Shaquille O'Neal to Cavaliers
by gahnki on Jun 25, 2009 12:18 AM CDT
93 comments
Per ESPN:
The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns have come to an agreement on a blockbuster trade that sends Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland to team with LeBron James, according to sources.
The deal has been agreed to in principle and is expected to be finalized Thursday, according to sources.
Cleveland will send Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic to Phoenix for the future Hall of Famer. Sources said the Suns will also receive the 46th pick in Thursday's NBA draft and $500,000.
Various links after the jump.
The deal is expected to be finalized and announced Thursday morning.
The Suns and Cavs had first talked about a deal before last February’s trade deadline. The deal will help the Suns financially, as they can save around $9 million in salary and luxury taxes. The Suns could save even more if Wallace accepts a retirement buyout.
O'Neal is coming off an All-Star season in which he averaged 17.8 points and played 75 games. He’ll give Cleveland, which was eliminated in the conference finals after posting the best regular-season record, an inside force to help LeBron James. He’s also in the last year of his deal, so the Cavs still will have financial flexibility heading into the big free agent summer of 2010, when James can become a free agent.
Cleveland and Phoenix were both juggling multiple trade possibilities with other teams, with the Cavs involved with as many as six trade scenarios.
Yet the disappointing Eastern Conference finals loss to the Orlando Magic left Cavs GM Danny Ferry with incredible pressure to accumulate talent around James in the final season prior to his 2010 free agency. James has blessed the O’Neal trade, especially because it should give his overmatched frontline a chance to compete with Dwight Howard in the playoffs. Ferry and Phoenix GM Steve Kerr are close friends and had talked off and on about a Shaq deal since the February trade deadline.
O’Neal, 37, makes $21 million next season, and the Suns were determined to move him in a package that would save them money. Wallace made $14 million and could take a buyout to retire, and only $1.5 million of Pavlovic’s $4.9 million salary is guaranteed.
Shaquille O'Neal is going to be a Cavalier.
According to multiple team executives, the Cavs have agreed in principle to a trade with the Phoenix Suns to bring the four-time champion and future Hall of Famer to Cleveland. The team is hoping he is the biggest missing piece alongside LeBron James in a quest to win their first NBA Championship....
O'Neal is coming off an excellent season in which he averaged 17.8 points, shot 61 percent and played 75 games. He was an All-Star and was named Third Team All-NBA after dealing with an injury-plagued season in 2007-08.
Picking him up now would serve a couple purposes for the Cavs. First it would give them the massive inside presence they have been lacking and proved to be a stumbling block against the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic this season.
I tried extracting the best parts from each source to avoid redundancy and add relevant information. Exciting deal for sure.
This is a Fan-Created Comment on FearTheSword.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff at FearTheSword
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I just don't see how the two can be one but ok, have fun.
The Faith don't panic, the faith freaks out, burns out farms, and torchs small villages in the name of The Faith.
by faith on Jun 25, 2009 1:09 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
LOL
Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Yeah.....but
that slacker Ferry forgot about getting Amare while dealing with Kerr!
So I told her," I'll be nicer if you try to be smarter!'..That was a mistake.
no way. much rather shaq than amar’e.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 11:03 AM CDT up reply actions
I meant "in addition" to Shaq
So I told her," I'll be nicer if you try to be smarter!'..That was a mistake.
Even if the Cavs win the championship,
Lebron can’t win one w/o Shaq! HAHA you’ll be where Kobe was.
No one here will ever care about that.
Ride on ye fearsome Horsemen of the Basketball Apocalypse. We got this.
by Turkmenbashi on Jun 25, 2009 7:10 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
You say that now but
in two years shaq will be saying “lebron couldn’t do it w/o me, how my ass taste?!”
if he does, we definitely won’t care…and WHEN he doesn’t (b/c he won’t) it will mostly be b/c LeBron isn’t the legendary jerk that kobe is.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 26, 2009 3:04 AM CDT up reply actions
Yeah I agree with stalin again
Kobe is a jerk, hows that ass taste Kobe when Shaq feeds you it in the finals
"Knowledge will get you from A to B. Creativity will get you anywhere." Einstein
by Garden of ODEN on Jul 13, 2009 12:59 AM CDT up reply actions
No, I really won’t even care. We’re just hungry for a championship, no matter what.
