It looks that way.

Shaquille O’Neal has decided to join the Boston Celtics, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. He is expected to tell the team of his intentions Wednesday morning.

The length of the contract is not known, but O’Neal, who has been seeking a two-year deal, will play for the veteran’s minimum of $1.4 million annually.

It’s hard to say if this is a good signing. It seems so on paper — the Celtics now have a guy who can score in the post and rebound, and it shores up the front line, which will be missing Kendrick Perkins for the first few months. Offensively, Shaq’s clogging of the lane — which didn’t work well in Cleveland alongside the slashing LeBron James — won’t be as disruptive to Boston’s attack, as the C’s are essentially Rajon Rondo and a team of jumpshooters.

But there is so much else that comes along with signing Shaq, namely the ego. Can the Celtics’ locker room with its vaunted ‘ubuntu’ handle Shaq’s massive personality? Is he going to start grumbling about minutes or touches if he’s not getting enough? Will he stay in shape? Will he stay healthy?

From an intrigue standpoint, other than Miami, he couldn’t have landed in a better spot. A possible Boston/Miami matchup now has no fewer than eight potential Hall of Famers: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rondo, Shaq, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

In the end, if the report is accurate, Shaq chose relevancy over money. Kudos to him for that.

When asked about the Hawks possibly signing Shaq to match up with the Magic, Dwight Howard had this to say to the Atlanta Journal Constitution…

“That’s only four games out of the season. You have to look long term and what’s best for your team. Cleveland got Shaq to match up with the Magic. They also got Antawn Jamison to match up with the Magic. But they didn’t even play the Magic. They played Boston [and lost]. You match up for the league, not just one team.”

The Cavs were eliminated by the Magic in the playoffs the year before, so it’s understandable why they would want to improve their roster with a possible rematch in mind. The Celtics looked like they were getting old very quickly, so they weren’t deemed the threat that the Magic were. That was obviously a big mistake.

I’m interested to find out why the Cavs weren’t able to acquire Amare Stoudemire. He was available for almost two years during the span when the Cavs were retooling their roster and would have seemingly been a very nice fit in the pick-and-roll with LeBron. Hopefully someday Danny Ferry will speak out on the subject because his word is about the only one I trust in this whole mess.

Per WCPO…

James took out a full-page advertisement in Tuesday’s Akron Beacon Journal, thanking fans in Akron and saying that the city will always be his home. The letter made no mention of Cleveland, or Cavaliers fans.

“For all my life, I have lived in Akron, and for that, I am truly a lucky man,” the letter read. “It was here where I first learned how to play basketball, and where I met the people who would become my lifelong friends and mentors. Their guidance, encouragement and support will always be with me.”

The ad appears on the back of the paper’s front section, and it comes a few days before James’ annual bike-a-thon in Akron, which gives hundreds of bikes to needy children in the city. Some had speculated that the event might be cancelled after LeBron’s decision to leave for Miami, but LeBron chose to continue with the bike-a-thon, although it has been scaled back because of the city’s budget woes.

Damage control…

I do believe it is important to LeBron that he repair his relationship with his hometown and that he doesn’t hold any such allegiance with the city of Cleveland. Akron has a population of 217,074 and is 39 miles south of Cleveland, so it’s a separate city in its own right. LeBron’s hope is that Akron won’t completely disown its prodigal son, and I doubt it will.

Like I said, damage control.

Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo has had a rough few months. Recently, he took a shot at Chris Bosh and implied that he quit on the team late in the season.

Hedo Turkoglu is no fan of Colangelo, and he had a few choice words about the situation:

“People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there any more,” he said in a phone interview from Turkey, where he is captaining the Turkish national team at the World Championships. “It’s not just the players who see this.”

“It’s funny that people will talk behind your back,” Turkoglu said of Colangelo. “If he was feeling this way, why not have the guts to say it during the season? Why not say it to Chris? Now that Chris has left, it’s not nice to say those things.

“Chris has been a franchise player and he did a lot of good things for the Raptors,” Turkoglu added. “I don’t think Chris is the type of player to quit on his teammates.”

Remember, Turkoglu was the one who agreed to terms with the Blazers last summer and then changed his mind because he wanted to play in the more cosmopolitan city of Toronto. So he’s a little flaky in his own right.

Still, the Raptors are a mess. Given his recent track record, I wonder how long they’ll keep Colangelo around.

Every so often, Chad Ford and John Hollinger release their Future Power Rankings, which examine how well a franchise is positioned for future success.

Before LeBacle, the Cavs were ranked #8, but fell twenty spots to #28. Here’s why:

In his open letter condemning LeBron, owner Dan Gilbert guaranteed the Cavs would win a championship without their former star, but that’s easier said than done. Cleveland traditionally has not been a top free-agent destination. Now, the team has another problem: Gilbert’s heat-of-the-moment diatribe against LeBron was read by players around the league, and a number of player agents have told us their clients don’t want to play there after seeing how Gilbert treated a guy who made him hundreds of millions during the past several years. In any case, as we’ve seen this summer, players just won’t flock to Cleveland without the lure of LeBron.

