L.A. should be saying good riddance to Shaq LOS ANGELES - And then there are those of us who believe the Los Angeles Lakers will be lucky to be rid of Shaquille O'Neal. The Big Baby. The Big Ego. The Big Pain in the Butt. The Big Mouth. The Big Back-Stabber. rest of the article here http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9139091.htm
M J Darnell, a guy whose opinion I respect, also thinks is a bad deal. Here's the link to his article. http://www.insidehoops.com/throwing-071304.shtml
Another good article talking about how the Lakers are getting an awesome deal and Miami is getting shafted... http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2573094
I'm sorry accord, but personally i don't think you can in any way compare odom to shaq. Shaq doesn't only influence the game with points, he draws doubles and adds the intimidation factor. that article was posted in the laker forum, and it got the type of reaction that i just gave. Personally i don't have a huge opinion on this trade, i just think taht article is kinda dumb.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dpballers913:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm sorry accord, but personally i don't think you can in any way compare odom to shaq. Shaq doesn't only influence the game with points, he draws doubles and adds the intimidation factor. that article was posted in the laker forum, and it got the type of reaction that i just gave. Personally i don't have a huge opinion on this trade, i just think taht article is kinda dumb.</div> I agree Odom can't be compared to Shaq, i'm just trying to find any sort of articles that are not in favor of this trade. I hate the trade for both teams and don't want it to happen.
This is a DamnJoke, The second article lists Dwayne wade in the lakers starting line-up? Respect for a guy who cant even get the deal straight. The third article talks about shaq vs. odom numbers (all of which shaq has the edge) and doesnt mention double or triple teams or playing in the west vs. the east. Do you guys think odom puts up those numbers against Duncan Garnett or Amare? Not even close to a championship huh? Well last time I checked they where closer than anyone in the western conference?How do any of you think that the heat will fare better against the pacers or pistons without the shaq deal. What about experience? How many road games did the heat win in the playoffs? 0000000000000 thats zero! Nada, experience wins on the road. Where were all the doubters when shaq lead LA to three straight? At home, playing golf and chanting "what till next year we have potential"
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rphinney1:</div><div class="quote_post">This is a DamnJoke, The second article lists Dwayne wade in the lakers starting line-up? Respect for a guy who cant even get the deal straight. </div> this ranks up there with ppl who, lacking a convincing argument, resort to criticize a typo. so the guy made a mistake. he obviously knows what he's talking about. that's just infantile. thankfully as the deal got closer and finally happened, more and more analysts are calling it for what it is, a huge gamble. you wouldn't know from listening to the fanboys in south florida sports radio and in the herald, who are just happy to have something easy to talk about (and afraid that shaq will not talk to them if they diss him). too bad that this week 940 am changed formats from sports to air america. as much as i like air america, i was dying to hear rome talk about the trade.
I don't think you can really say whether this is a good or bad deal yet... we won't know for 2-4 years. A lot of question marks, on either side.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RiverspoonJones:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think you can really say whether this is a good or bad deal yet... we won't know for 2-4 years. A lot of question marks, on either side.</div> If the Heat don't get past the second round of the playoffs, the trade was a failure.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RiverspoonJones:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think you can really say whether this is a good or bad deal yet... we won't know for 2-4 years. A lot of question marks, on either side.</div> I agree, however Shaq will probably be well past his prime in 2-4 years. It could work well for the Heat for a couple of reasons... This is a stretch, but if you think positively, you could consider this the newcoming of Kobe & Shaq. Dwyane Wade was the darkhorse for ROY, and has proven he can do wonderful things on the court. It should be interesting to see him play with Shaq downlow. With Shaq in uniform, the seats will fill up. After their playoff run, fans started coming out - but with Shaq in a uni, there should be more bandwagoners to witness the new look Heat. Shaq is still Shaq. That simple. He is a very dominating player and near impossible to guard. He's also playing in the east now. His biggest matchup at center will be Ben Wallace - standing at 6-9. The Heat killed off Brian Grant's contract. I can't stand Shaq, and if he landed in a Magic uni I would be very upset. However, he's a damn good player. And he can attract big names. The Heat are now unoffically the 2nd best team in the east. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If the Heat don't get past the second round of the playoffs, the trade was a failure.</div> Very true. Anyhow, think positive!
