The Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal a week ago, but his introductory press conference didn't happen until Thursday afternoon. And for the most part, it was worth the wait. As we've come to expect when Shaq gets in front of a microphone, there were plenty of interesting and entertaining quotes that came out of his first meeting with the Cleveland media.
Shaq kicked things off by flashing the picture to your right, claiming that when he received the initial call from Cavs' GM Danny Ferry, he had to Google him, and when he did, this was the one of the first things to pop up.
Nice way to break the ice, Big Fella. Here are some more highlights from Shaq's first official day as a Cavalier.
As if Cleveland wasn't already a focal point of the NBA universe, it may be reaching a whole new level of crazy. A brand of crazy NBA fans only know as ... Ron Artest.
The Cleveland Plain Dealerwas the first to report on the possibility, but even coming from super-reliable Brian Windhorst, it was still just your run of the mill free agency rumor; a possibility to keep an eye on.
That was until Artest decided to fan the flames a bit by informing the world that his days in Houston were over -- via his Twitter page, naturally.
Stephon Marbury is one of those weird characters who has just the right mix of "crazy" and "keepin' it real" where you can't ever be sure whether to trust or distrust him. Personally, I think he's a bad apple who keeps getting too many chances, but some people feel differently.
After Marbury recently did a Knickerbocker-beat-down of an interview with the New York Post, I would imagine no one who plays professional basketball in the Big Apple is much of a fan either. Marbury's quotes are full of disparaging remarks, as he essentially urged any free agents to avoid Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni like the plague.
The Cavaliers are going all out to try to win a championship next season, before LeBron James can even think about becoming an unrestricted free agent in the magical, mystical summer of 2010. They've already traded for Shaquille O'Neal, and are rumored to have interest in the services of the recently freed Charlie Villanueva.
The team's heavy activity this summer would lead you to believe that minutes on the court will be in short supply for Anderson Varejao in the coming season. And that might be a big reason why he opted out of a contract which would have paid him $6.2M, when it's pretty unlikely that any team would offer him much more than that once he hit the open market.
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
Here's a quick look at the trades that went down and what they mean:
The Thinking: The Cavaliers get an aging O'Neal, with the hope that he can have a productive year playing alongside LeBron James. The only way this trade is a success is if the Cavaliers are the 2009-10 NBA champions. For the Suns, trading O'Neal means that they are beyond tinkering and are leaning toward turning over the personnel of a team that missed the playoffs last season.
Shaquille O'Neal going to the Cavaliers to play alongside LeBron James seems like a positive way for the future Hall-of-Famer to finish out his career, right? Well, it seems that Shaq himself is a little bit conflicted about it emotionally, as evidenced by the following video he tweeted to his many followers after the deal became official on Thursday afternoon.
On the eve of the NBA Draft, what's likely to be the biggest trade of the season has nothing to do with any of the players that will be shaking David Stern's hand on Thursday night. Shaquille O'Neal is headed to Cleveland to play alongside LeBron James, and Matt Moore joined me to break down the implications.
Are the Cavs now officially contenders? Did the Suns get anything more than cash savings in return? And most importantly, will all of our heads explode if Shaq, Lebron, and the Cavs face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the Finals next year?
Important stuff to be sure, and we discuss it all, after the jump.
This video is the latest offering from the folks at Nike, and features Puppet Kobe celebrating his fourth NBA championship somewhat discretely so as not to upset his friend and roommate, Puppet LeBron. Somehow though, I don't think the real LeBron James is all that broken up about it.
Check out the photo of James (snapped by TMZ, naturally) after the jump, which shows him rocking an LBJ - MVP t-shirt. LeBron probably won't be criticized at all for boasting his individual achievement as he's out on the town, but man -- can you imagine the backlash if Kobe were to ever do something like this?
Dwight Howard is hilarious. Kudos to VitaminWater for poking fun at its own pre-emptive hop on the Kobe/LeBron hype -- the company (like Nike) rolled out a campaign centered on debating the superiority of each star just in time for the run-up to the Finals. That ... didn't work out. (After the jump, the original Kobe/LeBron VitaminWater ad Dwight is cracking on.)
The Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal a week ago, but his introductory press conference didn't happen until Thursday afternoon. And for the most part, it was worth the wait. As we've come to expect when Shaq gets in front of a microphone, there were plenty of interesting and entertaining quotes that came out of his first meeting with the Cleveland media.
As if Cleveland wasn't already a focal point of the NBA universe, it may be reaching a whole new level of crazy. A brand of crazy NBA fans only know as ... 
The Cavaliers are going all out to try to win a championship next season, before 
OK, sure, stacking 
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
On the eve of the 
