First of all I?m not a Shaq basher, I?m actually a fan but I can not be blind to his diminished skills and declining trading value. He will be making $30mil this year and has at most another one solid year. The only thing Shaq had, other than a giant body, was his quickness and youth. Well, those are gone now and even if he gets 20 points a game there are better options out there. We need to dump him now because in a couple of years no one will take up his contract. If we don?t make some solid pickups this season in two year Lakers will be the past. Here?s my proposal if Kupchak is listening. First dump Shaq, it will be tricky since there are only a few teams that can effort him. We can give Shaq, Fox, and George to Cleveland (here me out). For him we?ll get Zydrunas Illgauskas, Eric Williams, and Carlos boozer. Why is this a great deal for Cleveland? They?ll have Shaq and LaBron with a support of George and a great bench warmer in Fox. They also get rid of Illgauskas? 13mil contract and finally get a celebrity to attend their games. (Vanessa Williams) Lakers will trade the 7-3 Illgauskas to any of the five teams who need a big Center. Lakers will also pick up these guys who will be free agents. K-Mart (PF), Jamaal Magloire ©, Eric Dampier ©, Rafer Alston (PG). This will give them a great deep team with awesome shooters and 4 Ben Wallace type defensive players. It will also make Kobe the man and surround him with talented roll player just like Michael?s Bulls. In addition, they will give Kobe a 4mil raise while reduce their payroll from 66 mil to 56 mil. Kobe made only 13.5mil this year, while Shaq makes 30mil next year. What do Lakers need: a couple of hard-working defensive players who show up eveynight; a shooter who can actually get the ball in the basket; 20-point scorer who knows his place. This is what we should do: Kobe Bryant Gary Payton Kenyon Martin: ?nough said Karl Malone Jamaal Magloire: He had 45 double/double this year 3rd in NBA. Eric Dampier: 4th in rebound/1st in ORPG Rafer Alston: 3-point specialist made 161 3s 37% Kareem Rush: Derek Fisher Eric Williams: defensive monster, hard worker, good leader Luke Walton Brian Cook Maurice Carter: Lakers just signed him, he is a great shooter Adam Harrington: Shooting Guard Carlos Boozer: Great energy, contiguous toughness. and if Payton leaves, just pick up a good PG to support DFish, like the free agent Emanuel Ginobili or Jeff McInnis (maybe Jeff can be thrown in the Shaq deal with the Caves) THIS WILL GUARANTEE LAKERS? FUTURE AS AN UNMATCHED DYNASTY. Magloire and Dampier together are 100 times better than 1 slow unmotivated Shaq. Also, in a year when Malone and Payton are gone we can move Dampier to the starting and make Fisher the point again. All the new people are out of contract so regardless of who takes Shaq they can be acquired. Make it happen Mitch.
there's no way you're gonna get kobe, martin, magloire, dampier, and boozer on one team w/out cap problems. kobe is gonna demand a max contract, martin is asking for 18+ million a year, dampier is asking for way too much money, and boozer will be demanding a ton of money when he's ready to sign a new deal. and then you're gonna have to pay magloire still, and payton is not gonna take the 4 million again if they win a ring this year. definitely not happening, but u can dream
You have a huge imagination!!!I dont think the Lakers will give up Shaq anytime soon,unless he gets really injury prone.Another reason why this seems unlikely is because Kobe Bryant is thinking about leaving the team.Another reason is the Cavs are a team looking toward the future I doubt they would give up Boozer Illgalskus and Williams for Shaq,Fox,and George,I dont think the Cavs would want an old player in Fox and they wouldnt need George. So I doubt that trade would help that Cavs (except for the fact they would have Shaq).Also how would you rotate all these star power fowards,K Mart,Malone,Maglorie,Dampier,and Carlos Boozer. Those were just some of the reasons why this this would never happen.
First: Let me give you props for a Nice imagination, even if it's gone awry. You don't ditch a franchise center. You complained about Shaq's diminished capacities, but then want to engineer a trade that brings in the often injured Z to the Lakers? Second, you can't assume to build around Kobe until the legal case against him is over. If you trade Shaq and then Kobe ends up being convicted, then forget 2 years from now, the Laker are in the crapper NEXT YEAR.
Shaq/Fox/George for Z/Booz/EWil? Would be cool but no thanks. Cavs rely on transition baskets other than half court offense. EWil is a free agent and shouldn't even be considered in the deal also.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jiggax23:</div><div class="quote_post">there's no way you're gonna get kobe, martin, magloire, dampier, and boozer on one team w/out cap problems. kobe is gonna demand a max contract, martin is asking for 18+ million a year, dampier is asking for way too much money, and boozer will be demanding a ton of money when he's ready to sign a new deal. and then you're gonna have to pay magloire still, and payton is not gonna take the 4 million again if they win a ring this year. definitely not happening, but u can dream</div> That's what they said about Malone, Payton, ARod, and every other big deal. They'll make it happen. Cap only counts in the first year, then they can offer them longer terms. Also Marin is not getting 18+ that will make him 3rd highest, He's not that good. using Exception rule all the above can happen.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mr_Infante:</div><div class="quote_post">Shaq/Fox/George for Z/Booz/EWil? Would be cool but no thanks. Cavs rely on transition baskets other than half court offense. EWil is a free agent and shouldn't even be considered in the deal also.</div> Ewill's case would be sign and trade for the deal to work. I know that he's a FA.
