Shaquille O'Neal lived up to his larger than life persona as he was welcomed to Cleveland with a press conference earlier this afternoon. The star brought an embarrassing picture of Danny Ferry from his playing days when the two met in an awkward way on the court. As for his goals for the 2009-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers, well that is all business. The 37 year old stated:

"My motto is very simple. Win a ring for the King."

The 15 time all star also broached a subject that will heat up as the year goes on. On LeBron James, who can become a free agent next year, O'Neal stated:

"He's an intelligent young man. Sure he is going to do the right thing. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Ferry have given him the world right here. If we do what we came here to do, everything will fall into place."

In a shock move Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks announced that they would not re-sign power forward Charlie Villanueva. This set off quite a ruckus locally as most fans assume he will soon be a Cleveland Cavalier. The NBA free agency officially begins at midnight on July 1.

It’s worth noting that the Cavs’ situation is way more complex than most fans can appreciate. Everyone wants to win now, but everyone also wants to have a team set up to jump at a major free agent in 2010 like Chris Bosh. Danny Ferry has to figure out if he wants to do both and if so, how to do it.

Shaquille O’Neal is coming to Cleveland and now you can join in Shaq-Mania by purchasing a jersey. The NBA official store has officially stocked the Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. Shaq will wear #33 with the Cavs.

The replica outfit of the star cost $44.99 and can be purchased by
following this link .

We here at The Cleveland Leader an exciting new addition to our team. Tom Galmarini has agreed to do some drawings for the site. When I caught up with the old friend earlier this week, the big news around the Northcoast was Shaquille O'Neal coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers so the native of Middleburg Heights decided to draw portraits of Shaq and LeBron James to give a glimpse of what to expect of his work that will focus on Cleveland Sports.

The 32 year old Galmarini is now living in South Carolina but still proudly wears the (often painful) badge of being a Cleveland sports fan on his sleeve. He's a 2000 graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design, where he majored in Illustration, and is currently working on a Master's degree in the field. You can find out more about him on his Twitter account @tgalmarini.

If you plan on buying a Cleveland Cavaliers Shaquille O'Neal jersey plan on wearing #33. The superstar center team officials confirmed that Shaq-Daddy will be switching to his number that he donned while playing for LSU.

O'Neal also said on Twitter that he would like to play more than just next season. The 37 year old would like to play till he forty commenting on Twitter that he has three years left in him.

On a day when just about everyone was still coming to grips with the exciting trade that brought Shaq to the Cavaliers, hope was plentiful. By all accounts Danny Ferry and the Cavs weren’t done improving the team and the next step was that very night with the NBA Draft.

Let’s start with the facts. The Cavs draft looked like this:
Round 1 (30th pick) – Christian Eyenga (Congo)
Round 2 (46th pick) – Danny Green (UNC)
Round 2 (57th pick) – Emir Preldzic (Turkey)

I’m not going to sugar coat my feelings on this one. This draft stinks. I give the whole Cavs draft a C- grade and it’s only that good because Green could come off the bench and provide some scoring right away. The other two guys are total unknowns who won’t even make it out of Europe for 2 years, if at all. I’ll break each down individually.

Round 1

The Cleveland Cavaliers choose Christian Eyenga out of the Congo with the 30th pick in this years NBA Draft. Eyenga is a 20 year old shooting guard/small forward who is said to be very athletic.

While Eyenga is said to possess the tools physically succeed in the NBA he lacks the fundamentals to contribute to the Cavaliers right away.

Eyenga stands at 6' 6'' and weighs 210 pounds. Here the rundown of the first round of the NBA Draft.

The Diesel. The Big Shaqtus. Shaq Daddy. Get ready Cavs fans, Cleveland is going to be invaded by the larger-than-life personality that is Shaquille O’Neal. First order of business: what’s his new nickname going to be?

How about The Big Cuyahoga? Nah, to unwieldy. The Big Walleye? Maybe. Aaaahhh, Shaq Erie!

I’m so beyond excited about this trade that I can barely contain myself. I actually sent the following text to a friend at 8:45 this morning:

“We finally got a low post presence! We finally got a low post presence! We finally got a low post presence! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

That’s right, it was a 15 exclamation pointer! And that text really gets to the heart of my excitement. The Cavs have been missing a player who can score in the low post since Boozer went all Benedict Arnold on us a few years ago. Z is an outside shooter and has always been awkward in the paint. Andy is better as a slasher since his shot is unreliable, even from 7 feet. Drew Gooden? Please. It’s been a big hole in the Cavs offense for years. Consider that hole now officially plugged.

The trade that first started buzzing in February and seemed to drag on forever was finally completed Wednesday night, according to ESPN and numerous other sources. The terms are as follows: Cleveland gets Shaq in exchange for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick in this years draft and $500,000. Reports are stating that the teams have agreed in principle and the deal is expected to be finalized Thursday.

More to come later today on what this means for the Cavs and what to look forward to in the NBA Draft Thursday evening.

In the meantime, if you're on Twitter, go send a welcome message to Shaq Daddy: The_Real_Shaq