this (potential) shaq trade ponders me.
on one side you have the suns, who have obvious internal issues involving marion, but have managed to keep them mostly hidden beneath the surface, probably because they're in phoenix and not LA or NYC. you also have nash, who's getting up there in age and doesn't have much left in the tank. they're a win now team... so perhaps they make the move out of desperation.
then you have shaq, himself... who certainly seems to be done, but i certainly wouldn't under estimate shaq's desire to prove people wrong, get himself back into good enough shape for one more title run.
if shaq is, in fact, able to get into shape, he certainly gives the suns a different dynamic, and putting him and stoudamire on the floor together would be an unbelievable matchup problem for, well, everyone.
the argument that shaq won't fit into phoenix's offense isn't really a valid one...
a) they still have plenty of firepower to run in transition
b) come playoff time they slow it down a bit, anyways
c) many of their sets are based around high post entries and screen/rolls between nash and "bigs." a sorta in shape shaq could be impossible to contain in these sets.
remember... if shaq is able to get himself back into respectable shape for one more run... 20/10 shape... it means that phoenix's opponenets need to make a decision. double team shaq or double team stoudamire. ya certainly can't double both, not with the shooters that team has.
if i'm steve kerr i want to ask permission from miami to have a serious conversation with shaq himself before i pull the trigger on this trade, and there's two questions i want to ask... 1, how out of shape are you, 2, what are your retirement plans?
if shaq is in good enough shape where he can work himself into 20/10 shape, and would very much plan on retiring soon, especially if he wins another title... i'd say do it.
it's a high risk/high reward type of deal... it's either going to bring home a championship or completely blow up in phoenix's face. if shaq has just enough for one more title run and then retires at year's end, clearing 20 million off phoenix's cap and eliminating the obvious tension that exists with shawn marion's dumbfuck idea that he could do what he does on any team... it could be an absolute coup. if shaq just can't do it, really is done, but sticks around to collect his entire paycheck, it would be an absolute disaster.
i may lean towards doing it... after all, we need to remember one thing. since 1980 22 of the past 28 NBA Champions have had one of 5 players on the team... Magic, Bird, Jordan, Duncan and Shaq, and either Shaq, Jordan or Ducan has been involved in every single NBA Finals since 1995.
p.s. - shaq is allegedly in phoenix as we speak taking a physical.