Shaq Gets Traded to the Suns - Page 6

And among other things, Kareem was a much better half-court defender than Shaq, especially at this point in Shaq's career. Also, an article I read yesterday (LA Times, I think) made the good point that there's a difference between those Laker teams, which were assembled around Kareem over a period of years, and this Phoenix team which is suddenly having Shaq thrown into the mix mid-season.

Byron Scott, who was a member of those Showtime Lakers, thinks this trade is great for the Suns. Just sayin'.

That's because he's coaching the competition.

Honestly, though, I do admire the Suns' cojones in pulling the trigger on this one. It's just a "Fuck it, what do we have left? Put it all on red and spin the wheel" moment, and if it works, it's going to look like total genius. I just don't see how it works.

I hear that. I was struck by the contrast between Kerr's comments and D'Antoni's. I only read them briefly and am paraphrasing loosely, but Kerr sounded like he was in a panic and approached this in just the manner you suggest: "Put it all on red and spin the wheel."
He said something to the effect that this trade gives them "a puncher's chance" of winning a title. I interpret that the mean "We had no f'ing chance before, so we've got nothing to lose by chucking up a Hail Mary."
D'Antoni sounded like he was (understandably) miffed by this big vote of confidence from his GM and said something like "Well, I thought we were going to win it anyway." Which, of course, positions him nicely to blame Kerr and Shaq if they flame out.

I admire Kerr's honesty. They were not a very serious contender for the title, with Shaq I do see them as a more serious contender for atleastt they now have a winner on their squad. The Suns could barely beat Kobe a couple years ago, I would say the Lakers but Kobe was almost single handedly beating them.

Yea, i heard the same as landho here. I thought d'antoni really wanted shaq and kerr was the unsure one. I mean, they weren't going to resign marion or anything and they figured they may as well get something in return. I don't buy the can't exist with egos thing. I think that's really overrated by the media. I used to play basketball on an aau team with a guy or two i really didn't like and it's not a big deal on the court. You don't have enough time while playing to even think of stuff like that since it's such a fast paced game. Kobe-shaq did it, people coexisted with jordan even though he is supposedly the biggest asshole teammate. Not just motivating yelling, but just bad offcourt chemistry and he even punched one of his centers if i recall (i forget which one). I think the deal was more a way to deal with the bigs in the top of the west, to get better rebounding and to deal with dallas (shaq always gave them trouble). I don't know. I mean, like i said earlier, i wish i could just trust kerr/d'antoni. They do know a lot more about their offense/defense systems, their chemistry, strengths and weaknesses and about the game of basketball. It's hard to believe they'd do it if they were really unsure. So many GMs have proven this wrong though. I don't know, i really do want this to work though. If someone told you guys in october that shaq would be holding a title trophy in a suns uniform, everyone would say that'd be crazy. jpeirpont edit:- exactly. They needed an absolute meltdown and luck 2 years ago to beat the lakers and barely beat them the next year and a mediocre clippers team. With the same lakers team only with fisher, pau, coming of age bynum, ariza and role players who are older and more experienced, would they really have a chance?

Could well be. I just thought the juxtaposition of Kerr's and D'Antoni's comments was interesting. And I certainly agree about the Marion/Amare thing.

To be fair to the Suns---they looked like an even match for the Spurs last year before the suspensions. And they have the best record in the West, though how they match up with the new Lakers is definite question mark.

Still, they were fun as hell to watch play for a few years, and there's nobody in the league anymore that runs that well (a lot of them run, but the Suns executed beautifully when they were on).

The suspensions thing is stupid. They still lost a full strength 5 game series (no horry for 1 of the games) and shit happens and just have to make adjustments, not excuses. Have you guys been watching any of shaq's interviews? Shaq is super confident. I know it's just shaq being shaq, but i wonder if he's going to get really motivated and play really well. Assuming he can stay on the court health wise. He has gone through periods of turning it on and off (played well against bulls last year despite sweep). I don't know. I'm excited.

Is by some freak of nature Shaq was able to keep up, this would a scary team. A even reasonably effective Shaq is still probaly the scariest thing to go up against in this league.

Shaq's not cap, but he has his moments.

I think you need to use shaq as a spot player/sixth man type these days, he just doesn't have the stamina to maintain a high level of effort.

He is still the games most physically dominating player, however and you can pick your spots for him to be a tempo and momentum changer. Playing him 20 minutes is smart. Playing him 40 is not.

When Shaq wins another ring, I doubt the Big Deisels haters will see the light, but there's hope.

You have, perhaps unwittingly, provided as good a description of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's management of the Toronto Maple Leafs as I have ever heard!


And that 20 minutes had better not include the last few where foul shooting are important ...

A hockey boy, eh? The NHL is so confusing these days with all the moves. Sucks to be the one team that doesn't make them. The one thing that's difficult for shaq now is foul trouble. He isn't as quick as he used to be so he picks up more fouls now and has trouble getting decent minutes. I don't think he'll play more than 25-30 minutes in phoenix. Is shaq going to play in the game tonight?

For my part, I'm no Diesel hater. I love Shaq. But it looks like he's just a shadow of what he used to be.

If this move ends up working out well, I will gladly admit that I'm wrong. I love(d) watching the Suns play, but if they turn out to be just as good (or better) than they were, I'll be ecstatic. Unless/until they play the Lakers, then I will temporarily loathe them before I get back to enjoying them. Next season. After they get eliminated by Kobe/Bynum/Gasol & co.