Doomed to Repeat Itself (Thank God not with the Lakers)

If I were an NBA GM, I wouldn’t do the Shaq trade. No way. No how. The Suns just don’t know what they are getting into. Sure, I can’t hate on Shaq too much. He did help bring 3 championships to the Lakers, but the Suns don’t realize the baggage (and there’s a ton) that comes with the Big Diesel.

Will Shaq sell more tickets? Well, I’m pretty sure the Suns were selling out anyway, but sure, he’s a draw—in the way a circus is a draw. He brings his otherworldly 7 foot 330 lbs plus frame and knack for witty one-liners out West again and people think of “Steel” and “Blue Chips” and, uh, “Kazaam.”  And then people reminisce and rememberShaq tearing Indiana, Philly and New Jersey a new one, three years straight. But that run was over 8 years ago.

His last run out West saw Detroit’s bigs, the fellowship of Wallace and Wallace, manhandle him (to be fair, Shaq’s sidekick was a hobbled Malone and Stanislav Medvedenko).  

Then he moved out East, after a huge blowup—not so much over Kobe’s alpha dog status as it was over the 30 million he wanted Buss to pay him for the next 3 years. Well, Buss said hell no and made the right choice to stick with Bryant, whose selfish tendencies often overshadowed his unrelenting desire to get better. Every year Kobe has gotten better. Has worked on some part of his game. This season—he’s mastered teamwork.

But back to Shaq. He moved out East, and struggled still to relinquish his Alpha dog ego. When he finally handed the reigns over to Wade, Wade blew up. Flash led the league in PER. Then, helped by a cake-walk schedule to the finals, an incredible stretch of play by Super Wade, the choke-hard nature of the Mavericks and the benefit of nearly 300 foul calls in Wade’s favor, the Heat pulled off a fourth championship for Shaq.

The irony is that if the Suns would have made the finals, the Heat would not have stood a chance against the hyper-fueled offensive fast-breaking play of the Suns. But, dems dee berries.

Now, the Suns are acquiring Shaq for Marion, who, regardless of what people think about the importance and necessity of Amare, IS the whole reason the Suns are able to do what they do. Sure, Nash is the conductor, but Marion represents the woodwinds, brass and strings. Amare just brings the percussions. How can the Suns orchestra perform without Marion? In short—it can’t.

I’ve been saying it for a long time now, ever since the trade rumors for Marion started to surface. The Suns are going to direly miss Marion, their co-MVP for the past 4 seasons. They’re going to miss his harmony, his pitch-perfect melody, his ability to never (well, sometimes in big games) play out-of-tune.

His new replacement, if and when this deal goes down, is well, quite the downgrade. Shaq’s music is off-key, out-of-tune, and, well, unmotivated. He’s the epitome of why long-term contracts are horrible in all professional sports. Shaq gets paid 20 million for this season and the two after that and doesn’t have to work hard at all. That money is guaranteed. Look at the lackluster effort Shaq put into last season—his title defense season. He played 40 games. 59 the season before when they won. That’s barely a full season put together. Sure you could throw in the 20 or so games they played in the playoffs, but, 40 million for 100 games probably wasn’t exactly what the Heat were expecting. What with O’neil supposedly coming into the Heat in the best shape of his life when he was initially traded.

He’s got weight issues. He’s got injury issues. He’s got motivation issues. And he’s got ego issues.

Greg Anthony mentioned this morning on First Take that Shaq has worn out his welcome in Miami. How does a person wear out his welcome less than two seasons after helping bring Miami it’s first ever championship? Let’s see, he’s pissed off the coach with his lack of playing and whining for the ball (though, no admittance of his penchant for fouling which removes him from games). He’s irritated the superstar he’s playing with (or watching from the bench), with his ego and lack of effort and hustle (hmm, that would be Penny, Kobe and now DWade too, wonder how long before Nash, who is already short with the center he has for lack of focus, etc. etc., does the same).

Sure, in a perfect storm like what happened two years ago, things might go right. Shaq might come in and give the Suns that extra something, provide that last bit of spark and toughness the Suns need to win. He might provide the size, strength and low-post presence the Suns have been searching to have for the past 2 decades.

These things could all very well happen. But, then again, the Suns don’t play in the weak East. They have a tough Western-conference heavy schedule coming up, they don’t have a DWade type player to bail Shaq out (though Nash is clutch) and they don’t, as recent history has clearly shown, get any of the important calls during the playoffs.

So they will be stuck with Shaq’s noose-like contract (Rile must’ve pissed his pants when the Suns wanted to take Shaq off his hands), his whining, his inability to stay healthy and his lacksadaisical attitude for 2 more seasons after this one. Congrats Phoenix fans. You’ve finally got that center you’ve been pining for for the past 2 decades.

Remember, the Suns have been going after centers for a long time now. Anyone remember Hotrod Williams and the difference he was supposed to make? How about the Oliver Miller experiment. Or the redundant dynamic duo of Joe Kleine and Danny Schayes, better known as Schleine. How about the failed Danny Manning try or the short-lived stint with Luc Longley? All of them (besides Schleine who just sucked) were aging vets on the way out signed a year or two or three (Hotrod) too late. I guess history is doomed to repeat itself.