Jeff has Yao and Stan has Shaq. One in the east and the other in the west. Kinda of ironic but what would even be more weird is if they meet in the finals.
They're not gonna be able to keep Caron Butler if they want Shaq IMO, I just think L.A wouldn't like what they were getting out of it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MavsJ33:</div><div class="quote_post">They're not gonna be able to keep Caron Butler if they want Shaq IMO, I just think L.A wouldn't like what they were getting out of it.</div> The Lakers have said it's Miami's choice if they want to get rid of Butler or a draft pick.
All but done deal. All they have to do is cross their Ts, dot their Is, and get David Stern to finalize the deal. Shaq is back in Florida for at least 2 years.
I really don't know about htis deal.. i'm feeling kinda good and bad. I don't wanan lose Butler, and Odom. Odom is going to be a relaly good player in the future, maybe the next KG, and he has alot more years in him than Shaq. I don't think Riley will do it.
My biggest question is who will fill in at power forward and small forward. Starting lineup will include Shaq, Wade, and Jones. I guess it'll be Rasual Butler and Udonis Haslem? Not necessarily the scarriest lineup in the east if you ask me. Pat Riley has to be looking for another big man through free agency. Otherwise, no matter whether they have Shaq or not, they don't have the depth that Detroit and Indiana have.
I think adding Shaq would be good for this team. Who knows, it could lead them to an NBA Championship. Losing Odom is a punch in the stomach but the line-up is still going to be very good and BETTER with Shaq. I think people are forgetting he's the most DOMINANT player on Earth. My predictions for Miami (if they get Shaq) next season may possibly come to the NBA Finals. I think it's going to be Heat and Rockets, the Van Gundy's!
In my opinion, he's not even the most dominant player in the game right now, people can disagree all they want, that's just me. Honestly, I don't really like it. They give up Odom, Grant, and maybe Butler. If they give up Butler too, it makes the trade even worse. Look at the turnaround season Lamar had. He could be one of the biggest stars in this league. Maybe I don't like the trade because of the fact that Lamar is becoming a Laker and I would hate to see him in a Lakers jersey. Shaq has only a couple years left in the tank and he's gone. They totally mess up the team's chemistry with this trade. Sure Shaq is a dominant center and player but I'm really not too sure about this. The team was really flowing last season and now it's messed up if this goes through. If you look at it, the Lakers win this one.
Yeah I just started to like Odom and its gonna hurt to see him leave. I mean "forced to leave" IF this was to happen, shaq better win us a ring or two tho
this is a HORRIBLE deal for the heat. they loose 3 out of their 5 starting players for ONE. i dont care who it is, shaq isnt worth giving up a budding star like caron, a young versatile player that can give you 20, 10 and 5 on any given night, and the heart and soul of your team to boot. heat NEED to hang onto caron. grant and lamar and eddie for shaq and george would make more sense, except for the part of eddie goin back to LA. miami are just plain giving up WAY too much with not enough in return. shaq would easily dominate in the east, but would the team dominate? tough to say. these days you need depth. miami looses all their depth for one player. makes no sense ot me
Shaq, Wade and Jones is good enough to contend for the title, IMO. Haslem is very, very serviceable at the 4, and can focus entirely on rebounding. Using the MLE and LLE, they should be able to attract some veteran help, most likely at the PG and SF spots... I'd imagine guys like Derek Fisher and Eric Williams will be looked at. By the time Shaq and Jones are ready to retire, you'd think Dorrell Wright will be ready to go. With the cap space they'll have in 3-4 years, they'll max out Wade and be able to attract other top flight FAs. So I don't think they're in trouble, long-term, by any means... it just won't involve LO or Caron Butler.
