But they improved over the next few years.

The Cleveland Cavaliers slowly improved as they added players of great talent like Bingo Smith, Dick Snyder and Jim Chones. Their 1974 season showed a marked improvement as they ended with a record of 40-42 but could not make it to the playoffs. They won the first and only Division title so far in 1976 when they beat the Washington Bullets. They were not able to beat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals though. Bill Fitch won the Coach of the Year award that year.

The Ted Stepien Years

In 1980, Ted Stepien bought the Cavaliers and was not a very popular figure amongst the players and fans. He made a lot of wrong drafts and trades which cost the Cavaliers their reputation of being one of the best teams at the time. Amongst his other bad decisions was the bid to change the teams name to Ohio Cavaliers and adding a fight song with a polka sound which everybody made fun of. His ownership lasted only three years and he sold the team to the Grund brothers, George and Gordon.

Under the new ownership, the Cavs managed to regain some of their lost glory and drafted some good players like Mark Price, Larry Nance and Ron Harper. Their coach was Larry Wilkins under whom they made it to eight playoff seasons in nine years. Their 1989 playoff was against the Chicago Bulls whose Michael Jordan scored in the last minute to clinch the game for the Bulls. In 1991, the Cavs made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to the Bulls yet again.

After that, most of the good players left and many losing seasons later, the Cavaliers were rather poorly placed in the league. Coach Wilkins left in 1993 and was succeeded by Mike Fratello. Under him their defense became very strong but their overall performance had room for improvement. They kept making it to the playoffs but never made it past the first round.

The drafting of LeBron James in 2003, turned their fortunes around. He became a superstar by 2004 and the Cavs were back in the reckoning. Dan Gilbert took over as owner and hired Mike Brown as coach. The Cavaliers went on to win their first Eastern Conference Title in 2007 when they defeated the Detroit Pistons.