[Miami Herald] Shaq-Marion Deal In Works (UPDATE: Done Deal)

I just don't get this trade. The Suns had the best record in the West. They would have gone to the Finals last year with the same nucleus if it wasn't for bad officiating. They added Grant Hill in the offseason, which makes them better. And I thought Shaq was going to shut it down for this year.

But the Heat now have something to look forward to.

 

People seem to be focusing mostly on how much Shaq will bring the team. I think the more important question is how much the loss of Marion will hurt them. He was easily their best defender, their best transition player, and his movement on offense made the Suns very difficult to defend in the half-court. It seems to me that they really lose that spread, movement-based offense by replacing Marion/Amare with Amare/Shaq.

The biggest thing Shaq provides is post defense. Amare's been getting owned in the paint by opposing centers all season ... clearly that was a concern for the Suns looking at all the great post players that they will have to defend against in the playoffs (Bynum&Gasol, Duncan, Boozer, maybe Yao).

 

The Suns will regret this. They are going to miss Marion A TON.

 

How Suns play Shaq will give us some hints on how Yao can work in a faster-paced system. I am looking forward to seeing this experiment.

 

I will make a sig bet that he doesn’t foul out of that many playoff games, especially with Hill and Bell keeping folks out of the lane.

 

Why do people keep acting as if the Suns were going to get by the Spurs in last year's playoffs until the Horry/Nash incident? SA had control of the series already and has pretty much always had Phoenix's number.

 

I'll jump on the Shaq bandwagon for a second too (and believe me, I'm the last one to do it) and play devil's advocate.

Shaq has been shutting it down up until the 2nd half of every season for the past few years. He'll use the 'my mother died' excuse twice if he needs to. This season he's looked worse then any other year up to this point. Granted, he's getting older, and he's showing it.

But now we're nearing the all-star break, and all Shaq has to do is turn it on for half a season + the playoffs. You'd have to expect Shaq will break his butt trying to prove to the Heat, the fans (he's got to know by now no one thinks he's even 50% of what he used to be), and probably to Nash that he still has what it takes. If there's anything we know about Shaq, it's his ego and his pride. Does that mean a 20/10 avg from now on? Hell no, in fact I think he'll probably still get the same averages. But it will be much easier now (he won't be the focus like in Miami), and at the same time other teams will still have to respect his presence. He'll shore up the interior defense big time. And for the naysayers about the run and gun effect, you don't get 5 people on a fast break. If you did, you'd score 90% of the time, no problem, so I don't think he'll be as big a drain as people expect in this regard.

Like I said before, I don't think this team as is will exceed their previous season's results unless they changed something. This is their shot.

 

My thoughts exactly. What makes this such a bad trade isn't even so much how badly Shaq fits into their system as how much the loss of Marion is going to hurt them in addition. They lose a TON of fast breaking, defense in terms of man defense, team defense, deflections and steals, and spacing/movement on offense. Marion had the second highest +/- on the team behind Nash, and was a major boost for them on both ends of the court:

http://basketballvalue.com/teamplayers.php?year=2007-2008&team=PHX
http://www.82games.com/0708/0708PHO.HTM

I mean, you look at those numbers and just go, "ouch".

 

Good. We'll get to see more Shaq vs. Yao.

 

Uh, because they were. They had the series tied at 2 games apiece with the pivotal Game 5 being played in Phoenix. If they hadn't lost Stoudemire and Diaw for that one game, they would have (more than likely) won Game 5 in Phoenix and then had a 3-2 lead with Game 7 in Phoenix, if necessary. Losing Amare and Diaw for Game 5 completely changed that series. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either kidding themselves or are Spurs fans.

 

Marion is nice and all but seriously ... if the same nucleus of Nash, Amare and Marion hasn't worked for the last 3 years what makes you think it's going to magically work this year? Once again, the Suns are taking a medium-risk for the ultimate reward. I applaud Kerr for having the balls to do this trade and it just may pay huge dividends.

 

Most years there are 2 or 3 dominant teams in the West the Suns would have to get by. This year, that isn't the case. This year 2/3 of the Western conference has a chance to make the finals. There must have been major chemistry problems in the locker room for the Suns to make this move. Paying Shaq 20 mil per year at this point in his career seems insane. Obviously, Steve Kerr thinks Shaq has more left in the tank than I do.

 

This is really a test for Steve Nash.
Can Nash make Shaq better? give him easy dunks?

Also let's see how Marion is post Nash.

 

What a random trade..sounds like a trade one would make in a video game

 

Actually it was Stackhouse + Howard and a pick.

 

As always Tinman, you see the light...

 

I've heard that the Mavericks were not willing to give up Howard (makes sense), so this sounds more like the Mavs asked about Shaq, and Riley asked for Howard and Nelson said no way. I could still see the deal working with Stackhouse/George/S+T Van Horn/pick ... both are nice expiring contracts that would have served Riley well. The Mavs could have pulled this trade off with relative ease, and that's probably why Phoenix panicked.

 

This is a pretty risky move by the Suns. Personally, I don't think it is a good idea trading athleticism for age especially when Shaq is both old and frequently injured. Basically, the Suns have to win this year or they're done.

 

Shaq is too old compared to Marion.

It will be interesting how Phoenix pan out with this trade.

 

you have sources...didnt we trade Derek Anderson...