ALBANY, N.Y. -- Here are five observations of the Cleveland Cavaliers from their exhibition opener:

	In drafting Dajuan Wagner, right, the Cavs got themselves a scoring guard.

1. The Cavaliers might not equal last season's 29 wins, but perhaps they'll finally play with some passion again. Coach John Lucas rubs his hands together excitedly when he reveals that there have already been two fights in practice since the start of training camp. Two more than last year, in other words. Luke being Luke, he loved seeing Dajuan Wagner and Ricky Davis hurl the ball back and forth the other day in frustration. "The locker room had to change, and the intensity is there," Luke says. As for Wagner's progress, the Cavaliers are buoyant. ESPN.com didn't have the chance to judge the 19-year-old firsthand, because Wagner missed the season's first two exhibitions with abdominal cramps, but Luke and GM Jim Paxson aren't shy about touting him. "He's not a shooting guard, he's not a point guard -- he's just a guard that knows how to score," Paxson said. "He's going to be able to come in and score right away. He's not a great shooter, but he's just got a knack." Said Lucas: "We can always get a shot late in the shot clock if we can get Dajuan the ball."

2. Paxson is like a lot of folks. He sees Zydrunas Ilgauskas looking better than he did a year ago, when Z made it through 63 games, and Paxson inevitably fears the worst. "Zydrunas has been really good, which always scares me," Paxson said. "He's really moving well." Ilgauskas, for his part, doesn't sound scared. He dropped 10 pounds in the offseason and believes that's "easier on my feet." The Cavs are also hoping that the trio of athletes around Z (Wagner, Davis and Darius Miles) will make it easier, not harder, for Ilgauskas to find operating room. "Just looking for a good, healthy season," Ilgauskas said. "A couple of years ago, I didn't know if I even wanted to go through another surgery and play basketball. So now I'm enjoying every game that I play."

3. Davis insists he has no lingering disappointment about Cleveland matching Minnesota's six-year, $34 million offer sheet. That's in contrast to loud statements from Davis' agent, Dan Fegan, about Davis being "a player who wants to be somewhere else." Davis is trying to dispel the notion that (like the since-departed Lamond Murray) he wanted out of Cleveland. "I was a little bit (disappointed)," Davis said, "but I kind of figured (Cleveland) would match. You try to just put all that behind you so you won't be over here pouting. We've got a good thing and I don't want to mess that up."

4. In other personnel news: Carlos Boozer, eager to make teams regret letting him slide into the second round, has lost some weight and should play some as a rookie. … Tyrone Hill, like Ilgauskas, is healthy at the moment, with his own following of skeptics awaiting the next injury. … Paxson has no plans to sign a veteran point guard, calling that a position to upgrade next offseason by saying "I think we're OK for this year." … DeSagana Diop is still miles behind Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and even Kwame Brown in his development. As with Big Z, the Cavs simply hope Diop makes it through a full season for starters. Put Chris Mihm in the same category.

5. Paxson is high on his young nucleus -- Davis being the oldest at 23 -- even as he admits that trading away his first draft pick (Andre Miller) was a gamble. Paxson is likewise bracing for ongoing criticism of the plan as the losses mount, but, in fairness, it should be pointed out that he's the guy who managed to get Shawn Kemp off the books two offseasons back. "I think my owner's been supportive," Paxson said. "What we were looking at two years ago if we wouldn't have done some of these things, not only would we have been a mediocre team, we would have had no flexibility financially. Now we can play the guys we want to keep and add to this group. Two years we didn't have any of that hope. (Gund) feels good about that. That's hard to sell your fans on, because they don't understand, but as they see this young group come together hopefully over the next year, by the end of the season there will be some hope."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. E-mail him at marc.stein@espn3.com.