Suns acquire Shaquille O'Neal in Blockbuster trade

[jduges]

msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7769236/Shaq-passes-physical,-will-be-dealt-to-Suns

Most people have been scoffing at a deal that sends Shaq to Phoenix for The Matrix Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

Shaq has been injured and is having his worst season of his pro career. Likewise, shawn marion has been having a down season and has grown increasingly frustrated with his role as the third option in the Phoenix Suns run and gun offense.

While Shaq figures to slow things down and his contract (20 million this year and 20 million per year over the next two) will financially strap the suns. He brings a much needed inside prescene to both ends of the floor. More importantly it allows Amare Stoudimire to move to his natural position of PF.

Steve Nash figures to fare well to have the big fella to dump the ball into.

Pho, is done scoring 120 points per game but they will score 90-100 and win more often.

More importantly, this gives them the pieces to win come playoff time.

I'm not a huge fan of the NBA anymore due to the basic offense, lack of fundamentals, and the thugish, me first attitude of many of it's players but I will say that in terms of trading you see more big names moved in the NBA than in any other sport.

I think this move instantly makes the Suns a top 4 team in the West (San Antonio, LAL, Dal, and phoenix) apologies to the leading New Orleans hornets and the Denver nuggets.

[frankcor]

The NBA is a sport?

And here I always thought it was self-esteem therapy for street thugs, punks and pukes.

[jduges]

A tad harsh Frank.....the majority of the NBA's players are solid citizens and "good guys" It's the Stephen Jacksons, Ron Artests, Latrelle Spreewells that ruin it for the rest.

To be honest, the NBA is ripe once again with talent. Chris Paul, Derron Williams, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmello Anthony, Delonte West, etc...

Many solid vets are still around; Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Shaq, Nash, Nowitzki, etc..etc.....

Unfortunately, we mainly hear about the Stephon Marbury's in the mainstream media.

My issue with the NBA is the quality of the product. (which is improving) I just hate that ISO motion offense. I prefer ball movement, short range jump shooting, free throws, and lock down defense.

[frankcor]

I concur with your observation about the talent, but I really think the product sucks. I don't know enough about the game to explain why. But I do know that I can watch an NCAA game and when it's over, change the channel to the NBA, hungering to watch more basketball. Within 5 minutes, I lose interest and I've picked up a newspaper or started surfing the channels looking for another college game.

It wasn't always like that. I followed the '76ers when I was in high school and afterwards. I marveled at Dr. J and could recite Wilt Chamberlain's stats throughout the season. But by the time they began making regular appearances in conference and league playoffs in the late '70s, it was the style and pace of the game and not the behavior of players that turned me off of the NBA product. I couldn't understand the world's fascination with Pete Maravitch, a player who regularly made more shots in a game than he did passes.

The deal was sealed for me, though, when Charles Barkley spit on that little girl and claimed it was an accident because he was aiming at another fan who was sitting near her. I haven't been able to watch a complete NBA game since then.

[Swimmy]

I lost all respect for the NBA when none of them wanted to represent the U.S. in the last olympics because an nba championship was more important than the honor and privilege of representing their country.

I much prefer the NCAA, they still play mostly from the heart and for the love of the game.

[jduges]

The product sucks for a number of reasons:

1. Fundamentals are gone for a large part. Passing, Defense, Jump Shooting, Not as pervasive in todays game. Very little offensive flow.

2. The players are getting paid a lot more. The money turns guys into primadonnas and businessmen. If I drop 20 points and grab 10 boards I'm all the sudden a 15-20 million dollar a year player. If I help my team and do a little of everything like I did in college I'm can only make 4.5 mil per season. Big difference and a big incentive to be "ME FIRST"

3.There are a lot of foreign players in the NBA. While I think the foreign game proves to be better quality basketball, fans generally don't support sports where they cannot pronounce the names of the players on their teams. Hedo Turkoglu, Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovich, Wang ZhiZhi, Nenad Kritich, and now you have an influx of Chinese and South American players (yao ming, Ginobili, Nene, etc). Now this isn't a bad thing. But it's no secret that American fans like American players and stars. Baseball is slightly different because the names are easier to pronounce and you've already survived the area of diveristy with guys like clemente, Fernando Mania, Nomo, but more importantly I think you're not seeing a lot of Eastern European and Those from the former Soviet Union in baseball.

4. The games are too long. 48 minutes, players get 6 fouls just to keep the stars in the game and the fans in the seats. With players playing little to no defense for the first 3 quarters it lends itself to major point swings. How many times have you seen your team up 18 before halftime only to turn the game and then when you cycle back with 5 mins to go in the fourth quarter your team is down 3 and the announcers are talking about the recent 23-5 run the opposing team just went on.

