both TonyRo76 and LasVegasDave.
Posted on 06/24/2009 10:30:57 PM PDT by kellynla
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.
The trade gives the Cavs a player they've coveted since February. With center Zydrunas Ilgauskas starting to break down, adding Shaq to the roster gives them a dominant force in the middle. The Cavs were obviously unhappy with their ability to defend Dwight Howard in the playoffs and bringing Shaq into the fold should help. O'Neal averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season and made his 15th All-Star game.
The Cavaliers were also in talks with New Orleans about obtaining Tyson Chandler. If they had not made the trade for O'Neal, they would have traded for Chandler, according to a source.
The Cavs felt O'Neal was the better option because he has just one year left on his contract, and will not eat up cap space that will enable them to pursue free agents such as Chris Bosh in next summer's star-studded free agent class. Chandler, who had injury problems last postseason, has a player option for $12.7 million in 2010-2011 that he is likely to pick up.
The Cavaliers are not done making moves. They still want to re-sign power forward Anderson Varejao and they also would like to add a long, athletic wing player via free agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
NE Ohio.. “oh my” bump. We here really want a title. If Shaq helps us get it (AND HELPS US KEEP LEBRON).. great.
These rumors have been flying.. I would prefer Tracy or Kobe.. but Hey, we dont have the deep pockets like the Yankees!
There IS crying in basketball!
Boy I sure love waking up, looking at this thread and seeing all the votes of approval to the CAVS for making this move....A few things to ponder....
Yes, this deal needed to be done in Feburary, but CAVS management was guilty of the cardnial sin of assuming the Celtics were the only team standing between them and the finals. Everyone else in the league knew how good the Magic were and that they provided major matchup problems for the CAVS. If this thing were done mid season, they were playing the Lakers in the finals. Would they have won?........
Shaq at 37 still has some gas in the tank, especially playing in the slower, concentrate on defense the Eastern Conference is. Are the CAVS done making moves? Not by a long shot. They will be resigning Andy and they could still possibly sign another 4, like Rasheed Wallace. They also need a taller, more athletic shooting guard, ala Andrei Kirlenko so we’ll see what happens.
Chris Broussard, the author of the article and I went to high school together, for a year anyway since he was a freshman when I was a senior. Boy could he ball though for as height challenged as he was. Seems things have gone well for him though.
LaBron cannot win a title without a big man in the middle.
Kobe fell short in 2008 because their big man Pau Gasol played "soft" in the finals. This year Gasol was a menace and it made all the difference.
The question is: Is LaBron so desperate for that "Big Man" in the middle that he actually believes Shaq will make a difference?
I don't believe so... but, as usual, time will tell.
exhaustguy,
Kareem...
How did I miss that!
“Shaq at 37 still has some gas in the tank, especially playing in the slower, concentrate on defense the Eastern Conference is. Are the CAVS done making moves? Not by a long shot. They will be resigning Andy and they could still possibly sign another 4, like Rasheed Wallace. They also need a taller, more athletic shooting guard, ala Andrei Kirlenko so we’ll see what happens.”
I like those names you are tossing around....I would love to see Villanueva from Millwaukee here but he may be too expensive.
Cavs just dropped the ball on wasting their draft pick on some guy from the Congo....WTH?....the CONGO?
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