Going global: Cavs love Chinese partnership

It was a gigantic step.

Of course, the Cavaliers had made bold moves like this before. Two years ago, they had stepped into the global world when they played three exhibition games in China.

LeBron James and the Gang exposed China and its people to the NBA's brand of basketball. The team was a smash hit -- as big as anything seen on Broadway.

But bigger things were there for the franchise, and team officials couldn't let this initial economic opportunity slip away, could they?

Absolutely not.

Since then, Cavaliers officials have been negotiating with a Chinese company to sell it a "substantial" stake in the franchise. Those talks are winding toward a conclusion, helping to push the Cleveland Cavalier brand deeper into the Chinese psyche. Yet even this was just a starting point for an economic foothold there.

On Monday, the franchise deepened its penetration into this two-billion-person market when team officials signed a marketing deal with Tsingtao Brewery Co., the largest beer brewer in China and the seventh largest in the world.

"This is certainly symbolic," said Len Komoroski, team president. "We are very excited that Tsingtao shares the same values that we do. We look forward to working with them to create a positive impact in Northeast Ohio."

Tsingtao (pronounced CHING dow) will partner with the Cavaliers on a number of local initiatives, and its beer brand will have a prominent place inside Quicken Loans Arena with permanent signage, Komoroski said. The beermaker will team with the Cavaliers on cultural and educational programs in the region.

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Shaq puts his muscle behind Cavaliers win

This is the Shaquille O'Neal that coach Mike Brown and the Cavaliers were hoping they would get. This Shaq, all 325 pounds of him, proved an indomitable force inside; this Shaq scored points; this Shaq guarded the paint like a Secret Service agent. He made a dynamic complement for LeBron James.

Now, perhaps I overvalued this one performance. Sure, Shaq finished with a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds), but he did so against the Trailblazers, a team with a few fine pieces like Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge but with no one capable of pushing Shaq around inside.

"Anytime we can attack the rim, anytime that we get 'The Big Fella' playing with the will and the force that he played with, we can score a lot of points in the paint," said Brown, who bordered on giddy about a 104-99 win his Cavs came away with Friday night. "It showed in this game."

Brown got all he could ask of "The Big Fella" in a game the Cavaliers needed. They had limped back to The Q with two losses from a short road trip, and in those games, Shaq didn't dominate as Brown had hoped.

Shaq was all but invisible Wednesday night against the Rockets, a smallish, quick team that gave the Cavs fits inside. The loss to the Rockets is behind the Cavs. He doesn't have to figure out how the Cavs can better matchup against a team like Houston.

For the Rockets aren't a concern of Brown's now, not that he was happy they had beaten his team. But they aren't in the Eastern Conference, and the only way his Cavaliers will meet Houston is in the NBA Finals in June. That should give Brown ample time to devise a strategy that might be more effective.

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Cavs look like a team that's 'clicking'

The Cavaliers return Saturday night to The Q. They're returning to town to face the Utah Jazz with a cockiness and the tough guy's swagger that seemed to be missing in the first five or six games of their season.

Winning has a way of putting the strut back into pro athlete's step, and to perform in victory the way the LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Mo Williams and the rest of their gang have done lately is reason enough to predict their early-season troubles were behind them.

In a display that looked like midseason form, they showed offensive versatility during their two-game road trip.

Coach Mike Brown figured out how to use Shaq, and Brown's decision to start J.J. Hickson over Anderson Varejao was coaching brilliance. It was risky business to bring Varejao off the bench as a sixth man, but Hickson's athleticism complemented Shaq's powerful inside game better than Varejao's does.

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Revenge for Cavs? Nah, just a good win

To think about revenge in November makes as much sense as checking your Christmas list in early May. For anybody whose name is on the list will have plenty of days left to show Santa if he's been naughty or nice.

So LeBron James and the Cavaliers could dismiss the talk of revenge, giving it not a minute's thought last night in Orlando. Payback -- or revenge -- needed to wait until the games meant something more than a first-weeks-of-the-season win did. To exact revenge, the Cavaliers must beat the Magic in May or June, not in November.

At this point, they were more than willing to settle for this 102-93 win -- a win in Orlando, too.

In that win, the Cavs showed what they weren't able to show when Orlando eliminated them in the Eastern Conference Finals last season. They proved they could handle Magic star Dwight Howard in the paint.

And that's one thing the Cavs have to do: now and in their future. They went into the off-season with that as their goal, because LeBron could never hope to bring a championship to Cleveland if he and his teammates couldn't figure out a way to match up better against Howard.

At its essence, basketball between elite teams is a game of match-ups, and the addition of Shaquille O'Neal has given the Cavaliers an effective counterpunch to Howard, although no one knew with certainty beforehand how Shaq's presence might work against the Magic.

