Any day now, the Phoenix Suns could trade Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers for three new basketballs and an autographed photo of LeBron James.
OK, technically, Phoenix would get Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, but considering Wallace may retire and the Suns would buy out Pavlovic’s contract, they’d get better value from the basketballs.
It’s no surprise that the two teams have re-opened talks. The Suns are desperate to rid themselves of O’Neal’s $20 million salary; the Cavaliers need someone who can keep Orlando center Dwight Howard from going for 40 points and 15 rebounds.
It’s amazing. Eighteen months ago the Suns trumpeted O’Neal as the missing link to a championship. Now, they’re willing to give him away for nothing.
I think we can safely say the O-Neal-Shawn Marion deal was a colossal mistake. The Suns won one playoff game with Shaq - they could have done that with Marion. Shaq was unable to play effectively with Steve Nash because of their vulnerabilities covering the pick-and-roll, and he ruined whatever salary cap flexibility they might have had.
Marion, for example, is a free agent this summer, meaning his $17.1 million salary would have come off the books. Think the Suns would have been in a better position as they try to rebuild?
That said, if I’m the Suns I’m holding out for more than Wallace and Pavlovic. O’Neal did play in the All-Star game last year; it seems Phoenix should be able to at least get one first-round pick for him.
Shaq Twitter: Just how cold is Cleveland?June 15th, 2009, 9:54 am · 9 Comments · posted by Scott Bordow9 CommentsLeave a Reply |
Get rid of Shaq!!!
Rather than stand pat with a team that had won an average of 59 games per season and gone to the conference finals twice in the previous three years, PHX Suns general manger Steve Kerr went all-out to turn the Suns upside-down. It was Kerr that ramrodded getting Shaquille O’Neal as the missing link to a championship.
If Kerr stays, his continues focus will be to turn the Suns upside-down and pushing the Shaquille O’Neal trade, along with trading Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Leandro Barbosa.
It’s Steve Kerr that should go!
The Suns didn’t trumpet O’Neal as the missing piece to a championship.
They saw the writing on the wall that the Marion/Amare/Nash core had zero chance after Memphis “gave” Gasol to LA and the Suns were getting killed on the boards (and defeated) by every playoff team in the west.
Acquiring Shaq was a bit of a gamble and the Suns all but owned up to that fact. If they had not messed with Shaq at the high post so long, it might have had a better chance.
Yes, the ‘08 Suns woulda won more games, likely would have won more playoff games with a higher seed, but they had zero chance to win a title.
D’Antoni was the one pushing for the Shaq trade. Kerr was much more hesitant.
In all the articles I have seen that are spreading this rumor not one suggests the Suns should keep Pavlovic and trade him later to a team that needs outside shooting. 5 mil. is not an excessive contract and the Suns might be able to move up in the lottery or get an experienced backup PG. Buying out a player for a few mil. just to save a few mil seems short sighted for a player like Pav who is a perfectly fine role player.
The media loves the idea of Lebron and Shaq together, but the Cavs deal doesn’t seem likely to me because it hinges entirely on Ben Wallace retiring. This was an off hand comment he made after the season. I’m sure somebody will talk some sense into him and say you don’t walk away from an extra 7mil. for one more year of playing hoops just because you lost that spark. Wallace stating that it’s not about the money is comical since that is why he left Detroit in the first place.
Also you don’t get a player just because you can’t stop one other player and since when is Shaq the Howard stopper? The Cavs only play the Magic 3-4 times a year, their roster will be much different next season, and there is a slim chance that these two teams will meet again in the playoffs.
Another point that was brought up before the trade deadline is that Shaq taking up space in the lane takes away one of Lebron’s best weapons. His speed in getting to the hoop.
Shaq is coming off an incredible year, but somehow his stock has gone down? Plus he wants to keep playing after this season so the Suns will reap the benefits of a Shaq contract year, something we have never seen.
Suns need to bight the bullet and keep Shaq, Amare, and Nash. They gambled and lost, but only have one more season of luxury tax to pay until 2010 when they can start over and begin the bidding war for the epic 2010 free agents.
Isn’t it racist to call Shaq a “missing link?”
Don’t give him away! That would be a mistake as well. I’m reminded, for whatever reason, of “Fields of Dreams,” when first a player is traded, with the rote speech the coach makes, and then the Kevin Costner character. Trades are part of the game — and mistakes happen. Look at the Babe Ruth trade to the Yankees, just to finance a Broadway show. Dumb… In fact, that error is highlighted in a great book about all kinds of mistakes in sports: “What Were They Thinking? Brainless Blunders that Changed Sports History,” by Kyle Garlett. Great fun to find out what really happened and why, in all kinds of boneheaded moments in all kinds of sports.
why do i rememder marion demanding a trade or he was going to walk. The suns traded for shaq to get something (anything) in return for a player that was that was going out the door. That put the suns in a bad trade postion (panic)
Here is my trade that I wish could happen; Sasha , Wallace, and Anderson Varejao, for Shaq and Grant Hill. They go to cleveland and win a championship and retire together and go out with a blaze of glory. Lebron 2010 is his year!