Shaq to the Cav’s Doesn’t Change a Thing
Sorry Cleveland fans, but bringing Shaquille O’Neal into the mix, as much as it will sustain the buzz from last season, will not bring a Championship to your town.
Source: phoenix.fanster.com
The problem with Cleveland is that they had no depth and their frontcourt was soft. Shaq is an upgrade over Zydrunas Ilgauskas, but not as big of one as one might think. O’Neal is three years older. Last season, he averaged roughly the same minutes per game (+.9 MPG), had less than one more rebound per game more than Z.I., and most significantly, averaged almost five points per game more.
Z.I. on the other hand has better shooting range, shoots free throws extremely well for a center (79.9% in ‘08-’09), turns the ball over less and only blocked .1 shots per game less than The Diesel.
O’Neal’s biggest contribution will be his physical and mental toughness, his championship experience and his ability to take a little of the pressure off of LeBron James.
This is of course all contingent on him staying healthy and playing a full season.
Cleveland, although they won 66 games last season, fared poorly against good teams. Strong shooting teams with a solid frontcourt like the Lakers and the Spurs were able to withstand the explosion from James and win anyway. The Cavaliers were exposed for having no answer for Dwight Howard or for Orlando’s three point shooting and almost got swept by the Magic after rolling through the first two rounds of the playoffs untested. Superman is going to come into next season ready to crush anyone who gets in his way, including Shaq. Replace Z.I. with O’Neal last year and maybe the Eastern Conference finals go seven games instead of six.
If anything, acquiring Shaq could be worse for the Cav’s in the long term. He anounced last fall that he was planning to retire at the end of the 2010 season. LBJ is most likely gone after next season too, especially if they don’t win a title. That leaves Cleveland with two enormous holes to fill. Might they be better off trying to get a Lamar Odom or a Carlos Boozer (or both) – players who aren’t already planning to retire?
Danny Ferry, the Cav’s general manager, better plan to put a lot more talent around James if he ever wants to win a championship and more crucially if wants any chance at all of retaining the services of one King James.
Comments