Shaq is the best Center in the league right now! Butler is nowhere near the top of his position and odom would be MAYBE top five at SF only. If Wade can prove himself over the next 2-3 years the Heat will be able to lure FA after Shaq is gone. Not to mention the ones they may now be in the running for, this off season. No vets wanted to come play for the young team nothing against the young guys but do you see tony Kukoc interested if it wasnt for the shaq deal?
wow, toni kukoc. i can't contain my excitement. my beef is not necessarily shaq's production - is that his huge salary doesn't give the team any flexibility and his constant need to be the man is going to ruin the team. i don't care if he scores 40 every night, somebody else has to come up with 50 or 60 points and with shaq demanding the ball on every posession it won't happen. this trade is only justified if we win the finals and since that's unlikely, a better course would have been to keep developing the hottest young core in the league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting glendaleMVP:</div><div class="quote_post">All you crazy guys in here complaining about this being a bad trade and that Shaq is too old, just shut up! This is a GREAT TRADE. Shaq is WAY BETTER than all of the guys we're getting rid of totalled. Would you rather have Wade and Shaq, or Wade, Odom and Butler? Shaq can average more points than both of those players combined! And obviously, the Heat team didn't work out last year, because they lost in the second round. Now with Shaq, who can score 30 and 20 every night, can put them in the NBA Finals. Oh, and Shaq old and lazy? You call the best player in history besides MJ, who is capable of 30-40 and 20 every night, old and lazy? Please, go home kids! You obviously don't know anything! GOOD TRADE, PERIOD.</div> Ok, I'll go home....laughing my ass off!! You call a team that started 0-7 with a first year coach & a bunch of young kids making it to the 2nd round & losing in the 6th game to the 1st place team in the east not working out? They won 18 games in a row at home!! Yeah they suck, break them up. You think L.A. doesnt know talent when they see it? If O'Neal is an instant championship why would L.A. trade him? Do you think they just got sick of winning? This is how they keep winning! Lamar Odom going into his 5th year, he hasnt even reached his prime yet & Caron going into his 3rd year after averaging 15 & 10 in his first 2? Alston is already gone, who are you going to go to the bench for help? Who's going to fill in for Shaq when his toe acts up, needs a breather, or gets in foul trouble? Toni Kukoc? Burnie the mascot? You are not going to see things open up for the other players like they used to with Shaq on the team. It's not going to be the same. Shaq will get his 20-30 points then what? Who are you going to go to? Wade will draw a double team now before Shaq does because Shaq can't beat you on his own. You need depth to win championships!! Man, I hope Miami pulls the trigger on this deal, seriously, less competition to worry about. I'm done, nobody is giving any answers to the questions I'm asking. Sorry for the double post earlier by the way.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cubanballer:</div><div class="quote_post">wow, toni kukoc. i can't contain my excitement. my beef is not necessarily shaq's production - is that his huge salary doesn't give the team any flexibility and his constant need to be the man is going to ruin the team. i don't care if he scores 40 every night, somebody else has to come up with 50 or 60 points and with shaq demanding the ball on every posession it won't happen. this trade is only justified if we win the finals and since that's unlikely, a better course would have been to keep developing the hottest young core in the league.</div> Well look at it like this with Shaq this year our payroll is only 5.1 million more than it would be with Odom, Butler and Grant. Next year it's 5.5 million more than it would be with Odom, Grant and Butler. The team salary this year will be $46 million when we get Shaq, then we have the MLE and LLE to get free agents, at the end our salary will be about $53 million or a little more. If Shaq get's the extension (2 years $60 million), then in 3 years it'd cost more to have Odom, Grant and Butler because Odom and Grant will make about $26.5 million combined, and Caron Butler will be due to get paid. He's definately going to get more than $3.5 million in the market. When Wade is due to get paid, Eddie Jones will come off the books, giving us $15.68 less in salary, so we'll be able to ink Wade. If Dorell Wright develops, and we give Shaq and extension he'll be due to get his money after Wade does, when that time comes, Shaq's $30 million will be coming off the books, and we'll be able to re-sign Wright, and get FA's who are willing to come here.
