Zydrunas Ilgauskas
From Hoopedia
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas (born June 5, 1975 in Kaunas, Lithuania, is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ilgauskas (nicknamed Z (pronounced Zee)) played for his home club team Atletas Kaunas for two years (1994-1996) before he was drafted 20th overall by the Cavaliers in 1996. Ilgauskas quickly made his mark as a very good center, but also as being spectacularly injury-prone due to foot troubles in his early seasons. Ilgauskas missed 287 games in his first six seasons: All of the 1996-97 and 1999-2000 seasons, all but five games in the 1998-1999 season, all but 24 games in the 2000-01 season, and 19 games in the 2001-02 season. In recent years, however, his foot problems seem to have subsided, and he has missed only six games from 2002 to 2005. In three full seasons and parts of three others, Ilgauskas has averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 1.8 BPG in 28.3 minutes per game over 335 games, 295 of them starts. His total career high is 35 points, a total he has recorded multiple times.
Ilgauskas was selected to the NBA All-Rookie 1st Team in 1998 and was named MVP of that the NBA Rookie game at the all-star break, becoming the first European player in history to do that. He is also a two-time All-Star for the East, in 2003 and again in 2005. He made the Finals for the 1st time in 2007 where he lost.
