CLEVELAND (AP) — Shaquille O'Neal, the big man Cleveland is counting on to deliver this championship-starved city a title, was welcomed to town Sunday with a star-studded party that included sports celebrities and Average Joes looking to rub elbows with them.

Fashionably late, O'Neal arrived at 11:15 p.m. as fans, one of them holding a life-size cardboard cutout of O'Neal in an Orlando Magic uniform, cheered on the sidewalks and took pictures of the town's newest superstar.

O'Neal has had a good first impression of Cleveland, where he'll join the NBA's reigning most valuable player LeBron James.

“It's a nice town,” he said. “The entertainment is already here. Everything is here. The Browns are here, LeBron is here and now I'm here.”

The 37-year-old O'Neal was acquired by the Cavaliers in June, shortly after the team was eliminated by Orlando in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Cavs, who open camp Monday, think he is the missing piece to help James win his first title – and Cleveland's first in a major sport since 1964.

The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season, 10 in the playoffs and still came up short last season.

With O'Neal, there are no more excuses.

“I'm settling into a damn good team, so the sky is the limit for us,” said O'Neal, who has spent the past week working out with James and other players at the Cavs' training facility.