Heat fans are so damn happy they made the second round of the playoffs it makes people on the west coast here laugh! Cant you see how sub par the heat where? You guys are popping champagne and celebrating. YOU MADE THE SECOND ROUND AND DIDNT WIN ONE GAME ON THE ROAD! IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE NO LESS! "Potential" Can be a killer, Dallas made the West finals 2 years ago and this year where put out in the first round, Portland was loaded with talent a few years back and never progressed the way they should have. How about Sacramento? All three of these teams chanted the same thing the heat fans chant "What till next year" Guess what Shaq is your next year! He makes you better right now! Thats what the NBA is all about, look at all the coaches getting fired, they didnt win right now, look at all the players moving they want to win right now, Owners paying record contracts to win right now! Shaq makes you better right now! Not to mention his box office appeal, The heat will sell more seats than ever before and probably save your franchise from moving to las vegas!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rphinney1:</div><div class="quote_post">Heat fans are so damn happy they made the second round of the playoffs it makes people on the west coast here laugh! Cant you see how sub par the heat where? You guys are popping champagne and celebrating. YOU MADE THE SECOND ROUND AND DIDNT WIN ONE GAME ON THE ROAD! IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE NO LESS! "Potential" Can be a killer, Dallas made the West finals 2 years ago and this year where put out in the first round, Portland was loaded with talent a few years back and never progressed the way they should have. How about Sacramento? All three of these teams chanted the same thing the heat fans chant "What till next year" Guess what Shaq is your next year! He makes you better right now! Thats what the NBA is all about, look at all the coaches getting fired, they didnt win right now, look at all the players moving they want to win right now, Owners paying record contracts to win right now! Shaq makes you better right now! Not to mention his box office appeal, The heat will sell more seats than ever before and probably save your franchise from moving to las vegas!</div> Ummm, the reason the Heat were celebrating was because they had little to no expectations for the season, yet they made the playoffs & took the Pacers (the team with the best record in the league) to 6 hard fought games. They did all this despite the fact that they started the season with a coach who had been appointed just 2 weeks before the season started because Pat Riley stepped down & they had no all star players. They lost their first 7 games & nobody expected them to win more than 20 all season, instead they completely turned their franchise around & developed a rising star in Dwayne Wade. Thats alot more than people expected from a team who didnt even play a full year together. What do you mean "in the Eastern Conference no less". Do you mean the conference that produced the team that flushed the Lakers down the toilet like they were nothing? Detroit received as much competition from the Lakers as they did from the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round!! Thats your champs? Thats the team that was supposed to break the Bulls record for wins in a season? Whats sad is the Lakers steam rolled their competition during the western playoffs, that doesnt say much for the Western Conference. The reason that Sacto, Dallas, & Portland never improved is because they never learned how to play defense, you need to play at both ends of the court to win. Miami had the chance to be a contender without Shaq's help, all they had to do was be patient & make a couple of changes,nothing major, like throw your whole starting lineup out the door. Detroit put their team together piece by piece, picking up players when they saw a deal they couldnt pass up, they never broke up the core of their team. Miami fans shouldnt be looking at the Eastern conference in terms of how other players match up against Shaq, nobody in the league does, they should be looking at everyone else on their team. Not just the starting lineup either but their bench. And dont tell me Shaq is going to make other players better because the days of him being double & triple teamed are done, Detroit showed you what happens when you concentrate your defense on stopping everyone but Shaq, Shaq may score big but the team loses. The only thing I can agree with you on is the ticket sales, but those bandwagon jumpers hop off as fast as they hop on. Look at Washington with Jordan.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ice:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree, however Shaq will probably be well past his prime in 2-4 years. </div> What I meant was, looking back on this deal in 2007 or 2008, if the Heat have won or got close to winning a championship between now and then... they win the deal IMO. And it's not as if they're totally screwed when Shaq leaves town. They'll have 40 million big ones to rebuild the team around Dwyane Wade and Dorrell Wright.
unless the heat win a championship in teh next 2 years, the deal was not worth it for them...dwyane wade has not even come close to reaching his potential and with the young core in odom / wade / wright / butler...they may have peaked in unison or worst case scenario they coulda dealt butler for a big man or signed a big man in free agency after eddie jones and brian grants contracts were up...so yah unless shaq brings them a title in 2 years (which i dont think he will), then the trade was not worth it for them... and for rphinney who wonders were all the haters after oneal led us to 3 championships...i have been saying for 2 years (since we won the third title) that Oneal needed to be dealt because i saw the future problems coming that keeping him would cause...so yes there were some haters who already knew that we were going to have to make the choice of dealing the most dominant player in the nba as difficult a choice as that may have seemed...go read 'big mistake' in the lakers forum if you wanna know more about my thought process on why i thought he should have been dealt 2 years ago...but i have always hated shaq and always will...and i do say goodriddance im glad hes gone
Shaq is the best center in the league. Odom and Butler are not in the top 5 at SF or PF. Center is the most important spot on the floor. What is the problem again?
