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If the Shaquille O'Neal experiment doesn't work out in Cleveland, the Cavaliers could put the future Hall of Famer on the trading block.

O'Neal is entering the final year of his contract, which could make a deal more viable around February's trade deadline.

Such a move would allow the Cavaliers to acquire another big-name player next offseason when LeBron James is expected to hit the free agent market.

Can someone please explain how trading an expiring contract will get you cap flexibility or do these wall street journal fools have no b-ball knowledge at all.

This smells hoopsworld but for once their name isn't on a poorly written article.

i'm not entirely sure, but i think they mean if they trade shaq, they can get a max level player and keep lebron while going over the cap next season. if they just let shaq expire, whatever lebron signs for just eats that cap space back up

either way though you are getting $20-mill plus LeBrons 17$ mill off the books in 2010. You have 37 million to play with. If you trade shaq you are not going to get expiring deals in return. You are more likely to get Eddy Curry and Jarred Jeffries than any value for Shaq who is way too old and way out of his prime. Cleveland is out in the 1st round this year. look for a magic vs celtics ECF.

sump wrote:either way though you are getting $20-mill plus LeBrons 17$ mill off the books in 2010. You have 37 million to play with. If you trade shaq you are not going to get expiring deals in return. You are more likely to get Eddy Curry and Jarred Jeffries than any value for Shaq who is way too old and way out of his prime. Cleveland is out in the 1st round this year. look for a magic vs celtics ECF.

Read Larry Coon's FAQ on the CBA. Lebron has a cap hold.

Also, stop trolling before you disappear.

ballboys.

Is this someone saying that a 20 mill expiring is actually not just worthless but it's got hugely negative value (since Curry and Jeffries both have really negative values)? That's a really dumb theory.

That being said, sure the Cavs might put Shaq on the block. Is there a story there?

Why is this a surprise? Everyone could be put on the block in order to keep Lebron. If Shaq works out or not, if there is a deal out there that ensures Lebron stays we are taking it. If we get one of those max deal guys in the process then that is a definate. I think even if there is a rather decent deal out there we may take it.

Breaking News: It might RAIN tomorrow!!

Exactly my thoughts when i saw the headline.. how is this news??? A complete waste of a wiretap headline...

OMG one of the top GM's will not sit on his hands if the experiment fails.

Lol at Curry and Jefferies for Shaq

sump wrote:either way though you are getting $20-mill plus LeBrons 17$ mill off the books in 2010. You have 37 million to play with. If you trade shaq you are not going to get expiring deals in return.

We wouldn't be looking to get expiring deals.....we would be giving money help to a team with a max player that isn't making enough money to keep them.


at Cavaliers exiting in the first round.

BigDaddyPR wrote:Exactly my thoughts when i saw the headline.. how is this news??? A complete waste of a wiretap headline...

well its a better headline then letting me know what pops mensah bonsu signed with the rockets. thats pretty useless. i am curious however to what type of talent shaq could bring us if we worked with a team desperate enough to take a risk.

witnessmoboobie wrote:OMG one of the top GM's will not sit on his hands if the experiment fails.

Lol at Curry and Jefferies for Shaq

Danny Ferry has had one of the highest payrolls in the league (#4 in 07-08, #3 in 08-09) and an owner willing to spend big, and hasn't been able to surround the best player in the league with much of anything beyond castoff salary dumps in 4 years.

It doesn't take a good GM to trade for bad contracts when the owner is willing to overpay. And the only reason these undersized SGs (Mo, West) work is because LeBron can run the offense from the SF spot.

Everyone else was either here when Ferry arrived (Z, Varejao, Sasha before the trade), sucks (Wallace, Wally), or came here because of LeBron (Shaq, Joe Smith). Ferry is a below average GM blessed with the best player in the league and an owner willing to spend more than anyone not named Mark Cuban.

When I saw it was a New York news source...that kind of sealed it as being somewhat less than credible ----being a writer's dream.

Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:

witnessmoboobie wrote:OMG one of the top GM's will not sit on his hands if the experiment fails.

Lol at Curry and Jefferies for Shaq

Danny Ferry has had one of the highest payrolls in the league (#4 in 07-08, #3 in 08-09) and an owner willing to spend big, and hasn't been able to surround the best player in the league with much of anything beyond castoff salary dumps in 4 years.

It doesn't take a good GM to trade for bad contracts when the owner is willing to overpay. And the only reason these undersized SGs (Mo, West) work is because LeBron can run the offense from the SF spot.

Everyone else was either here when Ferry arrived (Z, Varejao, Sasha before the trade), sucks (Wallace, Wally), or came here because of LeBron (Shaq, Joe Smith). Ferry is a below average GM blessed with the best player in the league and an owner willing to spend more than anyone not named Mark Cuban.

uhhh sasha isnt here anymore, Mo plays PG, Ben Wallace and Wally arent here anymore, obviously Shaq came because of Lebron, do you think Ron Artest went to LA because he got to hang out with GM Mitch Kupchak? no, because players go to places to win titles or get money and to win titles, you might want the best players, aka lebron and kobe.

And upgrading from Wallace, Wally, Sasha and Joe Smith to Shaq and Mo in the last 2 season is not exactly getting "castoff salary dumps". Yes teams were trying to offload some salary but that by no means diminishes these players abilities. Those are two pretty decent players, both all stars last season.

Actually the team that has been dumping bad salaries was the Cavs and not the other way around. We unloaded players that had bad contracts and they couldn't play for guys that actually contributed.

landphil wrote:

Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:

witnessmoboobie wrote:OMG one of the top GM's will not sit on his hands if the experiment fails.

Lol at Curry and Jefferies for Shaq

Danny Ferry has had one of the highest payrolls in the league (#4 in 07-08, #3 in 08-09) and an owner willing to spend big, and hasn't been able to surround the best player in the league with much of anything beyond castoff salary dumps in 4 years.

It doesn't take a good GM to trade for bad contracts when the owner is willing to overpay. And the only reason these undersized SGs (Mo, West) work is because LeBron can run the offense from the SF spot.

Everyone else was either here when Ferry arrived (Z, Varejao, Sasha before the trade), sucks (Wallace, Wally), or came here because of LeBron (Shaq, Joe Smith). Ferry is a below average GM blessed with the best player in the league and an owner willing to spend more than anyone not named Mark Cuban.

uhhh sasha isnt here anymore, Mo plays PG, Ben Wallace and Wally arent here anymore, obviously Shaq came because of Lebron, do you think Ron Artest went to LA because he got to hang out with GM Mitch Kupchak? no, because players go to places to win titles or get money and to win titles, you might want the best players, aka lebron and kobe.

And upgrading from Wallace, Wally, Sasha and Joe Smith to Shaq and Mo in the last 2 season is not exactly getting "castoff salary dumps". Yes teams were trying to offload some salary but that by no means diminishes these players abilities. Those are two pretty decent players, both all stars last season.

dude said that Sasha was traded, yes everyone knows Mo plays PG so I don't know why you felt like mentioning that, we know Ben and Wally aren't here anymore dude is talking about THE PAST SEASONS.

And he's right, your GM has had all the tools to build the perfect squad and he hasn't done so, Moon and Anthony Parker aren't gonna put the Cavs over the top

MattBoner wrote:dude said that Sasha was traded, yes everyone knows Mo plays PG so I don't know why you felt like mentioning that, we know Ben and Wally aren't here anymore dude is talking about THE PAST SEASONS.

And he's right, your GM has had all the tools to build the perfect squad and he hasn't done so, Moon and Anthony Parker aren't gonna put the Cavs over the top

Uh maybe he was talking about previous years but why then did he use shaq as an example? Also, apparently he doesnt know Mo plays PG since he said he was an undersized SG. You got me on the "dude said sasha was traded" part though he did indeed say that.

Also, our GM brought in Moon and Parker to a 66 win team and someone else came along too this summer....oh wait SHAQ. On a 66 win team the year before. How that doesnt say improvement in the minds of people is beyond me.

landphil wrote:

Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:

witnessmoboobie wrote:OMG one of the top GM's will not sit on his hands if the experiment fails.

Lol at Curry and Jefferies for Shaq

Danny Ferry has had one of the highest payrolls in the league (#4 in 07-08, #3 in 08-09) and an owner willing to spend big, and hasn't been able to surround the best player in the league with much of anything beyond castoff salary dumps in 4 years.

It doesn't take a good GM to trade for bad contracts when the owner is willing to overpay. And the only reason these undersized SGs (Mo, West) work is because LeBron can run the offense from the SF spot.

Everyone else was either here when Ferry arrived (Z, Varejao, Sasha before the trade), sucks (Wallace, Wally), or came here because of LeBron (Shaq, Joe Smith). Ferry is a below average GM blessed with the best player in the league and an owner willing to spend more than anyone not named Mark Cuban.

uhhh sasha isnt here anymore, Mo plays PG, Ben Wallace and Wally arent here anymore, obviously Shaq came because of Lebron, do you think Ron Artest went to LA because he got to hang out with GM Mitch Kupchak? no, because players go to places to win titles or get money and to win titles, you might want the best players, aka lebron and kobe.

And upgrading from Wallace, Wally, Sasha and Joe Smith to Shaq and Mo in the last 2 season is not exactly getting "castoff salary dumps". Yes teams were trying to offload some salary but that by no means diminishes these players abilities. Those are two pretty decent players, both all stars last season.

Just to clarify, my post was aimed at Danny Ferry's entire tenure, not one specific season. Hence my comments about Wallace and Wally apply because they each were in the rotation over the last two seasons.

As for Mo Williams, we have different definitions of PG. Maybe "undersized SG" wasn't the right description, but I was trying to emphasize LeBron's importance to the team being able to succeed with a West/Williams backcourt. The correct term for Mo would be combo guard.

Mo certainly is not a true PG though. LeBron makes up for Mo's biggest weakness, being able to run an offense. In crunch time, Mo Williams is considered a "PG" only because LeBron James is 6'8, and people don't want to label a 6'8 guy as a PG. Mo plays off the ball as a SG. The same goes for West.

Go ask Bucks fans if Mo Williams can run an offense without a guy like LeBron next to him.

Any team in the league could have had Mo Williams for expiring contracts. Similar to the Richard Jefferson deal. The reason the Cavs did it was because A. LeBron makes it possible for Mo Williams to play off the ball and still guard PGs B. Dan Gilbert was willing to spend. The rest just fell into place because the Bucks overpaid a guy they then realized wasn't the solution at PG. Danny Ferry wasn't a necessary component to the deal being made.

There were not many other teams who would have been willing to make the deal Ferry did, because they didn't have LeBron James or open pocket books to make it work. Which I why I say LeBron is the reason the deal, and virtually any deal the Cavs make, can look like a success. Having the best, most versatile player in the league means a lot of players who don't fit well on conventional teams can fit on Cleveland.

Shaq to Cleveland was by default. No one else wanted him and had the expiring contracts. Danny Ferry is the reason Shaq wasn't on the Cavs last year to help them make the Finals. I think that's a black mark on Ferry's resume, not a positive.

Pretty sure the Shaq trade is going to work granted if he does stay healthy. Don't forget that he did make the all NBA third team last season.