The roster itself is another weak point. Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions, Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson are good pieces but not the kind of young talent that could carry the franchise forward in future seasons. The Cavs lack trade assets as well.

Cleveland did get a bounty of draft picks from Miami in the LeBron sign-and-trade. But given how stacked the Heat are right now, those picks likely will be the worst in the first round — and the Cavs aren’t going to replace LeBron with a series of No. 30 draft picks.

With LeBron, the Cavs had a shot at signing free agents who wanted to play with him for a chance at a title. Without LeBron, the Cavs are just another small-market, cold weather city and will face the same challenges that Milwaukee, Minnesota, Utah, Indiana and Detroit face when they attempt to woo free agents.

In fact, the Cavs will have an even tougher time after Gilbert’s open letter to Cavs fans blasting LeBron. He may have emboldened the fan base, but like the piece says, generally-speaking, free agents won’t want to play for him.

I have a feeling this will go over better than “The Decision” did…

The only thing he did wrong was not use Comic Sans for the font.

Over on Hornets247, Michael McNamara argues that trading Chris Paul away would mean that New Orleans is adopting the philosophy of the Milwaukee Bucks, which just doesn’t work for him.

First off, it is necessary to acknowledge your own personal philosophy with regard to what qualifies as success in the NBA. Personally, I am an all or nothing guy and believe in only three directions: being a legitimate championship contender, building toward being a legit contender, and completely rebuilding. I look at a team like the Milwaukee Bucks, for instance, and see a direction that I would never take personally. They have a nice team that is built to make the playoffs for the next five to seven years, but have absolutely zero chance of ever winning an NBA title. Zero. A squad full of good, but not great pieces that play hard every night but will just not have enough talent to get through four quality teams come playoff time.

Now for some, they might be happy with Milwaukee’s future and consider their franchise a success considering the market they are in and the resources they have to work with.

As an all or nothing guy I can think of scenarios that are far worse than CP3 leaving in two years. I can imagine other players following Paul’s lead if we trade him out of fear. How do you say no to the next guy who feels entitled when you just appeased Chris Paul’s trade demands? I can imagine becoming a perennial playoff team terrified to blow up the roster; a team that overpays their own players just to remain slightly above average. (I am looking at you Atlanta). I can imagine an asylum run by the players, a front office with no control, and a coach who feels powerless. All of these things happen if you let fear of the future dictate the present. All of these things are worse case scenarios for me, but again it all depends on your definition of success.

With CP3 on the squad I know there is a chance. I know tha t with Kobe slowly declining, Howard not improving offensively, and Wade always one fall away from a serious injury that CP3 can be a top two player in this league if he puts it all together and stays healthy. I know that in at least seventy games per year the Hornets will have the best player on the floor and in the NBA that means more than it does in any other team sport. I know that if management makes the right moves and ownership is willing to pay the luxury tax that the Hornets at least have a shot. The same cannot be said for twenty to twenty five teams in this league.

As a Bucks fan, using the franchise’s current state/direction as a reason not to follow its philosophy is puzzling.

Milwaukee is a small market team in a cold-weather city in the Midwest. It is often ranked by NBA players as the least desirable place to play, even though when people stay for a few years they tend to warm up to the place. Given the circumstances, the Bucks are never going to be in a position to land a big name free agent unless the supporting cast gets so good that the player in question sees the Bucks as his best opportunity to win a title. It’s true — the Bucks would probably need a Reggie White-type signing to become a championship contender. (Football fans over 30 know what I mean.)

The author says that the Bucks have no chance to win a title with their current game plan, but GM John Hammond came from Detroit, where they won a championship a few years ago with very much the same philosophy. They had a group of star-less, yet talented castoffs and a defensive-minded coach to lead them all in the same direction. In the Finals, they beat a more talented (and a far more disjointed) Laker team.

Hammond knows the Bucks are never going to go into the season as championship favorites, but if the chemistry remains and Brandon Jennings develops, they could perhaps become the third- or fourth-best team in the East. The author looks at this like a death sentence, but what it really means is that the Bucks are an injury or two away from a Finals appearance.

(It’s really no different than the philosophy executed in small market San Antonio, only the Spurs have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to build around instead of Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings. The Spurs have a better core because they had the #1 pick in the right draft and found a couple of stars later on in subsequent drafts.)

How does this relate to Chris Paul? If the Hornets elect to trade him and get a few prospects in return, they’ll be going the route of the Milwaukee Bucks, at best. If they hold onto him, he’s likely to only grow more disgruntled unless the franchise is quickly able to turn things around and suddenly becomes willing to spend. The Hornets need a Pau Gasol-type trade to keep Paul happy, and those kinds of deals don’t happen every season. Even if they did, the Hornets don’t spend like the Lakers, and New Orleans is not L.A., so retaining the talent would be difficult.

Considering the Hornets’ summer moves (lack of a free agent signing, trading away the #11 pick), the writing is on the wall. Do Hornets fans want to hold out hope that the franchise can quickly transform its declining roster around a pouting Paul, or roll the dice on players with upside like Anthony Randolph and Danilo Gallinari, along with a ton of cap space?

