RealGM

CLEVELAND - Shaquille O’Neal never has cared what people think of him.

If he did, he wouldn’t have worn a Pittsburgh Steelers’ ski cap in Cleveland Thursday. In this cold, industrial city the Steelers are mortal enemies. You just don’t go around town in black and gold gear.

“I’m a Ben Roethlisberger fan,” Shaq said.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be 7-foot, 350 pounds and a pal of LeBron James. Chances are pretty good Shaq won’t get accosted on the streets.

Still, O’Neal doesn’t seem to let any doubt or insecurity rot inside of him. So if you believe for one second he buys into the idea that the Suns (14-4) are winning this year because they got rid of him, well, just listen to the man.

“I only take advice from experts,” Shaq told the Tribune after Cleveland’s shootaround Wednesday morning. “There are only two experts in the game today. That’s Tim Duncan and myself. He has four rings, I have four rings.

“I’ve been around for a long time. I know what works. … It doesn’t matter what the so-called experts say because I’m the expert. I’ve been there and done that.”

O’Neal, it should be noted, holds no bitterness toward the Suns. He welcomed the off-season trade to Cleveland and an opportunity to win a fifth title. He also praised general manager Steve Kerr for the way he handled the deal.

“Steve was very honest and up front,” O’Neal said. “I actually knew I was being traded before everyone else. That’s the first time that’s happened in my career … It’s basketball but at the end of the day it’s about business. He’s one of the most honest businessmen I’ve ever dealt with.”

O’Neal resolutely believes, however, that the Suns could have been just as successful had he stayed. Their 46-36 record last season and failure to make the playoffs, he said, was more about the turmoil caused by the coaching changes and the eye injury that cost Amar’e Stoudemire the final 29 games of the season.

“Of course it could have worked if everybody was healthy like they are now,” he said. “But I don’t believe in ifs. What’s done is done.”

And the notion that O’Neal and Steve Nash were a bad fit together because Nash needed space to operate and Shaq took up more space than any player in the league?

(Not to mention the trouble they had defending the pick-and-roll.)

A bunch of malarkey, O’Neal insisted.

“Every big on a championship team has a one-two punch,” he said. “Last year it was too much for us with all the other stuff and it didn’t go well with coach (Terry Porter). We never really got to click.

“I’ve been in the league 17 years,” he added. “My way has been proven.”

O’Neal, who’s averaging 11.1 points and 6.9 rebounds for Cleveland, said he’s looking forward to Wednesday night’s game against Phoenix and the chance to see his former teammates.

“They’re playing well,” he said. “I’m happy for the franchise and happy for the Sarver family. They deserve it.”

I don't think so, it just wasn't a good fit for our offense.

The Diesel wrote:

I don't think so, it just wasn't a good fit for our offense.

You mean averaging 118 PPG under Gentry was a bad fit? The SSOS offense was an awesome offense. One of the best ever.

The current team is averaging 112 PPG, which is worse than under Gentry last year and SSOS managed to average 118 PPG WITHOUT Amare, one of the best scoring big-men in the NBA.

Just imagine if they had Amare!

The 2007/2008 team under D'Antoni averaged 112 PPG during that 15-5 finish to end the season and scored 115 points in the Game 1 loss to the Spurs; a game the Suns would have won if Duncan missed that shot.

Don't forget Amare averaged 28/10 after the Shaq trade under D'Antoni.

Porter is the one who ruined the offense last year, not Shaq.

CLEVELAND - Before Shaquille O’Neal engulfed Suns coach Alvin Gentry in an oversized hug Wednesday, he tugged at a piece of his clothing and grinned broadly.

“You’ve never seen me in a sweater before,” Shaq said before the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Phoenix, 107-90, at Quicken Loans Arena. “It’s !&*&% cold here.”

Yup, Shaq misses the Valley of the Sun. After playing his entire career in warm-weather cities – Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix – he now wears a Pittsburgh Steelers ski cap after morning shootarounds and jokes that he had to blow an inch of dust off the coats in the back of his closet.

The Suns miss Shaq, too. Sort of.

They miss his smile and his jokes and his ability to loosen up a locker room.

“He was a great teammate,” Gentry said.

What they don’t miss, however, is his 7-foot-1, 350-pound frame clogging up the lane and not allowing Steve Nash to do what he does best.

There are a lot of reasons the Suns, at 14-5, are one of the NBA’s early-season surprises despite back-to-back lopsided losses to the Cavs and New York Knicks.

Amar’e Stoudemire is healthy. Nash is playing like an MVP. The bench – wait, the Suns have a bench? – is contributing productive minutes.

But the biggest reason – literally and figuratively – is general manager Steve Kerr’s decision to trade O’Neal to Cleveland in the off-season and sign free agent Channing Frye, whose ability to space the floor better suits Phoenix’s offense.

The Suns may not run like they once did, but they’ve rediscovered their identity. And that would have been impossible with O’Neal taking up so much space on both ends of the court.

“I think we could have played a little bit the way we are now,” Gentry said, “but I don’t think we could have played long stretches like this.”

You won’t hear any of the Suns bad-mouth O’Neal, although he and Nash aren’t on the best of terms since Shaq stole Nash’s idea for a reality television show. Some, including Jason Richardson, believe Phoenix would be playing as well even if Shaq was still wearing orange.

“He gets blamed for a lot of things I don’t think he was responsible for,” Gentry said. “We just didn’t play very good.”

But even as the Suns praise O’Neal and spread the blame for their 46-36 record last year – Terry Porter’s hiring and firing, his decision to slow down the pace, Stoudemire’s eye injury that cost him the final 29 games of the season – most seem to understand that Shaq had to go.

His presence – in addition to making Phoenix particularly vulnerable to the pick-and-roll – marginalized Nash because it cut into his improv act. Asking Nash to dump the ball into the low post is like asking Houdini to do card tricks.

“Now we’re just having fun,” Stoudemire said. “It’s more of a team game. Last year with the big fella we kind of went to him a lot and it kept a few guys out of their game. Now everybody is involved and it makes it an easy game.”