When I first heard the rumors that Shaquille O’Neal was heading to Phoenix, I had the same thoughts as everyone else: “You mean that Shaquille O’Neal, and those Phoenix Suns. Steve Kerr is a moron! That’s about as likely to work out as the Grizzlies trading their franchise player for Kwame Brown.” (Wait, what? You’re kidding!)
We’ve heard it all before about “The Big Osteoporosis.” He’s out of shape. True. He’s a shell of his former self. True. He can’t run the floor anymore. True. Besides, didn’t the Suns already try the obese center routine with limited success in the past?But as I’ve had a few days to ruminate on the acquisition, I’m starting to believe it might actually work. Let’s face it, the Suns only chance to win in the playoffs this year was to beat San Antonio or Dallas or anyone else with their own style of play, the uptempo “Seven Seconds Or Less” mentality. It hasn’t worked in the past, so why are we to think it will work this year?
In getting Shaq, they accomplish two things. One, they get rid of malcontent Shawn Marion, who despite all of his considerable skills, never really took to playing the third wheel to Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. And two, they now have the most physical center in the league to guard the likes of Tim Duncan and Yao Ming and Andrew Bynum and Carlos Boozer. Because as any fan of basketball will tell you, Amare can’t. Period.
So will Shaq come in and shed 30 pounds and run the floor like a deer and get back to his 25 and 10 ways? No. That train sailed long ago. But do the Suns need him to do that? Again, no. Will he come in and loosen up the locker room, and motivate Amare to dominate in the post, and muscle up with all the bigs in the West, and rebound and block shots, and start the Suns vaunted fast-break with pinpoint outlet passes, and hammer home every quick dish off that Nash gives him in the paint? Yeah, he will.
I’m not gonna sit here and say it will be enough to win the West. The Suns will need to find a reliable (I said reliable Raja Bell, pipe down) third scorer to replace what Matrix gave them. But I think with one blockbuster move, they are closer to a title now than they were a week ago.
Most importantly, the Diesel knows his role.
“I’m no idiot. I’m not coming in here to try and take over,” he said. “I’ll fit in very, very nicely – rebounding, on outlets, setting picks for Steve, getting easy buckets, playing some defense… That’s what I aim to do.”It will certainly be fun to watch...
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