Is Phoenix Better With Shaq?
February 7, 2008 by Staff
Filed under All Sports, Misc.
Shaquille O’Neal is on board with the Phoenix Suns now. After a tumultuous fist 5 months of the 2007-2008 NBA season spent with the last place Miami Heat, the Diesel is now on a team that is in first place in the Western Conference.
But will they finish the regular season, and most important, the Western Conference post-season in first place, Or in other words, with a trip to the NBA Finals?
The addition of Shaquille O’Neal to the Phoenix Suns at the very least gives them size, experience, and a big man who demands attention of some sort. But does all of that incorporate into a guy who can play defense, be efficient on offense, and run the floor at the age of almost 36-years old?
I believe it does. Despite ESPN’s Tim Legler’s assessment that Shaq is being guarded by average post-men with no help, I think Shaq can still be serviceable. First of all, I don’t think anyone in the league can expect to have a great night with Shaq on the block if he is healthy. Granted, he might not be able to establish that position with the same ease that he has become accustomed to, nor will be as dominate with the ball even when he does get it on the block. But I assure you, that if healthy, he will shot 55-60% in single coverage with the ball on the block.
And that alone I think makes Phoenix a contender to win the Western Conference Finals. Because before the trade, they had the exact same philosophy and style of players as they have had for the last 3 years. Those 3 years resulted in nothing but playoff losses to teams that beat them in the half court offense, often with size.
But add Shaq to the line up, and now it’s Phoenix with size advantage. Not to mention, with Steve Nash at point guard, Shaq now has an offensive facilitator that can get him the ball in the right places for easy scores. Shaq’s presence also allows Amare Stoudemire to be guarded by smaller people, thus enabling him to use his strength and jumping ability in the lane more than he was capable of doing at the center position.
And if anybody remembers how the Los Angeles Lakers played with Kareem Abdul-Jabaar once he was ridiculously old with Magic Johnson on the team, then you know this can work. Magic just used to push the ball up, run the Showtime offense, and get a quick score if he could. If not, the slowed it down and waited for Abdul-Jabaar to get down the court and either throw it to him or run two-man game with the other four. The Suns have the perfect personnel to do the just that.
Defensively, this is a great fit for Shaq. The Suns have had no interior presence forever. Yes, Amare could block shots, but he often got in foul trouble because of his aggressiveness, and thus his shot blocking was of no use. Shaq will undoubtedly intimidate any interior play, and he can still block shots. Heck, he hasn’t really used his vertical leap to block shots since he was in Orlando, so he’s been getting by blocking shots with his 7’1” frame for some time now.
So for anyone who thinks this won’t work (ahem, Tim Legler and Doug Gottlieb), let me just that it is easy to kick a man when he is down. But we shall see if the Suns are a better team for acquiring Shaquille O’Neal. And as history does show, it doesn’t pay to bet against the Big Aristotle.