Ride on ye fearsome Horsemen of the Basketball Apocalypse. We got this.
by Turkmenbashi on Jun 26, 2009 7:07 AM CDT up reply actions
I couldn’t possibly care less. That’s just stuff for the media to talk about. As Joey said, it wouldn’t happen anyways.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 26, 2009 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions
That would be the dumbest thing Cleveland could have done
You make that fat ass prove his worth.
I’ve said it before, but I think this is a bad idea. But, as they say, that’s why they play the games.
Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Crazy. There is no way this is a bad deal, unless Shaq is injured. Even then, two players who didn’t contribute much for a center who averaged nearly 18 points a game is a great trade. Who cares if he is older and won’t play much longer? The goal is to win a championship, not continually stock up on players with upside.
Pavlovic will also be waived by the Suns because his contract is not fully guaranteed. They will ues the opportunity to pocket the savings. If the Cavs want him back they have the opportunity. Wallace may also accept a buyout. The players departing the Cavs are a complete non-issue
I agree
But that wasn’t my point. My point is that I don’t think Shaq is an ideal fit for the Cavs. I have no stake in this—I don’t like Shaq, and while I like the Magic team, it’s not like I hate the Cavs either—-but at the same time it’s about fit, and my personal opinion is that the Cavs will have to make more concessions to Shaq than they will like.
Like any pundit, there is always a chance you could be wrong. We will see. I have no wish to argue this any further.
Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Even if they do, I still like this trade. It’s about time a Cleveland franchise made a move like this.
Oh yeah, and Brad, I’m being nit picky but I’ve seen you misspell definitely a lot. This used to mess me up as well.
Yeah, I always do that. Thanks for watching out for me.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 25, 2009 9:51 AM CDT up reply actions
Funny that this arrived in my Friday Facts email this morning from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation:
- "Definitely" is the most misspelled word for Britons, according to the Daily Telegraph. For those who speak the King’s English, the rest of the top 20 "misspelt" words are sacrilegious, indict, manoeuvre, bureaucracy, broccoli, phlegm, prejudice, consensus, unnecessary, supersede, questionnaire, lieutenant, entrepreneur, inoculate, particularly, liquify, parallel, conscience.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Exciting
Welcome to Smashville, Tennessee.
Official Graphic Designer/Researcher/Grammar Police of MCM.
by Aditya T (smashville) on Jun 25, 2009 5:19 AM CDT reply actions
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some people swear they down as can be
Turns out those same Homies Sit down to pee
by I blocked Patrick Chewing on Jun 25, 2009 7:15 AM CDT reply actions
Without getting onto his impact on the court (both positive and negative), this what I love most about the deal:
• Whether or not this ultimately works, folks stop and think about this. The Cavs just traded for an All-NBA player and a Hall of Famer for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, a second round pick in a bad draft and $500,000. Not Delonte West. Not a first rounder. Not J.J. Hickson. This is asset management from Danny Ferry, who has been waiting for a long time to make this deal. That is what he does, he uses his assets to make one-sided deals. How can he do it? Because he has Dan Gilbert writing checks and LeBron packing the house. You can take shots at Danny and have opinions on what happened or didn’t happen at the deadline but just step back and look at this trade.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
They don’t need an all NBA player. They need someone that can guard the best centers in the league 1 on 1, and can draw fouls on the offensive end
The first thing in that quote – “The Cavs just traded for an All-NBA player”
Also, the Suns allowed more points per possession with Shaq on the court than off, grabbed a lower percentage of the total rebounds with him on the court, and were not better at drawing fouls with him on or off. Shaq can help, and for two pieces that weren’t going to do anything, sure, you do the trade, but unless his MMA training is out of this world, we shouldn’t be expecting a second star.
