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Cleveland Charge

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Cleveland Charge
Cleveland Charge logo
ConferenceEastern
LeagueNBA G League
Founded2001
HistoryHuntsville Flight
2001–2005
Albuquerque Thunderbirds
2005–2010
New Mexico Thunderbirds
2010–2011
Canton Charge
2011–2021
Cleveland Charge
2021–present
ArenaPublic Auditorium
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (temporary)
LocationCleveland, Ohio
Team colorsWine, gold, black, white[1][2][3]
       
Team managerBrendon Yu[4]
Head coachChris Darnell
OwnershipCleveland Cavaliers
Affiliation(s)Cleveland Cavaliers
Championships1 (2006)
Division/Conference titles1 (2013)
Websitecleveland.gleague.nba.com

The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since 2024, the team plays its home games at Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland,[5][6] though to begin the 2024–25 season, home games were played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (home of the Cavaliers) due to renovations at Public Auditorium.

The franchise was founded in 2001 as the Huntsville Flight, based in Huntsville, Alabama, before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2005, where they were known as the Albuquerque Thunderbirds until 2010. After playing the 2010–11 season in suburban Rio Rancho as the New Mexico Thunderbirds, the franchise was purchased by the Cavaliers and relocated to Canton, Ohio, where they played as the Canton Charge through the 2020–21 season.

The team has made the championship finals twice, once when playing in Huntsville and the other time when playing in Albuquerque; the team lost in 2004 and won the title in 2006. Since the move to Ohio, they have reached the semifinal round three times in 2012, 2015, and 2016. They are one of three surviving teams from the original eight that first played in the 2001–02 season, and are also one of only four teams to reach the playoffs at least ten times in league history.

History

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Huntsville

[edit]

The team was formed in 2001 as the Huntsville Flight based in Huntsville, Alabama, as a founding member of the NBA Development League, the affiliate minor league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They played home games at the Von Braun Center. In their first two seasons, they failed to make the playoffs, but in their third they reached the NBA D-League Finals, losing to the Asheville Altitude. The team ended its tenure in Alabama at the conclusion of the 2004–05 season after finishing third in the league and making the playoffs. The Flight were not affiliated with an NBA team.

Albuquerque

[edit]

The team moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became the Albuquerque Thunderbirds beginning in the 2005–06 season.[7] They played home games at Tingley Coliseum. In their first season in New Mexico, the team won the 2006 NBA D-League Championship by defeating the Fort Worth Flyers in the championship game. In the 2006–07 season, they again made the playoffs, but were defeated by the Colorado 14ers. The Thunderbirds moved in 2010 to the Santa Ana Star Center in suburban Rio Rancho and were re-branded as the New Mexico Thunderbirds. They played just one season in Rio Rancho, finishing ninth and failing to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The Thunderbirds were affiliates of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz.[8][9][10]

Canton

[edit]
Logo used from 2011 to 2021 when the team was based in Canton.

It was announced on July 7, 2011, the Thunderbirds had been purchased by the Cleveland Cavaliers and were moving to Canton, Ohio, for the 2011–12 season.[7] Alex Jensen was named the first head coach of the Charge on October 11. On October 13, the Canton Charge name, logo, colors, and court design were unveiled.[11] On October 20, the team announced the first two players of the new team: Keith McLeod and Jamine Peterson.[12] On October 25, the new uniforms were released.[13] In the 2011 NBA D-League Draft, the Canton Charge selected Tyrell Biggs in the first round.[14] In their first game as the Canton Charge, they were defeated by the 2010–11 champions Iowa Energy in an 100–82 game at home.[15] Their first win came against the Texas Legends in their third game, which they won by 108–87.[16]

Steve Hetzel was named head coach on September 11, 2013, for 2013–14.[17]

Cleveland

[edit]

The team's 10-year lease with the Canton Memorial Civic Center expired following the single-site and abbreviated 2020–21 season where the Charge had played in Orlando, Florida, within the G League bubble due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The Cavaliers chose not to renew the lease in Canton and instead relocated the team to downtown Cleveland to play at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center beginning with the 2021–22 season.[18] The team was officially announced as the Cleveland Charge on July 26, 2021, with the team's logos and branding being largely unchanged other than the switch from Canton to Cleveland in the logo. In September 2021, Charge head coach Nate Reinking became an assistant with the Cavaliers and Cavs' assistant Dan Geriot took over as Charge head coach.[19]

In September 2022, it was announced that Cavaliers assistant Mike Gerrity would take over as head coach of the Charge, trading places with Geriot.[20]

On June 4, 2024, the Charge announced they would be moving their home games to the nearby Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland, leaving the Wolstein Center after three seasons.[5]

Logos and uniforms

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Huntsville Flight

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The first logo of the team, when it still was the Huntsville Flight, consisted of a yellow basketball with a red fighter aircraft flying around the ball, and below it was written "Huntsville" in blue and "Flight" in yellow. Their colors were red, yellow, navy and white. The home uniform was white with "Huntsville" and the numbers written in red, near the arm and in the neck there were black and navy little lines. Their away uniform was similar, but it was red instead of white and the numbers in yellow.

