lol at any who think that Shaq will be here and put up monster numbers and lol at any who think that other people think that.
look, this is a great signing.
i saw a few detractors here who put Skinner or Oberto or Kwame over Shaq because supposedly, Shaq isn't mobile or can't set a solid screen or rebound or keep the ball moving. That's crazy. none of those guys are "mobile" nor do they "keep the ball moving". They're also worse rebounders than Shaq (who is just slightly better than Perk at rebounding).
Shaq is far from the best center in the league. Obviously! But we could've done a lot worse than signing Shaq, which would be signing Skinner or Oberto or Kwame. Sure Oberto was the starting Center at a Spurs team that won 62 games (around 7 years ago, i might add) but Shaq was the starting Center of a team that won 61 and were the favorites to win the East last year. Big deal.
Point is, Shaq fills our a need of a competent big man who can rebound and not lose the ball on silly turnovers and boneheaded plays. He brings an added bonus of bringing a legitimate offensive post threat who can still command double teams at times. Sure he's not a great pick and role defender but not every center is. Is bynum? Is pryzbilla? Is Dampier?
[Sidenote:Pryz and Damp are decent role players but if you had put them in Cleveland instead of Shaq, they wouldn't have made much of a difference. If anything, Cleveland would've done worse. I wanna point this out because those same Shaq detractors would probably love a signing of Pryz or Damp]
Back to the topic at hand, they're all competent big men who can still get torched by the likes of Rondo and CP3 and Deron Williams. Why? Because there's a reason why Rondo and CP3 and Deron are the top PGs in the league.
Stop with the whole "we only need role players". Do you think Miami would've preferred Eddie House (a role player) over Ray Allen (who's not just a role player) to come off the bench??
- LilRip