Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  72 responses

Shaq, Planning Escape from Phoenix?

by Marcel Mutoni

With his team going nowhere fast, it wouldn’t exactly come as a shocker to find out that Shaquille O’Neal is looking to get the hell out of Dogde Phoenix.

The LA Times ran a story yesterday discussing the possibility of the Cavs and Suns revisiting their trade talks from last month following this season.

As for Shaq, he wasn’t in a talking mood when reporters broached the subject. From the Arizona Republic:

The Los Angeles Times reported that center Shaquille O’Neal “is saying privately he wants out” of Phoenix because the Suns pondered trading him last month and/or because they returned to their up-tempo offense. He declined comment Monday morning.

“That’s intangible stuff,” guard Steve Nash said. “It’s hard to quantify. I hope he’s not unhappy. We just want him to be happy, feeling good about himself and ready to play.”

With Phoenix owner Robert Sarver swimming in dangerous financial waters, and O’Neal on the hook for another $20 million after this year, you can be sure that this kind of chatter will only increase going into the 2009-’10 season.

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  • Young Chris MP3

    @ Dacre, the lack of success in Phoenix falls more on Mr. Stoudemire’s shoulders than any other player. His lack of skills defensively and his failure to rebound have much to do with it, but for someone who easily averaged 30 points in the second half of last season, dude barely cracked 20 per this year. And the critics said Nash was a product of the system he played in…

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Witness Posted: Mar.11 at 7:45 pm
    @ dacre: its called irony.
    ________________________________________________
    ^_^
    Some say irony, some say gay rainbows.

    @YoungChrisMP3 – I agree… I take it a step further and just wonder how the head office could have been so rediculously narrow-minded to not keep that successful unit together from the previous 4 years..?! I’m borderline angry and definitely embarrased.

  • Young Chris MP3

    Just because I’m up late with nothing to do other than post on Twitter and try to get past this writer’s block, I decided to look into the 2006 Playoffs to set things straight once and for all. The Diesel averaged 23.7 points and 13.2 rebounds during the first round in the four games Miami won, including a 30/20 close-out game. In the second round, Diesel averaged 18.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in the four games Miami won. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Shaq averaged 22.5 points per and 11.2 rebounds per, including a 28/16 close-out game in which Dwyane Wade played with the Flu and only managed to score 14 points. So far, it seems like the Heat’s championship run was more of a balanced effort than some seem to remember. In the Finals, during games 3-6 in which Miami won four in a row to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy, O’Neal averaged 15 and 12, in the process averaging more boards than both Diop AND Dampier (Dallas’ two Centers) combined. In conclusion (yes, I’m treating this as if it is a history lesson), had either Shaquille O’Neal or Dwyane Wade not stepped their games up during those four playoff rounds, they would have never brought a Championship to Miami that summer. With Dwyane Wade taking well over 20 shots a game in the Finals, it would be foolish to think that Shaq would get the types of looks and touches that he did earlier in the playoffs or in years past. However, what Shaq did in the 2006 Finals: being a beast on the boards and not allowing Dallas many second chance points, getting in where he fit in, and scoring decent numbers (15 points per game is far from embarrassing, but compared to Wade’s dominance that series, it looks weak), O’Neal sacrificed his own game for the betterment of the team when he saw it necessary. This is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy for the big fella, as he was quoted earlier in the year as saying he would rather his numbers drop and his team succeed than to average big numbers and have his team fall short of success. Remember, Shaq was only a year removed from being the runner-up in the MVP (in 2005 when Steve Nash won his first of two consecutive awards) and had he and Dwyane Wade both avoided the injuries in which they sustained during the ’05 playoffs, they very well may have been back-to-back champions by the summer of 2006. How soon we forget though.

  • Young Chris MP3

    And had Shaq taken better care of himself during the second half of 2002, The Lakers likely would have won in 2003 (when he decided to “heal on company time” due to his injury being work-related). So as much success as Shaq has had in his career, there will always be a lot of “what ifs” to ponder. What if Nick Anderson never choked in the Finals? What if Kobe and Shaq could have gotten along? What if Shaq never hurt his toe and gained that weight after the three-peat? What if Karl Malone never got injured? (The Lakers very likely would have won in ’04.) What if Shaq/Wade never got hurt in ’05? What if Shaq/Wade never got hurt in ’07? Would a rejuvenated Shaq on this current Heat squad be a championship contender? These aren’t excuses so much as they are conditions. Kind of like those who argue what would have happened in ’94 and ’95 had Mike never left to play baseball. Would the Bulls have been able to win 8 in a row? Unlikely, but the argument has been made. (Would Horace have bolted still? Would there still have been a need to sign Rodman?) Sports history can be funny sometimes.