Nobody is expecting Shaq to play like a star, and the Cavs don’t need him to.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 25, 2009 9:53 AM CDT up reply actions
I certainly might be mis-interpreting some of this giddyness of having done a deal, but the reaction I’m getting is that Shaq is that second star that Lebron has always needed. Honestly, I put this move behind the Mo Williams deal – I think both that Williams is currently the superior player and as a younger player signed for a longer deal, is more important to the success of this team. We got a decent player for pretty much nothing again. Good work Ferry. Hopefully in next year’s playoff we actually get to play the team we designed our team to beat.
Obviously Shaq is a big name player, and casual fans are certainly very excited about this deal because of his reputation as a dominating player, but I think most fans here know he’s not going to dominate like he used to. But he still is a inside scoring threat, more than anyone we’ve had here in a long time, and will give the defense something else to plan for besides LeBron. And he will provide size on defense to go against Howard which we didn’t have this year. If we had given up another good player to get him then I’d be upset but since we got him for pretty much nothing I don’t know how you can’t love this deal.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 25, 2009 10:14 AM CDT up reply actions
I think this will mean Hickson has to develop
But, maybe I’m alone in thinking that. Are the Cavs still high on him?
Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Yes, but his back is still bothering him so he’s not playing in the summer league. He has the skills, he just needs to learn to play defense better (which is why Brown didn’t play him much his rookie year).
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 25, 2009 11:35 AM CDT up reply actions
one game really sunk jj’s season…the game in cleveland against the lakers. he was supposed to box out lamar odom, and instead surrendered like 5 offensive rebounds in 6 minutes.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 11:47 AM CDT up reply actions
Hmmm
I always thought he was more of a raw rookie who had a lot of athleticism and raw ability, and not much else. Hmmm.
Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
First off, I was off by a year with Shaq’s All-NBA. But Windhorst isn’t a casual fan. One third team All-NBA in the last three years. And I thought I made it seem I like this trade. There were no A+ moves out there, so they made a B+ one, probably the best they could do.
I’m also interested in seeing how the matchups work. Both Lebron and Shaq force the opposing team to pack the paint. The Cavs were at the top of the league in offensive efficiency before injuries to Z and West, so I’m not sure how much he really helps at that end. And we made this deal because we lost to Orlando. Plain and simple. Like I said, hopefully we get to see the team we’re scheming to beat in the playoffs this time.
i would add that it speaks to the potential mismatch that we had with the lakers, too. obviously, our issues defending the paint were exploited in the two losses to them, as well.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 11:54 AM CDT up reply actions
This is essentially correct. What I am hating is the people who are over analyzing this trade as somehow bad for Cleveland. Shaq for nothing is a great deal. It is a slam dunk and if the Cavs were offered this same deal in February last year and didn’t make the trade, they are pretty stupid.
Windhorst said that the Suns were asking for Delonte West to be included in a deal for Shaq which the Cavs didn’t want to do. I don’t know if that was the deal-breaker or if it was something else.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 25, 2009 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions
the story seems to be that the suns took a deal off the table in feb.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 12:49 PM CDT up reply actions
Good point but......
1. The Suns have an ineffective defense in general (as in they try to outscore you)
2. The Cavs have a great defense and Shaq could also make it better depending on viarables.
I think Shaq makes us better against the teams that we beat last year- and there were lots of them- and he makes us better than the few teams that were better than us. Only time will tell but even as a pathological optimist, I say he makes us better.
So I told her," I'll be nicer if you try to be smarter!'..That was a mistake.
shaq was actually 3rd team all-NBA this year…so you’re sort of wrong, but also sort of right.
i don’t believe this trade was made with the intention of adding a perennial all-star to the roster (that was the mo williams deal, as you point out below). rather, one of the cavs’ primary weaknesses last year was defending the post against quality offensive centers—mostly, dwight howard and pau/bynum—and this deal addresses that issue. it also has the added benefit of getting a potentially potent offensive post presence on the team in the body of the same guy.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
I know it wasn’t pretty to watch our big men go up against some of the best in the league, but compared to the rest of the league they did a pretty good job against opposing 5’s. Howard and Gasol/Bynum give every team trouble in the post. I’d still say they’re better equipped, but they did a bang-up job last year.
great stat pull there. what a good site 82games is.
clearly, the cavs didn’t have many weaknesses last year, but i did try to be specific and say that defending quality offensive post players was an area in which they struggled. it’s the howards, gasol/bynums of the world that the cavs need to worry about at this stage, which i think the shaq deal was geared toward.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 25, 2009 6:42 PM CDT up reply actions
I can’t really prove this, so maybe I should caveat the hell out my theory, but its that the Howards and Gasols, the really good guys, give everyone fits, not just the Cavs. Maybe the Cavs do perform worse against the top tier big men, but they performed well against big men in general, and I’m not sure how much you should give up against everyone else to gain a bit against the Magic.
