Shaq to Cavs....

 Cleveland will send Ben Wallace(notes), Sasha Pavlovic(notes), the 46th pick in Thursday�s draft and cash to the Suns for O�Neal.

It's tough to see this as a bad trade for either team. The Suns got back below the luxury tax threshold, and will likely buy out both Wallace and Pavlovic for additional cap space. The Cavs got a giant human being to drop in the paint against opposing bruisers. The Cavs can play exactly like they did last year, then play Shaq against guys like Howard, Perkins, Dalembert. It's a pretty good SPECIALTY trade for Cleveland, I just hope Shaq will be okay with losing playing time when Mike Brown sees he can't keep up with opposing centers that shoot from outside.

GENIUS-

Typical SHAQ....I think it's sheer genius - Shaquille O'Neal; forever the entrepreneur.  You can say what you will about the dude, he is shrewd, and just seemingly always prepared to take the plunge into something new and unexpected and let the chips fall where they may.  I think it is awesome - even if it doesn't work out, it adds a helluva-lot to the off-season and almost FORCES everyone in the Sports World to keep a close eye on the whole drama (....err...Circus) that is about to unfold in Cleveland.  I love it.

Seriously - If I'm a Cavs fan, I KNOW my GM and Owner are Dead Serious about winning ONE TITLE while the window is still open - yet probably closing.  Apparently - there was a deep, City-Wide period of mourning when the Cavs went down - as this meant more to that city than outsiders ever knew, with such a long All-Sports drought POSSIBLY coming to an end. 

I honestly think Shaq is cagey enough to know that he's a unique Ace-In-The-Hole role player; an integral piece at this point....and, from a pure On-Court standpoint - Shaq is an IDYLLIC fit in Mike Brown's deliberate Cavs system...I'd go as far to suggest and expect Cleveland to actually sit the 37-yr-old Shaq thru Half the Season...at least until they face off vs Orlando and D-12 for the 1st time...lot of tread on those ol' tires.  Getting past Orlando is the primary motivation for Cleveland now...and secondarily, Boston w\healthy KG (Shaq was 'Hired Gun' for getting Phoenix past 'Groundhog Day' and his Spurs...and of course, we know it was complicated but the overall experiment failed - yet he was a very poor fit in Dantoni's Suns system). 

....And getting another 'Ring-up' on Kobe before hanging up the Size 21's would be another little dig at KB.  I don't think for a MINUTE that this "One-ups-man-ship" stuff doesn't play a role in Shaq swallowing his pride, accepting a role underneath another star like Lebron. 

I was personally stunned at how frequent and caustic Kobe was, Post-Championship, in discussing this subject.  Now that they are both 1-1 since the 'Break-up', Shaq getting one last ring before he steps down - even in an auxiliary role, would give him that little edge as he retired - knowing he went out with more, regardless of how many more KB wins AFTER S.O. steps down....and I know this sounds trivial - and well...it IS trivial, in my opinion....but I really do think it plays a bigger role than we may ever know.