Why the Shaq deal was not a good deal.
February 8th, 2008 . by Stankoniforous OneIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive instant updates.
Stank-0 disagrees with an earlier Sportaphile post Chuck wrote regarding the Shaq trade. Here are some valid reasons.
This isn’t Shaq Diesel, the Big Aristotle, the Big Continuous, the Pythagorean Theorem of Centers, Mr. MDE (Most Dominant Ever). This is Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal. A shell of his former self. It’s not 2001, people. It’s 2008. The beatings to his body have finally caught up, and they haven’t been kind.
The Suns lose their Mr. Everything, Shawn “Matrix” Marion. Sure he wanted out, which is understandable. He gets lost in the shuffle, behind Amare “I can only dunk and play no D” Stoudemire and Steve “the first defensive liability two time MVP” Nash. Wouldn’t you be in your feelings with these two taking all the shine? (Once the season started, did we hear about this again? Exactly.)
This move changes their entire offensive philosophy. The Suns were one Horry hip check from advancing to the Finals, in the score in under 7 seconds offense. They aren’t running and shooting with Shaquille at the C spot, nah mean?
Stank-0 is not in opposition to this move, per se, just that they moved Marion. Give up Barbosa, Hill, and some other stiffs, and some cash/draft picks; keep it movin.
[...] The Shaq trade was immediately poo poo’d by yours truly, in direct opposition to the Sportaphile’s contention the deal would be good. So Stank-0 is owning up to the fact that the deal has worked out. If the Suns do go to the Finals and win, the Suns training staff should get Finals MVP awards for realizing that Shaq was underdeveloped in the gluteus maximus region. [...]