Shaq Driving His Own Bandwagon To Cleveland?

If Shaquille O'Neal was an unrestricted free agent and the Cleveland Cavaliers had $20 million in salary cap space sitting around, consider the Shaq-to-Cavs circus a done deal.That's because a recent report by our boy Chris Broussard at ESPN.com says that the Cavs are O'Neal's "preferred destination" and hinted at Shaq hoping for a two-year contract extension regardless of where he goes:O'Neal is open to being traded and Cleveland is his preferred destination, according to a league source with knowledge of his thinking. LeBron James is also excited about the possibility of playing with Shaq, according to people close to the situation.While O'Neal hopes to end up in Cleveland, the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer also hopes to get a two-year contract extension, according to the league source. That being the case, he would like to get assurances that James, who can become a free agent after next season, will remain in Cleveland for at least the next three years. O'Neal is hardly in position to make such demands, and neither James nor the Cavs are likely to make him any promises. The Cavaliers could be in position to have a significant amount of cap space to pursue free agents such as Chris Bosh in 2010 and they are not going to give that up for O'Neal.The source said O'Neal's desire for long-term security would not be a deal-breaker.The tragedy here is that the Cavs are trying to do all of this much too late. O'Neal probably would have helped this team get past Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals and would have been as motivated as ever to single-handedly take out the Lakers in the NBA Finals (don't even think about buying into his sympathetic and congratulatory "Tweets"). A healthy Shaq also helps the Cavs successfully defend their imaginary '09 title next season, as well. Had the reported trade involving Sasha Pavlovic and Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract gone down, the Suns would have saved a massive amount of money for both this summer and next year. The Cavs would have been able to land Shaq while giving up extremely minimal "talent" (if you can call Sasha and Wally that). Which has to lead you wonder: How serious is the ownership group when they say that no expense will be spared? Not only did the Cavs let Szczerbiak's contract just expire without helping them, but the airball after airball that the $13 million Szczerbiak chucked up against Orlando just as easily could have been a monstrous Shaq slam right in Dwight Howard's face.Sure, the Cavs would have been stuck paying a massive amount of money to both Ben Wallace and O'Neal on the back end of their careers, but at the very least, a healthy Shaq drives them to the NBA Finals instead of sitting home and worrying about the Orlando Magic. The guess here is that a motivated LeBron and Shaq tandem takes out the Lakers in the Finals, as well, but that's anyone's guess.So the Cavs re-visit this trade now? When the same trade could have been made while the Suns weren't in the hunt for young talent and draft picks in return?And if LeBron likes the idea of Shaq now, as indicated by Broussard's report, then he probably liked it back in February, as well. LB and Shaq are definitely boys. Imagine how disappointed it might have made him back at the trade deadline when nothing happened. And imagine him reflecting on the front office's inactivity in the wake of the humiliating loss to the Magic.Shaq made sense in February. Having him for the stretch run this year and a possible title defense next year would have been the stuff of legend. But now you have a 37-year old guy whose acquisition may require giving up draft picks, young talent, and possibly Delonte West (although the Cavs will never part with West for an older player, unless we're talking Kobe Bryant). And that's all while said 37-year old center will be looking to extend his contract.Sometimes, the best deals Danny Ferry has made are the ones that he didn't, like the Mike Bibby trades of years past. But in this case, he's four months too late to the party.