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Newest Cav ONeal declares he wants to win a ring for the King
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Walking through a group of children anxious to slap his hand wearing a new suit, Shaquille O'Neal officially made his debut as a Cavalier. O'Neal was introduced at a lavish press conference Thursday afternoon at the Cavs practice courts in Indpendence. He spoke along with owner Dan Gilbert, who gave him boots and a show shovel, and GM Danny Ferry and coach Mike Brown.
O'Neal, who never does anything small, declared his slogan for his tenure will be as follows - "win a ring for the King," of course the "King" being NBA MVP LeBron James, who was not there at the presser. O'Neal was acquired from the Phoenix Suns a week ago for Sasha Pavolic, Ben Wallace, a 2nd round pick and cash.
He is expected to be the missing piece to the Cavs puzzle to win a title. The team sorely lacked an inside presence and it showed during their eventual six-game loss in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic. Now with the four-time NBA Champion on the roster, the Cavs will be as dangerous as ever.
O'Neal is a future Hall of Famer, and is a 15-time NBA All-Star, and during last season in Phoenix played in 75 games putting up 17.8 points per game with 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in about 30 minutes per game. Right away the team expects to have Shaq in the starting lineup, with Zydrunas Ilgauskas coming off the bench.
As far as it being a one-year thing - "I would love an extension, but I'm here to take care of business," O'Neal said. "If they offered me a $35 million dollar extension, I'll sign it right now."
For the Cavs and their fans, they are hoping that this piece is just the start of an offseason that this time will see them get the job done, unlike last season where a NBA high 66 games won was short of what was needed to capture their ultimate goal.
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