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Shaq's play brings smile to Coach Brown

Coach Mike Brown didn’t want to show too much emotion on the bench. Coaches in the NBA know not to do that when their teams are running roughshod over an opponent. No, they must sit there and bask in the moment. They can’t be sure how long moments like these will last.

With the Cavaliers, Brown is expecting to see plenty more moments like this one, a 102-90 win Tuesday night over the Wizards. His Cavs played the way Brown had been wanting them to play this season: They hustled on defense; they moved the ball crisply on offense; and they got Shaquille O’Neal involved in all of it.

Brown’s smile afterward? Ear to ear.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s like Christmas.”

Don’t go unwrapping those presents just yet, coach. Christmas won’t come for your Cavaliers until June -- if they can last that long. For if they make it deep into June, they’ll be in the NBA Finals, which is the reason they brought Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland in the first place.

But bringing a talent like Shaq to Cleveland and using him aren’t the same thing. Brown had to figure out a way to get the most out of Shaq. No youngster at 37, he couldn’t be expected to put in the minutes he did a decade ago, and people have questioned aloud whether could run the floor and occupy two defenders inside.

No need to raise those questions anew, because if the victory over the Wizards, a team with postseason aspirations that are legit, attested to anything, it was this: Shaq O’Neal has plenty of skills left in his aging body.

For long stretches against the Wizards, Shaq looked as if he had drank from the fountain of youth. He pushed center Brendan Haywood around like stick figure, muscling inside the lane for high-percentage shots.

“I gotta lot ’em know I’m still here and am a force to be reckoned with,” he said as he sat in front of his locker stall.

They know, Shaq; they know. They can’t but know after seeing you score 21 points and play 28 1/2 minutes. The eight rebounds showed plenty as well, because they were statistics that complemented the inside play of LeBron James and Anderson Varejao.

Bigger than all of this was the fact, finally, Shaq fit in.

“Probably my first game where I was very, very aggressive,” he said. “The other games I was trying to fit, and I hadn’t been really taking a lot of shots; I was just trying to make sure everybody else gets involved.

“I think the guys know whenever they need a basket, they can throw it down there.”

“Down there” is in the paint -- Shaq’s domain. The weak need not venture there, and even the strong might be wise to avoid it. When Shaq can play like he did Tuesday, he can do marvelous things for a team who needs him to.

Brown would love to see Shaq play like this every night. So would LeBron and the Cavs fans who pack The Q. That might be more than Shaq can give them. Then again, who knows for certain what Shaq has left in his fuel tank. He surely ain’t running on empty, which is the reason Brown could smile.

"That was fun to watch," he said.

New LeBron rumor: L.A. is his next stop

I would give credence to speculation like this from only a handful of NBA writers. Marc Spears of Yahoo! comes to mine, so does Chris Broussard of ESPN. I can mention a few other names as well, but the list is short: shorter than the reins Kobe Bryant has on the mercurial Ron Artest to fit in with the Lakers.

But it is hard for me to ignore the speculation when Sam Smith trots out a scenario on where LeBron James will end up next season.

Probably no player in NBA history has had his future examined through a crystal ball (or tea leaves, perhaps?) the way LeBron has had his. The constant forecasting of where LeBron will sign when he becomes a free agent after this season has, at times, been tedious to read. The talk has taken away an appreciation of one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

Most of that talk has LeBron packed and wrapped with a first-class stamp, and the package addressed to the Knicks or the Nets. The contention is that LeBron wants the bright lights of Broadway, turning his star into a supernova.

Smith, though, dismissed the New York angle. He posited an alternative that would bring LeBron the glitz and glamour he can’t get in Cleveland. Read what Smith said:

“Well, at least I’m fairly sure now where LeBron James is going to be playing next season.

“Los Angeles, most likely the Lakers.”

In his article on LeBron’s tomorrows, Smith backtracked a bit when he said the consensus is that LeBron will remain in Cleveland. No reason for him to leave, Smith said, for fame elsewhere, because in this global economy, LeBron can market his basketball brand in Tucson or Timbuktu, if that’s where he decided to play.

All of this speculation is unsettling in Cleveland. I think fans here have tired of it as well. They wish LeBron would end it and let everybody know what he wants to do.

But that would be LeBron. He’s asking a lot from the Cavaliers, a team that has tried to build a winner around him. In the NBA and in life, nothing comes with a guarantee, and if LeBron is leaving because he doesn’t think he can win here, then, well, good riddance. Go West, young man, should L.A. be where you decide to go.

I’m not about to argue that LeBron shouldn’t go where his heart takes him. He and Kobe Bryant make a dynamic one-two punch in the West. LeBron has left hints here and there that he does want to remain in Cleveland.

I just want the rumors about the man's future to end -- for everybody’s sake.