5. College games count more. With something like 322 D-1 schools and only 64 making it to the tourney less than 20% of all teams and the NBA puts in 16 teams of a 32 team league (50%) those 30 regular season games mean so much more. In the NBA you just need to be around .500 in the East and top 4 in your division in the west and you're in. Also the number of teams in college lends itself to more different "styles" of play. From the Princeton offense, to bob knights motion offense, to Rick pitino's full court press, to Jim Boehiems 2-3 zone. Playing teams with particular styles can present matchup and adjustment problems which leads to closer more compelling games. Aside from Don Nelson and Mike D'antoine most NBA teams run a similar offense. Phil Jackson still uses a variation of the Triangle offense but that is designed to get a star player his shot (Kobe, Jordan, etc).

6. Jordan- While many feel that Jordan did more to grow the game and make it a household name than any other player his success also brought some inherent evils. For instance, Jordan changed the game from the standpoint that fans started to care more about the name on the back of the jersey than they did about the name on the front. Think about it. Even with Larry, Magic and Isaiah you think of the great Laker teams, the great Celtic Teams, the Great Piston Teams. You think of Jordan's Bulls. Kobe and Shack's Lakers, Duncan and the Spurs, now in Boston it's the Boston three party (Garnett, Allen, and Pierce). Also probably the worst thing Jordan unintentionally did for sports was single handedly creating the highlight. (I know he wasn't the first, Dr. J had some great ones, Magic was a living highlight, same with wilkins) but the images of Jordan, tongue hanging out, determined brow, legs spread as he seemingly walked through the air only to throw one down on an opposing 7 footer, was seen over and over again by kids on Sportscenter. Kids who said, I want to do that! Now you weren't pretending to be magic and making slick passes, you weren't being Bird with an unconventional three point shot, You didn't want to be Kareem or any other big man. You wanted to Dunk, make a highlight, style, and be the center of the basketball universe. That idiom translated across all sports as you began to players try to make sportscenter. It's harder to do in baseball and football because success in those sports relies heavily on other factors. In hoops it's you, the ball and the rim. The court is a canvas for those wishing to paint the floor with their behind the back dribbles, fancy spin moves and high flying acrobatics.

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of it is great but it certainly has changed the game for the worst. Gone are the days of the Celtics teams with cousy, russell, havelichek, etc. No more are the days of Moses malone and Dr. J. Now people generally don't even have a team. They root for players. I'm a knicks fan (diehard in the 80's and 90's) but now I root more for individual guys (Nash, Duncan, Melo, leBron,Dwade, Paul, Bosh, Williams, Stoudimire, etc) Hell I'm a major sports fan and I couldn't accurately quote you any one teams exact record but I can tell you that Melo is avg 25+ points per game for the third straight season and that he has 5 more to go to tie David Thompson team mark of 8 straight years. I also know that melo dropped 20 points in the first quarter of last nights game but I don't know who won. SAD really.

Conversely, I know that Cuse should have two more wins if they hit big game ending shots vs Georgetown and Uconn and that those were both great games. I know that Paul harris, Johny flynn, Deonte Green, Onauku, Jackson and the rest of the team have all contributed greatly to the teams success which could become a great team over the next 3-4 years when Rautins, Devendorf and the new recruits come in.

But I root for Cuse, not just it's players. which leads me to my final point on my the product in college is so much better. Ever 4 years you get a new team in college, allowing you to easily forget bad seasons, selfish players, etc. In the NBA I'm stuck with Starbury until his contract is up. Not to mention every year brings new promise of a winning season in college hoops. Hawks fans know their team won't win a title in their lifetime.

[frankcor]

Thanks for putting some of my thoughts into words, jduges. As I said before, I don't know that much about the game having never played organized basketball. I just knew I didn't like the NBA product even though I can't express why.

The Orange loss to UConn was a disappointment, but there were moments of brilliance. The defense was very good. But Green went 2-15, I think? (yeah, I found a box score) How many times is that going to happen? The Orange scored 61 points with 44 coming from Flynn and Harris. But it looked like they just ran out of gas with about 9 minutes to go. I think everybody in Syracuse thinks the starters are playing too many minutes, except for Boeheim, of course. Teams like Connecticut can come to the Dome knowing that if they can hang close and get a bit of rest for their starters, the game is theirs as soon as the Orange hit their wall.

But the game was entertaining for me despite the loss. The NBA just cannot hold my attention like that.

[jduges]

College hoops is far superior in almost all regards. Not to mention they have the single best format for deciding a champion than any other sport to date.

[frankcor]

MARCH MADNESS!!! It's just around the corner.

[jduges]

Sure is, and without question, one of my sheets will have Cuse winning it all.....hey it actually paid off in '03!

[frankcor]

So did you break even in '03?

[jduges]

I usually do pretty well in my brackets. I think I've cashed in every year since 01.....

It's more tradition than anything that I include a sheet with cuse winning it all.