Also, basketball prospectus doesn’t seem to be a fan
they certainly give everyone fits, including the cavaliers. but the cavs are championship caliber, and to remain at and succeed at that level they have to be able to handle those top-flight big men better than the rest of the league does. given where the cavs are in their lifecycle as a team, they can play to beat the magic/lakers of the world. 66 wins, 8-0 prior to the ECF seems to bear that out.
also, i would say that basketball prospectus misdiagnoses the problem. a big 3 or undersized 4 (LeBron is actually both of those things) is not what ails the cavs. if they’d been able to single howard, lewis would have had much less impact, i truly believe that. lewis was a symptom, howard was the problem.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 26, 2009 3:13 AM CDT up reply actions
Depends on if the Magic can keep Turkoglu or not. West played well defensively, but didn’t slow down Turkoglu that much, and now they have Carter. The Cavs will need another big 3/undersized 4 if Turkoglu is still around.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
too bad this didn’t happen at the trade deadline. I think we would have at least gotten pass Orlando with him. But Ferry had to do something.
I am sure we will get alot more critics of this trade ( like the know-it-alls above) but I think it makes alot of sense. Get us another serviable big and a descent combo guard and let’s roll!
So I told her," I'll be nicer if you try to be smarter!'..That was a mistake.
Darren Rovell gives us options for new Shaq nicknames. I voted for Shaqer Heights.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Surprisingly, a couple good ones from some Clevelanddotcommers:
The Big Perch
Shaqalier
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Very exciting. I am happy to see that they keep trying to make the team better. This should also give the players a boost of confidence and focus them on preparing for next season.
Has Shaq ever matched up against Howard in the past? How did that work out?
For Howard – 21 and 8 and a +12 in the only time this season, 17 and 13 the only time last season. Shaq was also traded to help Phoenix stop Duncan, notice how well that worked out.
This is from John Hollinger at ESPN:
In six meetings against Howard over the past four years, O’Neal has done a solid job defensively. Howard scored more than 17 points only once, a 21-point effort against the Suns this year, and averaged only 16.7 points. Shaq has done a particularly good job limiting Howard’s shot opportunities, as he attempted just 8.5 field goals per game.
Mind you, Shaq doesn’t need to pitch a shutout. Cleveland just needs more resistance than it showed in the conference finals, when Howard tormented the Cavs for 25.8 points per game on 65 percent shooting to usher them out of the playoffs.
History has shown Shaq can provide that resistance, which is why this deal is a good one for Cleveland now — and would have been an even better one four months ago.
But the point is and remains to be .....
that this deal was not available 4 months ago. If it was , Ferry would have pulled the trigger in a heartbeat!
So I told her," I'll be nicer if you try to be smarter!'..That was a mistake.
If people thought the pre-game poses were ridiculous last year, look out.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
by rolub on Jun 25, 2009 9:29 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
NO SUPERSTAR, NO RING FOR SHAQ
Finally Kobe got that monkey off his back! No more excuses from the critics! Actually being critized all year long helped motivate Kobe & the Lakers win that championship! So I hope the “haters” keeps it coming every year! Cause Kobe & his fans got the last laugh!
PS: Shaq Who? Going to Cleveland? Now riding on Lebron’s nuts…lol (Kobe, Wade, Lebron) <—I’m starting to see a pattern here. It maybe that Shaq can’t win a ring without a superstar player..lol
Kobe has one ring with out a super star team mate this latest one
Kobe was not a super star the 3 years Shaq won the championship. Shaq averaged high 30’s plus almost 20 boards a game kobe didn’t break 20 pts a game over all in those series.
