Valley Sports

On vacation in San Diego, but felt compelled to weigh in on the Shaquille O’Neal trade:
Well, Suns’ fans, do you still think that Shawn Marion-O’Neal trade was a good move?
Without saying so, the Suns admitted they made a colossal mistake in acquiring O’Neal when they traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday for, well, nothing.
Phoenix was so desperate for the cap relief it would receive in dumping O’Neal’s $20 million contract that willingly was robbed at gunpoint in the trade with Cleveland.
Ben Wallace? Sasha Pavlovic? A second-round pick and $500,000 in cash?
That’s it?
I’m surprised the Suns didn’t toss Steve Nash into the deal as well.
Look, I’ve said all along that I thought O’Neal needed to go. He and Nash could not be on the floor together defensively because they were helpless against the pick-and-roll. But are you telling me the Suns couldn’t get anything in value for O’Neal? The guy was an All-Star last year; it’s hard to imagine there wasn’t one team willing to give up a player could help Phoenix.
But that tells you how badly the Suns wanted to get O’Neal’s salary off the books.
So what do we make of the O’Neal “era” now that it’s over?
Well, he was entertaining, and he proved he still has some game left in him. But here’s the bottom line: When the Suns traded Marion, they were coming off a 60-win season and had the best record in the Western Conference.
With O’Neal, they won one playoff game.
One.
Yeah, that worked.

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