THIS SUCKS. i can't even start to say how many ways. IT'S OLD HAKEEM ALL OVER AGAIN. i hate shaq. he's lazy, he's arrogant, and he's as much a locker room poison pill as kobe. he has played a full season once - he'll give us 50 games if we are lucky. the main reason he's always injured is being so fat and out of shape. i'm not even going to get into his game, ugly as it is, because at least he does score a lot as long as the refs keeps letting him get away with traveling and offensive fouls. can't be bothered to defend or rebound anymore. he's going to clash with wade sooner than later, demanding the ball and making sure everybody knows who's team it is. the only one who's going to benefit from this is eddie jones, who now is going to get all the slashing opportunities he couldn't create for himself anymore. we better hope that haslem and rasual are ready for big minutes, a big "if" IMO. ODOM AND CARON? two all stars for a declining one? say goodbye to the running game also, it's back to the bump and grind. and how do we match against the pistons now? if shaq and kobe couldn't get it done, would shaq and wade do it? THIS SUCKS. the only hope is that maybe shaq is really pissed off and wants to show the lakers and the league he's still the most dominant player. BUT how does that play if he's now in the East? one thing about shaq's motivation is that it doesn't last too long. he's just too laid back. I say he gets into the south beach thing by the second week of the season, forgets all grudges and it's back to rap records and such. the press here is going to be fawning all over him, adding to the complacency. and even if he plays hard for one season, then it's do you give him the 100 mil he still thinks he's worth or do you have to see him go to another team dumb enough to give it to him after one "resurrection"? and we lost caron and odom. i'm so pissed about this. :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow
Just a couple of points: Odom and Caron Butler are not All-Stars, and will likely not be for a number of years. I'm sure Dwyane Wade will be very happy to defer to Shaquille O'Neal, and still have the opportunity to put up 20ppg. This guy is the polar opposite of Kobe Bryant in terms of attitude. How do you match up with the Pistons now? A hell of a lot better than you did last year. No teams with said 'running game' have won the NBA championship since the 1980s.
I agree..horrible deal. First they let Alston get away...now this. Sure, Shaq is one of the best centers but If the Lakers couldn't when the championship with its allstar lineup this year, how are the Heat going to do it with just Shaq and Wade? I think they would have been better off going after Dampier while giving up much less. Here is the starting lineup I was hoping for next season before all these bad moves: PG: Alston SG: Wade-his natural position-scoring would increase F : Butler PF: Odum C : Dampier-free agent right now-rebounder and shot blocker <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Accord:</div><div class="quote_post">This is terrible, Riley isn't dumb enough to completely dismantle the solid core of this team to RENT Shaq out for 1 season, and even that he only has 2 or 3 good years left in him. Riley has already publicly stated that he will not tear down the team that he has built to acquire Shaq. There is no guarantee that Shaq won't opt out of his contract and Shaq isn't the same player he used to be, now I don't mean to take anything against Dwyane Wade but the Heat will still have to go through the Detroit Pistons to even make it to the Finals and the Fakers got destroyed when they faced the Pistons in the Finals even with Shaq and Kobe! Shaq can't even win with Kobe anymore so what makes anyone think he'll be able to win with Dwyane? Shaq isn't the same player he used to be and if the Heat do this deal, they will be doing it with one thing and ONE THING ONLY in mind: Filling the seats in American Airlines Arena during the regular season. Lamar Odom doesn't sell seats, but Shaq does, and if this deal goes down that will be the only reason Riley and Pfund approve of it. Odom and Dwyane have an amazing chemistry, they'll be playing on the olympic team together, and it only gets better from here on out. Why ruin this for a 1 year rental of Shaq? Once Shaq is gone, this team will be in complete disarray and in rebuilding mode again. Shaq alone is not capable of winning championships anymore and just because he is in the east makes no difference at all. :thumbsdow Shaq :thumbsdow</div>
I like this trade for the Lakers. They are getting a versatile forward in Lamar Odom and a decent rebounder in Brian Grant. The only thing is that Grant is a little undersized to play C in the west. Butler could take over the SF spot from George and that would leave our lineup looking like this: PG-Payton SG-Kobe SF-Butler PF-Odom C-Grant I really like that young three-some of Odom,Kobe, and Caron. I would have loved to see us get Wade somehow in a deal but I doubt the Lakers can pull that off now. Im happy with this deal and think the Lakers got equal talent for Shaq.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting insanitarium:</div><div class="quote_post">Anything is worth it for a championship.</div> just a tad assumptive dont ya think?
