The Stupidest Trade I've Ever Heard Of
(Author's note: I was planning on writing about Bobby Knight today...and then this happened. But don't you worry; the sports world finally being rid of the miserable human being that is Bobby Knight will get discussed soon.)
Or the greatest, if you're a Miami fan.
The Phoenix Suns are trading Shawn Marion & Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for Shaq. Fairly simple.
As stated above, this is the stupidest fucking trade I've ever heard of. Seriously, I think this is the worst. This beats getting Charles Barkley for, as the Sports Guy likes to put it, "the peu peu platter" from Philly (when basically you trade Barkley for Jeff Hornacek...yeahhhhhhhhh...not good). This beats even trading Wilt Chamberlain for cash, because that happened when the NBA was not the giant it is today, and when the options are "sell Wilt Chamberlain" or "go out of business", well, you kept the doors open, that's a good thing. So what makes this trade so bad? Because it's bad on every conceivable level. Allow me to explain:
Level 5: Age. Phoenix traded away a star in his prime for a 36 year old center who has already missed 14 games this season, is having by far his worse season statistically, and is on the obvious downside of his career. There wasn't just speculation that Shaq would retire after last season, most people were encouraging him to do so.
Level 4: Skill set. Shawn Marion is a jack of all trades: a freakishly good athlete who can dunk on anyone, is a good perimeter shooter, an excellent rebounder, one of the best and most versatile (he can guard all 5 positions) defenders in the NBA, and an outstanding free throw shooter. He’s also incredibly durable, never having missed more than 3 games in a season.
At this point in his career, Shaq is an average center who is injury prone. He is averaging a mundane 14 pts and 8 rebounds, and even with his injury woes, there’s no reason to see those numbers improving if he gets healthy--which won’t happen with the run 'n gun Suns. He hasn't averaged over 2 blocks a game in 3 years, either, so please stop all the "he'll be a great defensive presence in the middle!" nonsense. He's always been a below average shot blocker for a center, and now he’s a bad shot blocker. And if you think he is going to keep up with Tim Duncan, Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bynum, or Yao Ming defensively, you're insane.
Just look at the Suns defensively now: Amare and Little Stevie Nash are famous for being not just bad, but HORRENDOUS defenders. The Suns got by with having Raja Bell guard the best guard, and Shawn Marion guard the best anyone else. Now they don’t have that option! They have no frontcourt defense! They have no defense at all anymore!
Level 3: Chemistry. This is why this trade was made (well, other than the panic over the Gasol trade). Marion and the Suns have been at odds for years, and Shaq is done with Miami, the worst team to ever win an NBA title. However, be careful what you wish for. Shaq isn't going to be happy not being the focal point of the offense; if they think Shaq is going to be content to come in, play D, rebound, and shoot 4 or 5 times a game, they're flipping crazy. Shaq was vocal at the start of the season about not getting enough shots in Miami--and this was while Wade was out! Shaq, like most stars, is a bit delusional about his skill level now that he's grown old. So don't expect all the Sun's chemistry issues to be solved immediately.
Level 2: Financial. I’ll say it: Sun’s owner Brett Sarver is a cheap ass. He's been giving away draft picks for years, and last year started giving away players, by ditching the INCREDILBY valuable Kurt Thomas to the Sonics. So you would think that this move would help the Suns financially--much like the Gasol trade made absolutely no sense from a player standpoint, but did make sense financially.
Oh contraire, mon fraire. Shaq has 2 years after this season where he makes a whopping $20 mil each. The Suns have tied up all of their finances in Shaq for the next 2.5 years--there’s no way they can make any other trades, because all their money is going to be entrenched in him. We’ve already established that Shaq is aging in dog years at this point, so by the time he reaches his last season, he'll be one of the highest paid players in the league and will be averaging single digits in everything. Awesome.
Some pundits would say, "But Marion was a free agent after this season! They could have lost him and gotten nothing in return!" First of all, so what? You’re in FIRST FUCKING PLACE right now, so you make one more run at the title--you're third try in a row—and if it doesn’t work, well, then yes, it's time to break the team up. But it's not like things are broken now, so you make the one last push. Second of all, you weren't really going to lose him for "nothing". Marion wants his money, and he can make the most in Phoenix. That means that the Suns would do the same thing for him they did for Joe Johnson, work a sign and trade—which worked out really well for the Suns, until Boris Diaw signed a contract extension and realized how many chocolate croissants and strawberry tarts he could now afford. So no, you weren't going to "lose him for nothing", and even if you did, you were left with cap flexibility.
