FanHouse Shaquille Oneal

Rome was not built in a day. But in two days, the NBA's version of Camelot sure has looked like the barbarians are at the gate.

OK, I'll try not to lob anymore historical metaphors at you. But you might want to get ready for a whole lot of consternation from the great state of Ohio, because the team with the best record in the league last year has started out 0-2. The Cavaliers fell to the Raptors in Toronto 101-91 to remain winless, and the same problems that surfaced Tuesday night in their loss to the Celtics reared their head again.

ORLANDO -- To many who follow the NBA, it doesn't seem that long ago that Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer led the Detroit Pistons -- the famed Bad Boys -- to their second consecutive NBA title in 1990, cementing their place among the great teams in league history.

It was two days after Jrue Holiday was born.

Holiday, a rookie guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, isn't just the youngest player in the NBA this season. He also earned the distinction of being the first person born in the 1990's to be on an NBA roster.

That makes a lot of us feel old.

CLEVELAND -- He always has a rapper's catchphrase for everything and everyone, primarily himself. And while Shaquille O'Neal really should adopt The Big Hypothermia -- an ode to a bone-chilled, unemployment-scarred town that couldn't be farther from Hollywood if it were on Uranus -- it's typical that he would produce a more creative, applicable nickname.

"I'm the Big Witness Protection Program," he said, playing off the Nike ad extravaganza for LeBron James. "I've come here to protect the King."

Works for me. Given their collective magnitude in pop culture, it's hard to fathom that Shaq, maybe the greatest entertainer ever known to sports, has arrived in middle-market Ohio to join hands with James, who soon will push aside old man Tiger Woods as the most prominent athlete in the land, if not the world. But this is the unusual bond that happens when the Cavaliers feel extreme urgency to win an NBA championship for James, so he doesn't flee next summer for New York -- and the Phoenix Suns only feel urgency to watch their bottom line. Shaq is shipped to Cleveland for a few pierogies, and, suddenly, a beleaguered town that hasn't won a major sports title since 1964 becomes pro basketball's epicenter.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Cool things happen when a team trades for a center who has at least one MVP trophy on his mantel.

Wilt Chamberlain got traded, and won a championship. He was traded again, and won another title.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was dealt, and won five more crowns.

Bob McAdoo got traded, and later won two rings.

Bill Walton was shipped away, and eventually got another title.

Moses Malone was traded. You guessed it. He won a championship.

Shaquille O'Neal was dealt. He won a ring to add to the three already on his fingers.

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Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Wednesday, there are 6 days remaining.

As much as we like to get lathered up over today's talented stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, it's sometimes good to step back and put them in perspective.

They still don't hold a candle to Michael Jordan.

If you think they do, come back to us when they reach Double 6's, which is the number that explains Jordan's greatness as well as any statistic ever placed beside his name.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 18 days remaining.

Most current players don't last as long as the stars of the 1970s and 80s did. As the game becomes faster and stronger, players who reach their 30s have a tougher time keeping up (with some obvious exceptions). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had no such problem.

KAJ was selected for all but one NBA All-Star Game between 1970 and 1989, and he played in an NBA record 18 of them. By my count, there's only two current stars who can catch him.

CLEVELAND -- The lights go down at Quicken Loans Arena and "XL'' flashes on the video board. Could this be a tribute to the arrival of a certain extra-large guy?

Well, not exactly.

"I'm 3XL myself,'' said center Shaquille O'Neal.

The "XL'' during the Cleveland Cavaliers' pregame introductions Tuesday night actually stands for a Roman numeral. The Cavaliers are in their 40th season.

But an argument easily can be made this is the most exciting season in the team's four decades thanks to the acquisition of the extra-large guy. OK, triple-extra-large guy.

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CLEVELAND -- The Shaq show was overshadowed.

Center Shaquille O'Neal made his preseason debut for Cleveland on Tuesday night, looking good in a 92-87 win over Charlotte at Quicken Loans Arena. But most of the talk after the game centered on Delonte West's continued troubles and Bobcats coach Larry Brown's frustration with replacement officials.

A source said after the game that West will not be at Cavaliers practice Wednesday, and it's possible his absence could continue beyond that. The source said he will be in the Washington D.C. area Wednesday to address legal matters concerning his Sept. 17 arrest in Maryland after police said he was pulled over for speeding on a motorcycle while carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun in a guitar case.

The Cavaliers are one of three teams, along with the Celtics and the Magic, that most experts have favored to come out of the Eastern Conference. Cleveland, however, comes across as a bit more confident than the others.

What gives us that impression? Only the fact that they've printed playoff tickets for every possible series, and included them in their packages that were already sent out to season ticket-holders.

This included, of course, tickets for the NBA Finals.

Ron Artest has never been afraid to tell it like he sees it, especially while being one of the athletes who chooses to interact with his fans through the use of social media. He's taken it places it didn't even need to go, really: like giving out his cell phone number, or ripping his former team over a contract issue that didn't even make any sense.

For a lot of fans, the unfiltered access is awesome; a way to truly see into the lives of one of their favorite players. But the direct contact might not be all it's cracked up to be -- especially in the case of one blogger, who unintentionally found himself on the wrong side of Artest's outgoing personality.