Shaq to Miami? (UPDATE: It's Official - He's a Miami Heat)

Yeah, that was funny. I was thinking Mercedes cant pay him enough to promote Benz while dissing BMW. BTW, I thought it was Colleen Dominguez interviewed him.

 

this is why i love bill simmons (on top of the fact he's hilarious). he either sees things other writers don't or is just willing to write them, possibly because he doesn't have to worry about sucking up to get interviews and such. i love seeing what i've said (and probably what others have said) all along about shaq in writing. it's why, even as dominant as he's been from the moment he was drafted, i can't put him as high as he could be in the all-time rankings (certainly can't be ahead of hakeem). because basketball, more than any other sport, is about its superstars and about what they do at crunch time. a basketball game is really 44 minutes of playing around, everyone getting some shots, jockeying for position and 4 minutes of the big boys coming out to play. the last 4 minutes is when superstars make their teams win. you have a superstar that can't be stopped and the other team doesn't? you'll win. your superstar is better than theirs? you'll win. with shaq, he can dominate all he wants for those first 44 minutes, but he's never been good at the last 4. he needed kobe more than he'll ever let on to get him those rings. just like he needed penny back in the day. notice all the playoff exits and sweeps between the penny years and when kobe got good.

 

Wow!

I guess I'm not the only one who watches cheap seats

 

I know other people saw this on ESPN, Shaq was talking about Rudy T and Hakeem. He said he remembers Rudy cussing and throwing the clip board yelling "Get the ball to Hakeem". And he said that Rudy never contacted him. You know Rudy would have loved to have Shaq.

 

i can compare it to the rockets trading rob horry, sam cassell and some scrubs to charles barkley in 97 though not that big in scope. I think barkley on his mid 30's, and the whole rockets organization was excited to have him team up with fellow hof bound hakeem and clyde. It worked on its first year, the rockets posted the second best record in franchise history and reached the wcf against the jazz. But they felt short, on a dagger of a three by stockton. It could have been a mega blockbuster finals series if the rockets won that series. Rockets versus Bulls for the 1997 nba championships. Well, it didnt happen. After that, the rockets declined even after they acquired another hof pippen. I see the trade between the lakers and heat to be more on a short term basis on the part of the heat. The opportunity to land the best big man in the game is simply tempting. But i just cant see shaq three or four years from now. If he still feels that he can get away with his weight, with his work ethic, he is in for a rude awakening. J O'neal will be better and stronger, the pistons will defend him better than any other team, and as injury prone as he is, who knows the heat may not even qualify for the play offs especially if shaq gets seriously injured and miss half of the games. Its a risk for both teams but moreso on the part of the heat. At least the lakers stil have kobe, one of the top 5 players in the game. Hes younger, and hes a clutch player. Without him, the lakers still have a decent team out there especially if karl malone renews his contract. Thats why im so excited for the rockets. With yao and tmac, the rockets are assured of an automatic play off ticket and and contender status as well.

 

And so do the Heat...

 

For a year . Then they'll have a top 10 player. Then they'll have a top 20 player. Then an average player getting 30m a year.

 

That's what I thought of when I read the list. I kept waiting to see it show up. Great read from Simmons, despite that flaw.