I don't think its time to hit the panic button but so far the deal is not working out. http://sportstwo.com/NBA/Game/Recap/20080301NBA--PHOENIX---0
I think thats entirely possible, look at their remaining schedule. Tue 04 @ Portland Wed 05 @ Denver Fri 07 vs Utah Sun 09 vs San Antonio Tue 11 vs Memphis Thu 13 vs Golden State Sat 15 vs Sacramento Tue 18 @ Portland Wed 19 @ Seattle Sat 22 vs Houston Mon 24 @ Detroit Wed 26 @ Boston Fri 28 @ Philadelphia Sat 29 @ New Jersey Mon 31 vs Denver Tue 01 @ Denver Fri 04 vs Minnesota Sun 06 vs Dallas Tue 08 @ Memphis Wed 09 @ San Antonio Fri 11 @ Houston Mon 14 vs Golden State Wed 16 vs Portland The bold ones are teams over .500
As soon as I saw that the Suns had given up Marion I knew it was over for them. And now the Nuggets have 3 teams that might finish 9th in the West instead of them: Warriors--Little Defense Rockets--No Yao Suns--No Marion Thanks, Steve Kerr, it was nice of you to help make the Nuggets look better. Sorry about your Suns, though.
While some might think it's too early to come to a verdict, I don't think so. This deal is clearly not working for them. Their offensive production has gone down and they're actually giving up more points. Shaq was supposed to help out on defense, and he has hardly done that. And on offense, he just gets in the way of the rest of the offense. If they miss the playoffs, which is entirely possible, I'd have to place blame on this move.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>And now the Nuggets have 3 teams that might finish 9th in the West instead of them: Warriors--Little Defense Rockets--No Yao Suns--No Marion</div> With the exception of the Warriors, I don't think any of those teams will finish below the Nuggets. The Suns are getting on a roll and Shaq is finding his niche with the team. The Rockets have proven that they can still win and compete without Yao. Like The Dream said, these teams can't be judged until the end of the playoffs. Whoever gets furthest is the one that made or didn't make all the right moves. I still have faith in my Suns to make the playoffs and get far.