Trade Thoughts

Firstly, thanks for everyone for returning to the site.  It has been a challenge to balance my daily activities with the blog, but if there are still readers, I’m still here.  Anyways, with all the craziness going on in the league, I can’t help but put my opinion on the table.  Here we go:

Shaq:

At first, I thought this was a terrible move by the Suns.  Couldn’t they get more than a BIG man for Marion?  Of course, but there is obviously a little more strategy behind it.  I think a lot of the characteristics GM Steve Kerr was looking at were the intangibles that Shaq Daddy brings to the table, such as his leadership and experience.  In those two departments, it’d be hard to find anyone else in th league that can beat him there.  Additionally, Shaq obviously has his main tangible:  He’s HUGE!  The Suns can finally fill this void, and now they have someone to guard the bigs of the West.  This has been their main obstacle, which now they can overcome.  I think the best and most productive part of this trade is somewhat hidden.  Now Amare Stoudemire can shift over to his natural power forward position and just dominate.  Shaq will never get so many easy baskets.  That being said, can the Diesel stay healthy?  Unfortunately, I can’t see his big frame lasting through the entire playoffs.

Pau:

This was plain out robbery.  Kudos to Lakers management for stealing Pau.  It almost seems unethical what they did, but hey, its business.  A dirty one at that.  The Lakers are just plain scary.  I don’t think anyone can consider them a sleeper pick of a team now.  Presently, they are one of the top teams in the West.  I still can’t figure out what the Griz were thinking.  There’s nothing like having a starting big 2 of Darko and Kwame.  Ouch…

Bibby:

Atlanta is DANGEROUS!  Although Bib wasn’t playing so well after injury, I expect his game to kick up a notch, similar to the days with a good C-Webb and Peja in Sactown.  He’s got the Josh Smiths and Joe Johnsons, and he’ll be in excellent contributor on that team.  In the grand scheme of things, the Hawks are going no where.  They have no playoff experienced players (that have gone a good distance in the post season), but if they can keep this core for some time, they’ll be one of the tops.

JKidd:

This will go through.  Do you think an owner as whacked out as Mark Cuban will pass on a chance to get one of the best PG’s in the league?  Of course not.  What’s he saying on his blog these days?  Probably something about computers or google.  Regardless, JKidd will be a Mav in the very near future.  For what Dallas is giving up, I consider it close to robbery as well (ok, lets get serious.  Not even as close to as bad as the Pau trade).