Jim Ingraham: On All-Star Weekend, ranking your greatest Cavs from A(ustin) to Z

Because, and only because nobody asked me, in honor of the Cavs' breakout season, one man's opinion on the 15 best players in Cavs history. (The current Cavs are ineligible since their careers are still being defined). LEBRON JAMES: I wrestled with this one for nearly a full half-second before settling on the obvious choice for the best player in the 52-year history of the Cavs. It didn't require much research, but I did some anyway. I looked up the top-10 highest points-per-game seasons by a Cavs player. All 10 belonged to Lebron.Then I looked up the Cavs' career leaders in triple-doubles. No. 1 was LeBron with 64. No. 2 was John Johnson ... with five. ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS: In Cavs history, LeBron is the only player who has played in more Cavs games than Z, played more minutes than Z, gotten more rebounds than Z and scored more points than Z. In other words, if LeBron, instead of basketball, had pursued cake decorating as a career, Z would be the greatest player in Cavs history. MARK PRICE: The sharp-shooting point guard on those great Lenny Wilkens/Mike Fratello-coached teams in the '80s and '90s, which had a championship pedigree, but no answer for a heartless tormentor named Jordan. Price, who missed a foul shot about once a month, is second to LeBron in Cavs history in steals and assists. AUSTIN CARR: People forget what a great player he was even with all the injuries. Among all Cavs players, only LeBron has made more field goals than Carr, who made his last one in 1981. Carr was Steph Curry before Steph Curry, and before the adoption of the 3-point line. Just a wondrous scorer. BRAD DAUGHERTY: The center on those great Cavs teams that could beat everyone but Jordan. The Price/Daugherty pick-and-rolls were almost indefensible. A five-time all-star who averaged 19 points and nearly 10 rebounds every game, Daugherty's career was slowed and eventually halted, at 28, due to back problems. KYRIE IRVING: Offensively, one of the greatest players in NBA history, but also one of the most grating. He and LeBron could have led the Cavs to multiple NBA titles, but had to settle for only one, in 2016, clinched by Irving's electrifying late-game 3-pointer in Game 7, capping a historic comeback from down 3-1, to beat the best of those Warriors teams, when nobody else could. HOT ROD WILLIAMS: A steady, versatile, underrated performer, who at 6-foot-11, and with no ego, was a key member of those Price/Daugherty teams. Played hard all the time, only cared about winning. He averaged 13 points and seven rebounds during nine of the Cavs' most exciting seasons. TRISTAN THOMPSON: A less-skilled but equally hard-working gamer. A demon on the boards and a bruising competitor who was a valued and necessary counterpuncher for those steel-cage playoff matches with the Warriors. His 2,115 career offensive rebounds rank second on the Cavs' all-time list. LARRY NANCE: He made it look so easy it was like he invented jumping. Nobody else elevated like him. He just kept going up until everyone else started going down. One of just three Cavs players (Z and Hot Rod) with over 1,000 career blocked shots. RON HARPER: Drafted by the Cavs with the eighth pick in the 1986 draft, Harper averaged nearly 23 points per game as a rookie. In his four seasons with Cleveland he averaged 19.4 points per game, and his 2.3 steals per game is still the franchise career record. KEVIN LOVE: He's better than you think. In Cavs history, only LeBron has more 3-point field goals than Love's 966. He's fourth in team history in defensive rebounds, seventh in total rebounds and 10th in total points. WORLD B. FREE: If the kid from Akron had never played for the Cavs, the highest-scoring player in franchise history would be World B. Free, who averaged a cool 23 per game in his four years (1982-86) with some really bad Cavs teams. His given name was Lloyd Bernard Free, but in 1981 shortly before the Warriors traded him to Cleveland — he arrived at the Richfield Coliseum in a helicopter — Lloyd changed his name to "World" because as a kid his playground teammates called him "All-World." LENNY WILKENS: Twelve years before he coached the Cavs he was their point guard. In his two seasons on the job, he averaged 18.5 points and his 7.7 assists per game rank second on the Cavs' career list. BINGO SMITH: A member of the expansion 1970-71 Cavs, Bingo averaged 13.2 points per game in his 10 seasons with Cleveland. On the Cavs' all-time list, he's third in field goals (behind LeBron and Carr), fourth in games, fifth in minutes played and sixth in points with 9,513, which is 1,200 more than Irving. ANDERSON VAREJAO: In his 13 seasons with the Cavs he finished in the top 10 in franchise history in games, rebounds, steals and blocked shots. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on Twitter.