Shaquille O'Neal Doesn't Guarantee Cleveland Cavaliers a Title

After being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Shaquille O'Neal flew over to Cleveland and started chanting his new slogan: “Win a ring for the King!”

Lovely!

The delusional Cavalier fans—I'm not saying all of them are delusional, but let’s face it, every team has delusional fans—went wild and started planning their championship parade for next year.

While the rest of the world laughs at the biggest mistake of the offseason, and it didn't take very long for them to make it—don't kill me yet, let me make my point first.

Shaq is a very unique player and has certain abilities that only a limited amount of players in this league have. He's very dominate, and when he has the ball under the rim, all you can do is hope you have enough strength to hold him down for the foul.

He's also had a very successful career, helping lead the Lakers to three championships and the Miami Heat to a title in 2006.

But here's the thing, not every player is best for every team.

You see it all the time. A player moves from one team to the next and his stats either greatly increase or greatly decrease.

On top of statistics of the individual player, depending on the type of role you give the player, your team will either be better or worse.

Keeping that in mind, let’s add variable Shaq-x into the formula.

Shaq is one of those players who will "get his" and at this point of his career. I would say that "his" will be about 17 points per game, eight rebounds per game, and 59 percent shooting.

Considering that the Cavaliers didn't have a center who can put up those numbers last season, I would say that this is a good thing.

Not to mention that Shaq's mere presence on the defense is almost unmatched.

So thumbs up in those regards.

Anyway, the next question is the big question: How will Shaq fit into the Cavaliers' system next season and will this move result in a championship for the Cavaliers?

Good question.

Anyone want to get this one?

OK, I'll answer it.

The answer is...

He will fit in, but they are not going to win the championship.

I'm sorry.

Let me explain, I'll write slow.

The Cavaliers were very successful last season at playing in an up-tempo offensive game with excellent half-court defense.

Doing both at the same time is very hard because of what each side requires; I think that they were the best team in the league at getting the best from both ends of the floor.

So when you put Shaq into this type of team, you’re going to have some success.

Shaq will be able to do his thing on the defensive end, and if everyone else plays defense like they did last season, they will be one of the top defensive teams again.

But, they won't have the best of both worlds anymore in the sense that they will not be able to play that up-tempo game that produces a lot of their offense.

Between Shaq and LeBron, you'll get about 45 points. Mo Williams and Delonte West will play just as well as they did last season.

But that’s about all they have going for them offensive on a consistent basis. They don't have the depth to compete for a championship. 

They'll be a 50- to 55-win team at best, which is very good, but when it comes into the playoffs, they will get exposed and they will be eliminated.

I think Cleveland made this move so that they will be able to compete with Dwight Howard, but it wasn't even Howard that destroyed them in the playoffs, it was Orlando’s three-point shooting.

And not to mention that the Magic completely destroyed their chemistry and will not be nearly as good as they were last season.

The Cavs needed to make a move to get LeBron to stay in Cleveland after next season, but this wasn't it.

On the surface, I get how people may think that adding Shaq is a step up into winning the championship, but if you want to understand something, you don't judge it by its cover, you open it up and read it.

I opened, I read, and my results are as follow:

“No ring for the King!”