MIAMI — On a day when Shaquille O'Neal was given a key to Miami-Dade County, the newest member of the Heat spoke incessantly about we and not me.
"I just want to be part of a team," the All-Star center said at his first press conference as a member of the Heat. "In basketball, you can't win by yourself no matter how great you are, or how great you think you are."
The Heat obtained O'Neal, the most dominant player in the National Basketball Association, from the Los Angeles Lakers last week. The Lakers received Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and a 2005 first-round pick for O'Neal, who, along with Kobe Bryant, led the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-02.
O'Neal clashed with Bryant, who griped about not being the focus of the offense. To appease Bryant, the Lakers replaced coach Phil Jackson with Rudy Tomjanovich and then moved O'Neal, who asked for a trade after the Detroit Piston beat the Lakers 4- 1 in the in the NBA Finals.
This afternoon's ceremony in Miami was a citywide celebration, including a police escort for O'Neal, who sprayed fans with a water cannon as he arrived at AmericanAirlines Arena in an 18-wheeler.
"When I was rolling up I was telling my wife that I felt like the president," said O'Neal, an 11-time All-Star and the league's Most Valuable Player in 2000. "I really didn't expect all of this."
Expectations in Miami, though, are high after O'Neal joined a franchise that has reached the Eastern Conference final just once in its 16-year history. Miami was 42-40 last season, and upset New Orleans in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Indiana.
At 32, O'Neal averaged a career-low 21.5 points a game last season. He has missed 15 games in each of the past three seasons, mostly due to foot and leg ailments. O'Neal poked fun at the notion that he's washed up.
"Of course I'm old. I'm like toilet paper and toothpaste and other amenities. I'm proven to be good," he said. "I came down here to take care of business and win a championship."
O'Neal used the forum to display the kind of offbeat humor that he became known for in Los Angeles. When asked about preparing for the season, the 7-foot-1, 340-pound O'Neal said, "I'm going to be into top physical shape. If you take pictures of me naked on the beach, don't sell them to the Enquirer unless I get 15 percent."
O'Neal doesn't need the money.
He'll earn $27.5 million next season and $30 million in 2005- 06. The Lakers angered O'Neal by balking at his request for a contract extension, choosing instead to build the franchise around the 25-year-old Bryant, who last week signed a seven-year, $136 million contract.
O'Neal took out a full-page advertisement in today's Miami Herald, thanking fans for their support and preparing his teammates for what's expected of them.
"Together we can bring the trophy to South Beach," it read. "Meet me at the gym."
CAVS-SIXERS TRADE: Point guard Eric Snow was traded by the 76ers to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday for guards Kevin Ollie and Kedrick Brown. This will be Ollie's third stint with Philadelphia.
Snow spent 6 1/2 seasons with the 76ers, averaging 9.7 points and 6.6 assists while helping them to the 2001 Eastern Conference championship. The move rids Cleveland of Ollie's $15 million, five-year contract, clearing room under the salary cap as the Cavaliers look to replace Carlos Boozer.