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Shaq and Awe

Well, seeing how much LeBron whines about calls, maybe it should be "Shaq and Awwww" but let me put my hate aside.

The Cavs landing the Shaq likely puts them at the top of the East's pecking order. However what could be even bigger is that they made the deal without giving up much of anything. They still have Zydrunas Ilgauskas's expiring deal to play with and they way this offseason has started, they could get a pretty good player in return. I wouldn't be stunned if they were able to swing that for someone and then make a run at a couple of ring chasing free agents with the MLE. Hell, if they can make a deal for one of the free agent PG's, they could also look to swap out Mo Williams for someone. 

The Suns, on the other hand, ended the worst era in Shaq's illustrious career. It turns out that losing Shawn Marion really wasn't much of a loss but it's kind of pathetic that they gave up Shaq for nothing. The Suns should begin rebuilding but that might be delayed a bit since they don't even own the rights to their own first round draft pick (The Thunder own that from the Kurt Thomas salary dump). The team gave away draft picks left and right and failed to add cheap young talent to help support (and eventually replace) their veterans. Who knows what Steve Kerr's next move might be. (One would assume that it is an Amar'e deal but Kerr probably just hurt his trade position by giving away Shaq).

On the other end of the spectrum, the Atlanta Hawks inexplicably added salary. This is a team that isn't flush with money and has to deal with Mike Bibby, Marvin Williams, and Josh Childress as free agent (and Joe Johnson's extension next offseason) and they added 2 years, 20 million of Jamal Crawford. Now, I think Jamal got a bad rap in Golden State and he always seemed to brush off Don Nelson's cranky complaints but he's overpaid and really doesn't improve the Hawks all that much. If anything, the cap space they lost is probably more valuable than what Crawford brings.

The Warriors gave up nothing but got the best part of the deal. They also could use Speedy Claxton's expiring deal to perhaps make another trade in the near future. 

So far this offseason has seen the rich get richer, the poor get poorer in talent so they don't get poorer financially and the Hawks doing what only the Hawks understand. But it doesn't seem like things are going to calm down tomorrow or even in the weeks after the draft.


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