Shaq on the move?

[c-towns]

Potentially to Phoenix! wowzers!!

[Jaimoe]

Nice article from Feschuck today on the deal:

Shaq trade puzzling for the Suns

Shaq has `something to prove'

The acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal represents a large gamble, literally and figuratively, for the Phoenix Suns, who are banking tens of millions of dollars on a soon-to-be-36-year-old who wouldn't seem to fit into anything the team wants to do.Feb 07, 2008 04:30 AM

Dave Feschuk

It's a head-scratcher, to be sure: Shaquille O'Neal's arrival in Phoenix is a bit like human molasses being added to the Suns' free-running table salt. As birthday cake mixes go – and Steve Nash, Phoenix's Victoria-raised point guard, will be blowing out the candles on 34 today – it's not exactly appetizing.

The 300-something-pound O'Neal has bursitis in his left hip. He's got a related thigh problem and a knee problem and he'll be 36 next month. In other words, one call to Roger Clemens' doctor and he's a shoo-in for finals MVP!

Seriously, though, as much as this trade doesn't make sense for the Suns on the floor, it probably makes their locker room a happier place and not only because O'Neal's a laugh-a-minute entertainer. If you saw Nash in Toronto earlier this season, speaking in a sad drone while sipping a post-game beer from a Gatorade cup on a night they'd blown out the Raptors, you might have surmised that, for all the wins they were piling up, all wasn't well in Phoenix.

"Sometimes I have to be careful, because I can take the joy out of the game, because I'm critical," Nash said on that December evening. "And I have to careful not to lose that passion and joy."

It was only the latest in a line of suggestions that the Suns, for all their success – and they were playing .708 ball when they made this deal – were grappling with chemistry problems that were going to block their pursuit of a title.

"We're a bit selfish," Nash said back in April, in the lead-up to a playoff run that ended in the Western semifinal. "We're a little bit woe-is-me right now."

Shawn Marion, shipped to Miami with Marcus Banks for the big lug, is the prototypical woe-is-me athlete. He complained he was under-rated (because, you know, he is merely tied for the 12th-highest salary in the league at $16.4 million U.S.). He appeared to seriously believe that he deserved consideration for league MVP, even though two of his teammates – Nash, a two-time winner of the trophy, and Amare Stoudemire – were ahead of him in line for team MVP.

Still, Marion, quick and athletic and long, was the perfect on-court fit for the Suns, a far better fit than O'Neal, who was averaging a career-low 14.2 points per game this season with last-place Miami. In the end, in the desert, selfishness and ego trumped teamwork and good sense.

It'll be said that the Suns were simply keeping up with their division rival L.A. Lakers, who became championship contenders last week when they landed big man Pau Gasol. And maybe there's some truth to the notion that Phoenix was, in part, acquiring O'Neal to keep him away from the Dallas Mavericks. But Marion had been asking out for a while now. What the Suns once hoped to get in the deal (Kevin Garnett) and what they got are two very different animals.

This isn't to say it's impossible that O'Neal won't add something in Arizona. Maybe he'll be the physical presence they've required for so long. Still, it's hard to be a believer until there's documented evidence O'Neal can regularly get over half court before Nash leads a fast break, heaves a three-ball, tucks his hair behind his ears, secures the offensive rebound, dribbles it out, fixes his hair again, waves to his yoga teacher in the crowd, jacks up another three that swishes and – nice of you to join us, Shaq! – starts running back on defence.

Happy birthday, Steve. Careful lighting the candles near the Big Aristotle's new oxygen tank.

Breakdown of yesterday's big deal

PHOENIX GETS ...

Shaquille O'Neal

Stats and stuff

Will be 36 next month, hasn't played since Jan.21 (hip), owed $40 million (all figures U.S.) and two years after this on contract.

Pedigree

Won four NBA championships, three with Los Angeles, one with Heat.

The skinny

Will Suns be able to adjust run-and-gun style to suit his more plodding skills; how much does he have left to give?

MIAMI GETS ...

Shawn Marion

Stats and stuff

Is 29 years old, can opt out of contract at end of season or be paid $17.2 million next season, averages 15.8 points, 8.9 rebounds per game.

Pedigree

Great finisher in Suns' fast-break game; has never been past conference finals.

The skinny

Can he create his own shot well enough to play without Steve Nash setting him up, shooting 34 per cent from the arc this season.

Marcus Banks

Stats and stuff

The 26-year-old guard still has three years and about $13.2 million left on contract; buried on bench in Phoenix.

Pedigree

Generally considered a free-agent bust with the Suns, can't crack rotation.

The skinny

Not sure how he fits in Miami scheme but might allow Heat to move an excess guard like Jason Williams.

- Compiled by Doug Smith