As for Paul, look at it this way — if a girl doesn’t want to stay with you, why would you want her to stay? By the time she tells you she wants to break up, she has already checked out. No amount of convincing will work, so what’s the point? Why not move on and give yourself the best chance to meet a new girl?

After LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh decided once and for all that they were going to team up in Miami, Ric Bucher was one of the ones (along with Jon Barry, let’s not forget him) that questioned what kind of supporting cast the Heat would be able to put around their three stars.

Now that the roster is complete with the signing of sharpshooter Eddie House, Bucher chimes in on Twitter:

Count me unconvinced the Heat are the L’s next champ. But as far as supporting casts built on very limited $, they did incredibly well.

Looking at the Heat’s roster — the key signings were Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, which Miami got at a discount. Miller should thrive in open catch and shoot situations, while Haslem was convinced by his loyalty to the organization and to the team. Haslem is an undersized center, but right there, the Heat have the league’s strongest starting five, at least on paper.

The Heat knew they needed more shooters, so they re-signed James Jones and signed House, who are both career 39%+ from 3PT. Mario Chalmers is not on their level, but he’s a threat from deep and has played in pressure situations before (at Kansas, where he hit an amazing shot to send the title game against Memphis into overtime). Carlos Arroyo is still there as well, and hopefully he’s locked in a gym somewhere working on this outside touch.

Miami also added several bigs to shore up the front line around Bosh and Haslem. They signed veterans Juwan Howard and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who are obviously at the ends of their respective careers, but they should still be able to give a few productive minutes off the bench. Jamaal Magloire is another big body who could contend with Dwight Howard in a possible matchup with Orlando.

They have some young bigs as well. Joel Anthony is a promising defensive center and the Heat drafted Jarvis Varnado, Da’Sean Butler and Dexter Pittman to round out the front line.

All in all, the roster came together very well, starting with the Miller and Haslem signings. Once those two were locked up, the rest was just gravy. Pat Riley did a wonderful job this summer.

Now they have to play the games.

Shaq is a 38-year-old center without a home and he’s holding out for a sign-and-trade hoping to get a deal that starts above the mid-level exception, which starts at around $5.8 million per season. But get this — he only wants to play for a legitimate contender.

That’s a short list of teams.

What follows is an open letter to Mr. O’Neal.

Shaq, you are one of the most dominating players the league has ever seen, and the NBA has been good to you. According to Basketball-Reference, you have made more than $290 million in your career. And that doesn’t even count the money you’ve made from sponsorships.

Don’t embarrass yourself by trying to orchestrate a sign-and-trade. If you want to keep playing, just sign for the veteran minimum and join the best fit of the short list of teams that are after your services. Everyone knows you are not the player that you once were, and haven’t been for the last few years, (when you were making $20+ million a season), so take the pay cut with a smile and put yourself in a position of relevancy to finish off your illustrious career.

Who knows, maybe you’ll be the difference in a playoff series for the Celtics or the Hawks, and people will look back on your final games and say — man, the guy could still play, even at 38-years-old.

Chris Bosh responded to claims made by embattled Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo that he ‘checked out’ at the end of the season.

Here’s exactly what Colangelo said, via the Toronto Sun:

“Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games … I’m not even questioning Chris’ injury. I’m telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn’t there and he chose not to play,” Colangelo said.

“The fact that our season was spiralling downward and we were hoping he’d come back sooner and we were also dealing with a few other things at that point … we were really struggling there.”

“Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn’t quite into it down the stretch, he wasn’t the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.”

Colangelo is acting like a jilted lover and is trying to cover his own ass. He could have traded Bosh last summer or at the February deadline and gotten something in return, whether it be someone like Joakim Noah from the Bulls or maybe David Lee from the Knicks. His defenders say that no team would have traded for Bosh not knowing if he’d re-sign, but I think both Chicago and New York (or L.A., Oklahoma City or Houston, or any number of teams) would have rolled the dice to get the opportunity to re-sign him to a max deal, since that was reportedly what he was after. (Before you Raptor fans start slamming me for speculating, do you really think the Lakers would have turned down a Bosh-for-Bynum deal in the middle of last season? Really? Go and look at yourself in the mirror — do you really believe that?)

Granted, the Raptors were fighting for a playoff spot at the time, so had Colangelo made the trade, his fan base might have revolted. But that’s only because they didn’t see the writing on the wall.

Bosh (sort of) responded to Colangelo’s allegations in an interview with Sportsnet.ca:

“No, at any time, did I ever give up,” Bosh told Sportsnet. “You know, I take that very seriously. I work hard every time I step on the court — practice, games, shoot-around, whatever you want to say — I take this job seriously and I take my effort on the court seriously.

“I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court. On the back of my jersey, it says Bosh,” the 26-year-old forward continued. “The Boshs are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do in our jobs and in life. There was no time, at any time, that I ever stepped on the court — in my NBA career, in my life — and stop playing hard or give up.”

Bosh is talking about his on-court effort while Colangelo accused him of packing it up early when he was injured. Those are two different things. I’d like to hear Bosh answer questions about his injury.

He also asked Toronto fans not to boo him when he comes back to play.

Yeah, right.