Congrats. You didn't get "nothing" in return for Marion, you lost all of your cap flexibility for the next 2.5 years and got a subpar player in return.
And finally, most importantly...
Level 1: Style of play. Congratulations Phoenix. You have completely fucked up your style of play with this acquisition. Your "7 seconds or less days" are gone. Over. Done. Finito. There's no way Shaq can run like Phoenix likes to--even if he was able to do it effectively, it would lead to a myriad of injuries because his body can’t (and never really could) take that style of play. "Well Shaq's the new guy," some would say. "He should adapt, and accept a lesser role." Oh yeah. How many times have we seen that scenario: an aging, arrogant star on the downside of his career--but still in denial about that--coming to a new city, sacrificing his entire game and taking a peon's role. That happens ALL the time. Shaq still wants his touches, and he's going to demand that Phoenix plays a game that they are not used to. The Suns are going to have to adapt to Shaq because there is no possible way he can adapt to them, and it's going to kill their team and their soul in the process. They're changing to a style of play that they and their new acquisition aren't good at, and that's all there is to it.
Don't get me wrong. The Suns will still make the playoffs. They'll still be pretty good. But they are no longer in the West's elite--they can't compete on a serious level with the Mavs & Spurs anymore, and probably can't compete with the "new elite" (the Hornets & Lakers) either. They probably aren't even as good as the Jazz now.
It's just sad. As a Mavs' fan, I should be thrilled, because one of our biggest competitors is now out of the picture. But I'm not thrilled; I'm angry and sad. One of the most entertaining teams in the league is out of the picture because of an idiotic owner and GM. The Suns were responsible for the rebirth of offense in the NBA, which is the best thing to happen to the league since Jordan retired (the first time). This was a great, fun to watch team that will be missed, and it's just so damn frustrating that bad management has allowed this to happen.
So farewell, Suns. You're not going to suck, but you're no longer amongst the elite teams in the West.
It was good while it lasted.
Or the greatest, if you're a Miami fan.
The Phoenix Suns are trading Shawn Marion & Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for Shaq. Fairly simple.
As stated above, this is the stupidest fucking trade I've ever heard of. Seriously, I think this is the worst. This beats getting Charles Barkley for, as the Sports Guy likes to put it, "the peu peu platter" from Philly (when basically you trade Barkley for Jeff Hornacek...yeahhhhhhhhh...not good). This beats even trading Wilt Chamberlain for cash, because that happened when the NBA was not the giant it is today, and when the options are "sell Wilt Chamberlain" or "go out of business", well, you kept the doors open, that's a good thing. So what makes this trade so bad? Because it's bad on every conceivable level. Allow me to explain:
Level 5: Age. Phoenix traded away a star in his prime for a 36 year old center who has already missed 14 games this season, is having by far his worse season statistically, and is on the obvious downside of his career. There wasn't just speculation that Shaq would retire after last season, most people were encouraging him to do so.
Level 4: Skill set. Shawn Marion is a jack of all trades: a freakishly good athlete who can dunk on anyone, is a good perimeter shooter, an excellent rebounder, one of the best and most versatile (he can guard all 5 positions) defenders in the NBA, and an outstanding free throw shooter. He’s also incredibly durable, never having missed more than 3 games in a season.
At this point in his career, Shaq is an average center who is injury prone. He is averaging a mundane 14 pts and 8 rebounds, and even with his injury woes, there’s no reason to see those numbers improving if he gets healthy--which won’t happen with the run 'n gun Suns. He hasn't averaged over 2 blocks a game in 3 years, either, so please stop all the "he'll be a great defensive presence in the middle!" nonsense. He's always been a below average shot blocker for a center, and now he’s a bad shot blocker. And if you think he is going to keep up with Tim Duncan, Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bynum, or Yao Ming defensively, you're insane.
Just look at the Suns defensively now: Amare and Little Stevie Nash are famous for being not just bad, but HORRENDOUS defenders. The Suns got by with having Raja Bell guard the best guard, and Shawn Marion guard the best anyone else. Now they don’t have that option! They have no frontcourt defense! They have no defense at all anymore!
