It's only been 3 games into the Shaq experiment with the Suns and I have found the over analysis of the trade up to this point whimsical . After the first game against the Lakers, a Suns loss, there were favorable reviews. After the second game, a win against the Celtics, Shaq's 14 rebounds was lauded as the reason why he was brought to the Suns. After the third game, a blowout loss to my beloved Pistons, I heard a TV talking head say Shaq has turned the Suns into the Heat. Here are the facts - the Suns have played 3 of the best teams in the NBA and with or without that trade, they quite possibly would have had a 1-2 record in this stretch. Shaq just played in his 3rd game since Jan 21, he is in a completely different offensive system, and he wasn't brought in to help the Suns win regular season games where they consistently ran at a high tempo. The Suns traded for him in order to give themselves a fighting chance against other Western Conference foes with strong inside presences (Lakers, Spurs, Jazz, Houston) in the playoffs, when the game tends to be played more in the half court. To me, analysis this early is pointless because of a) lack of data and b) the period to analyze this trade is the playoffs, not the regular season.
Monday, February 25, 2008
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I think what people tend to forget is that in the playoffs, there is much more half court bball than in the regular season, even if your the Suns or Warriors.
You rarely see anything over 105-110. This will help the Suns in the long run. He clogs up the middle and draws double and triple teams. I repeat, he draws doubles. And having a guy that draws doubles, even if he only averages 2 points a game is worth far more than a 20 ppg jump shooter.
And heres an unpopular statement: If Shaq isnt on the Lakers and Heat, DWade and Kobe have empty fingers, a much lower ego, and higher scoring avgs. Shaq makes those guys great.
This deal was great.
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