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From Hardwood via TrueHoop (an excellent blog for anyone who doesn't already know about it):

Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm: "Stoudemire has had a 300 pound loudmouth move into his apartment, eat all his cheezewhiz, hang up on all his calls when he's on the other line, take up the DVR, drink all his Sunny D, and hit on his girlfriend. The acquisition of Shaq was supposed to create a dominant twin towers in the post. But in those combinations, one player is always the primary scorer alpha dog. And if Shaq is in your paint, he's the alpha dog.

I'm not saying it's Shaq's fault.

Wait, yes I am.

It's exactly Shaq's fault. What's more infuriating is that Phoenix fans have actually fallen for it. They truly believe that Shaq's little resurgence, which has been conspicuously absent against playoff teams, I might add, will be what takes them deeper into the playoffs (deeper than multiple conference championship appearances and several six game series against the eventual champions, but hey, they act like they never got past the first round with D'Antoni). But let's make this real simple. If you're relying on a 37 year old center with conditioning issues who has trouble going in back to back games to lead you to a championship?"

I understand parts of this - specifically, it is a good point that it's not a good idea to rely on Shaq to take us into the playoffs - but I do not understand this alpha dog thing. Why is it only possible to have one guy who's the man? Is this a baller thing? Perhaps at one point it was Nash on this team and that's why we did so well chemistry-wise?

This isn't Duncan and Robinson - both guys who are completely lacking of egos and are proven 'nice guys' in terms of playing team ball. Amare and Shaq both demand attention, money, fame, and most importantly THE BALL

Shaq if he just shut up and played second fiddle would still get 15 and 10...but no, he had to play well and make Porter believe he can still be a number 1 option


I blame Porter.

Bleh, This is not Shaq's fault, this is simply Ainge and Porters fault... you got to many players that demand the ball and play no D, at least Shaq plays some D... Even the great Steve Nash is having probs keeping them all happy.

Too many big egos, Amare still didnt rebound when shaq was not around, still didnt defend, i can remember him being in foul trouble all of the time too.. so dont come here with all this BS..

A

Amare's decrease in rebounding and blocked shots is WAY more worrying than his 5 pt drop in scoring. That to me, shows his effort just isn't there - he can't blame Porter's system on his complete lack of defensive improvement

BigDaddyPR wrote:Bleh, This is not Shaq's fault, this is simply Ainge and Porters fault...

When did the Suns get Danny Ainge? Well, at least recently.

TASTIC wrote:Amare's decrease in rebounding and blocked shots is WAY more worrying than his 5 pt drop in scoring. That to me, shows his effort just isn't there - he can't blame Porter's system on his complete lack of defensive improvement

agree 1000%..

dbdynsty25 wrote:

BigDaddyPR wrote:Bleh, This is not Shaq's fault, this is simply Ainge and Porters fault...

When did the Suns get Danny Ainge? Well, at least recently.

LOL, sorry i ALWAYS got those 2 mixed up for some reason...

BigDaddyPR wrote:Amare still didnt rebound when shaq was not around, still didnt defend, i can remember him being in foul trouble all of the time too.. so dont come here with all this BS..

A

This rang true for me - I mean, I remember being shocked to see Amare going after the Kings. And then I remember wondering why this was so shocking. This has been a problem for years now.

Man, how different would this team be if Diaw, Marion and Amare had all always given 100%?

Yea Shaq is too old to be the man which the suns have made him. Amare needs to be focal point, remember with Mike D, Amare was putting up amazing numbers with Shaq at 1st. Shaq was opening opportunties for Amare, he was still playing solid. You don't want Shaq shooting much, play D rebound and score the easy bucket. 13,11 for shaq is good and want Amare to dominate the touches inside the painted area. It's all about the coach, I think suns fans/suns team will be all kicking themselves in the ass when they see Amare on another team dominate. I think it's really stupid to trade Amare, it is **** Porter's fault.

Said it already but I'll say it again. Amare got just what he deserved. He jumped around like a little kid on Christmas when they fired D'Antoni and now he's crying cause he doesn't get the ball in Porter's system. Let's hope he learned the lesson, that's the bright side.

The bad side? We're going to pay for his immaturity. We'll trade our only young good asset and our rebuilding process will be a LOOONG one. Especially considering that at the helm of the ship there will be the same guys who made it sink.

Alpha dog mentality is a condition, not a virtue.

15 million dollars should pacify any alpha dog desires you may have.

Shut up and rebound.

Fire Porter.

Eat your vegatables.


Im out.

I saw this coming once Shaq pulled into Phoenix...

Shaq is a cancer to whatever team he goes to. (see Orlando, LA, Miami, now Phoenix) I don't know if you guys would be able to unload him, but to rebuild and not take years I'd say you'd have to fire Kerr and Porter and maybe consider trading Nash. Maybe promote Marjerle to F.O. since he would have your best interests @ heart.

a contending team will give you some players to rebuild (see Kidd trade from nets to mavericks) for Nash. Trading Amare will just lead to a quicker demise to the lottery for your team as Shaq and Nash get older. At least by trading Nash you get 1 or 2 pieces to rebuild.

Cancer, meaning that he leads each team to the finals and gets traded (except in Orlando) when the Robin to Shaq's Batman decides he wants to be "the man"?? The problem isn't Shaq. The problem is that the team will not buy into having to play on both ends of the court, and they have tuned out the coach. The only ones who are playing like they give a crap are Shaq and Hill! If the Shaq trade never went down, do you think that Kerr was going to sit by and let the team continue to not play defense? Shaq being there didn't lead to D'Antoni leaving, which is why the team is on the decline. He left because Kerr wanted the team to start playing defense, a concept foreign to D'Antoni, and he would not change to accomidate Kerr, even though Kerr's line of thinking was right. He wanted to enjoy the success that the Spurs have had over the years, and the team started to resemble the Spurs after the Shaq trade. However, when Kerr suggested hiring a defensive coach, D'Antoni packed his crap and left to go coach on the biggest NBA stage.

If you want to put the blame somewhere, put it on Nash and Amare's backs. They are supposed to be the faces of the franchise, and if it means sacrificing their stats for the good of the team, or buying into a different culture, damnit, they should do so. It worked out for Pierce, Allen, and Garnett. But they don't want to do that. They want to pout about their roles while everyone blames Shaq, who is playing as well as he did his last championship year. If anything, Shaq should be pissed that they are wasting a good year!

the article did mention that shaq hasnt posted big numbers against playoff teams..and he is right...I have noticed this, and it doesn't make me feel too good about his resurgence.

That's partially because in games like the other night, they were getting blown out and he sat the entire 4th qarter along with Nash.