glendalemvp...your comments are just laughable...pm me if you want to hear a dissenting opinion that will own your ass all over the place...please try and tell me that i don't know anything... wade, eddie jones, shaq...and um ok you can play 19 year old rookie dorrell or rasual butler at the sf...and start haslem or malik allen at the pf ? and you call that instant championship...with absolutely no bench left... i fail to see how that team is supposed to win a championship when shaq, kobe, payton, malone, george, fisher, rush, walton, slava was unable to...but then again...you have all the answers...like the answer to the question of how they're going to fill out their roster after losing 3 starters and their 6th man and now having took on a 30 million dollar contract and no cap room...lets hear it all knowing one...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting og15:</div><div class="quote_post">Well look at it like this with Shaq this year our payroll is only 5.1 million more than it would be with Odom, Butler and Grant. Next year it's 5.5 million more than it would be with Odom, Grant and Butler. The team salary this year will be $46 million when we get Shaq, then we have the MLE and LLE to get free agents, at the end our salary will be about $53 million or a little more. If Shaq get's the extension (2 years $60 million), then in 3 years it'd cost more to have Odom, Grant and Butler because Odom and Grant will make about $26.5 million combined, and Caron Butler will be due to get paid. He's definately going to get more than $3.5 million in the market. When Wade is due to get paid, Eddie Jones will come off the books, giving us $15.68 less in salary, so we'll be able to ink Wade. If Dorell Wright develops, and we give Shaq and extension he'll be due to get his money after Wade does, when that time comes, Shaq's $30 million will be coming off the books, and we'll be able to re-sign Wright, and get FA's who are willing to come here.</div> i respect your opinion but the way i see it we are in worse situation than before, because now we have no bench, less money, the free agent pickings remaining are crap and odom is gone. sure we could go find a free agent in two years but why, if we already had odom signed for a bargain (just watch him in the next 6 years). and if the main argment to get FAs was shaq will bring them, but we can't sign them until he's gone, what's the logic on that? wright? now this 19 year old rookie is the hope for the future? kwame brown anyone?
Shaq doesn't win championships anymore, coaches and defenses have him completely figured out and he is not the dominant player he used to be. All my respect for Riley was lost in this transaction, it just goes to show that greed comes before everything else. It doesn't matter to Riley or Pfund if they tore this team completely apart, all that matters is filling the seats every night, something that hasn't happened in a long time, and that is the main motivation for them in making this deal. Shaq is going to take his 15+ games off this season, yet unlike last year with the Lakers' bench and depth, the Heat have NOTHING besides Dwyane and Eddie. Dwyane and Eddie cannot win games by themselves, last year we were horrible when Lamar or Caron weren't on the floor and this year is going to be no different when Shaq feels like taking days off. For the past THREE years, Shaq has played in only 67 games each year meaning he has missed exactly 15 games every year for the past 3 years, once is fine, twice is a quirk, but third time is a habit. As he gets older, you can expect him to be missing even more than 15 games and the Heat simply cannot afford to do that with just[/b] Dwyane and Eddie. One of the reasons we opened the 7 game losing streak last year was because we didn't have Caron! If the Heat learned to win games on the road last year, we would have been in the eastern conference finals, period. It only gets better from last year, the future was very promising... then Riley goes ahead and tears this team apart. I'm a very disgruntled Heat fan right now.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">i respect your opinion but the way i see it we are in worse situation than before, because now we have no bench, less money, the free agent pickings remaining are crap and odom is gone. sure we could go find a free agent in two years but why, if we already had odom signed for a bargain (just watch him in the next 6 years). and if the main argment to get FAs was shaq will bring them, but we can't sign them until he's gone, what's the logic on that? wright? now this 19 year old rookie is the hope for the future? kwame brown anyone?