In the 1996 NBA Draft, then Cavaliers GM Wayne Embry shocked the basketball world when he tabbed two international big men – a physical center from Wright State named Vitaly Potapenko and skilled seven-footer from Lithuania named Zydrunas Ilguaskas.
Who could have known then how each would eventually affect the franchise over the next 20 years?
But in those early days of the mid-90s – long before Z’s number would be retired to the rafters and Potapenko would win a Championship ring with his original team – both were youngsters from Europe who could barely speak the language.