Last night friends, family and teammates gathered for a dinner in Cleveland to honor longtime Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, whose #11 jersey will be retired tonight at The Q. I was the head coach when Big Z signed with the Cavs in 1996. His mother, father and sister all flew in from Lithuania to help him get settled. I invited them over to my home and told them not to worry, that I would take care of their son. Hard to believe it’s been almost two decades since Zydrunas began his impressive NBA career.

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