Albuquerque/New Mexico Thunderbirds

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Their logo as Albuquerque and New Mexico was the same, with just one difference, the name written below the logo. The logo consisted on a bird black head, with a basketball in its claw. Their colors were dark yellow, black, white and orange. As New Mexico, they removed the orange color and replaced with grey. Their home uniform was white, with "Thunderbirds" and the numbers written in orange, and black details on the side of the jersey. The away uniform was orange, with black details, and letters ("Albuquerque") in white. As New Mexico, it had a little change; the away uniform used "T-Birds" instead of "New Mexico".

Canton Charge

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Malik Newman in 2020

Under the Cleveland Cavaliers ownership, the Charge adopted a similar style. The logo consists of a musketeer style soldier, with his sword pointing forward, and below him there is written "Canton Charge" in gold and white. The musketeer hat is wine and his clothes are gold. Their colors are wine, gold and white. They have an alternate logo, similar to the "C Sword Logo" from the Cavaliers, with a sword crossing a "C". Their original home uniform was gold with details, "Charge" and the numbers written in wine. The original away uniform was the same, only with the colors swapped. When Nike took over supplying uniforms for the NBA G League for the 2017–18 season, the Charge adopted a white uniform with wine letters and gold number accents while tweaking their wine uniform set to feature navy numbers with gold accents and lettering.

Home arenas

[edit]

Season-by-season

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Season Division Regular season Playoffs
Finish Wins Losses Pct.
Huntsville Flight
2001–02 5th 26 30 .464
2002–03 8th 22 28 .440
2003–04 3rd 24 22 .522 Won Semifinals (Charleston) 108–100
Lost D-League Finals (Asheville) 106–108
2004–05 3rd 27 21 .563 Lost Semifinals (Asheville) 86–90
Albuquerque Thunderbirds
2005–06 2nd 26 22 .542 Won Semifinals (Florida) 80–71
Won D-League Finals (Fort Worth) 119–108
2006–07 Western 3rd 24 26 .480 Lost Semifinals (Colorado) 100–130
2007–08 Southwestern 4th 22 28 .440
2008–09 Southwestern 3rd 24 26 .480
2009–10 Western 7th 18 32 .360
New Mexico Thunderbirds
2010–11 Western 9th 20 30 .400
Canton Charge
2011–12 Eastern 4th 27 23 .540 Won First Round (Springfield) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Austin) 1–2
2012–13 Eastern 1st 30 20 .600 Lost First Round (Tulsa) 1–2
2013–14 Eastern 2nd 28 22 .560 Lost First Round (Sioux Falls) 1–2
2014–15 Atlantic 2nd 31 19 .620 Won First Round (Sioux Falls) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Fort Wayne) 0–2
2015–16 Central 2nd 31 19 .620 Won First Round (Maine) 2–0
Lost Semifinals (Sioux Falls) 0–2
2016–17 Central 3rd 29 21 .580 Lost First Round (Raptors) 0–2
2017–18 Central 4th 22 28 .440
2018–19 Central 4th 22 28 .440
2019–20 Central 2nd 29 14 .674 Season cancelled by COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 — 14th 5 10 .333
Cleveland Charge
2021–22 Eastern 15th 6 26 .188
2022–23 Eastern 5th 18 14 .563 Won Quarterfinals (Maine) 113–100
Lost Semifinals (Long Island) 107–111
2023–24 Eastern 11th 15 19 .441
Regular season 526 538 .494 2001–present
Playoffs 13 18 .419 2001–present

Current roster

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Cleveland Charge roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From
G/F 21 Bates, Emoni (TW) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2004-01-28 Eastern Michigan
G 5 Bernard, Jules 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2000-01-21 UCLA
G 10 Brown, Darius II 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 1999-07-28 Utah State
G 0 Gilyard, Jacob 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1998-07-14 Richmond
F 7 Hughes, Elijah 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1998-03-10 Syracuse
F 44 Hunt, Feron 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-07-05 SMU
F 1 Hutchison, Chandler 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1996-04-26 Boise State
G 11 McNeil, Sean 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1998-08-17 Ohio State
F 14 Nicholas, Joirdon 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1999-03-29 Texas Southern
F 3 Osabuohien, Gabe 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1998-10-27 West Virginia
G 8 Smith, Zhaire 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1999-06-04 Texas Tech
F 15 Thor, JT (TW) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 2002-08-26 Auburn
F 35 Tomlin, Nae'qwan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2000-12-10 Memphis
G/F 33 Travers, Luke (TW) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 207 lb (94 kg) 2001-09-03 Australia
Head coach
  • Chris Darnell
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • (P) Prospects
  • (NBA) On assignment from NBA affiliate
  • (TW) Two-way affiliate player
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: December 15, 2024

