Shaq to Suns close?!- Miami Herald, Rotoworld

[dbodner]

If Shaq is in and Marion is out then there is no way Phoenix looks to move Amare this summer.

How so? Even if Marion doesn't opt out, they now have $3 million more committed for next year, and another $20 million committed in 2010. If Marion opts out, that's $20 million more committed salary for next year.

I repeat, Shaq is owed $40 million in the next two years.

If Phoenix was potentially looking to move Amare for salary purposes before, it's even worse now.

(*note* I don't think Amare was ever a realistic option, and never saw Phoenix actually looking to move him. I just don't see how this makes it less likely. IMO they're going for their one shot now, and after that might break it up.).

[The Guilty Party]

There's no doubt that this trade is worse financially but I just can't see Phoenix making the push this season and then trying to move Amare for cap space and sticking with Nash, Shaq, and a bunch of younger, unproven players.

I agree that Amare was never really in play but I just believe that he's less likely to go now that Marion has but with Phoenix' ownership and Kerr as the GM, who the hell knows that they'll do? Steve Kerr has made 2 trades as GM of the Suns and neither have been deals that anyone would have thought would have happened (Kurt Thomas' trade and this one).

[sec-106]

Makes no sense for PHO.

Where's the upside?

$40M more after this year?

In that system?

God Bless MIA.

[dbodner]

For what it's worth:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

League sources said the Suns also had conversations about the Charlotte Bobcats' Emeka Okafor and the Philadelphia 76ers' Samuel Dalembert in recent days, but that Miami initiated the trade talks involving O'Neal.

[The Guilty Party]

It's so weird to say this.... but Okafor and Dalembert would be FAR better fits in Phoenix than Shaq. What is also funny is that about 3 years ago I was on this board ranting and raving for an entire summer about how Billy King should trade Sam Dalembert to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and now I don't know that I would do that when you factor in Marion's age plus his desire to get a contract extension and there's the issue that with Marion we're still 2-3 years away.

[dbodner]

I'd still do it in a second.

[The Guilty Party]

If we moved Dalembert, we would also have to have a lot of filler to make the deal work. If that filler didn't include any of our cap space, I think I would do it since we could then go after a center of some sort this summer.

Miller
Iguodala
Young
Marion
????? (Okafor? Thabeet? Jason Smith?)

[sec-106]

I'd do some sort of Marion (contingent that he not opt out) for Sam deal, too.

I love the above lineup.

[The Guilty Party]

Don't you believe that Miami will now win a couple more games this season and therefore screw up their chances for Beasley??

Williams
Wade
Marion
Haslem
Blount

Not a good team but I have to believe the addition of a healthy, in his prime Marion is going to make that team win more games then they did with Shaq sitting on the sidelines in a suit.

[bebopdeluxe]

I'm not sure how I feel about this deal...I think that the current Suns team is better then the Heat team of the past couple of years, so - in theory - Shaq will not have to do as much. Having the best PG on the planet certainly will not hurt Shaq's offensive production, and I could see a lot of situations where - in the half-court set - the Suns will be better able to spread the floor and create matchup problems. The book historically on the Suns has been, "well...that run 'n gun offense looks good in the regular season, but in the playoffs - where things bog down and half-court execution is key (both on offense and defense) - the Suns can't compete with the Spurs and Mavs (and now the Lakers)..."

I think the addition of Shaq should make things easier in May and - hopefully for them - June.

I also must admit that I appreciate the cojones of Kerr...he believes that he needs to change things up if he's gonna have any shot of getting to the Finals, and he's not afraid to take the shot...even if the salary cap impact in, say, 2009-2010 is not pretty.

(I hope that Reid and Lurie are paying attention...this is called "trying to win a championship...NOW!)

[howiezbt]

If Shaq is in and Marion is out then there is no way Phoenix looks to move Amare this summer.

How so? Even if Marion doesn't opt out, they now have $3 million more committed for next year, and another $20 million committed in 2010. If Marion opts out, that's $20 million more committed salary for next year.

I repeat, Shaq is owed $40 million in the next two years.

If Phoenix was potentially looking to move Amare for salary purposes before, it's even worse now.

(*note* I don't think Amare was ever a realistic option, and never saw Phoenix actually looking to move him. I just don't see how this makes it less likely. IMO they're going for their one shot now, and after that might break it up.).

When you factor in that Marion is not going to opt out and Banks is owed $10 million over the next two years. The difference is only $13 million over two years. Not a steep price ot pay to go for a championship.

