OT: Shaq to Cavs
I guess he can't be the big cactus anymore
Kind of sad that Shaq's been reduced to being almost a journeyman at this point. Just call it a career.
Cleveland Rocks! Definitely my team. This is very interesting news... Shaq is awesome.. maybe a little old but, Cleveland needs a dominant center.. Could it be Shaq? maybe, maybe not. Lebron feeding the monster.. SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
Did you see Shaq play last year? He had a solid season. I wouldn't sleep on Shaq now that he's camped in our division. I am curious, though, to see how well he plays with Lebron. Those are two great passers, though, at the 3 and 5. If only they had a point guard, shooting guard, or power forward to play with, things might actually be interesting.
It's not that he physically can't play anymore, but if you're him, 37 years old and having made astronomical sums of money already, why would you want to finish your Hall of Fame career by bouncing around to a new team every other year? Patrick Ewing finished his career this same way, and it was sad to watch. Cleveland's obviously only going to keep Shaq this one year, since he'll be a free agent in 2010. He's too old and injury-prone for any team to commit to him for more than the short term. He should just retire.
was on the backend of not showing up in shape or motivated since 2004. Wonder how Mike B approaches Shaq? Or howabout this scenario...Shaq states sometime during the middle of the season while the team is struggling or in the middle of a losing streak...I'm not getting enough touches/shots? How will MB,KJ or the team react? They haven't experience that in Cleveland. KJ hasn't played with someone as proven as Shaq. Shaq isn't the most *coachable* player in the league,with the Cavs always stating how much of a *team* they love each other...Shaq could upset the equation.
I'm not feelin this trade. But otoh...Joe D wassup?!
He will help them offensively. No doubt about that. But, if they think he can guard Howard, they are dreaming. Shaq will be 38 next year, and he was a bad defender when he played the Pistons in the 2004 finals. Get him on a pick and roll, and it is a sure slam dunk for the other team.
Actually, he'll be just as useful as he has been to Phoenix. I'm not buying this move.
except for the very end.
this video, showing the poor parts of cleveland, resemble the good parts of detroit.
The only sad thing is how true it is.
Could Phoenix have done any worse in that deal? Shaq's still good for like 17 a game. They couldn't have got Cleveland to throw in a ball rack or something?
They only saved 5.5 million and got no talent back. They could have and should have got a better deal. That is a huge expiring deal that Shaq had and they rushed into this deal, imo.
They've technically had since February to think about it. That's when the Cav's originally came to them proposing a Shaq trade.
If it entices LeBron to stay in Cleveland, perhaps it's a better deal than it seems.
I don't think Shaq directly will help keep LeBron in Cleveland as the Cavs likely let him walk after this season which is when LeBron's contract expires. It might give them the cap space to try and sign another free agent along with LeBron next summer assuming LeBron stays in Cleveland.
Not sure this was the case, but if Shaq wanted to move/play with Lebron, Phoenix wasn't going to get anything out of him if they kept him around.
The Suns' owner, can't recall his name, is famous for trading away players and draft picks for cash. That's why the Suns never got the young talent to create championship level depth when Nash and Stoudemire got together.
Wow. One might say he gets luckier than Phil Jackson if he's able to pick up another championship with LeBron.
*Not to say that their rings are based solely on them lucking out and having great teammates/players, but I think it would be difficult to see Phil if it weren't for Jordan & Kobe, much like I don't see Shaq winning 4 without Kobe and D-Wade. I think Phil is a great coach and Shaq is a great player, I just don't think they could have won all those rings without a superstar.
I remember when they use to about about David Robinson and Olajuwan still having the skills to play in the NBA evrn if they weren't near 7 feet. Shaq is the total opposite as if it wasn't for his size he would have no game at all. Has to rank as one of the worst rebounding superstar big men of all time. Whenever they use to talk about him for MVP I would cringe because he was always taken out of close games late because he was such a poor free throw shooter.
That being said the question remains which Shaq shows up in Cleveland a motivated one or the fat lazy one? All I know is he better be in shape because Dwight Howard is going to attempt to abuse him for all the nasty things he said about him during the Magic's playoff run. Nice to know the Magic won one more game in the Finals then they did during Shaq's first final.
