Say goodnight to the big man.
And that Shaquille O’Neal gamble? A busted flush. And there the Phoenix Suns went, down the drain and out of the NBA playoffs — and off the radar of genuine NBA contenders for the foreseeable future.
Lots of us suggested, back in February, that the Suns had gone bonkers when they traded Shawn Marion for Shaq — at a time when they had the best record in the Western Conference.
And then Shaq went out and did what Shaq does — slowing the pace of a running team to a crawl, missing free throws, sucking wind.
He was 9-for-20 from the line tonight, and the Suns were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5, 92-87.
It struck me, watching Shaq get sent to the line in the fourth quarter, how lucky Lakers fans are not to have to watch their team’s destiny hinge on O’Neal flinging free throws at the rim. That became the Suns’ problem. Well, one of several.
We don’t usually quote ourselves, but we anticipated this wasn’t going to work out … even before the trade was completed.
Here is what we wrote on the L.A. News Group blog, back on Feb. 5:
This is the absolutely insane trade the Phoenix Suns are about to make:
Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for … Shaquille O’Neal.
Man, the Lakers’ Pau Gasol acquisition clearly has driven some Western Conference teams nuts.
Shaq is so far down the backside of his career … to get back to the zenith of his abilities (like, 1999-2000), he would have to scale Mt. Everest. From sea level. That’s how far down he has come.
The Big Has-Been is hurt now, has been hurt off and on for years, and is averaging 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. (Which makes him, oh, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, numbers-wise, except without the jumper.) He will be 36 in a month and is owed $20 million each of the next two years.
And if his decrepitude as a player and enormous contract weren’t enough to warn off the Suns … how about this? Shaq in the Suns offense is like a whale in an aquarium. A horrible fit.
The Suns have thrived since the return of Steve Nash by pushing the tempo, shooting first and asking questions later, and outscoring people.
And now they’re going to add the league’s slowest player (aside from, maybe, Yao Ming) to their roster? A guy who can’t run, can’t jump yet lives in a fantasy world in which he should still be the center of attention?
And how is that going to work, exactly? Shaq won’t even be over the half-court line before the Suns shoot the ball. He may as well just stay in the lane at the defensive end and take up space — his one remaining “skill.”
Plus, the Suns give up Shawn Marion, a 20 and 10 guy. OK, he’s been making little protests of unhappiness, but he actually FITS what the Suns try to do. He’s athletic and fast and … well, he’s a guy made to play with Nash and Amare Stoudemire.
Shaq so clearly is not.
What the Suns appear to be doing is trying to get more physical, no doubt concerned that their interior defense is a shambles. And perhaps they think that going to a contender will inject a dollop of energy into O’Neal, who is going through the motions in Miami — which may be more about his decline than his attitude.
Stoudemire then becomes a power forward, more befitting his body type, and Boris Diaw becomes the 3 … and, well, I guess they hope playing four-on-five on offense (unless they’re willing wait for Shaq to haul his goo to the other end) is worth having an anchor in the key on defense. I guess.
To me, it seems more like the Last Act of a Desperate Franchise. “We couldn’t win it with these guys the last two years, how are we gonna win it now when the Lakers are better and Utah is better? … We gotta do something!”
Panic. Best record in the West, and they make this trade. Nutty. But it makes them less competitive, so the Lakers should be applauding it. Now they need worry about one less serious competitor between them and the NBA Finals.
Note: The Lakers play at Phoenix on Feb. 20. Should be fun.
The Lakers won that Feb. 20 game … and went past the Suns to win the Pacific Division and the Western Conference, and now the Suns are in eclipse. Stuck with two more years of $20 million owed to an ancient big man.
The Suns had their run, and now they’re done. Hard to imagine they will be a championship contender any time soon. This franchise is going to have to blow things up and start over. See you in, maybe, 2012, Phoenix.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Damian // Apr 30, 2008 at 11:23 AM
I applauded that Shaq trade when it happened, as I applauded the Kidd for Devin Harris trade then, because I knew that took 2 teams out of the Western Conference championship scene for the next several years. Today, I am still roaring with approval and laughing at those same teams and GMs that seemingly have less insight than us on how to put a team together because we all knew from Day 1 that these trades would not work.
Hey Nash: Nice effort once again these playoffs. There’s a reason why you’ve never won anything and will never win anything. While Suns fans and media sees you as an MVP because you are a nice, media-friendly guy and a pretty passer with all-star players around you to finish, the same groups of people will continue to conveniently overlook the fact that you had 3 turnovers in the last 2 minutes of a elimination game that could have gone either way, and that you once again could not stay in front of your man all series and have never shown any propensity to be anything but a “severe defensive liability” to the concept of team defense. The guy has never had any defensive ability. In case he hasn’t noticed, this generation’s championship teams show high-level proficiency in playing physical, half-court defense in the playoffs.
Don’t take this personal, Nash. I like you because you’re a soccer guy and you play pick-up soccer in the offseason.
I understand that the Suns felt the need to get something for Marion before he could opt out of his deal this summer, because Marion was grossly unhappy in Phoenix the last couple years at not getting the star treatment and attention that fast-rising Amare and face-of-the-franchise Nash got. But Shaq was never going to be the answer there and the Suns had to realize they were trading away their best defender, only defender and a versatile perimeter and post defender. I think Marion’s having a good laugh over this.
I think Dallas finished 17-17 after the Kidd trade. They have no offensive identity and Kidd is only helpful to manage an uptempo, open court offense. He is too old and slow to defend the Western Conference point guards. I understand Avery “Pac-Man” Johnson’s wanting to become a better defensive team and emulate the Spurs (Pop having served as his coaching mentor), but the Mavs don’t have a Duncan and that’s the type of player they needed to trade for in the first place. Trading for Kidd was just making a change for the sake of making a change without any positive purpose.
Of these 2 teams, I can only see Dallas getting back into the championship mix in the next couple years because Cuban doesn’t care how much money he has to spend and how much luxury tax he has to pay to win. He’s got the dough. However, if the Mavs want to continue to be a defensive-oriented, half-court team, they need to find a defensive and offensive post presence (C or PF). You can foul out sorry Dampier every game and the Mavs have zero beef beyond him.
Phoenix, on the other hand, is tied to Shaq for 2 more years at $20 mil per and is unwilling to spend much more over the salary cap. Its ownership does not have bottomless pockets. Shaq will be 37, then 38 over the next 2 playoff years and the Suns will watch the likes of the Warriors, Blazers and possibly Nuggets, Clippers and the OK City SuperSonics pass them over that span. The only way this does not happen is if Amare becomes a defending and rebounding beast, a la Dwight Howard.
But, hey, I’m not losing sleep over these developments. See ya Shaq, Suns and Mavs. You can now arrange for your courtside seats to follow Kobe and the Lakers.
How much does Shaq wish he could be Andrew Bynum right about now? Your career and “Winnin’ Time” is over, “Big Crybaby.” It was always Penny’s fault, Kobe’s fault and D-Wade’s fault. Who are you going to call out in Phoenix?
2 George Alfano // Apr 30, 2008 at 9:10 PM
When the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol, the Suns decided they had to go and get Shaq. That is a perfect example of a bad reaction. I told people, “At this point in 2008, would you rather have Shaq or Gasol?” If you are living in the present, there is no question. Shaq was never a great defensive player.
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