2011–12 Cleveland Cavaliers season

2011–12 Cleveland Cavaliers season
Kyrie Irving's rookie season
Head coach	Byron Scott
Arena	Quicken Loans Arena
Results
Record	21–45 (.318)
Place	Division: 5th (Central) Conference: 13th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did Not Qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports Ohio · WUAB
Radio	WTAM

The 2011–12 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 42nd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Key dates

• May 17 – The 2011 NBA Draft Lottery took place, and the Cavaliers got the first pick.
• June 23 – The 2011 NBA Draft took place in Newark, New Jersey, at the Prudential Center. The Cavaliers picked Kyrie Irving (#1), Tristan Thompson (#4), Milan Mačvan (#54). They also drafted Justin Harper (#32), but immediately traded him to the Orlando Magic for two future second-round picks (2013 and 2014).
• June 29 – The Cavs exercise the third-year option on Christian Eyenga, keeping him under contract until the 2012–13 season.
• June 30 – J.J. Hickson is sent to the Sacramento Kings, for Omri Casspi and a protected future first round pick.
• July 7 - The Cavaliers set a NBA D-League team in Canton, Ohio. The Cavs announced that they will own and control all the operations of the former Albuquerque/New Mexico Thunderbirds. On October 13, the new name, logo, colors and court design are unveiled, the Canton Charge.
• December 9 - Training Camp begins. The Cavs also signed with rookies Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson. They also waived Joey Graham.
• December 12 - Anthony Parker re-signed with the Cavaliers.
• December 14 - The Cavs decided to waive Baron Davis.
• December 16 - The Cavaliers opened their pre-season with a victory over the Detroit Pistons in The Palace of Auburn Hills.
• December 20 - The Cavs closed their pre-season with a loss against the Pistons in Quicken Loans Arena, with a 1-1 record.
• December 22 - Manny Harris is waived by the Cavs.
• December 26 - The Cavaliers opened their season with a loss against the Toronto Raptors in the Quicken Loans Arena.
• January 4 - Christian Eyenga is assigned to the Canton Charge.
• January 23 - The Cavs recall Christian Eyenga.
• February 10 - The Cavaliers sign a 10-day contract with Ben Uzoh, of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
• February 21 - Manny Harris sign a 10-day contract with the Cavs.

Draft picks

Main article: 2011 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Club Team
1	1	Kyrie Irving	G	United States	Duke
1	4	Tristan Thompson	F	Canada	Texas
2	32	Justin Harper	F	United States	Richmond
2	54	Milan Mačvan	PF	Serbia	Maccabi Tel Aviv

Roster

2011–12 Cleveland Cavaliers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From F 36 Casspi, Omri 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1988–06–22 Israel C 9 Erden, Semih 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1986–07–28 Turkey G/F 33 Gee, Alonzo 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 1987–05–29 Alabama G 1 Gibson, Daniel 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1986–02–27 Texas F 44 Harangody, Luke 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1986–01–02 Notre Dame G 6 Harris, Manny 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1989–09–21 Michigan G 2 Irving, Kyrie (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 191 lb (87 kg) 1992–03–23 Duke F 4 Jamison, Antawn 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1976–06–12 North Carolina G/F 12 Kennedy, D. J. 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 214 lb (97 kg) 1989-11-05 St. John's G/F 18 Parker, Anthony 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1975–06–19 Bradley F/C 24 Samuels, Samardo 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1989–01–09 Louisville G 15 Sloan, Donald 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1988–01–15 Texas A&M F/C 13 Thompson, Tristan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 227 lb (103 kg) 1991–03–13 Texas C 17 Varejão, Anderson 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1982–09–28 Brazil F 32 Walton, Luke 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1980–03–28 Arizona	Head coach Byron Scott Assistant coach(es) Paul Pressey Jamahl Mosley Joe Prunty Nate Tibbetts Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Anderson Varejão	Ryan Hollins	Semih Erden
PF	Antawn Jamison	Tristan Thompson	Samardo Samuels
SF	Omri Casspi	Alonzo Gee	Luke Walton
SG	Anthony Parker	Luke Harangody	Jason Kapono
PG	Kyrie Irving	Daniel Gibson

Pre-season

2011 pre-season game log
Pre-season: 1–1 (Home: 0–1; Road: 1–0) Game Date Time Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 December 16 @ Detroit Pistons W 91–87 Kyrie Irving (20) Alonzo Gee (8) Ramon Sessions (6) The Palace of Auburn Hills 7,927 1-0 2 December 20 Detroit Pistons L 89–90 Omri Casspi (18) Anderson Varejão (10) Ramon Sessions (8) Quicken Loans Arena 9,853 1-1
2011–12 season schedule

The original 2011 NBA Pre-season was canceled due to the 2011 NBA Lockout. After the lockout, the NBA created a new two game Pre-Season.