Level 3: Chemistry. This is why this trade was made (well, other than the panic over the Gasol trade). Marion and the Suns have been at odds for years, and Shaq is done with Miami, the worst team to ever win an NBA title. However, be careful what you wish for. Shaq isn't going to be happy not being the focal point of the offense; if they think Shaq is going to be content to come in, play D, rebound, and shoot 4 or 5 times a game, they're flipping crazy. Shaq was vocal at the start of the season about not getting enough shots in Miami--and this was while Wade was out! Shaq, like most stars, is a bit delusional about his skill level now that he's grown old. So don't expect all the Sun's chemistry issues to be solved immediately.
Level 2: Financial. I’ll say it: Sun’s owner Brett Sarver is a cheap ass. He's been giving away draft picks for years, and last year started giving away players, by ditching the INCREDILBY valuable Kurt Thomas to the Sonics. So you would think that this move would help the Suns financially--much like the Gasol trade made absolutely no sense from a player standpoint, but did make sense financially.
Oh contraire, mon fraire. Shaq has 2 years after this season where he makes a whopping $20 mil each. The Suns have tied up all of their finances in Shaq for the next 2.5 years--there’s no way they can make any other trades, because all their money is going to be entrenched in him. We’ve already established that Shaq is aging in dog years at this point, so by the time he reaches his last season, he'll be one of the highest paid players in the league and will be averaging single digits in everything. Awesome.
Some pundits would say, "But Marion was a free agent after this season! They could have lost him and gotten nothing in return!" First of all, so what? You’re in FIRST FUCKING PLACE right now, so you make one more run at the title--you're third try in a row—and if it doesn’t work, well, then yes, it's time to break the team up. But it's not like things are broken now, so you make the one last push. Second of all, you weren't really going to lose him for "nothing". Marion wants his money, and he can make the most in Phoenix. That means that the Suns would do the same thing for him they did for Joe Johnson, work a sign and trade—which worked out really well for the Suns, until Boris Diaw signed a contract extension and realized how many chocolate croissants and strawberry tarts he could now afford. So no, you weren't going to "lose him for nothing", and even if you did, you were left with cap flexibility.
Congrats. You didn't get "nothing" in return for Marion, you lost all of your cap flexibility for the next 2.5 years and got a subpar player in return.
And finally, most importantly...
Level 1: Style of play. Congratulations Phoenix. You have completely fucked up your style of play with this acquisition. Your "7 seconds or less days" are gone. Over. Done. Finito. There's no way Shaq can run like Phoenix likes to--even if he was able to do it effectively, it would lead to a myriad of injuries because his body can’t (and never really could) take that style of play. "Well Shaq's the new guy," some would say. "He should adapt, and accept a lesser role." Oh yeah. How many times have we seen that scenario: an aging, arrogant star on the downside of his career--but still in denial about that--coming to a new city, sacrificing his entire game and taking a peon's role. That happens ALL the time. Shaq still wants his touches, and he's going to demand that Phoenix plays a game that they are not used to. The Suns are going to have to adapt to Shaq because there is no possible way he can adapt to them, and it's going to kill their team and their soul in the process. They're changing to a style of play that they and their new acquisition aren't good at, and that's all there is to it.
Don't get me wrong. The Suns will still make the playoffs. They'll still be pretty good. But they are no longer in the West's elite--they can't compete on a serious level with the Mavs & Spurs anymore, and probably can't compete with the "new elite" (the Hornets & Lakers) either. They probably aren't even as good as the Jazz now.
It's just sad. As a Mavs' fan, I should be thrilled, because one of our biggest competitors is now out of the picture. But I'm not thrilled; I'm angry and sad. One of the most entertaining teams in the league is out of the picture because of an idiotic owner and GM. The Suns were responsible for the rebirth of offense in the NBA, which is the best thing to happen to the league since Jordan retired (the first time). This was a great, fun to watch team that will be missed, and it's just so damn frustrating that bad management has allowed this to happen.
So farewell, Suns. You're not going to suck, but you're no longer amongst the elite teams in the West.
It was good while it lasted.
Labels: NBA trade
posted by Michael Pondrom at 9:50 PM
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