Shaq traded to Phx; Marion, banks to Miami

[Death Knight]

If the Suns are going to win the championship, they better learn to deal with the Hack-A-Shaq. The Lakers and Heat dealt with it. Lets see the Suns now.........

[YiYaoYue]

Even crappy teams now have a way to slow down suns... hack a shaq

[CircleCitysportsfan]

The reasons the Suns have not won a ship is because the NBA Playoffs are the total opposite of what the Suns do. Now they have a playoff ready basketball team. Even with Shaq at this advanced age they have the best frontcourt along with the best pg in the league. My money is on them. Good luck Suns!

[Black Jesus 1]

I gotta see it before I say they're the best frontcourt in the league, CircleCity. - And I honestly don't think we will be, I'll bet on Bynum, Gasol > Shaq, Amare..but I think we can match up better now then with Matrix/Amare

I think Shaq is going to help, though.

We accomplished nothing with Shawn, glad we're taking a risk.

Good luck in Miami, Shawn

[Number34]

This really increases the suns hopes at playoff success, and I will be cheering for the suns when not cheering for the heat.

[Blue_Bomber]

First game for the Suns after the All-Star break?
A showdown with the Lakers. It's gonna be fun to watch!

[dingclancy]

I don't really see this deal being all that bad for the Suns. They can still run and gun. Whenever they need to run, they can just take Shaq out, move Amare to C and play someone like Diaw at PF. Then when they need to slow it down (like in the playoffs), they just put Shaq back in.

The Suns should keep Shaq out until March, then start getting him acclimated to their system and getting him ready for the playoffs. Then only play him around 25 minutes a game after that.

And I'm still stunned that Pat Riley was able to get this kind of value out of Shaq. I have to tip my hat to him.

Except that when you take Shaq out and they can go out to running mode - then they still lose to big rotations. In a battle of matchups the Suns have less chips.

[tha_rock220]

I still have to understand this trade for the PHX side ...

Shaq in the run&gun/smallball system of Mike D'Antoni is like to put an elephant in a glass shop ...

Dunno what to think.

u dont need 5 players to run the break, in fact i dont know ive ever seen that. shaq can get the rebound and throw the outlet to get it going. still a bad trade though imo.

[Ming Kong!]

This trade is weird to me. Doesn't it just slow Phoenix down? Seems to make them better in some ways, like interior defense, but in other ways it doesn't. I don't know how much I like this. It definitely helps Miami, but not so sure on Phoenix yet. Nash is smart, so I know if there's a way to make this work, he will, but Shaq is simply not that fast any more.

[Spykes]

Except that when you take Shaq out and they can go out to running mode - then they still lose to big rotations. In a battle of matchups the Suns have less chips.

How will it be any worse than what they've already been going through? Really, the only difference in their run and gun lineup is that Diaw would take the place of the now-traded Marion. That actually helps their height as Diaw is 6-9 whereas Marion was 6-6 or 6-7 I believe.

[BBallFreak]

To all those who said Shaq couldn't be moved without awful contracts coming Miami's way

[hsb]

To all those who said Shaq couldn't be moved without awful contracts coming Miami's way

Lol. You probably thought the same thing...C'mon...

[BBallFreak]

Lol. You probably thought the same thing...C'mon...

No, I thought for sure he was going to Dallas for the rotting carcass of Keith Van Horn, or I thought we were going to keep him and rebuild through the draft, then supplement in free agency.

[tha_rock220]

To all those who said Shaq couldn't be moved without awful contracts coming Miami's way

I don't think Pat Riley is God, but he has some sort of divine intervention working for him. He turned Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant into a championship ring and Shawn Marion. Yeah Butler is a real nice player, but IMO Marion is easily the best player mentioned at this point.

[tsherkin]

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Lol. You probably thought the same thing...C'mon...

I'm with BBall, I was expecting a sign-and-trade of Keith Van Horn and Shaq in Dallas, which was where a lot of people thought he was going when it became clear that the Lakers were going to trade him.

This was out of left field.

[tsherkin]

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And what about when Joe Johnson went down with the injury during the Mavs series? Jim Jackson stepped into the starting lineup, leaving Hunter to come off the bench. Detroit would have won that series in 6 game IMO.

I don't think so; it'd have certainly been a tighter rotation but the Pistons still wouldn't have been able to keep up with the Suns offensively and I don't think their defense would have been up to the task, short rotation or not. The bench diminishes in importance during the playoffs, especially when your starting 5 are so prolific and effective.

[rockybalboa11]

Moreover, Phoenix scores only something like 25% of its points in transition;

i was just reading through the thread

and this has to be the funniest mother **** thing i've ever seen

"only" 25% of their points

hahaha thats like 28 points a game

shaq cannot run the floor and he cannot spot up for three

two things marion did amazingly well

and the best defensive player the suns had has now been replaced with a dude who refuses to stand outside the painted area

lol

[tsherkin]

"only" 25% of their points

hahaha thats like 28 points a game

And? You don't think that they'll be able to make up the difference with Shaq shooting 58% from inside and hitting cutters and shooters all over the place?

shaq cannot run the floor and he cannot spot up for three

The first part's wrong; he can still get up and down the court well enough and no one's stupid enough to think he's going to be LEADING the break. It was an event when he did that even in Orlando as a younger, leaner and more athletic player. But it's a historical truth that slow big men can function effectively in transition offenses by facilitating the fastbreak for the OTHER players. I've already explained and proved this.

two things marion did amazingly well

Also wrong; Marion was a mediocre three-point shooter but for his third and fourth seasons. Since then, he's been a low/mid-30s shooter, which is acceptable and means you don't want to leave him open a lot but is hardly "amazingly well."

and the best defensive player the suns had has now been replaced with a dude who refuses to stand outside the painted area

lol

Sure, but they defend different positions, so what difference does it make? Now maybe they won't get totally worked over by post players every time they face one and Amare may not be a godawful wreck on defense because he'll be guarding the PFs that undersized Marion was guarding on a nightly basis. Amare may not even foul as much as he has been.

[DynastySS]

I gotta see it before I say they're the best frontcourt in the league, CircleCity. - And I honestly don't think we will be, I'll bet on Bynum, Gasol > Shaq, Amare..but I think we can match up better now then with Matrix/Amare

I think Shaq is going to help, though.

We accomplished nothing with Shawn, glad we're taking a risk.

Good luck in Miami, Shawn

What happened to "HAHAHA what a joke, this is the worst trade ever" etc in the beginning of the thread? Change of heart?

[rsavaj]

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What happened to "HAHAHA what a joke, this is the worst trade ever" etc in the beginning of the thread? Change of heart?

We have no other choice. Shaq's here to stay, and we need to look at the positives.