The Cleveland Cavaliers are struggling, and I think it all falls on the massive shoulders of the Big Witness Protection, otherwise known as Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq, Cleveland’s prized offseason acquisition, is not fitting in well with his new team. Through seven games, he is averaging only 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, down significantly from the 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game he posted with the Phoenix Suns just one season ago.
Worst yet, Shaq is ruining Cleveland’s flow on the court. LeBron James is averaging 2.1 less points per game this year because he doesn’t play aggressively to start games. Instead he chooses to defer to Shaq because he wants to get his 37-year-old center some touches in the paint.
LeBron is the most talented player in the NBA. When he is on the court, he should always be the focal point of the offense. But, instead he seems like he wants to appease Shaq’s ego and that has caused the Cavs to start games very slowly.
How can the Cavaliers solve this problem?
Make Shaq the sixth man.
Shaq should come off the bench and play between 10 to 20 minutes per game while James is resting. No back up center in the NBA could handle a fresh Shaq even if this is his 17th season.
Making Shaq the sixth man will enable the Cavaliers to return to the same starting lineup that won 66 regular season games last year, and it will give them a focal point for their offense while King James takes his well deserved rest.
NBA legend Bill Walton, who, like Shaq, is a former No. 1 overall selection (1974) and league MVP (1978), became a sixth man later in his career with the Boston Celtics and won a NBA championship in that role.
Shaq has said before that stats don’t matter, only championships do. If he truly wants to win a ring for the king, he should take a seat on the pine.
And if Shaq has a problem with accepting a supporting role after years of being the leading actor, I suggest he take a look at this quote from William Shakespeare:
“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances; each man in his time plays many parts.”