"Zydrunas Ilgauskas." Lithuanian for Shrimp Cocktail.

	Ilgauskas may never play a full season again, but the Cavs are hoping.

Both legs are shin deep in Gatorade buckets filled with ice and water. Ice packs are strapped to both knees. And this was after playing all of 18 minutes, not the major time the Cleveland Cavaliers say he will get again, some day.

"It's a little cold," he said. "You get numb after a while."

To the ice.

To the rehab.

To the questions.

Ilgauskas is back, again, after another foot injury, after seriously contemplating retirement and after hearing the Cavaliers say they look forward to his return but also seeing the team make two moves in the offseason to get bigger, just in case this recovery turned out like all the others. They got high school center DeSagana Diop out of the draft and they got Tyrone Hill in a trade -- not that either has led to anything so far -- and Z gets to spend more time on ice than Eric Lindros.

The only good news is that Ilgauskas must be used to it by now. Which is also the bad news.

He missed the entire rookie season, 1996-97, because of a broken right foot and had surgery to insert two screws.

He played all 82 games -- that is not a typo: all 82 games! -- the next season, showing the potential by averaging 13.9 points and 8.8 rebounds and shooting 51.8 percent. Setting the stage for ...

Playing five games in 1998-99. A fractured left foot cost him the rest.

	“	I'm just thankful I made it back. I was close to shutting it down for good last year. I'm just glad to have this chance. ... I've been through a lot of tough times. A lot of people wouldn't have lasted as long as I did. I feel good about that. ”
		— Ilgauskas

Just as a fractured left foot cost him all 1999-2000.

Then came the marathon of last season. Twenty-four appearances. Fractured left foot.

That number should fall this season. As long as Z doesn't first. The line is Pick 'Em.

"It's the easy part," he said. "You just play the games. You can't control that."

Whether he gets hurt again, that is.

"I'm just thankful I made it back," Ilgauskas said. "I was close to shutting it down for good last year. I'm just glad to have this chance. ... I've been through a lot of tough times. A lot of people wouldn't have lasted as long as I did. I feel good about that.

"But it's hard because they have limited my minutes. It's hard to get into the flow. Sometimes I feel like I am close to where I was. Sometimes I feel like I have a long way to go."

The realistic vote is Long Way to Go. Just not as long as Diop. He has injury problems -- foot problems -- and he's a rookie. A rookie who barely played before coming to the NBA, having jumped from high school. A rookie who barely played in high school, having started playing basketball when he was 15. A sprained ankle is the latest problem. Hill, meanwhile, is still out with the same back problem that has sidelined him since being acquired from the 76ers in the offseason. Check back in a week for a possible return. Maybe two. Or maybe not.

So the Cavs go with small ball a lot these days, with Chris Mihm at center despite the preference of playing him at power forward, or at least that was the plan at the start of the season, back when they thought there would be options, and Jumaine Jones at power forward. Ilgauskas rehabs, plays some, makes like a polar bear, and tries to string together a good stretch.

The thing is, the Cavaliers are still counting on him.

Check that.

The Cavaliers are still counting on him to be a major part of the foundation of the future.

Gulp.

"Z is not the Z of old," coach John Lucas said. "Yet I love him. I still think he's going to be one of the guys we build around."

He didn't mean build around with a plaster cast, either. You cynics.

"I think he's going to make it," Lucas said. "Certain nights, he can play 28 minutes. If he really has it going, and can get up to 32, that's about what I was going to play him anyway."

Of course, it would be a success if he just makes it to spring, no matter the minutes. That's why it can be such a risk to rely on Ilgauskas so much for the future: No one knows if his future is until the end of the month.

"No," Lucas said, downplaying the risk factor. "Because we'll continue to move forward, no matter what. If he makes it, it's a big plus. If he doesn't, someone else will be able to develop and go on."

If he makes it, he becomes one of the best centers in his conference, which says as much about his potential as an offensive threat from the post as the lack of size in the Least. The windfall for the Cavaliers, more specifically, would be obvious. They already have one of the best point guards in the league, Andre Miller, who is gifted and strong and still just 25, but also underrated because he plays for a perpetual lottery team that can't even generate much interest in its own town. To pair him with even a decent big man, along with an inside banger like Hill, would resolve the two toughest positions to fill. The chance to have Diop come along at a slow pace, instead of Ilgauskas, would be another bonus.

That all depends on if Z makes it back, a very big if. He might never fully recuperate. He might get hurt in two more games. It could happen.

Yeah, we know. Very cold of us to say.

Scott Howard-Cooper covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.