</div> I'm not talking about the team, but the salary situation, I'd rather have Odom and Butler, won't say I'd rather have Grant, but the salary situation isn't as bad as it looks. The Wizards have Arenas, Hughes and Jamison also, so they have more hope than Kwame, ah well, it happens. One thing I hate is that we aren't going to get a lucky pick like Caron again, that's very unlikely, man... Michael Doleac was our big FA signing, I thought Rodney White would be someone good to pick up with part of out MLE, but 2.3 million on Doleac?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SCBrian:</div><div class="quote_post">glendalemvp...your comments are just laughable...pm me if you want to hear a dissenting opinion that will own your ass all over the place...please try and tell me that i don't know anything... wade, eddie jones, shaq...and um ok you can play 19 year old rookie dorrell or rasual butler at the sf...and start haslem or malik allen at the pf ? and you call that instant championship...with absolutely no bench left... i fail to see how that team is supposed to win a championship when shaq, kobe, payton, malone, george, fisher, rush, walton, slava was unable to...but then again...you have all the answers...like the answer to the question of how they're going to fill out their roster after losing 3 starters and their 6th man and now having took on a 30 million dollar contract and no cap room...lets hear it all knowing one...</div> Dude just lay off.... Your sig says Kobe>MJ and your saying hes retarded? Its actually a good deal for the Heat. They wouldve had a better future with odom and butler but they WILL be better now with Shaq. And who the **** wants Grant anyway? IT looks like Payton Might buy out to come to Miami with Shaq. via free agency and Miami needs a PG too.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SCBrian:</div><div class="quote_post">kobe at 25 is better than mj at 25...disprove that and you can say i'm wrong...</div> Kobe at 25 GP:65 GS:64 MPG: 37.6 FG%: .438 3FG%:.327 FT%:.852 ORPG:1.60 DRPG:3.90 RPG:5.50 APG:5.1 SPG:1.72 BPG:.43 TPG:2.63 FPG:2.70 PPG:24.0 Jordan at 25 GP:81 GS:81 Min:40.2 FG%:.538 3FG%:.276 FT%:.850 ORPG:1.80 DRPG:6.20 RPG:8.00 APG:8.0 SPG:2.89 BPG.80 TPG:3.58 FPG:3.00 PPG:32.5 I think I disproved it...
The deal is currently on Hold because the Lakers just found out that if Lamar Odom gets traded, then he gets a 15% annual raise from his salary.
I think the Lakers may put Payton in the deal because of the Odom Payment. That will offset about half of what Odom is Owed. How is it exactly that the Heat where going to get passed Indiana or the pistons with that group of guys? Another thing none of you consider is the box office effect. The Heat have been for years struggling to bank any money, Shaq will get people to the games and sell more merchandise than ever before for them. And eerone forgets the Lakers taking Grant's contract how many times have they pleaded for teams to take that guy with no luck ,so finally they are rid of him. Simply put to all the disgruntled Heat fans: Who is a better center than Shaq? Who is better than Odom and Butler (a whole shiet load of people) and with center being the most important spot on the court how can you argue? You are right though defenses have him all figured out, Did you see his sorry game of 36 and 20 in the finals? Boy that guy SUCKS! Nonoe will play better next to him look at Nick anderson Glen Rice and Penny Haradaway post shaq They all declined, I cant wait to see how Kobe deals with all the attention next year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe at 25 GP:65 GS:64 MPG: 37.6 FG%: .438 3FG%:.327 FT%:.852 ORPG:1.60 DRPG:3.90 RPG:5.50 APG:5.1 SPG:1.72 BPG:.43 TPG:2.63 FPG:2.70 PPG:24.0 Jordan at 25 GP:81 GS:81 Min:40.2 FG%:.538 3FG%:.276 FT%:.850 ORPG:1.80 DRPG:6.20 RPG:8.00 APG:8.0 SPG:2.89 BPG.80 TPG:3.58 FPG:3.00 PPG:32.5 I think I disproved it...</div> Nice job man. Jordan is better than Kobe and some doubt about it. This will prove it
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chucksta:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe at 25 GP:65 GS:64 MPG: 37.6 FG%: .438 3FG%:.327 FT%:.852 ORPG:1.60 DRPG:3.90 RPG:5.50 APG:5.1 SPG:1.72 BPG:.43 TPG:2.63 FPG:2.70 PPG:24.0 Jordan at 25 GP:81 GS:81 Min:40.2 FG%:.538 3FG%:.276 FT%:.850 ORPG:1.80 DRPG:6.20 RPG:8.00 APG:8.0 SPG:2.89 BPG.80 TPG:3.58 FPG:3.00 PPG:32.5 I think I disproved it...</div> Well said. I hate Kobe fan boys who say Kobes better than MJ ya see that SCBrian whos better by looking at that?Kobe only had more champs than MJ at 25 cuz Kobe had Shaq. Mj never had a good big man at that age. Kobe didnt even lead his team to his champion ships Shaq did. PERIOD
Don't forget Jordan had prolly the best players in the NBA history to compete too. Larry Bird, Majic Johnson, Isiah Thomas.etc. And don't forget that Kobe had the most dominant player playing with him. NOT against.