Head coaches

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# Head coach Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements
G W L Win% G W L Win%
1 Bob Thornton 2001–2002 56 26 30 .464 – – – –
2 Ralph Lewis 2002–2005 144 73 71 .507 3 1 2 .333
3 Michael Cooper 2005–2007 98 50 48 .510 3 2 1 .667 NBA D-League champion (2006)
4 Jeff Ruland 2007–2008 50 22 28 .440 — — — —
5 John Coffino 2008–2010 100 42 58 .420 — — — —
6 Darvin Ham 2010–2011 50 20 30 .400 — — — —
7 Alex Jensen 2011–2013 100 57 43 .570 9 4 5 .444
8 Steve Hetzel 2013–2014 50 28 22 .560 3 1 2 .333
9 Jordi Fernández 2014–2016 100 62 38 .620 10 5 5 .500
10 Nate Reinking 2016–2021 208 107 101 .514 2 0 2 .000
11 Dan Geriot 2021–2022 32 6 26 .188 — — — —
12 Mike Gerrity 2022–present 32 18 14 .563 2 1 1 .500

NBA affiliates

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During the franchise's time in Huntsville, from 2001 to 2005, it did not have an official affiliation with any NBA team. Since 2005, the Charge franchise has been affiliated with 11 NBA teams for various amounts of time. Until the purchase by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011, the Charge franchise had affiliations with at least two NBA teams per season, with as many as four affiliations during the 2005–06 season.

Media

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Charge games are heard online via the iHeart owned NEO Sports Radio.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Cleveland Charge Staff (July 28, 2021). "New City, Same Charge!". Cleveland.GLeague.NBA.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  2. ^ Cleveland Charge Staff (July 15, 2024). "Charge Glitter in New Gold". Cleveland.GLeague.NBA.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "Cleveland Charge Reproduction Guideline Sheet". NBA Properties, Inc. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "Canton Charge Front Office". Canton.GLeague.NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Langenfield, Danielle. "Cleveland Charge leaving Wolstein Center". Fox 8 Cleveland.com (WJW-TV). Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  6. ^ "Charge to Begin Play in Downtown Cleveland at CSU's Wolstein Center for 21-22 Season". Canton.GLeague.NBA.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. June 9, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "T-Birds Sold, Moving to Ohio". Albuquerque Journal. July 8, 2011.
  8. ^ "Albuquerque Thunderbirds Welcom 2008-2009 NBA Parent Clubs". visitalbuquerque.org. March 30, 2019.
  9. ^ "Meet the New Mexico Thunderbirds". bizjournals.com. March 30, 2019.
  10. ^ "What G-League franchise in Birmingham means for New Orleans Pelicans". nola.com. March 30, 2019.
  11. ^ Winderman, Jake (August 23, 2018). "28 Teams in 28 Days: Meet The Canton Charge". GLeague.NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  12. ^ "Canton Native Keith McLeod and Jamine Peterson Sign with Canton Charge". NBA.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  13. ^ "Canton CHARGE to Suit Up in Wine & Gold". NBA Media Ventures, LLC. October 25, 2011. Archived from the original on October 29, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  14. ^ "Charge Select Tyrell Biggs With the 15th Overall Pick in the 2011 NBA Development League Draft". NBA.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  15. ^ Iowa Spoils Canton's Inaugural Opener
  16. ^ Biggs Lead Charge to First-Ever Win
  17. ^ "Steve Hetzel Named Head Coach of the Canton Charge". NBA.com.
  18. ^ "NBA G League's Canton Charge moving to downtown Cleveland, starting with upcoming season". CantonRep.com. June 9, 2021.
  19. ^ "Cavaliers make more changes to coaching staff". The Plain Dealer. September 21, 2021.
  20. ^ Cleveland Charge, NBA G-League affiliate of the Cavaliers, announce Mike Gerrity as head coach of team - News 5 Cleveland.com (WEWS)
  21. ^ Played the 2020–21 NBA G League season in the G League bubble in Orlando, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  22. ^ "Basketball at Public Auditorium? Cleveland Charge plans move to city-owned landmark". News 5 Cleveland WEWS. June 4, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  23. ^ Cleveland Charge Games Broadcast Live On iHeartRadio On NEO Sports Radio - WTAM.com
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