So the Lakers this past weekend traded Radmanovic for Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown, two relatively undefined players in the league. Radman, a known and proven shooter on multiple teams was a good back-up or role player for Phil Jackson. Why did they trade him? Some say cap-room, some say the "space cadet" was just not mentally there for the Lakers. Phil Jackson had told him to see a psychologist multiple times, to which he only refused. And maybe the tipping point was just a few weeks ago, when he showed up to a home game shoot around telling the Lakers that his alarm clock wasn't working. Really? Alarm clock?
Clearly he wasn't happy, and is already taking public jabs at the Laker organization saying that players other than Kobe and Gasol have no real role on the Lakers. I assume that's up to personal preference, but everybody on that team has a pretty defined role and it's doing proving to be of some success.
Regardless, he's gone. And enter Morrison and Brown. Are they going to get run? Or is this just a process for something even larger? Steve Kerr has confirmed that Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal are on the trading block, and is hoping to move one if not both by the Feb. 19 trade deadline. Amare, yes, everybody wants. But a 36-year old aging center? There's only one team that could take on Shaq and use him successfully... Yeah, I said it. The Lakers just might make a run at Shaq.
There's no way it could possibly, work right?
Check it. Using ESPN's Trading Machine, one of the best things ESPN has ever developed for it's online NBA space, these possible trades work out for the Lakers and Suns.
Scenario 1:
Lakers get Shaq.
Suns get Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm, & Shannon Brown
Quick Analysis: Suns get a new version of Shawn Marion, a player that made them far more superior than they have been with Shaq. They get rid of Shaq, so Amare becomes the "man" he so desperately wants to become, and they not only get another big man to use sparingly, but Terry Porter can use more of Robin Lopez, whom he has shown to favor because of his hustle. The Suns can also go small, and have Stoudemire and Odom on the front line with Jason Richardson, Barnes and Nash on your wing.
Scenario 2:
Lakers get Shaq
Suns get Lamar Odom & Adam Morrison
Quick Analysis: Suns get Lamar and another shooter. Adam Morrison hasn't shown any consistency as a shooter in the NBA like he did in college at Gonzaga, but he also hasn't gotten a good level of playing time ever since he had a season-ending injury last year. Put him in Nash's system, all he has to do is stand there, and he'll get the ball. In Lamar, you get a player who is committed to defense and can hang with the best of them, something Terry Porter loves about his players.
*** Try the Trade Machine On Your Own. ***
It works...logistically. But now one has to ask, will it work? It's Shaq and Kobe?
First, Phil Jackson has never been shy to admit how much he loved Shaquille O'Neal on his Laker teams.
Secondly, Shaq and Kobe are cool. Based on what they say, they speak to each other on newborn births, your regular holidays, and are cordial whenever they see each other.
Granted, I understand that, that is not enough. So let me break it down even further.
Earlier in the season, Shaq said that he wants his jersey to be retired at the Staples Center. He spent the prime of his career there, and did the most damage in the league in Los Angeles. As he has often said, "I built the Staples Center with my own hands." And that he did. He was the catalyst and leader of the 3-peat Laker teams.
Just a few weeks ago in an interview, Shaq not only said in interviews that the Kobe-Shaq feud was all marketing and the media built it up...but that he thinks Kobe is the MVP in the league right now. Let's take this with a grain of salt, because at one point the two truly did not like each other, but for what it's worth...the mutual respect is back in place, where at one point there was none.
Shaq wants his jersey to retire in LA. And as you have seen lately in Phoenix, Shaq is not only in the best shape of his career, but he can still hang with the younger centers in the league and can still score and play D. His contract ends after next season, and while many think he will retire, the kid-at-heart is not ready to retire. You can see it in the way he plays and enjoys himself on the court. He's come to accept that he is now an older player that should is a mentor to younger players, as he was in Miami, embracing the Heat as Dwayne Wade's team. When he came to Phoenix, he said it was Nash and STAT's team, but when STAT couldn't take responsibility for being a franchise player, the competitive nature in Shaq took over and began to do what he does best...play basketball.
The Lakers can win it all without Bynum. They can win it all without Shaquille O'Neal. With the team Kobe has now, he too, can with it all without Shaquille O'Neal. But Shaq needs the Lakers.
But when Kobe, Shaq and Phil meet and play together for the first time in five years, will that conversation come up? Could Kobe and Shaq co-exist? Can Shaq take a role behind Bryant and Gasol (he did in Phoenix) and agree that when Bynum returns to help him further grow? Kobe, too, has to buy in on welcoming Kobe back and work with him.
All seem unlikely. Very unlikely. Kobe has been fighting in the NBA to show that he can win a championship without Shaq. But what if...?
Lamar Odom's resurgence since Bynum's injury has been refreshing to the Lakers, and Jackson and Kupchak may not want to tamper with the high confidence and chemistry the Lakers are running with right now, but we are in Hollywood...and the Lakers do always find someway to be an ongoing story around the league. Last season it was Kobe's trade demands, Bynum's injury, Jerry West's gift in Gasol, and then a Celtic domination. This season it was a deep, deep Laker team, Lamar's unwillingness and willingness to come off the bench, Kobe's dislocated finger, Bynum's injury (again), 61 points..and now? Is it the Morrison trade? Or the return of Shaq?
Most likely the former. But with the purple and gold...I've learn to assume only the unexpected.
e-mail aamir
if shaq returns and the lakers win the title this this will only make the media even more convinced that kobe needs shaq to win the title
Nice thought but Dr. Jerry Buss won't let that happen. Buss didn't want to pay Shaq back then and he certainly won't want to take on the contract mistake that Pat Riley gave Shaq. Plus I feel that Kobe still wants to prove he can win a ring without Shaq. I think Kobe would have been more amenable to a reunion had the Lakers won the title last season because there would have been nothing left for him to prove.
With all that said, a rejuvenated Shaq and Kobe could dominate all the way through the playoffs into the Finals. Phil Jackson wants that 10th ring and his place in history. It would be nice if it happened, but I doubt it.
The idea of Shaq coming back to the Lakers is a wet dream for the media jackals. But the media are not decision makers so what they want doesnt matter. For the real decision makers involved I doubt that they have even spent 2 minutes is even thinking about that scenario. Therefore its not worth thinking about for any Lakers fan.
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