his contract, making him a free agent. Ilgauskas did not play in any games for the Wizards. It was possible for Ilgauskas to return to the Cavaliers, but only after a 30-day waiting period policy required for players traded from their former teams after being bought out of their contract by their new team. He was still free to sign with any other team.

On March 23, 2010 Ilgauskas signed a one–year deal for the remainder of the 2009–10 season with the Cavaliers. He made his return a day later in a win over the New Orleans Hornets. In his first home game back with the team, against the Sacramento Kings, Ilgauskas received huge ovations and support from the crowd. Quicken Loans Arena was affectionately renamed "The Z" for the day, in honor of the Lithuanian.

The 2010 NBA Playoffs marked the first time in Ilgauskas' career in which he was not a significant part of the Cavaliers' rotation. Ilgauskas saw only 69 minutes of floor time in the entire postseason, resulting in averages of 1.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG, far below his career playoff production. The Cavaliers were eliminated in six games by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

On March 8, 2014, Ilgauskas' number 11 was retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers. At the time, he was only the third European to be honored in this way by an NBA team, after Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac.

Miami Heat (2010–2011)[]

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Heat

Ilgauskas with the Heat.

On July 17, 2010, Ilgauskas signed with the Miami Heat. The Heat's signings of Chris Bosh and long–time teammate LeBron James influenced Ilgauskas's decision to join the Heat. On December 2, during the Heat's first game in Cleveland, the fans cheered Ilgauskas in pre–game introductions, while booing the rest of the starters, including James. The Heat made it to the 2011 NBA Finals, but fell short to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

In September 2011, Ilgauskas announced that he was retiring from basketball, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his family as well as citing long–term personal physical fatigue and basic bodily wear–and–tear.

National team career[]

Ilgauskas made his debut with the Lithuania national team in 1994, when the team was qualifying for a spot in the EuroBasket 1995. He averaged 7.7 points and 7 rebounds per game. He later wanted to play for the Lithuania national team in the 2008 Summer Olympics, but the Cavaliers did not permit him to play due to his injury history.

During a press conference in 2008 he said: "I would like to thank to everyone, especially federation, all the insurers for all their efforts and determination. They have been working in days and in nights so that my dream – to play for the national team in the Olympics would come true... It's a pity that I was unable to do that previously... I think everyone of us aren't friends with Cleveland currently, but that is the way we had to go and we did... During the season I got elbowed into my back... After the season I rested a few weeks and began training because I wished to arrive the training camp from the beginning and to prepare, however the pain returned... Doctors told that there are two moves: resting or operation after which you have to rest for two months... I really wished to play a lot and it would hurt in my heart if I would have to sit and would be unable to play. If I did not want that, I wouldn't have gone through all these roads of the cross... Of course, the club and the NBA didn't helped, were throwing sticks into the wheels... It's a business for them. The life doesn't end with this."

Ilgauskas played only three official matches with the Lithuania national basketball team in his whole career.

NBA career statistics[]

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  Bold  Career high

Regular season[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1997–98 Cleveland 82* 81 29.0 .518 .250 .762 8.8 .9 .6 1.6 13.9
1998–99 Cleveland 5 5 34.2 .509 .600 8.8 .8 .8 1.4 15.2
2000–01 Cleveland 24 24 25.7 .487 .000 .679 6.7 .8 .6 1.5 11.7
2001–02 Cleveland 62 23 21.4 .425 .000 .754 5.4 1.1 .3 1.4 11.1
2002–03 Cleveland 81 81 30.0 .441 .000 .781 7.5 1.6 .7 1.9 17.2
2003–04 Cleveland 81 81 31.3 .483 .286 .746 8.1 1.3 .5 2.5 15.3
2004–05 Cleveland 78 78 33.5 .468 .286 .799 8.6 1.3 .7 2.1 16.9
2005–06 Cleveland 78 78 29.3 .506 .000 .834 7.6 1.2 .5 1.7 15.6
2006–07 Cleveland 78 78 27.3 .485 .000 .807 7.7 1.6 .6 1.3 11.9
2007–08 Cleveland 73 73 30.4 .474 .000 .802 9.3 1.4 .5 1.6 14.1
2008–09 Cleveland 65 65 27.2 .472 .385 .799 7.5 1.0 .4 1.3 12.9
2009–10 Cleveland 64 6 20.9 .443 .478 .743 5.4 .8 .2 .8 7.4
2010–11 Miami 72 51 15.9 .508 .000 .783 4.0 .4 .3 .8 5.0
Career 843 724 27.2 .476 .310 .780 7.3 1.1 .5 1.6 13.0
All–Star 2 0 10.5 .556 .000 1.000 3.5 .5 .0 1.0 6.0

Playoffs[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1998 Cleveland 4 4 36.8 .571 .520 7.5 .5 .5 1.3 17.3
2006 Cleveland 13 13 27.2 .454 .750 6.3 .8 .4 2.1 10.4
2007 Cleveland 20 20 32.5 .492 .838 9.7 .9 .5 .8 12.6
2008 Cleveland 13 13 30.2 .479 .818 7.5 1.6 .4 1.1 13.1
2009 Cleveland 14 14 29.1 .449 .154 .636 7.8 1.2 .4 .9 10.5
2010 Cleveland 7 0 9.9 .385 .667 1.6 .4 .0 1.0 1.7
2011 Miami 9 8 11.6 .467 .667 3.6 .3 .0 .3 3.6
Career 80 72 26.5 .477 .154 .744 6.9 .9 .3 1.1 10.2

Front office work[]

On January 11, 2012, Ilgauskas made a return to Cleveland when he was hired by then Cleveland Cavaliers GM Chris Grant to serve as his assistant. His duties included evaluating amateur and pro talent prospects.

Coaching career[]

On September 18, 2015, Ilgauskas joined Saint Ignatius High School as the assistant coach for the boys' team.

Personal life[]

Ilgauskas married his wife, Jennifer, during the summer of 2004. In 2007, the couple lost a set of twins due to pregnancy complications that caused the infants to be born four months premature. In the summer of 2009, Ilgauskas adopted two Lithuanian brothers (aged five and four at the time) from his hometown of Kaunas. On September 13, 2022, it was announced that Jennifer died on September 11.

Ilgauskas is an avid reader. He particularly enjoys military history. During his playing career, he often read in the locker room before games.

Ilgauskas became a United States citizen in 2013. In doing so, he lost his Lithuanian citizenship, as Lithuania limits the possibility of dual citizenship.

Gallery[]

See also[]

Info Page

  • Photo Gallery – Photos featuring Žydrūnas Ilgauskas
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