Why trade a hall of famer, who has brought the city 3 championships and most likely 4, and now you want to disrespect him by proposing to trade him? If he was even going to be traded, no one can replace him besides Duncan, McGrady, and LJ.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gumph:</div><div class="quote_post">That's what they said about Malone, Payton, ARod, and every other big deal. They'll make it happen. Cap only counts in the first year, then they can offer them longer terms. Also Marin is not getting 18+ that will make him 3rd highest, He's not that good. using Exception rule all the above can happen.</div> thats not what they said about malone, and payton. with malone and payton, the exception that they would be willing to take paycuts was well known. martin, dampier, magloire, and boozer will not take paycuts. not at this point in their career where they have the opportunity to make big money. martin will be getting a huge contract, maybe not the $18 million he is looking for, but he definitely wont settle for a mid-level contract to win a championship. you can keep dreaming, but ur roster will never be put together, unless it happens 10 years from now.
I'd love to see K-Mart playing for the Lakers, but I doubt it will ever happen. While I don't think any team is going to offer the full 18 Mil. (his and the Net's poor performance in the 2nd round have dropped his worth) he still cost's to much.
I dont think your plan will happen at all. The Lakers are no where close to getting rid of Shaq, unless something major happens to him and it effects him for the rest of his career. I dont think that the Lakers would even be able to pull off all those deals you made.
I, personally, don't trade Shaq. He is the difference maker in the Laker line up. He may be getting up there in age, but, name one player in the league who can stop him. It's hard to. There might be two, those being Duncan and Yao, but, even than, he abuses Yao, who has 4 inches on him and is what, 7 years younger. He doesn't really play against Duncan all that much, but, when he does, he punishes him also. Despite the fact that he is getting older, there is still no one that can stop him. As long as the Lakers have Shaq, they are a threat for the title. You keep Shaq and don't really worry about it.
it's a pipe dream to hash up a plan to get dampier, martin, kobe, and others on one team. You're right tho- I think if anything the Lakers need to trade Shaq. The only problem is getting equal value... and it looks like the Lakers need to do it soon or they're going to have a Kemp on their hands. You also forget that Payton isn't coming back after this season. He's not fit at all in the offense and he's not willing to sacrifice anymore of his playing time for another ring. My best bet right now would be to trade Shaq to the Mavericks. Get Jamison and Walker or Nash and Walker and see what can happen if you sign kobe and keep Malone. I think my trade is too much of a stretch but it would be nice to see the Lakers go young again. Having Shaq on the Mavericks would infinitely help the Dallas interior D and well throw in Dirk there, you got a legit center, shooting guard, sf (in dirk), and others.
it's a pipe dream to hash up a plan to get dampier, martin, kobe, and others on one team. You're right tho- I think if anything the Lakers need to trade Shaq. The only problem is getting equal value... and it looks like the Lakers need to do it soon or they're going to have a Kemp on their hands. You also forget that Payton isn't coming back after this season. He's not fit at all in the offense and he's not willing to sacrifice anymore of his playing time for another ring. My best bet right now would be to trade Shaq to the Mavericks. Get Jamison and Walker or Nash and Walker and see what can happen if you sign kobe and keep Malone. I think my trade is too much of a stretch but it would be nice to see the Lakers go young again. Having Shaq on the Mavericks would infinitely help the Dallas interior D and well throw in Dirk there, you got a legit center, shooting guard, sf (in dirk), and others.
No way you trade your franchise center. Even in his diminished capacity Shaq is still better than 90% of the centers out there. There's just no substitute for his size and strength. He's still got 2-3 productive years ahead of him at which point the offense will slowly start to revolve around Kobe.
<font color="SlateGray"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Shaq said that were ever Phil Jackson goes, he goes. Lakers will <u>never</u> trade Shaq! <font size="4">Malone - Said he wants to be a Lakers for life Payton - Having a great year in LA and im sure he will stay with Malone Fisher - Always been a Laker and always will Kobe - LA is were all his fans are at, and plus on the news he said he wants to be a Laker for life!</font></font></font>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">We can give Shaq, Fox, and George to Cleveland (here me out). For him we?ll get Zydrunas Illgauskas, Eric Williams, and Carlos boozer.</div> This is probably the most uneven trade since Golden State gave up all of their star players.. The only reason the Lakers are back in the Finals is because no one can guard shaq with single coverage. He may be making only 20 points a game, but he consistently rebounds, defends, and draws attention away from perimeter shooters. This is what has caused the Nuggets and the Wolves to quit and it is going to cause the Pistons to fold in the NBA finals. Their triangle offense is dependent on Shaq's power. If he were not there, the Lakers would simply not be producing on the offensive end. Don't get me wrong though... he has his faults. I think that he is way overweight, he has a horrible attitude, and his FT shooting hurts the team. But his dominance in makes him the most desirable player in the NBA. To give him up for Z is incredibly uneven. Do you think that Z has that much value? Cleveland has been using him as a bargaining chip for years, but they have never been able to get as much as they have hoped for. I highly doubt that they would be able to redeem him for a player like Kenyon Martin. Furthermore, Fox has zero stock value due to his injuries. But I'll give you one thing, though... George has developed into a player that would certainly serve as a great bargaining chip. But I have no idea what you could get with him.. So I think that your proposed trade is flawed on many levels.