  • http://www.basketballjerseyworld.com NBA-JERSEY-KING

    Young Chris – Shaq wont ever sign with the Heat again… the HEat dont want him after he trashed the organization as he left…

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    young chris, seems to me your writers block is fading fast. Great observations and analysis of Shaq. Well done

  • BostonBaller

    Young Chris MP3. we are on the same page in the same book. You don’t have to be a big fan of a player to acknowledge what they have done…As far as Shaq being out of shape, it is hard for a large person to work out when injured especially with a big toe injury. (too much weight) If a person has trouble with weight then it really becomes a problem when they are immobile. If any of the contenders had Shaq on their squad they would be over whelming favorites to win it this year. Joe Smith or Shaq, Mikii Moore or Shaq, Bynum or Shaq etc etc

  • http://WWW.Yahoo.Com The Kandi Raver

    Hmm Shaq on la again. That would be nice

  • YoungChrisMP3

    @NBA-Jersey-King & The Kandi Raver: I was advocating more to the fact that Shaq will likely sign to a team he could bring over the hump than simply walk away from the game. Since he will be a free agent, he will have the options he didn’t have when he was traded.

  • YoungChrisMP3

    And BostonBaller: I agree with you about the toe injury. I was suggesting that had he taken care of it in the offseason, rather than the preseason, he wouldn’t have missed as many games and likely would have been good by the playoffs.

  • http://www.dunkadelictv.com DunkadelicKingJames

    Shaq still has some game left in him. If he was to play for one-year in Cleveland with LeBron James he could win a Championship. If he played in at lest 60 games he would be 2nd or 3rd on the season dunkadelic-meter

  • giogolo

    Y’all here are a bunch of pukin faggots.. Why don’t y’all quit arguing and start playing basketball to keep your mouths shut.

  • L33tSauce

    Giogolo thats funny, because your the one taking the time to read our comments and respond. And YoungChris, do you think Shaq will settle or a low salary? I’m not so convinced. He’s no worth the money he’ll demand.

  • http://www.hw-event-hosting.de h-dub

    It would be great for LBJ and the City of Cleveland to have an NBA Champion before LBJ is heading for NYC and SHAQ for Retirement. This would be a perfect Ending. And he, add Posey for the Minimum at CLE and you are safe for a RING :)

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Young Chris:
    Here’s a topic to write about: DWAYNE WADE brought Shaq the championship.
    Shaq is going to send his new teammates photoshopped pictures of Steve Nash during the off-season, then start calling the Suns’ roster a slew of names. Then he’s going to go dance with the stupid @ss Jabberwockey posers.
    Then he’s going to flop and get dunked on by Amare, and start a war of words with Alvin Gentry.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Granted, Shaq USED to be good. I’ll give ya’ll that.

  • joemanay

    shaqs done in the nba. its over, man.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Shaq aint done. the man is just getting started. watch him shoot 75% free throws for the next 3 years and claim the 3rd all time positon in total points in NBA history. WITH a playoff team, that will win the championship at least once during those said 3 years.

  • YoungChrisMP3

    Teddy, if he’s photoshopping anyone, it’s gonna be Amare on a woman’s body. Dude’s a primadonna. However, I shouldn’t even be responding to you if you still are going to insinuate that Dwyane Wade (Spell his name right please? Especially if you’re going to put it in all caps). I thought I cleared that one up in my 1:46 am comment. Glad to know some come on here to talk ish without fact-checking their statements.

  • YoungChrisMP3

    LOL @ Dacre. Wishful thinking. Dude is far from done though. As long as his body holds up he still will remain a factor. ESPECIALLY on a team that can utilize him.

  • larrylegend

    shaq, run your own franchise and become again larger than life.

  • L33tSauce

    Shaq is going to buy the Indiana Pacers and become Jackie Moon. He’ll be the GM, the coach, and the star of the show. An he and his team will suck like the tropics.

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