Smith, who covered the Jordan era for The Chicago Tribune, might be right; LeBron James might have an L.A state of mind. For now, however, he’s a Cavalier, and he looks good in the Wine and Gold.

Clevelanders should enjoy that sight for however long it lasts.

West silences Cavs' concerns ... for now

We waited Saturday night for Delonte West after the Cavaliers had beaten the Bobcats, 90-79, at The Q. The game was West's first of the season, and his thoughts on his performance were of interest to anybody who follows the Cavs -- fans and writers.

For more than a month, no player in Wine and Gold has been as intriguing to both of these parties as West. On a team with LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal, it's not a situation West, a talented but emotionally-fragile guard, and the other Cavaliers will find themselves in too often.

But West was of interest because he had been absent with personal problems. His mental instability worried people. Nobody knew what to make of his circumstances -- whether to be critical of this gifted athlete or sympathetic of him.

What everybody did know, however, was that the Cavaliers did miss him.

As much as LeBron and Shaq matter -- and they matter most -- West might be the most important complement to this team's two megastars. He's the team's best shooting guard and its most dependable backup point guard. West is also its best defender not named LeBron James.

West can score, and he has the kind of boundless energy not found in most NBA players.

Yet, in some people's minds, he's a lit powder keg, which was the reason his return to the Cavs lineup drew so much attention. The team hadn't functioned well in West's absence.

"Missing piece," point guard Mo Williams said of West. "It felt good to have the whole team back."

LeBron and Shaq echoed those sentiments. They offered only compliments for their returning teammate, and their kind words were deserved. For the first time this season, the Cavs looked like a team with championship intentions.

Now, they were only playing the Bobcats, a sorry lot of an NBA team. Still, an elite team like the Cavs has to beat the bad teams, too. A win is a win, no matter the opponent.

Having West a part of this win was significant, and knowing he might be back for the long haul was even more important to the Cavaliers. They will need him -- back physically as well as emotionally.

For they won't always be playing a team like Charlotte. They have tougher teams ahead, starting Tuesday night when the Cavs play the Wizard.

It might be then when West's presence will be most needed. It might be then when we can hear what he has to say about being back in uniform and playing the sport that has made him rich.

We want to hear from West himself that's he all right.

Lights, NBA eyes on Shaq's debut with Cavs

The Shaquille O’Neal era debuts tonight at The Q, but nobody, even Shaq, can be sure what it portends for the Cavaliers.

After a trade with the Suns, he arrived here in early summer with a big smile and big promises. Shaq said he was willing to play the enforcer’s role – to be the man whose task it was to ensure nobody messed with LeBron James.

Shaq would be LeBron's sidekick.

The Cavs had tried to find complements the past couple of seasons. They brought in Donyell Marshall and Larry Hughes a few years ago, and Lorenzen Wright came here last year.

All are gone now.

They brought in Mo Williams and Delonte West last season. They remain, serving as an able supporting cast for the player that David Stern dared to suggest might be a better talent than Michael Jordan.

Stern’s high praise seems premature, if not downright blasphemous. For Jordan won more than a handful of championship rings. LeBron, well ... he has none.

But that has less to do with LeBron and more to do with his waiting for the Cavs to find him a dependable Scottie Pippen. They are counting on Shaq to play that part, too – to be Reggie Wayne to LeBron’s Peyton Manning.

Is that asking too much of Shaq?

Without a doubt, he will be an upgrade over the plodding Zdrunas Ilgauskas in the middle, which is faint praise. For Ilgauskas might have a hard time beating Bill Russell up the floor, and Russell’s 75.

Shaq’s no young man either, though he’s a lot younger than Russell. Age isn’t but a number, Satchel Paige used to say. It’s what you can do, no matter what the number next to your age reads.

That’s the question about Shaq: What can he still do?

He has a lot of miles on his tires, and a man of his age doesn’t have the wheels to run the court like a gazelle. Up-tempo basketball is what LeBron favors, and he might not have the patience to wait for Shaq to settle into the paint.

Running the floor isn't one of Shaq’s strengths these days. What is his strength is his ability to dominate inside, giving LeBron someone who can occupy Magic star Dwight Howard and push around Celtics centers Kendrick Perkins, “Big Baby” Davis and Rasheed Wallace.

That’ll be the difference in these Cavaliers. They should be a stronger team on defense, a point of emphasis with Cavs coach Mike Brown. Yet as much as he preaches tough defense, Brown knows the Cavs have to score, and scoring is what LeBron does best.

He’s an unstoppable force inside and out, but he’s no one-man team. No player ever has been in the NBA, including Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.

Shaq was once as close to that one-man team as anybody who ever played the game. Those days are in his past. He’s still good; he’s not great anymore.