As for SCBrian 8>23, think about this, as great as Kobe and Shaq where they have exactly half the rings MJ has. HALF! 5 years of being perenial favorites and their Dynasty got them half way to Jordan. Kobe still needs 2 more to catch Magic. I hope this puts into perspective just how good those guys really where. Did you see what happened when the Pistons elected not to double Shaq and shut down Kobe? THEY OWNED HIM! Can't wait to see how he deals with that type of attention 82 games next year? If Shaq to the Heat is such a bad move Call the maloofs Cuban Flip Saunders and Popovich and ask what they think! Do you think they consider the lakers contenders anymore? Yuo think they are going to Gameplan for Caron Butler?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rphinney1:</div><div class="quote_post">Shaq is the best center in the league. Odom and Butler are not in the top 5 at SF or PF. Center is the most important spot on the floor. What is the problem again?</div> There are alot of posts on here that answer these questions in detail, but no posts that answer any of my questions at all. Yes, Shaq is the best center in the league, but there are other positions to be played on the court as well. Shaq will not make average players into stars like he used to because he will not draw a double or triple team anymore. Odom & Butler are not in the top 5 of their position, true, but are both very young & very solid players. Odom is coming up on his 6th year, he has not even reached his peak yet. Caron has only played 2 years, he has already had impressive numbers. How many players are in the top 5 in their first 2 years? Plus Detroit has proven that you can win the title with a team that is made up of solid players. They had 1 all star. The problem for the Heat is simple...they will not win the championship. Unless they suddenly stumble across a dream crop of free agents who will work for nothing, then count them out. Doleac? Toni Kukoc? The Heat better hope they can do better than that!
The Pistons prved that in one freak year a group of solid guys won. Look at past champions, Spurs, Lakers, Bulls, Rockets, Pistons, Lakers (88-89) and Celtics, thats every title winner for the last 20 years Now listen to these names, Duncan Shaq Jordan Olajuwon Isiah, Magic and Bird! You're right no need for superstars. And you keep insisting that Noone will double Shaq , dont forget that Ben Wallace is one of the top 3 defenders in the league so just because the pistons played him that way doesnt mean everyone will. Who else in the east is going to single cover him?Kwame Brown? Mutombo? Jason Collins? Ilgauskas? Hell I cant even think of the rest of the centers in the east?Teams like Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Boston, Toronto, Milwakee Who in the hell is going to single cover him?
I dont think last year was a freak year for the Pistons, their victory was pretty decisive. Notice that I didnt say superstars werent important, I'm simply stating that what the Pistons did was huge, they broke a new a barrier, & it wasnt a fluke. Yes I am aware that Ben Wallace is one of the top defenders, but do you honestly think he covered Shaq well? How could he? He gives up 4 inches & over 100lbs. I dont know about you but when I was watching the games Wallace looked like a speed bump on Shaq's road. I will say this again, nobody can single cover Shaq effectively. All you can do is try to annoy him & pray he misses. Now the thing is Shaq does not shoot 100% from the floor, he averages 27ppg for his career & next year will probably average about 30, on the Heat that will not be enough to win a championship. The Heat have noone besides Wade to back him. He has a poor supporting cast. Throw a big body at Shaq & let him slap them around (thats what he does anyway), what I'm saying is dont waste the time to double him because it just leaves your man wide open. Shaq will score big that always happens no matter what, double or not, you have to make the rest of the team beat you. The Pistons had 2 footers to jump off the bench to "attempt" to cover him but they also had Corliss Williamson cover him too, he's only 6'7. You just cant give Shaq a free lane. As for teams like Atlanta, Milwaukee, etc, you got me there, they dont even have anyone that would amount to a pothole on Shaq's road. Yeah, they're in trouble.
