| 25 June 2009
Cleveland is a city that has come to expect disappointment. Its easier that way. We almost celebrate it to an extent. Just look at the names of some top Cleveland blogs if you don't believe me: Waiting For Next Year, Cleveland Frowns, '64 and Counting. I named my site Stepien Rules because of the irony involved with the fact that the team we now pin our most hope on to bring this city its first championship in the last (40) plus years, was onced owned by a guy so inept, that the NBA made new rules and regulations to protect him from himself. This is a guy who traded the rights to James Worthy for a box of basketballs, and fired Chuck Daly. Its been a long time coming.
But now we got the King, and the Shaq-a-lier to protect him.
How ironic is it too, that on the day StepienRules is launched, Danny Ferry pulls off - in my estimation - the deal of the summer, trading Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a 2nd rounder, and some of Dan Gilbert's money for the Big Walleye. That's back to back heists if you ask me (Mo Williams for Damon Jones being his last walk-off shot) but this latest move, might just be the most impactful trade in Cleveland Sports History.
Impactful for two reasons:
1. Presence inside: Obvious, but Shaq provides the presence that was glaringly lacking inside for the Cavaliers against the elite frontline teams. He averaged 18 and 8 last year, and I don't care if you want to say he is declining. Say he is, and he gives you 15 and 7 on a night in, night out basis. Ben Wallace didn't do that. He gave you 1.5 and 4. Defensively , Shaq is going to give you more than Wallace gave the Cavaliers, and he takes this team from a conference semi-finalist, to a legit title contender.
2. LeBron Likes the Move: This gives LeBron one more reason to believe he can win a title here. Shaq is a guy LeBron likes, and Shaq is going to make probably the most fun locker room in the NBA, that much more hilarious. And for LeBron, or anybody, when you like the people you work with, it makes it that much harder to leave the job.
You can go on and on about this move. When my friend Jerod from the Midwest Sports Fan asked me to post on these very rumors for his site a couple weeks ago, I just hoped they were true. I just hoped Brian Windhorst didn't blow it up like the rumors he had been stomping out in previous days. But he didn't, and now its true. Shaquille O'Neal plays for Cleveland, and we've been waiting for you Big Fella, glad you can make it.
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