Zydrunas Ilgauskas: “I just felt like I had unfinished business here in Cleveland.”
March 25, 2010 – 9:45 am by Chris FedorTalk about the rich getting richer. At the NBA trade deadline, despite being the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs went out and improved their roster by trading for Antawn Jamison. The Cavs dealt Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Emir Preldzic – who is playing overseas somewhere – and a first round pick in 2010, which will more than likely be at the end of the first round for Jamison. At the time, that trade looked like an absolute steal for Cleveland. Now it looks like it was even more of a heist for Danny Ferry. The Wizards bought out Z’s contract, made him a free agent, and just a couple of days ago, Ilgauskas re-signed with the Cavs making them even better for the stretch run and into the playoffs. The Cavs are the best team in the NBA right now, they look like the front-runners to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season, and they just improved their roster by resigning a 7 foot 3 center that can shoot the ball like a small forward. And if that’s not impressive enough, it turns out with the resigning of Z, the Cavs were able to steal Antawn Jamison away from the Wizards for a late first round pick and Emir Preldzic. And I thought the Pau Gasol deal to Los Angeles was one sided.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas joined ESPN 850 WKNR in Cleveland with Michael Reghi to talk about why he chose to re-sign with the Cavs, what his expectations are in terms of playing time with the Cavs, and what other teams showed an interest in him over the last couple of weeks.
On the support that he has been getting from the fans:
“It’s been unbelievable, really unbelievable. It wasn’t an easy time for me or my family, but one of the main reasons that I decided to go back was because of the people. People that live in that city. Obviously I’m not from Cleveland, I’m from Lithuania and I’m proud of that, but I always said that Cleveland became like a home to me. That’s what makes it special; people took me in as their own. It’s been a very humbling experience to put in a good way. I remember when I was going to Washington to report for my physicals and I was at the airport, this old lady came up to me and she just started crying. I’m going oh geez. Stop it. From little things like that to running into people in the streets and things like that it’s been great. Just made me wanna come back so much more.”
On whether or not he ever took his release personally:
“No, I didn’t. I understand the business part and I never took it personally. I think people appreciate in all my years here, I never made a noise, I don’t complain, I just went about my business day by day. I fell in love with the city and the city has returned its love to me. That rarely happens in today’s NBA, but all this turmoil the last 30 days, it’s been a really nice lesson for me and my family.”
On why he decided to return to the Cavs:
“I just felt like I had unfinished business here in Cleveland. I felt like I was leaving, not only a lot friends, but a lot of guys that I consider like a family to me. Everything happened so sudden and when everything settled down, I had a chance to look at my options and think about it and I really couldn’t pull myself away. If I wasn’t going to come back and this team would win a championship, I don’t think I would forgive myself for not being there. That was the biggest thing. I just wanted to be a part of it. I do actually own a Wizards jersey with my name on it, a couple of them. I was gonna wear it in Andy’s honor. It has number 17 Ilgauskas and I’m gonna keep it.”
On the amount of attention he received from other teams and how that made him feel:
“Of course. It was a very good feeling and I appreciate it a lot. I talked to George Karl and actually Joe Smith called me a few times from Atlanta. We were friends when we played here and stayed friends so just normal conversation. Like I said, I took my time. I didn’t want to stay in Washington, not because I have something against them, but because it’s a rebuilding team and it’s gonna be a process. I went through the rebuilding already and I really didn’t want to be a part of it. Once the buyout was completed, I looked at all my options and this is where I wanted to be. This is where my heart was. We put so much into this season that it didn’t seem right to be anywhere else.”
On what Mike Brown has told him about the kind of playing time that he’s going to get in Cleveland:
“To be honest with you, I haven’t talked to Mike yet about that. We talked about other things but we haven’t talked basketball yet. I could’ve gotten more minutes somewhere else, but that’s not what I wanted. I wanted to be with these guys and I wanted to win here. I think everybody on this team right now, we realize we have something special here, something special that none of us might have a chance again to do. Championships are hard to come by and I think we all realize that we’re gonna have to put our egos aside. Some nights its gonna be one guy that gets the call and other nights it’s gonna be the other guy that gets the call. You’re just gonna have to root for your teammate and hope the best thing happens. If we win a championship there’s going to be enough glory to go around for everybody.”
On whether or not winning a championship was the biggest reason why he came back to Cleveland:
“Of course. That’s what we all play for. This is my 14th year in the league, I’ve come close a couple times but never had a chance, never had a chance to win it all. I’ve seen this franchise struggle through blue seats, empty arenas, long losing streaks, and everything else. This city hasn’t had a championship for I don’t know like 60 years or something like that and you can feel it in the air when you live in the city how much people crave it.”
Listen to Zydrunas Ilgauskas on ESPN 850 WKNR here
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