Howard is another player that if you take away his size he is not even NBA caliber. Howatd has yet to develop a solid post up game and always drops the ball below his shoulders hence the large amount of turnovers in the finals. I don't understand your argument. If you are saying that D Howard is better than a 37 year old Shaq, I agree. If you are saying that D Howard is better than Shaq early in his career, I disagree. Shaq was easily the most dominant center for many years in the NBA. Howard has yet to show that level of dominance, not to say that he won't. Shaq has shown that he can add a lot to a team. D Wade would not have a ring and although he is older now I think this trade gets Cleveland over to top even with Mike Brown.
that the lovable, laughable giant Shaq has turned into a bitter old man. His constant basing of Howard was ridiculous as if Shaq was trying to prove he was still the man which he isn't. One thing you must remember though is that Howard didn't have three years of college ball under his belt when he entered the league. Also, he doesn't have the benefit that Shaq had of lowering his shoulder knocking the defender back 5 feet and then dunking.
As far as D Wade not having a ring, Shaq wouldn't have that one without D Wade either. For that matter Shaq wouldn't have any on his own because he's not in a close game at crunch time because he chose to make movies and rap albums during the off season when he was young instead of working on free throws and his game. Ironic that Shaq always manages to find a way to get teamed up with another superstar.
I still don't think Cleveland could beat Boston or Orlando. Shaq is more athletic than Z but won't be able to keep up with Howard and probably not even Perkins. Z at least could shoot a jumper and stretch the floor. Howard is just going to camp out in the paint now and protect the rim because he does not have to respect Shaq's jump shot.
Shaq had a much better post game than Howard does. While he didn't have the jumper that Hakeem did, Shaq had an array of moves in the post and a nice touch around the hoop. Howard's only move is to muscle someone. He's got time to develop a complete game, but this move will help the Cavs in the playoffs next season since I doubt Howard will have done so by then. Shaq can absolutely guard the current version of Howard, because Howard does pretty much nothing but post up, and he won't be able to move Shaq around the way he did Wallace or Varejao.
My guess is that he would be motivated. He just watched Kobe get an title with him sitting at home, hes in the last year of his contract and he has been hearing about Howard being the new superman. If he is not motivated this year for those reasons then it is time to hang 'em up.
There whole offense is based on Lebron going to the hoop and dishing it out to sharp shooters; I hope their not planning on doing that next year cause it wont work with shaq and verijou (sp) both on the court. Lebron’s going to have to learn how to be a consistent shooter now.
They get a guy who can score down low if th shooters go cold, and take a little bit of the offense out of lebrons hands, maybe give him a bit of a rest. He won't be in lin games because they can sub in big z, a good ft shooting big. They also free up a lot of cap space to try and resign lebron and get him help in the form of a bosh or other superstar.
forget Shaq.
Cleveland needs Zhaq Gibson
Maybe it's just me, but I think Mike Brown is one of the five worst coaches in the NBA and he will somehow transform this Shaq/LeBron situation into 37 wins.
Michael Curry could still top that. 25 wins, maybe?
I agree. He will somehow justify Shaq Running the point with LeBron down low. But seriously.. what is he going to do now? It's looking to me like its going to amount to 1 vs 6 with LeBron trying to drive to the basket every time while the entire other team collapses on him and Shaq stands in the paint and in his way. If they can get this to work it could win them a championship.. but with a "coach" who seems incapable of coaching, I'll believe it when I see it.
If motivated Shaq shows up, this deal is a steal. The problem is, it is hard to tell which Shaq will show up (even on a nightly basis).
good point, but Shaq is almost certain to play hard comeo playoff time, and that's why they got him. They can win the East without him. Heck, they can play the regular season w/o him, but that'd be bad for team chemistry.
It should help out Cleveland. Having Shaq in there will keep the other big men honest and not let them double up on Lebron as easily.
for me to hate Cleveland. It's not that hard though. The level of schadenfreude I get from that town's sports teams is unreal. It almost makes me like them. Almost.
Great. here come the bandwagoners...
i live in SE michigan and it was unreal how many people rooted for the pistons from 04-08 then last year everyone had those "witness" shirts. i was so annoyed.
I’m somewhat indifferent about the trade... as everyone’s noted it’s going to hinge purely on Shaq’s motivation and preparation for the season. I think the trades more about adding another name with star power to show Lebron that upper mgt is doing what they can to get over the hurdles preventing them from winning the championship as opposed to finding someone who can guard Howard. I agree with the posters above; noting that Shaq’s just going to clog up the middle and eliminate Lebron’s opportunities to penetrate at will which will do more harm than good. What boggles my mind is that in looking back at the series against the Magic I think the inability of the Cavs to match up against Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis should garner much more attention by Cavs mgt than adding another big body. In my opinion money would have been better spent bringing in a Turkoglu, T. Ariza from the Lakers, or better yet Ron Artest who are all free agents and would help address more of the Cavs playoff issues of inconsistent shooting and poor defensive matchups.
Are the cavs still going to have Z? That would be interesting to see
Will Ilgauskas be a backup or will they get rid of Varejao. Please be the latter.