Shaq was traded today to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler and a first-round draft pick.
I think the Lakers made a terrible mistake. I get that Shaq is closer to the end than the beginning, missing a few games, undisputed declining point and rebound production. Fatter and slower than 7 years ago.
Still, I think that the Lakers turned a bad situation into a disaster. A gas leak into an explosion [Chief Wiggums voice] : “Oh right. the gas” [/Chief Wiggums voice] terrible one. Miami is probably going to be the 4-6th seed in the East.
A Laker Team that starts Kobe, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Brian Grant and Devin George will be what? Maybe the 7th or 8th seed in the West and who believes that team has realistic chance, or at least would favor them, to beat the Spurs, Kings, or Mavs.
And that assumes Kobe comes back and is acquitted. Buss made clear yesterday he made the decision to trade Shaq once he stopped renegotiations during the season and wondered aloud if he had done it too soon. Hmm ya think? Maybe Kiss Shaq’s butt, give him the extension and send him and Kobe on vacation together, do anything to keep the two together. Certainly not diss Shaq the day after the season starts and start what essentailly was a fire sale. Disaster for the Purple and Gold it says here — what do you say?
I know it’s a funny thing to say but I think Shaq is underrated. I don’t think people fully realize the impact he has. The Lakers are going to miss him far, far more than they realize.
There’s a thread about this in the Pit, and I’ll repeat basically what I said there:
The Lakers are doing what’s best, considering. They absolutely could not keep both Shaq and Kobe going into next season. It just couldn’t happen. If Shaq wasn’t traded, Kobe would go the Clips, or Shaq would just sit out the damned season or retire. Knowing that, and taking everything into account- age, contract, the supporting cast- Kobe’s the guy you have to keep. Shaq is (was) the more tradeable commodity, and Kobe will be the better player over the next six years. Maybe not the next two or three, but the next six. That’s the way you have to think if you’re the Lakers brass, because under no circumstances were they going to be a dominant team anytime in the near future.
This offseason was going to be a disaster for the Lakers no matter what. Once you accept that, it’s pretty obvious that Kobe is the guy to hang onto, because he’ll still be there, and be a great player, five years down the line, by which point you can create a little cap flexibility and rebuild a team. Shaq will be gone long before the Lakers could hope to rearm for a championship run. Comparing last year’s roster to next year’s roster is the wrong way to evaluate the situation, I think, and it leads to shortsighted attempts to stay dominant right now. Ask yourself this: what would be the Lakers lineup next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, if they just let Kobe walk? With Shaq’s salary (and his demanded extension) on the books, is there any way it would be better than Kobe, Odom, Grant et al?
Oh, if I were an NBA owner, and I had Shaq under contract, I wouldn’t care whether he wanted to play for my team or not. When you’ve got a star of his magnitude, you don’t let him go unless you have absolutely no choice. If Jerry Buss had a choice, I’m sure he’d have told Shaq “Hey, you’re going to get paid a LOT of money next year, and you’ll have a chance to win another ring. So suck it up, be a man, and deal with the fact that you’re going to be a Laker.”
Problem is, Buss had TWO superstars to deal with, and it was becoming clear he couldn’t keep both (there’s still a chance he may not keep EITHER!). He could only make ONE of his superstars happy, and he decided it should be the younger of the two, the one who’ll probably be productive for many years to come.
This could go VERY badly for Buss in the short run. Shaq is still the single most dominant player in the NBA, when he’s healthy. He makes Miami a championship contender buy his very presence, whereas L.A. is going to be rebuilding for a while.
But Buss seems to be thinking of the long run. Shaq is getting older, slower, fatter and more injury-prone. Don’t get me wrong, I’d STILL love to have him! But I can see why an owner would choose Kobe, if he felt he HAD to choose at all.