Back in Z fold

This one is for Manny Ramirez. Jim Thome, too. This is for Albert Belle, Matt Williams, Ross Verba and Bill Belichick.
This is certainly for Carlos Boozer. And certainly, certainly for Art Modell.
This is for all the sports figures that clamored to get out of Cleveland in the past decade, driven by a noxious mix of ego and greed.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, an unrestricted free agent with the world as his oyster, opted to stay at home. See, LeBron? There is such a thing as loyalty in professional sports. Upwards of $60 million doesn't hurt, either. That's the amount to which the Cavs and Ilgauskas reportedly agreed on Monday, over five years.
Cleveland keeping Z is a major event in the scheme of NBA free agency this summer. Other Eastern Conference teams waited, hoping Z would either sign out west, or be signed and traded to a bottom-feeder like the Hawks. It didn't happen. Now, the Cavs, a team with two dominant scorers in LeBron James and Larry Hughes, has retained their dominant low-post presence.
You want your title trio that popular logic says every NBA contender needs? There it is.
The contract agreements reached with Ilgauskas and Hughes in the past week show indications the Cavs' brass has come to their senses after a shaky start to the off-season. After spending May and June chasing rainbows named Phil Jackson and Larry Brown, owner Dan Gilbert hired Danny Ferry as general manager. Ferry has come in and hit the ground running. Less than 24 hours after Michael Redd declined Ferry's offer, he had Hughes on board. Four days later, Z followed.
The hiring of Ferry probably increased the probability of Z staying put. Ferry and Z go back almost 10 years as teammates. Ferry knows how hard Z has worked to reclaim his career after multiple foot surgeries.
A different GM unfamiliar with Z could have easily convinced Gilbert to spend his money elsewhere. I think Gilbert would much rather have had a defense-minded center with livelier legs and a less-lengthy injury history. But Ferry must have done a good sell-job to Gilbert on why Z is so important to what the Cavs are trying to build. In that sense, he was the voice of the fans.
Z is slow. He can't really jump anymore. At age 29, there is good reason to believe this contract will be his last in the NBA. But he brings a set of skills rarely seen in someone 7'-3" and is still one of the top two or three pure centers in the league.
Z's signing gives a countryman-mentor to 19-year-old Martynas Andriuskevicius, the Lithuanian center acquired by the Cavs on draft night. Z's signing might also make Cleveland a prime destination for 29-year-old Lithuanian point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, a two-time Olympian largely regarded as one of the best European players not currently in the NBA.
Z and the Cavs have been through a lot together. A lot of injuries. A lot of losing. And a lot of good. It's only right Z stays in Cleveland, where we know his last name is pronounced "ill-GOU-skas," not "ill-GAW-skas," where we know he belongs.