Shaq will open things up for Nash, Raja, and co. to reign threes down. If they get tight on the shooters, Shaq gets some easy scores. Plus Shaq is a great passing big man. I think Phoenix does well in this deal.

[LieCheatSteal]

I've been mulling over this trade and I think this is a deal for the playoffs for the Suns. The way this Suns team is designed right now with Marion would be very successful in the regular season but won't be successful in the playoffs, especially in a 7 game series with San Antonio and the Lakers (both teams with very strong post presences). Look at Dallas last year and the year before. The reason why they weren't successful is because they did not have a low post scorer. Same goes for Phoenix currently.

I think without Marion, the Suns will still do well in the regular season. Still a top 4 seed team. They can still play their high tempo small ball (with Diaw in for Marion) but with Shaq, they can now play a halfcourt style as well (with Shaq and Amare and the C and PF positions).

I think also the Suns might be better without Marion. He doesn't have a winning attitude. He would have probably opted out to get a bigger deal. Plus, he has no problems going from the best to the worst. That says something about Marion the man. Shaq's been a winner wherever he's gone (except for this season) so I think he'll be OK in Phoenix. I don't expect Phoenix to play him a lot right away but in the playoffs, I think he'll have a big role.

And yes, Steve Kerr has cajones.

[noone]

I'd do some sort of Marion (contingent that he not opt out) for Sam deal, too.

I love the above lineup.

Even if he were to opt out and the Sixers chose for whatever reason not to pursue him, that I believe would give the Sixers enough money to max out (or close to) 2 players. How I would love to have the possibility of adding Arenas and Okafor or Arenas and Brand. I would much prefer either of those scenarios than Arenas/Okafor/Brand and Sammy.

[tk76]

-= original quote snipped =-



Even if he were to opt out and the Sixers chose for whatever reason not to pursue him, that I believe would give the Sixers enough money to max out (or close to) 2 players.

Good point. It would give us all types of salary flexability to go out and make trades or signings the next few years. We still would have enormous holes at center and PF, but our core is so young that we would have time and resources to address these holes.

Not sure I am as on board if we ended up signing Marion to some sort of mega extension.

That said, Sam is less than 8 months older than Okafor, so nor reason we can't try to build a young team with him.

[The Guilty Party]

Seriously... the more these deals play out, the more I believe Emeka should be the numero uno target on our shopping list this summer. I think I would be extremely happy if we went to training camp next year with the team we currently have plus Okafor and OJ Mayo (pick #9).

However, if Marion opts out and Miami elects to not re-sign him, Miami supposedly will have roughly $15MIL in cap space and be the top dog. That would then make 3 teams with decent cap space and mean that teams like Chicago (Deng and Gordon), Charlotte (Okafor), and Atlanta (Childress and Smith) should all be a little more nervous.

Here's what I don't get. There are some reporters on ESPN's Outside the Lines: First Report stating that Miami is merely renting Shawn Marion for the rest of this season and that they will let him walk at the end of year. If that's the case and Marion gets wind of this, why would he opt-out? If he opts-out and Miami has no interest in signing him, I doubt they'll want to work a S&T where they have to take back salary. If that's the case then Marion's options are next to nothing since neither us or Memphis can even come close to giving him the kind of money he will want.

I feel like a passenger on Oceanic Air 815.

[The Sixer Fixer]

Seriously... the more these deals play out, the more I believe Emeka should be the numero uno target on our shopping list this summer. I think I would be extremely happy if we went to training camp next year with the team we currently have plus Okafor and OJ Mayo (pick #9).

You willing to give Okafor max money to get him? I SERIOUSLY doubt the Bobacts would not match anything for less than that. I even think they would probably match a max offer. No way in hell I'm giving Okafor a max offer though (or even close to max)....you would? That's the type of signing that would come back to haunt us for the next 5 years.

[barkley34]

According to this article we were in discussions with the Suns involving Dalembert. Daly & filler for Marion would have been sweet.

League sources said the Suns also had conversations about the Charlotte Bobcats' Emeka Okafor and the Philadelphia 76ers' Samuel Dalembert in recent days, but that Miami initiated the trade talks involving O'Neal.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

[IggyTheBEaST]

We play Miami soon, is Marion gonna be suited up?

[The Sixer Fixer]

The link to the yahoo article about Sam being linked to Phoenix was already posted on the last page of this thread.

[barkley34]

The link to the yahoo article about Sam being linked to Phoenix was already posted on the last page of this thread.

Oops, my bad.