As expected, LeBron James won’t be signing a contract extension this summer with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Instead, LeBron will wait it out and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. During the summer of 2010, many teams — most notably the New York Knicks — will make a run at adding the best player in the league to their squad.
As for the fantasy basketball world, this news doesn’t change much. If anything, it might be good news. With the Cavs facing a lot of pressure to win and keep LeBron happy, they will spend to put good players around him. …read more

Around the NBA trade deadline, there was talk about Shaquille O’Neal being traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now it appears, depending on who you believe, that these talks may be heating back up.
For both sides, this deal would make a lot of sense. For the Cavs, they desperately need to give LeBron James a running mate. Considering that Shaq is coming off of a very good season, he could still get the job done in the middle. At the worst, he’ll give the opponent another player to think about outside of LeBron.
For the Suns, Shaq doesn’t …read more

Rumors have been circulating recently that Shaquille O’Neal may wind up with the Dallas Mavericks for the 2009-10 NBA season. O’Neal is currently with the Phoenix Suns but there have been rumblings over the last few months that he may be on the move this summer.
At age 37, O’Neal is having one of his best seasons of the last half decade. In 30.4 minutes per game, O’Neal is averaging 18 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He’s also shooting a career-high from both the field (61.2%) and his highest free throw percentage (60.5%) since the 2002-03 season.
Since losing …read more

Shaquille O’Neal turned back the clock on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors. The Big Cactus poured in 45 points for the Phoenix Suns and did so on 20-for-25 shooting from the field. He also finished with 11 rebounds, three steals and three blocks in his 35 minutes of play.
With Amare Stoudemire out with an eye injury, it’s not too surprising that Shaq is more involved in the offense. He no longer has to share touches with Stoudemire down low and will be more involved in the pick-and-roll attack.
That said, don’t expect this type of outburst too often from Shaq. …read more

Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
As much as Dwight Howard can help you in a variety of categories, he’s an absolute killer as far as free throws are concerned. He leads the league in free throw attempts per game but he’s shooting only 57% at the line. All those misses can bring down any team’s percentage.
Shaquille O’Neal, Phoenix Suns
Even though Shaquille O’Neal isn’t quite as spry as he was when he was younger, he still gets to the line a whole lot. And Shaq is still Shaq as far as his pitiful free throw percentage. The only good news is that he’s …read more

Rodney Stuckey recently got a reminder what an NBA court tastes like. While going up for a layup, he might the immovable force that is Shaquille O’Neal. The result was Stuckey flying to the ground and Shaq getting ejected. You can see the Stuckey video at the end of this entry.
While Stuckey was able to continue to play, his season so far hasn’t been as great as expected. Many NBA experts expected him to make a big jump in his second season in the league. That simply hasn’t happened yet.
Compared to his rookie season, his stats are up just …read more

Shaquille O’Neal of the Phoenix Suns called coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs cowards for going to Hack-a-Shaq during the 2008 NBA Playoffs. In the first game of the 2008-09 season, Popovich had a little joke to play on Shaq. On the first play of the game, Pop had Michael Finley foul Shaq.
The result was a double thumbs up from Popovich and everyone on the floor and both benches laughing. You can see a video of the funny Hack-a-Shaq at the end of this entry.
While this funny business didn’t have much affect on the game, the Hack-a-Shaq strategy …read more

Here is a video of something you should truly not try at home. Shaquille O’Neal, who has never been known for being the sveltest of athletes, is being picked up off the ground. Even more impressive is that the person picking him up off the ground is Wee-Man. Yes, 4-foot-6 Wee-Man of Jackass fame.
According to the description, this Shaq video was filmed at one of his rap music video shoots. I’m not sure if Wee-Man had a death wish but thankfully he came out seemingly unharmed.
Here is the Wee-Man video of him picking up Shaq:

Shaquille O’Neal has announced that he will retire in two years after his current contract is complete. While this isn’t an unexpected turn of events, it is the first time that Shaq has laid out a timeline for his exit from the NBA.
O’Neal, who was traded from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns last season, will return to the Suns and once again start for the team at center. With a new coach in Terry Porter, it will be interesting to see how he is used.
Fantasy basketball wise, Shaq isn’t too valuable. His low free throw …read more

PG Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets
For the 2008-09 fantasy basketball season, Chris Paul was the best player in the world. He had an amazing season and was a godsend to all of his fantasy teams. Going forward, Paul should remain the best fantasy point guard for a long time to come.
SG Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs
Manu Ginobili doesn’t play big minutes. Heck, Ginobili usually doesn’t even start. However, when he’s out there on the court, Ginobili just knows how to make things happen. While he can be a mistake prone player, he’s also capable of …read more