"Knowledge will get you from A to B. Creativity will get you anywhere." Einstein
by Garden of ODEN on Jul 13, 2009 1:04 AM CDT up reply actions
LeBron's Greatness?
Kobe just recetly validated his greatness by winning an NBA championship without the Shaq. Now LeBron would like to become a champion with the help of Shaq? I don’t get it! I thought we are “witnesses” to his kingship.
Kobe didn’t “validate” his greatness by winning without Shaq — he was great before that. That’s just stuff for the media to talk about, it doesn’t really matter and nobody here cares about it.
by Buckeye Brad on Jun 26, 2009 11:54 AM CDT up reply actions
Listen up, and listen closely:
No one here gives even the least bit of a f*** about this stupid crap. No real LA fan cared about it either. Only Kobe, Shaq, ESPN and their sheep cared.
Made. Up. Non. Story.
Ride on ye fearsome Horsemen of the Basketball Apocalypse. We got this.
by Turkmenbashi on Jun 26, 2009 12:02 PM CDT up reply actions
Kobe validated his greatness? How many titles has he won without Phil Jackson coaching?
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Kobe embarrassed the Laker organization
Lakers have only missed the playoffs something like 3 times in the last 30 years. In Kobe run team the missed the playoffs and almost missed it a second time. And Kobe is supposedly a superstar, can’t even make playoffs with a team that has all the natural advantages large cities and large payrolls provide.
"Knowledge will get you from A to B. Creativity will get you anywhere." Einstein
by Garden of ODEN on Jul 13, 2009 1:08 AM CDT up reply actions
KRYPTONITE
If Dwight Howard is Superman then the Cavs should call Shaq Kryptonite cause they want him to take away Howard’s power under the boards.
Does anyone have enough basketball knowledge to talk about how we will use Shaq in our offense?
I agree with a lot of the points that have been made already (Shaq isn’t as good as he used to be, but we don’t need him to be that good, he should help us guard Howard, we didn’t give up much to get him, etc.)
My only concern is that with everything else somewhat constant, Shaq will clog LeBron’s driving lanes more than Z (who appears to be a better jump shooter). Could anyone tell me why my concerns are valid or why I am worried about a non-issue?
yeah my point being that I really don’t think the coaches and/or Lebron and Shaq won’t be able to figure out a way to allow Lebron the lane room he needs, its not rocket science.
I have that much faith in LBJ and probably Shaq, I don’t know if I have that much faith in Mike Brown on the offensive end.
Were people here pleased with the offense during the playoffs as far as the sets and the coaching end of things?
Actually, having a guy that can finish around the hoop will open up driving lanes. Typically the help defender can leave his man who is a lesser threat to score. If you leave Shaq to help on a Lebron drive, you are going to get alley-ooped or more simply an easy pass from Lebron to Shaq in the block. Should also open up 3 point passing lanes, which Shaq is adept at finding, and we all know Lebron is the best in the league at driving and finding the open man on the perimeter
Shaq has played on the same block all his career, and all the other superstars prospered!!! Kobe was not bothered by shaq posting up,Peny was not bothered by Shaq’s posting up, and D-Wade was not bothered by Shaq’s posting up, and they all had great careers playing with Shaq!!! This nonsense about clogging up the lane only came about with Steve Nash, funny how the others all made it to the Championship but the suns. Maybe the others (kobe, Wade,Penny) knew something Nash doesn’t know.
So, there will be no problem with Shaq and Lebron. Shaq needs touches to make defenses have to double him, that opens up the game for everyone. LJ will still do his thing. He will still close out the half and fourth qrts. Shaq’s post up game is still better the Howard’s post up game, thats for those who watched the playoffs!!! The league still fears Shaq and his power, and no one gaurds him 1 up if you give him the ball!!
One last thing, Mo Williams was a replacement all star, Shaq is still a Superstar in the NBA
by Championshiponly on Jun 30, 2009 8:50 AM CDT reply actions
Random Shaq tidbit from Cleveland Indians’ beat writer Anthony Castrovince:
UPDATE: Apparently, an effort is being made to land Shaq to throw out a ceremonial first pitch sometime this week. I’ll let you know if it becomes official.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
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