GO FOR 2

It would just take far too long to grade every single team’s draft from last night, and considering a lot of the picks went as expected, it would also be extremely boring. So instead I’m going to break down a couple of the biggest winners and losers from the whole day. We’ll be starting with the winners.

WINNER: Shaquille O’Neal

It’s easy to say the Cavaliers are a winner here too, but whether or not the trade really makes them more competetive in the East is still up in the air. And even if it does, they’ll also need to be competetive against the Lakers/Nuggets/Spurs or whatever beast comes out of the West. As for Shaq, though, this is an immediate win. Steve Kerr is committed to NOT competing right now, and in a loaded Western Conference, Shaq was never going to see the NBA Finals again, maybe not even the playoffs. But now the 38 year old 15-time All Star will have one more legitimate chance to compete for a 5th NBA title.

WINNER: Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets didn’t even have a first round pick and still managed to improve the team and plan for the future. They grabbed super-fast Ty Lawson, the driving force behind UNC’s NCAA Championship, from the point guard heavy Timberwolves (we’ll get to them later). Lawson adds speed and versatility to the Nuggets right now, and he also gets time to develop as a floor leader behind one of the best in NBA history in Chauncy Billups.

WINNER: Orlando Magic

Hedo Turkoglu told the Magic that he would be opting out of his contract this summer, which would leave a pretty sizeable hole in the roster of a team that made the NBA Finals this year. So the magic went out and traded layup-inept rookie guard Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie to the New Jersey Nets for All Star guard/forward Vince Carter. The Magic are now instantly a better team than they were with Turkoglu on board, and should be ready for another charge through the playoffs.

WINNER: Indiana Pacers

That’s right, I said it. The Pacers made the gamble of the draft, taking UNC forward Tyler Hansbrough at 13. Hansbrough is a ‘hard worker’ and all that, but he’s also creative, skilled, and athletic. Yahoo! Sports Dan Wetzel (who I normally love, as a disclaimer) noted that Hansbrough scored off of strange trajectory shots a lot in college, and those would be swatted down by NBA defenders. Sure they would, but that’s not the point. What those shots said about Hansbrough’s game is that he is creative. This guy is going to find a way to score in the NBA, he’s going to learn how to defend 2 positions, and he’s going to be a solid player. A great risk/reward move by the Pacers when the best talent was off the board.

WINNER: Brandon Jennings (mostly)

Ok, so he looked like a bit of an idiot by showing up to the Garden only after he got his name called. But the bigger story is that it appears the ‘overseas’ experiment worked for Jennings. This is a guy who had big talent, and would have had serious exposure playing in the PAC-10. Instead, he went to Italy to play professionally. Jennings made some money, gained a lot of experience, and still ended up a top-10 lottery pick. Look for more players to try this in future.

Ok, and now on to the less fortunate.

LOSER: Minnesota Timberwolves

A lot of people liked what the T’Wolves did last night, I’m not seeing it. The move for Lawson to trade to Denver was smart, now they get a first-rounder next year that they can use on a player more suited to their needs. But taking Rubio and Flynn back to back just doesn’t work for me. Sure, they’re different types of point guards, I guess. But if you’re going to count on Flynn to be a scorer and not a creater in the backcourt, it sure would be nice if he wasn’t 5′11″. This plan just isn’t going to work, one of these guys is going to get traded, and don’t think the T’Wolves will get equal value. They could have played this better.

LOSER: DeJuan Blair

I loved this guy in college, he’s an amazing offensive rebounder and plays NBA-tough ball in the low post. So what happened? Apparently it was his two ACL surgeries that caused his massive slide. Blair’s knee surgeries never caused him to miss time, and haven’t appeared to hinder his game at all, but NBA exec’s appeared worried about another Greg Oden here. Blair slid so far that he fell past his teammate Sam Young, something neither of them thought would happen.

LOSER: Cash Considerations

Cash considerations got traded all over the place last night, that guy is going to have a hard time figuring out where he’s really playing. Ok, that was a joke. But seriously, if you watched the second round of the draft you saw about 10 players essentially get sold from one team to another. I know its necessary for teams to tweak this stuff to work on the salary cap, but its just sort of funny to watch.

The Phoenix Suns have agreed in principle today to a trade which sends Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two teams have flirted with the move for months now, so today’s move really shouldn’t surprise anyone, although it will likely have some ramifications. The Suns are sending Shaq to the Cavs, who in turn are sending Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, a second round pick, and cash back to the desert. (As a side note for those who don’t know, Shaq has a reputation for becoming a reserve Sherrif’s deputy everywhere he lives, hence the killer title).

So does the move mean that the Cavaliers can contend? That depends, contend with whom? The Cavaliers posted an NBA best 66-16 record, and were bounced by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, having Shaq would have really helped nullify the inside presence of Dwight Howard, who really hurt the Cavs in that series. However, next year K.G. will be back and the Celtics are a more likely Eastern Conference foe. Shaq probably won’t help as much against the Celtics as he would against the Magic, because the Celtics tend to play more slashing and jumpshooting ball. But there’s an upside here too, Shaq may not help much in that matchup, but he shouldn’t hurt either. The Celtics are an old team (aside from Rajon Rondo), and don’t get up and down the floor nearly as quick as, say, the Lakers, so Shaq’s own age and mobility won’t be much of a hindrance there.

Now, a lot of people are going to knock this move, saying that Shaq didn’t help any in Phoenix, in fact they missed the playoffs this year. First off all, the Suns missed the playoffs because the West is stacked right now. Second, Phoenix has problems because Steve Kerr is an imbecile, not because of Shaq. Kerr messed up the Suns from top to bottom, being unable to figure out his coaching situation, dismantling the team, waffling on playing up-tempo, and bringing in a player who didn’t fit the system he was (kind of) using.

Despite all that, Shaq flourished last year. The big man played in 75 games and averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 boards a game. Consider the fact the Mo Williams played an all-star (literally and figuratively) season, and suddenly LeBron looks to have a pretty good cast around him for what could be his last title shot in Cleveland.