West Beefing Up
With the reports tonight of Shaq being traded for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks [a horrible contract that the Suns made 2 years ago], pending a physical that Shaq will take early Wednesday morning, the Western Conference is better than ever. Especially considering Pau Gasol making his debut Tuesday night and scoring 24 and pulling 12 after being dealt from Memphis last week to the Lakers for a pu-pu platter.I know most of you don't follow the NBA [with the exception of Jimbo, occasionally], but bear with me. With the Mavericks losing out on the Shaq talks, they will most definitely trade for Jason Kidd in the following weeks. The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 21, and Kidd has repeatedly asked to be traded out of New Jersey.
In the next few weeks, mark my words that you'll see a trade of one Dallas PG [either Devin Harris or Jason Terry, probably Harris due to his youth and "upside"], Eddie Jones [expiring deal], and Erick Dampier OR a sign and trade with another contract guy they have, plus 1 or 2 1st round draft picks. The Nets are stubborn... so they could hold onto Kidd for another year. And I couldn't find a better deal on the ESPN NBA Trade Machine that works between those 2 teams. But bottom line is, I'd be surprised if Kidd isn't dealt by the deadline.Labels: Lakers, NBA, Shaquille, Suns, Trade Machine
posted by Unknown at 12:50 AM
12 Comments:
Speaking from the toasty confines of Arizona and a lifelong Suns fan... I've been muttering WTF?!! to myself for the last 12 hours. What's next, are the Suns going to sign free agents Karl Malone and Charles Barkley?
I'm all for dumping Banks, one of the worst signings they've made in the last ten years. But this ain't the way to do it. Shaq is DONE. Hope he doesn't pass the physical.
You oughta hear the Phoenix sports radio shows. They're going ballistic. A 50-50 mix of slamming the trade, and thinking it's a joke. It's no joke, sadly.
You know what is a good joke, though? The Nevada high school kid who committed to Cal for next year, said he talked to the head coach, held a press conference announcing his intent.
Then Cal came out and said they'd never talked to, heard of, or offered this guy a scholarship.
Ashton Kutcher Punk'd this kid, I betcha.
Here's the thing though... they can't sign Marion to an extension for cap purposes & he's ALWAYS unhappy. Shaq, on the other hand is a POSITIVE locker room guy.
He'll pass the physical because GM Kerr will make it happen. With Diaw still in the mix [admittedly he's been underachieving again this season] they can still go smaller and run.
I liked Jalen Rose's take on it from this morning on ESPN dot com.
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I'm with 2.0 on this deal...it seems to work for both teams...Marion was never going to resign and you've already seen how far the current mix of guys has taken the Suns...Shaq can still defend the paint and it moved Amare to the 4 (more natural position)...as long as you can get Diaw to step up minutes and production the Suns have a leg up in the West...
I'm not sure JKidd has the same effect on Big D, but man I can't wait for a playoff series of JKidd and Nash-a-Tron...Big Red Walton just busted an artery...
I'm still not sold on it, and I tend to agree with Jalen Rose's bit of sadness that this is an indictment that the Sun's run and gun won't work long term. There were articles on the Web in the last 2 months which urged Shaq to retire, and I'm supposed to be happy about Marion leaving? I wish we could throw the Big Aristotle (and the Phoenix writers have already started the nickname "The Big Sahuaro") into a Wayback Machine so we could get the Shaq of years past.
Maybe this'll work, and time will tell, but it still seems insane now. And Phoenix can't exactly back out of it and expect Marion to be happy.
don't sleep on the fact that Shaq O'Neil has something left in the tank...its pretty hard to come out and play your best for the worst team in the NBA night after night...just the ability for Shaq to have a say about Kobe going back to the Finals should not be underestimated...I smell a twilight renaissance for El Grande Chacubre...
Look, D-Money... we don't speak Spanish. We're Americans, born and bred.
Plus, you should look at it this way: the Phoenix area is getting a 2 for 1 in the deal. One HOF-center + one part-time law-enforcement officer... the Phoenix streets are safer with the big fella around.
If you're dogging me instead of Jimbo, point of fact : Sahuaro comes from a Papago/Tohono O'Odham word. I.E. Native American. More importantly to me, the guys that own the casinos down the street.
Touche, Money. Touche.
People are going crazy about this deal in the Arizona papers... but everybody is overlooking the chemistry factor involved in this decision.
Crap, Jack McCallum wrote a book about the 2005-2006 Suns team that clearly documented how the Matrix's ego was ginormous and he wanted his own team.
The ironic thing is he's still not "the man" in Miami, with Wade still igniting the Heat.
D-Money, this is what you get with Shaq... priceless quotes:
"I'm very upset," Shaq said Thursday at a news conference to introduce him as a member of his new team. "You just don't really want to get me upset. When I'm upset, I'm known to do certain things -- like win championships."
Making a case to be the comeback story of 2008...D-Money
I guess all we need to do is talk Arizona sports....
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