The Diesel is treading to the West once again. In a Feb. 6 that sent shockwaves through the basketball world, the Phoenix Suns acquired Shaquille O'Neal from the Miami Heat in exchange for moody, do-everything forward Shawn Marion and disgruntled point guard Marcus Banks.
Though the Suns own the best record in the NBA's Western Conference, concerns about the club's playoff shortcomings in recent years clearly factored into General Manager Steve Kerr's decision to trade for the aging superstar. Yet the man once regarded as the most dominant player in basketball history appears a shadow of his former self as he prepares to leave the Heat for Phoenix almost a decade after parting ways with the Orlando Magic to join the L.A. Lakers.
O'Neal, set to earn more than $20 million in each of the next two seasons, is in many ways an unknown commodity - and an expensive one at that. Simply stated, Shaquille O'Neal is nearing the twilight of his playing career just as another frontcourt phenom, Amare Stoudamire, is entering the springtime of his own career on the hardwood. The partnership of Shaq and Amare will largely determine the Suns' playoff destiny. Accordingly, only time will tell if Kerr's gamble was worth the risk.
Assessing Shaq's performance over his three-and-a-half seasons in Miami is complicated. On one hand, Shaq delivered the Heat its first championship. On the other hand, he has been a salary cap burden and has undermined team chemistry with his frequent trips to the injured list. The past season and a half have seen Shaq's production plummet across the board, during which time Kobe Bryant's former running mate put up career lows in points, rebounds, and blocks. Plagued by injuries, Shaq played in only 32 of 46 possible contests for the Heat this season, averaging 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game.
In Marion, the Suns are losing one of the saaviest and most multi-talented players in the NBA. With his ability to defend quick guards and strong power forwards with equal success, Marion is a rare asset as a lockdown defender. On offense, Marion combines terrific perimeter quickness, clutch precision shooting and a unique feel for the game into one of the NBA's most complete offensive skill-sets. Marion is also a great rebounder for a player of his size (6-7, 230 lbs), posting an average of 10 boards per game over the course of nine NBA seasons.
Along with Nash, Marion has been instrumental in shaping the Suns' playing style - and, in effect, the team's collective identity. As such, Marion's move to the Heat encapsulates the Suns' desire to adapt and change.
As Kerr's trade demonstrates, there is an increasing urgency among elite teams to "win now" (sports speak for winning a championship this season), an urgency that has transformed the landscape of the NBA's free agency market. With the respective contracts of Nash and Amare due to expire in two years, the pressure is on the Suns' management to supply Nash with the pieces needed to complete the journey to the promised land, even if doing so requires Coach Mike D'Antoni to tweak his gameplan.
In the wake of the trade, the question that casual fans and ESPN pundits alike find themselves pondering centers around the issue of cohesion on the court. The problem, of course, is that the Suns' style of play - scripted by D'Antoni and executed by gutsy point guard Steve Nash-is predicated on a high scoring, up-tempo fast-break attack. The fact is that Shaq is not the svelte, agile, efficient player he used to be: He is slower on defense, less explosive on the block, and less effective as a passer. Can Shaq be a force in such a non-traditional offense - or even survive 30 minutes of fast-break basketball night in and night out? In my estimation, the answer is no.
Still, we should be cautious in questioning Kerr's judgment. I was born and raised in Chicago, so perhaps I am biased towards the Suns' savvy general manager. After all, the physically unimposing marksman was one of the best pure shooters ever during his tenure with the Chicago Bulls, including the team's second three-peat championship run of the 1990s. Tributes to Kerr aside, the question remains as to whether Amare and Marion could have survived the grind and physicality of three seven-game series against the likes of the Laker's Pau Gasol, the Jazz's Carlos Boozer, the Spurs' Tim Duncan, or the Rockets' Yao Ming. Once again, I believe that the answer is no. Defending Tim Duncan for three games spread over the course of four months is entirely different from defending Duncan for seven games over a two-week stretch. Amare is a beast, yet he still needs an elite center like Shaq to help him shoulder the burden on defense.This is the crucial point: The Suns' prospects for winning the title were limited given the roster's dearth of post players prior to the Shaq trade. The Diesel has lost quickness on his drop step and gotten fatter around the cheekbones, to be sure, yet he remains a towering intimidator in the painted area. To paraphrase my father's favorite basketball maxim, you can't teach 7-foot-1, 325 pounds.
Shaq possesses few of the skills that made Marion so valuable to the Suns, yet role players such as wily veteran Raja Bell and emerging youngsters Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa each have Marionesque attributes. In the 6-foot-5 Bell, the Suns have a defensive-minded big guard who can slow down point guards like Chris Paul of the Hornets and Deron Williams of the Jazz, as well as bigger perimeter players like Kobe and Josh Howard of the Mavericks. Were he to become less unselfish and shoot more, Diaw could cement his place as an emerging star at the small forward position. The streaky Barbosa is a deadly marksman from behind the arc. Taken together, Bell, Diaw and Barbosa are more than capable of compensating for Marion's departure. For this reason, the Suns don't need Shaq to play 40 minutes and score 25 points every game. In fact, they don't even need him to match Marion's production.
Although D'Antoni and Nash may have reservations about modifying the Suns' gameplan in order to complement Shaq's skill set, the Diesel will, in my judgment, make the Suns more versatile and accelerate Amare's development. The latter is the central point. The sky is the limit for Shaq's freakishly athletic understudy; Shaq will no doubt provide an upward boost if he plays within the system.
With Shaq controlling the low block and guarding players like Duncan and Yao for 20 minutes, Amare will be able to freelance more on the defensive end. With freedom to roam, Amare will become more disruptive as a shotblocker, less of a defensive liability and less susceptible to foul trouble. More importantly, Shaq's presence in the interior on offense will allow Amare to patrol the high post (where he prefers to operate) and, in the process, improve his mid-range, face-up game.
What's more, the two-pronged attack on the interior will force defenses to collapse on Shaq and Amare in the low-post, in effect creating open three-point shots for the Suns' deadly perimeter trio of Nash, Barbosa and Bell. Ultimately Shaq's arrival provides a short-term solution to the Sun's front court deficiencies.
But at the same time, Marion's departure has opened the door for the Sun's talented supporting cast to step into the spotlight. Even if things don't go well, the Diesel should have no problem winning a spot in the next installment of Dancing with Stars. After all, who wouldn't want to watch a big man with good footwork waltz around with other washed-out entertainers? My vote for his partner: fellow ex-Laker employee, Paula Abdul.
