Shaq to Cleveland

Damn. This shakes up things in the East a little bit, huh!

Cleveland gets: C Shaquille O'Neal
Phoenix gets: SG Sasha Pavlovic, C Ben Wallace, 46th Overall Pick in tonights draft, $500,000

This is all assuming the deal gets approved by the way. (I'll be shocked if it doesn't)

Initial thoughts are just that this is a shocking deal. LeBron finally gets the big man that he has needed. But unfortunately for him, Shaq is about 8 years past his prime. He is still a force to be reckoned with in the paint due to the pure size of the man, but he definitely did not fit in the Suns fast break offensive scheme which makes them happy to part with him, that on top of dumping his salary and opening up space for free agents and rookies. Phoenix getting Ben Wallace would have been big news 6 years ago, but ever since that championship Detroit team Wallace has been nothing more than a fart in the wind. He plays so piss poor offensively and his devense is getting worse and worse each year that he is just a liability to have on the court for your team. After reading up about Sasha Pavlovic, it appears that the Suns will likely cut him immediately and make more cap space. His 4.6 PPG and 1.1 APG arn't exactly striking numbers. You can never go wrong with draft picks. They could potentially take the 46th, and their first rounder (14th) and trade up, or even take the 46th, and their 2nd rounder (48th) and trade up with that.

If there is one thing you will learn about me, is that I love draft picks, there is so much you can do with them.

But what does this ultimately do to the layout of the East? Well assuming Boston does not deal any of the big three or Rondo, and assuming the Magic only lose Turk, these three teams will be the teams to beat, still. Boston has two solid seasons left in them with their current players, unfortunately, which puts a LOT of pressure on them this season. I think you will see different coaching philosophies this year by Doc Rivers and he will rest a lot of the big three throughout the season to ensure their health come the playoffs. Home court advantage is a huge deal, however if the Celtics can be a four seed next year, but be healthy and have no injuries to major players, I would like our chances.

The Magic will likely fade out over time, unless Dwight Howard picks up his offense. I had never really had a good opportunity to watch Howard play except during All-Star games, Dunk Contests and the Beijing Olympics (which the show was stolen by the best player on the planet, Kobe Bryant), but I remember walking into the Magic vs. Celtics series being scared of Howard, thinking he was going to drop 25 points per game. Then after watching him only dunk and layup, I actually was extremely disapointed in the kid. You hear so much about him and see all these highlights on Sportscenter, but the guy can't hit a shot 7 feet away from the rim. It's sad. Defensively he is a stud, but hes embarrassing on offense. Either way, without Turk drainining shots next to Lewis next year, the Magic will falter, even though they'll still be a top team.

Which brings us to the Cavs. LeBron and company will be an absoulte force to be reckoned with, as always, however adding Shaq to the mix doesn't automatically propel them to the Finals just yet. Shaq has always needed that big point scorer asside him for him to be dominant (Kobe and Wade). LeBron fits perfectly into that role, but it was the 2005-2006 season in which Shaq last had a dominant Wade. Next year will be 5 seasons after that, and at age 37, Shaq is by no means in the best shape of his life. His knees have to give out on him eventually, for a man that size to not have knee problems would be incredible. Fortunately for the Cav's, they essentially lost nothing in this trade. Adding Shaq is a risk because of his age, but for what they gave up it would be foolish for any team to not do what they did. If Shaq can somehow find the fountain of youth, and share enough time on and off of the court with Z so that they're both healthy for the playoffs, then watch out for the Cavs. But if Shaq just becomes another liability that LeBron needs to pick up the slack of, then watch for him to be traded at the deadline.

Either way, this shakeup in the East definitely makes things interesting.

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