In LeBron’s mind, greatness would be nice, if it were possible. It’s not, so the Cavaliers and LeBron will have to settle for good – or at least better than Ilgauskas -- if they hope to win anNBA championship.

Packing heat: No, Delonte, no ...

Cavaliers star Delonte West, a guitar case strapped to his back, was riding a Can-Am Spyder motorcycle on the Capital Beltway last Thursday when cops in Prince George County, Md., pulled him over for speeding.

No surprise here that a pro athlete was traveling in the fast lane. Athletes tend to be thrill-seekers, often living their lives on the edge. And what is more thrilling than cruising the roadway with the wind at your back, weaving in and out of traffic with a panoramic view everywhere?

Had speeding been all West did wrong, he wouldn’t have found himself wearing a pair of handcuffs. Speeding alone might have gotten him a stern warning, and he could have been on his way home.

But cops would issue West no warning; nor would cops send him anywhere except to jail. On looking inside his guitar case, they didn’t find a Fender Stratocaster; they found a loaded Remington 870 shotgun.

Carrying a guitar case with a shotgun inside isn’t the smartest thing to be traveling the roads with. The shotgun had to leave cops wondering to themselves what was West up to. They had even more questions that needed answers when they patted him down.

Along with the shotgun, cops found West packing two loaded handguns: a Beretta 9mm and a Ruger .357 magnum.

A motorcyclist who drives around with a shotgun and two powerful handguns earns himself a go-directly-to-jail card. He can be Delonte West or Jerry West or Mae West or the Wicked Witch of the West, and the cops are going to be taking whoever is on the motorcycle somewhere that has iron bars for a door.

For the public's good, cops know they have plenty of questions to ask. The first one is this: What was a cyclist doing riding around with loaded guns?

The possibilities run wild, though the answer itself could be simple. Maybe West was going duck hunting or to a gun range or to …

Who knows the answer but the tattooed Delonte West, who was released without bail Friday morning. So far, he hasn’t said a word. Yet it’s hard to see what good he was up to with so much firepower at his disposal.

None of it made sense – then and even now. What was West thinking? Had he lost his mind?

Expecting a pro athlete to use common sense is a recipe for disappointment, because common sense often proves a scarce commodity in men whose net worth comes with plenty of zeros. Maybe a night or two in jail has a way of helping them sort through such foolishness.

Maryland statutes outlaw carrying loaded guns and concealed weapons, and the punishment for running afoul of these laws could be serious jail time. None of this sounds like good news for the 26-year-old West, who might have reasons for this craziness.

He has admitted to having emotional problems. A year ago, he sought treatment for depression, and West had attended therapy sessions. But no one should rush to think the unthinkable in this case.

Still, his odd behavior raises questions – about the troubled West and about the pressures fame and fortune can saddle an NBA star with. They can steer him into doing strange things, such as driving the public roadways armed like a one-man militia.

(Photo of Delonte West by Real Cavs Fan)

Staying or going? Say something, LeBron ...

Staying or going, I wish LeBron James would say.

Those words will be pulling at James, as they did last season, deep into the coming NBA season like a tugboat. He keeps evading questions about what his intentions are as if he were Osama bin Laden.

James had a chance to put the question to bed last month when he premiered his film at a convention in Tampa. He didn’t.

He left Tampa with his future as a Cavalier just as uncertain as ever. Yeah, yeah, Northeast Ohio has been good to him, he claims. He loves it here; these are his people; this is his town; this is his team. He says so all the time.

In New York City tomorrow, James debuts his book "Shooting Stars" -- an as-told-to autobiography of his rise from Akron, Ohio, to global fame -- in an NBA mega-market that longs for a star to match Kobe Bryant. James, a free agent after next season, is the city's target, and he does nothing to dispel the notion.

But if he prefers the night lights of Broadway, just so say; end this maddening guessing game. Take his global aspirations to a market that can sate it. If it's not Cleveland, the region can live without him.

James knows the Knicks or the Nets, by NBA rules, can't pay him as much as the Cavaliers can. Even if one of those teams could, no community can lavish as much love on him as Northeast Ohio does. He’s the region's prodigal son, and the community would like nothing better, aside from the Browns winning the Super Bowl, than to see James stay beyond the 2009-10 season.

All the reasons for him staying here make sense. He’s all he can be here: rich, famous and an untouchable brand, an icon. He’s the face of a region that has basked in his worldwide stature.

People in Cleveland grow impatient. They say James owes them an answer, because the longer he holds off without giving one, they fear he’ll break their hearts as Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez did when they left for a bigger stage.

What stage can be big enough for a global personality like James?

He would be ungodly famous even if he played in Boise, Idaho. He doesn’t need Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles or Miami to remain the league’s pinup boy. Yet maybe all the kind words James says about his hometown aren’t really as important to him as standing in Madison Square Garden and hearing New Yorkers cheer his play.