Regular season

Standings

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
z-Chicago Bulls	50	16	.758	–	26–7	24–9	13–1
x-Indiana Pacers	42	24	.636	8	23–10	19–14	9–4
Milwaukee Bucks	31	35	.470	19	17–16	14–19	7–8
Detroit Pistons	25	41	.379	25	18–15	7–26	4–11
Cleveland Cavaliers	21	45	.318	29	11–22	10–23	3–12

#	Eastern Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Chicago Bulls	50	16	.758	–
2	y-Miami Heat	46	20	.697	4
3	x-Indiana Pacers	42	24	.636	8
4	y-Boston Celtics	39	27	.591	11
5	x-Atlanta Hawks	40	26	.606	10
6	x-Orlando Magic	37	29	.561	13
7	x-New York Knicks	36	30	.545	14
8	x-Philadelphia 76ers	35	31	.530	15
9	Milwaukee Bucks	31	35	.470	19
10	Detroit Pistons	25	41	.379	25
11	Toronto Raptors	23	43	.348	27
12	New Jersey Nets	22	44	.333	28
13	Cleveland Cavaliers	21	45	.318	29
14	Washington Wizards	20	46	.303	30
15	Charlotte Bobcats	7	59	.106	43

Game log

All the games through December 24 were canceled due to the 2011 NBA Lockout. A new schedule was created starting in December 25.

Player 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

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kyrie Irving	51	51	30.5	.469	.399	.872	3.7	5.4	1.1	.4	18.5
Antawn Jamison	65	65	33.1	.403	.341	.683	6.3	2.0	.8	.7	17.2
Lester Hudson	13	0	24.2	.391	.246	.842	3.5	2.7	1.1	.2	12.7
Anderson Varejão	25	25	31.4	.514	.000	.672	11.5	1.7	1.4	.7	10.8
Alonzo Gee	63	31	29.0	.412	.321	.788	5.1	1.8	1.3	.3	10.6
Ramon Sessions	41	4	24.5	.398	.419	.830	3.1	5.2	.7	.0	10.5
Tristan Thompson	60	25	23.7	.439	.000	.552	6.5	.5	.5	1.0	8.2
Daniel Gibson	35	7	26.2	.351	.396	.791	2.9	2.2	.7	.5	7.5
Anthony Parker	51	51	25.1	.433	.362	.625	2.7	2.4	.7	.1	7.2
Omri Casspi	65	35	20.6	.403	.315	.685	3.5	1.0	.6	.3	7.1
Manny Harris	26	5	17.5	.400	.333	.695	2.7	1.2	.5	.2	6.7
Donald Sloan	25	11	24.3	.403	.091	.808	2.4	3.7	.4	.1	6.6
D. J. Kennedy	2	0	29.5	.417	.500	.000	3.5	1.5	1.0	.0	6.0
Samardo Samuels	54	0	15.3	.455		.701	3.3	.4	.4	.4	5.4
Ryan Hollins	24	7	15.1	.500		.600	2.3	.3	.2	.5	3.7
Mychel Thompson	5	3	19.0	.292	.364		1.0	1.4	.4	.2	3.6
Semih Erden	28	9	11.9	.527		.512	2.6	.3	.4	.2	3.5
Luke Harangody	21	1	11.0	.354	.238	.750	2.5	.3	.3	.1	2.9
Ben Uzoh	2	0	6.5	.400			2.0	1.0	.5	.0	2.0
Luke Walton	21	0	14.2	.353	.438		1.7	1.4	.1	.0	2.0
Christian Eyenga	6	0	13.8	.158	.500	.333	2.0	.7	.5	.7	1.5

Awards, records and milestones

Awards

• Kyrie Irving was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month three times (December – January, February and March) and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
• Rookies Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson were selected to participate in the 2012 Rising Stars challenge.

Milestones

• On March 31 Antawn Jamison scored his 19,000th career point in a 75–91 loss to the New York Knicks.
• On January 31 Kyrie Irving made his first game-winning basket against the Boston Celtics.

Injuries, surgeries and absences

• Semih Erden had a fracture in his right thumb and missed the first seven games of the regular season. In April, he sprained his right ankle and missed the remainder of the season.
• Kyrie Irving suffered a concussion during a game against the Miami Heat on February 7 and missed the following 3 games.
• Anderson Varejao broke his wrist on February 10 during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks and missed the remainder of the season.

Transactions

Free agents

Additions

Date	Player	Signed	Former team
February 10, 2012	Ben Uzoh	NBA D-League	Rio Grande Valley Vipers
February 21, 2012	Manny Harris	NBA D-League	Canton Charge

Subtractions

Date	Player	Reason left	New team
December 9, 2011	Joey Graham	Waived	Free Agent
December 14, 2011	Baron Davis	Waived	New York Knicks
December 22, 2011	Manny Harris	Waived	Canton Charge

Trades

June 23, 2011	To Cleveland Cavaliers 2013 second-round pick 2014 second-round pick	To Orlando Magic Justin Harper
June 30, 2011	To Cleveland Cavaliers Omri Casspi Future first-round pick	To Sacramento Kings J.J. Hickson

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons