LeBron, Shaq Make Preseason Debut

[duncan228]

LeBron, Shaq make preseason debut (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2009100605&prov=ap)
By Tom Withers

The LeBron and Shaq Show is off and running.

NBA icons, All-Stars and A-plus-list celebrities LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal made their debut as Cleveland teammates on Tuesday night in the Cavaliers’ 92-87 preseason-opening victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

The two are hoping to end this city’s pro sports championship drought stretching to 1964, and while they are as much as nine months away from accomplishing that goal, it’s already clear their pairing will be fun to watch.

James, wearing a pink pair of his signature Nikes for breast cancer awareness month, scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 14 minutes. O’Neal, who said his goal is to “win a ring for the King” in Cleveland, scored six points and added three rebounds and a block in 15 minutes. Neither played in the second half.

D.J. Augustin, whose third-year option was exercised before the game, scored 12 for the Bobcats. Charlotte was without injured starters Tyson Chandler (ankle surgery) and Boris Diaw (ankle sprain). Bobcats coach Larry Brown was called for a technical foul by official Ben Taylor, one of three replacement referees being used while the regular refs are locked out. Brown spent most of the night chirping at the refs.

Everything James and O’Neal do together will get added attention this season, and it won’t be limited to their on-court moves. The Cavaliers’ pregame introductions, which already ranked among the league’s splashiest before Shaq’s arrival, could rival Broadway productions.

The Cavs didn’t provide any sneak preview, as James and O’Neal simply slapped hands and saluted each other when they were introduced.

While the James-O’Neal pairing seems ideal, some are wondering if their personalities will mesh and if the arranged marriage will work.

“I don’t see why not,” Brown said. “LeBron’s gotten better every second he’s been in the league. To get a quality player like Shaq, who’s been special his whole career, without giving up anything, it’s phenomenal.”

Cavaliers guard Delonte West, battling mental sickness and legal troubles, had been expected to play 15 to 20 minutes but didn’t leave Cleveland’s locker room. He warmed up 90 minutes before tip-off and sat in his cubicle before the game, but never joined his teammates on the bench.

West, who has bipolar disorder, was arrested last month on weapons charges in Maryland after police found him carrying three loaded guns while riding a three-wheel motorcycle. He faces a likely league suspension pending the resolution of his criminal case. West didn’t show up for team’s first four practices of training camp last week, absences the team termed unexcused.

The Cavs have been taking a one-day-at-a-time approach with West, who has been their second-best player in the past two postseasons. For now, the team is content to give West space and time.

O’Neal has missed more than 5,000 free throws during his career, a flaw that led to the birth of Hack-A-Shaq, a late-game strategy teams have used against the big man for years.

O’Neal scored the game’s first point from the line, drawing a huge ovation from Cavs fans hoping its an omen of made free throws to come.

[23LeBronJames23]

15 points in 14 minutes Damn.

[KidCongo]

I really hope Delonte gets back into his routine and the meds start working again. Lucky for him the whole club is backing him.

Also J.J has taken some big steps in the right direction. Acting as a true sports professional and he wants to be a big name one day. Why would LeBron work out with him through the summer if he was going to leave Cleveland? LJ see's his massive potential.

[Lebron4MVP]

Laker fans are shitting themselves. JJ Hickson's hunger to be the beast he is capable of being, having a dominant bigman in Shaq, stud pg's in Mo Williams and Delonte West. This team is so deep, versatile, and downright talented that it is scary. Laker fans know it too deep down inside.

[iggypop123]

is jj on his way to being a hall of famer yet?

[redzero]

Looks like LeBron has an extra 300 pounds to carry on his back.

[JoeTait75]

I really hope Delonte gets back into his routine and the meds start working again. Lucky for him the whole club is backing him.

With Delonte's effort and character he deserves the support of the team and the city.

I hope he gets better soon, we need him bad. He's the glue of this team in a lot of ways.

Oh, and DoK's boi J.J. Hickson was flashing some skillz tonight. :lol

[mingus]

Looks like LeBron has an extra 300 pounds to carry on his back.

wtf is up with your sig? :wow is that a spider? awesome!!!

[duncan228]

Cavs give glimpse of LeBron-Shaq marriage, depth in preseason debut (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/10/06/shaq.lebron.debut/index.html?eref=T1#)
Ian Thomsen
SI.com

CLEVELAND -- The most ominous glimpse of what is to come this season took place in a blink -- a pass to LeBron James that he instantly volleyballed to the far side of the basket while Shaquille O'Neal spun out of the post and behind his defender to bank in the alley-oop layup. "That was just two basketball players making a read,'' said James after he made his debut with his large and elder sidekick. "For the first game I thought we played pretty well as a team, and me and Shaq definitely played pretty well together. It shouldn't be hard for the both of us -- we both know how to play and we both know how to win.''

Win they did Tuesday, 92-87 over the visiting Charlotte Bobcats (RECAP (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/viewcast/2009/10/06/27708_viewcast_recap.html) | BOX SCORE (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/viewcast/2009/10/06/27708_viewcast_boxscore.html)) , though neither LeBron nor Shaq played past halftime. The preseason opener was an exposition of the Cavs' improved depth, even though Delonte West -- last year's starter at shooting guard -- was held out out of the game at the last minute by GM Danny Ferry as he struggles to deal with the issues following his Sept. 17 arrest on weapons charges.

"If Delonte doesn't play, they've got Anthony Parker,'' said Bobcats coach Larry Brown with envy. "If Shaq doesn't play, they've got [former All-Star center Zydrunas] Ilgauskas. If LeBron doesn't play, you've got God.''

So good is LeBron that he dunked and otherwise scored his 15 points in 15 first-half minutes while rarely accelerating past second gear. Shaq finished with six points (2 for 5), three rebounds and a blocked shot in 16 minutes.

"I'm still learning the offense and how to play with everybody, but come the opening of the season I'll be ready and we'll be ready,'' said O'Neal. "I'm not looking to take 20 to 30 shots a game.''

The fans here in Cleveland had the best perspective. Thousands of them stayed home to leave the Quicken Loans Arena half-empty (or half-full, depending on your perspective) in stark demonstration of their understanding that nothing memorable would happen here. And of course they were right. Before the game Cleveland coach Mike Brown was asked if he could remember any NBA preseason games from several years back.

He thought about this and said, "No.''

The real opening night will take place later this month when the rival Celtics arrive to test the new marriage of Shaq and LeBron. In the meantime there were momentary images of what is to come. Occasionally the two stars would set up on the same side of the floor, with Shaq coming out to set a screen that sprung LeBron for a drive through the sparsely-defended paint.

"You can see that on a couple of LeBron's drives, where people are concerned with the spacing out there, that if you take your body off Shaq, LeBron's going to make the pass and it's going to be a dunk or a foul,'' Brown said.

"It's very tough to navigate through a screen by him,'' agreed James, "but at the same time we don't want him out on the floor too much. We want him in the interior where he's going to do a lot of his work.''

Another time a pass from LeBron was relayed by Shaq as if he were a 325-pound second baseman turning the double play; but power forward Anderson Varejao was unable to field the assist near the basket as Shaq broke into laughter.

"I don't think he's really used to that,'' said Shaq of his snap pass to Varejao. "I've been telling him all preseason, 'I might not be looking at you but I see you.' I take pride in trying to be one of the best passing big men in the game.''

"Andy definitely wasn't ready for that one,'' said James. "It was a good pass too.''

[DJB]

Shaq had this look on his face like how in the fuck did I end up in Cleveland.

How are u seeing all of this???

[TheMACHINE]

is shaq gonna play back to backs?

[duncan228]

The Big Mistake?
Shaq no answer to Cavs weak spots (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/britt_robson/10/07/shaq.cavs/index.html)
Britt Robson
SI.com

Now that Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers have officially begun preparing for the season, the question must be asked: By what logic do we expect the Big Diesel to provide a 2009-10 performance that is healthy and productive enough to take Cleveland to the next level in its quest for an NBA championship?

Begin with a series of inconvenient facts for Cavs fans and management. At 325 pounds, Shaq is listed as the NBA's heaviest player. (The second-heaviest, 310-pound Yao Ming, is out for the season with a foot injury.) With his 38th birthday looming March 6, Shaq is the league's third-oldest player, behind Chicago's Lindsey Hunter and Houston's Brent Barry. Most significant, with 39,926 regular-season minutes and another 7,843 minutes of more intensive playoff action, Shaq has logged more court time than any other active player and ranks in the top 20 all time in overall minutes.

This rather stupendous track record, gilded with four championship rings and three Finals MVP trophies, indicates that Shaq's many critics, going back more than a decade, were wrong in claiming that his plethora of side projects -- be it hip-hop, movies, commercials, police work or reality shows -- were ill-advised distractions that would prevent him from fulfilling his potential on the court. Yet even as we grant O'Neal that last laugh, and acknowledge him as a strong-willed freak of nature whose proud heart is as large as his clodhoppers, his weight, age and minutes are not the numbers you want to see pop up on the slot machine when you're feeding it $21 million in salary this season.

Beyond those daunting raw numbers, consider how the Cavs not named LeBron have to improve in order to help bring a title to King James -- the crucial, perhaps necessary, inducement for the NBA's best player to sign a new deal with Cleveland. Recall that even as the Cavs rolled to an NBA-best 66-16 record last year and then swept their first two playoff series, more than a third of those defeats (and five of their seven double-digit losses) to that point came against just three opponents: They went 0-2 against the Lakers, 1-2 against the Magic and 2-2 against the Celtics.

What those opponents have in common are large but mobile frontcourt players who can help spread the floor and compel a lot of quick interior rotations to defend against the high pick-and-roll, as well as the kick-outs and interior feeds off dribble penetration. With the game but aging trio of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace and Joe Smith, and the notorious flopper Anderson Varejao, the Cavs lacked sufficient resources to stymie this kind of attack. That was the story in Cleveland's stunning yet convincing six-game defeat against Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals. Everybody saw a seemingly invincible team that had won 74 of 90 games heading into the Magic series suddenly appear a step or two slow on defense, leading to an outcome that was obviously no fluke.

The circumstances of that unceremonious exit make the 2009-10 regular season mere prelude for the Cavs; their near-certain postseason matchups against any or all of the Magic/Celtics/Lakers trio will be the real standard by which the team is judged. And here's the rub: Aside from his abysmal free-throw shooting, the biggest flaws in Shaq's game are defending the high pick-and-roll and executing quick rotations in the paint. Put simply, he doesn't remove the Cavs' most glaring vulnerability against teams they must beat to make their season a success and foster the loyalty of their homegrown superstar.

In fact, a case can be made that Shaq isn't as complementary as Zydrunas Ilgauskas in teaming with LeBron on offense either. Although he is slowly improving as an outside shooter, James is still far more effective scoring off dribble penetration. According to 82games.com, 64 percent of LeBron's field-goal attempts last season were jump shots, a low figure for a small forward. But that's because his effective field-goal percentage (or eFG%, which factors in the extra productivity of three-point shots) on those jumpers was a mediocre 42.7. By contrast, on the 36 percent of his shot attempts categorized as inside, his eFG% (which is actually a straight shooting percentage because three-pointers aren't a factor) was a gaudy 71.7.

The bottom line is that James makes his bones in the paint. That works well in tandem with Ilgauskas, who, although he stands 7-3, is mostly a pick-and-pop player on offense. Indeed, according to 82games.com, Ilgauskas shot a higher percentage of jumpers (65.0) than LeBron. Shaq, on the other hand, takes jumpers on just 28 percent of his shots, meaning his double-wide body -- and the imminent double team he usually draws -- is too often going to be camped out in the same painted area where LeBron likes to finish.

So why did Cavs general manager Danny Ferry trade for a guy making $21 million who doesn't solve Cleveland's potentially crippling defensive flaw and also may not be the best offensive fit for the face, heart and soul of the franchise?

There are good reasons. Shaq remains such an extraordinary force, especially on offense, that coach Mike Brown can give LeBron more rest during the regular season without the guaranteed points deficit that used to occur when James sat. And despite some incompatibility in James' and O'Neal's natural spacing on the court, Shaq has always been adept at knowing when to dish out of double teams and when to barrel toward the hoop. Finally, this could be Shaq's last legitimate hurrah in quest of his fifth title, and it's a contract year, too, so he'll be highly motivated.

But if you had to choose one cause above all others as to why the Cavs added Shaq, it is because Ferry doesn't have a viable Plan B if James bolts to another franchise. Cleveland will pay more than $90 million in salaries and luxury tax this season. Next year, if James leaves as Ilgauskas and O'Neal both come off the books, the salary totals plummet below $35 million and the team's cornerstones are Mo Williams and Varejao. You think free agents flock to that scenario, after LeBron has just departed? You think a back-of-the-draft rookie is going to pick up any of the slack? Plan B for the Cavs will be to cut corners and suck it up while they lick their wounds for a while.

Shaq is a Cav to prevent that nightmare, and in that respect he may be more valuable as symbol of earnest courtship than he is substance of strengthened court performance. Shaq symbolizes that the Cavs will pull out every stop and leave no expensive, risky, but attention-getting option unturned in demonstrating their desire to retain James. If LeBron is feeling at all unappreciated or pulled toward the brighter lights of the bigger cities, why not acquire the biggest slam-dunk, first-ballot Hall of Famer still lacing up his sneakers, the guy who lifted Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade so they could snatch their rings, and have him ride shotgun for the league's reigning MVP this season?

Interestingly, the Cavs' other new additions -- Anthony Parker, Leon Powe and Jamario Moon -- may go further than Shaq in addressing the lack of elasticity in Cleveland's defense. But after a season that elated their followers for months only to leave them crestfallen, a pattern the Cavs can't afford to repeat if they want to avoid disaster, the team couldn't retool with law-firm-like obscurities such as Parker, Powe, and Moon; they needed to make a splash. And no one displaces the status quo quite like Shaq.

But what comes in Shaq's wake may not be good times in Cleveland.