Ilgauskas looking for championship

Trade rumors, retirement talk doesn't faze him

INDEPENDENCE: Talk of retirement? Rumor of a trade? It doesn't matter to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It probably shouldn't have, but when a report said Ilgauskas wasn't married to the idea of returning to the Cavaliers after this season, it raised a couple of eyebrows.

Going into his 12th season, Ilgauskas has endured bad seasons and multiple foot surgeries.

''I don't know what I'm going to do, that's what I said,'' he said of his future. ''My guess is we'll see how the season is and how I feel at the end of it.''

And should the Cavs win a championship, a realistic possibility heading into the season, it would appear to represent the perfect way for Ilgauskas to go out.

''No, it will depend on how I feel and what I want to do more than anything else,'' he said. ''A championship will not play a big part in it.''

What's apparent is that playing basketball is beginning to feel like a job to Ilgauskas, a 7-foot-3 center from Lithuania.

''Getting in shape isn't the issue. It's the grind, you know. Middle of February, middle of March, West Coast trips, back-to-backs, over and over and over again,'' he said. ''When you're a young guy, you're able to recover and bounce back better, but when you get older it's not happening for you. The grind gets tougher and tougher each year.''

There's no question that Ilgauskas knows he still has plenty in the tank. He averaged 12.9 points and 7.5 rebounds last season. Cavs coach Mike Brown believes the same primarily because 7-footers will always be in demand.

''Z, in my opinion, can play as long as he wants,'' Brown said. ''He'll make the decision when the time is right for him and his family.''

Perhaps that's why Ilgauskas, who has an expiring contract, was allegedly mentioned in trade talks with the Golden State Warriors that would have brought Stephen Jackson to the Cavs. After 11 years with the Cavs, he couldn't be blamed if that bothered him. He just shrugs his shoulders when it's mentioned.

''I've been traded, I think, let me see? Seventy-five times? Seventy-seven times since I've been here,'' he joked. ''After that, you become numb to that.

''I would obviously like to stay here, but this is a business. If it comes or not, when I get to that bridge, I'll cross it. I've expressed my desire to always stay with this team especially now that we have a chance to win.''

Tait missing broadcast

Joe Tait, the voice of the Cavs, won't be behind the microphone for tonight's preseason game against the Charlotte Bobcats in Charleston, S.C. Tait will instead be inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Achievement at Monmouth College in Illinois. Tait graduated from the school in 1959. The Cavs' television voice, Fred McLeod, will call a radio game for the first time since the Cavs played in China two years ago.

Buzzer beaters

Brown knows it will have to happen eventually, but the Cavs' coach isn't in a particular hurry to trim his roster. He said he's seen something positive from the entire roster of training camp invitees. . . . Jamario Moon won't make the trip to Charleston after having two wisdom teeth pulled Friday at the Cleveland Clinic. . . . Delonte West is not expected to join the team.

source: By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer