Shaq in Cleveland?

You've probably all heard the rumors, and they're apparently true. The Cavaliers are talking to the Suns about a trade that would allegedly send the great Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland in exchange for Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. Pavlovic was a starter on the team that went to the Finals in '07, but no longer plays much; and Wallace is a former All-Star who is no longer the player he was, and is now contemplating retirement.

So if that part of the rumor is true, the Cavs would be basically getting something for close to nothing. And according to this story at ESPN.com, that's not going to be enough to get Shaq. The report says the Suns are interested in Delonte West, but I'd sure hate to see him go in exchange for a 37-year-old, even if it is Shaquille O'Neal.

On the other hand, Shaq is coming off a fine season, in which he averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds a game for the also-ran Suns. Teamed up with LeBron James and Mo Williams, he wouldn't be a good bet to put up those scoring numbers, but I think it's pretty obvious he's still got most of what he had in his younger days in Orlando and Los Angeles.

The obvious question is, would Shaq have made the difference in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Magic? They beat us with a strong perimeter game, made possible in large part by Dwight Howard's dominance in the paint. I love Zydrunas Ilgauskas, but he wasn't able to do much to slow Howard down. Somebody like O'Neal, who's just three years older than Z, might have been able to do something about that. And wouldn't you love to see LeBron and Shaq together? Z would gladly come off the bench to make room for Shaq, and I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them on the floor at the same time sometimes, as their skill sets are very different.

These talks are reportedly in the very preliminary stages, so it sounds like it'll be a while before anything gets done, if it ever does. But I don't mind telling you I hope it happens.