Yahoo: Only true NBA superstars can force trades

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=slightedstarsftr&prov=st&type=lgns

Yahoo: Only true NBA superstars can force trades

November 1, 2004
By Chris Bernucca
SportsTicker Pro Basketball Editor
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - How do you define an NBA superstar?

Do sneaker, soft drink and video game deals make you a superstar? LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony thought they did. Then they joined the Olympic team and discovered otherwise by riding the bench. Do high-flying dunks make you a superstar? Ask Jason Richardson. If you can find him, that is. Check the bottom of the Pacific Division standings. Do All-Star appearances make you a superstar? Really? So that means Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Andrei Kirilenko are superstars. All-Star appearances make you an All-Star, not a superstar. Do championships make you a superstar? Well, they should. But if you're Tim Duncan, and you would rather wrestle alligators than talk to the media, they might not.

Defining a superstar has never been easy. However, the offseason provided fans with a clear-cut definition. Only a true superstar can force a trade. This may come as a surprise to the joystick crowd, so listen carefully. Vince Carter is not a superstar, but Shaquille O'Neal is. Baron Davis is not a superstar, but Tracy McGrady is. Peja Stojakovic is not a superstar, but Jason Kidd may be one. Carter, Davis and Stojakovic - All-Stars all - each made public trade demands over the summer that were ignored by management and ownership. All three slinked into training camp, trying to maintain a brave front while realizing they are not nearly as influential as they thought they were.

"I'm coming here to play and I'm going to do whatever needs to be done until further notice," Carter said when he arrived for training camp with the Toronto Raptors. "My job is to perform and lead this team. I'm not coming here to be a distraction or cause controversy. I'm just a person here who had some things on my chest that I wanted to say. I said it and it's over." "My agent said he would like for me to be traded. I stood behind that effort," Davis said upon reporting for the New Orleans Hornets. "I'm not going to be traded. And that's just it. ... I'm here. I have a commitment to honor. I have a four-year commitment to honor, and that's how I have to go about it."

O'Neal and McGrady also demanded trades, using their status and contracts as leverage. Both were accommodated in a matter of weeks and may be joined by Kidd, who also is using his injury in a similar power play.

"I need to be on that big stage," said McGrady, who maneuvered his way out of another rebuilding plan in Orlando and landed with Houston, which is ready to win. "I'm not happy just being in the playoffs." After enduring a 61-loss season, McGrady decided sunshine and scoring titles weren't enough to keep him happy in his home state. He not only refused to discuss a contract extension, he threatened to opt out of his contract in the summer of 2005.

Eight years ago, Magic owner Rich DeVos watched O'Neal walk away as a free agent and got nothing in return. Unwilling to let that happen again, he told general manager John Weisbrod to accede to McGrady's demand and begin exploring trade options. At the top of McGrady's desired destinations was Houston, a team with a young budding star in a warm climate with no state income tax - many of the same elements that brought him to Orlando four years ago.

"It was a smooth deal," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "We were first on the list and they called us. I went down there and got to know (John). We got along great." The price was steep. The Magic wanted both Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, Houston's starting backcourt. That forced others to be included, and the deal eventually ballooned to seven players. "It just kind of fit into the plan," Dawson said. "You always take a chance when you make changes. It's been done before. You don't get a chance to get a Tracy McGrady that often."

McGrady apparently also had a say in who went to Houston with him. "Tracy called and said he wanted to go to Houston and wanted me to go with him," said guard Tyronn Lue, who was part of the package. As for McGrady, he already had been accused of quitting on Doc Rivers early in the season, a move that got the coach fired. He knows his trade demand will change perceptions of him as an unselfish player.

"There was a lot riding on my shoulders last year, and a lot said in a negative way," he said. "You have to understand the media is not on (your) side. It's their job to criticize you - things I wasn't accustomed to. It's how you handle that criticism. I could have handled things better with the media."

McGrady certainly handled things better than Davis, who allowed his frustration with management's lack of maneuvering to boil over and went public with it. "It happened at some point during the summer," he said. "I don't have it marked down on a calendar that said, 'OK, this is the day I started tripping,' or 'This is the day that everything started going haywire.' It just happened a little bit after the summer league and more into the offseason. I thought we missed out on some key free agents that really could've pushed us over the top.

"It's not my job to manage the team or run the team. It's my job to recruit players. I know a lot of times when (management) wants guys and they feel strong about guys - and I have good relationships with pretty much every player in the NBA - I go full throttle with it. I just thought I was wasting my time at a certain point, and that's when I pretty much gave up."

In requesting a trade, Davis also said the Hornets did not have enough talent to compete in the Western Conference, where they are shifting this season. That drew the ire of owner George Shinn, who made an $84 million commitment to Davis two years ago and wasn't seeing any loyalty in return.

"Baron said he was sorry, 'I should've called you,'" Shinn recalled. "I said, 'You're darned right. You should've picked up the phone instead of going to the press and telling them you wanted to be traded. We're down here trying to sell tickets, trying to do all the positive things. What are you doing?'

"He got upset and he shot off his mouth. And then I called him and I shot off my mouth. I chewed him out and told him he is very immature. I told him, 'If you want to get out of here, I can get you out. You're just going to have to either shut up or grow up, one of the two.' And, I believe, both."

Carter did some growing up this summer, skipping the Olympics to get married. But he did not hold his tongue, publicly asking for a trade - an idea that new general manager Rob Babcock immediately shot down, forcing Carter to blink first.

"I'm here to play," Carter said. "I said what I had to say and I think everybody understood that, and now it's time to play."

"I really had no doubt that he would be (here) because he is a professional and he wants to win," said Babcock, who may be answering these sort of questions all season. "Even if he wants to be traded, he is still committed to this team and under contract and I know that he will fulfill that."

Contracts certainly have something to do with the lack of leverage Davis and Carter have. Davis has four years remaining and Carter three, both on max deals, which are tough to move in today's economic landscape. But a deeper truth may be their status as players. Although both Davis and Carter are perennial All-Stars, it would take a well-crafted deal for them to dramatically impact the on-court fortunes of their new club.

By the way, that is another measure of whether a player is a superstar - does he make his teammates better? In the cases of Davis and Carter, not nearly enough. If anything, both have shown that the farthest they can carry a team is the conference semifinals. "It's the team that's going to need to bring it night in and night out," Carter admitted. "I can go out and score 50 points and we can still lose." So while O'Neal and McGrady enjoy their new surroundings, Davis, Carter and Stojakovic begin this season with uncertain futures.

One thing is certain, however. They are not superstars.

 

I guess we'll know the *real* superstar when we compare LA to Miami at the end of the season.

In reallity, they are both superstars. Shaq is just better over-all.