Last Friday the Los Angeles Lakers made a blockbuster trade to bring Spanish center Pau Gasol for four players (one of them being the rights to Marc Gasol, Pau's younger brother) and two future draft picks.
And in spite of just one practice session with his new gang, the 2002 NBA Rookie of the year puts in 24 points and 12 rebounds, leading the rejuvenated Lakers to a home win over the mediocre Nets. (Kobe had only 6 points in this game, strangely).
The Gasol trade has the potential to turn the Lakers from a potential West 5th seed to a top-seed contender, throwing an already tight, chaotic, topsy-turvy Western Conference into further madness. We could see 5 teams separated by at most 3 wins come April. Two months to savor indeed!!!
Fast Forward to 4 hours ago, reports are out that Shaquille O'Neal is possibly going to be traded (again) ...... to Phoenix!!!!!
3 reasons why this trade will fail--
- How will the Suns, who play a fast paced running game, relying on quickness and fast breaks, fit Shaq into the system?... It's not possible. Shaq wouldn't be passably quick enough for them if he was 27, let alone 35 years of age.
- The deal, given Shaq's age, can bring short term benefits only, bringing along Salary Cap and Luxury Tax problems to the Suns.
- Shaq has been suffering from recurring knee injuries, something that he is unsurprisingly not able to completely heal from. The only way that knee will get back is for an extended lay-off and rehab. So if he is traded, the Suns probably won't get more than 1.5 years of activity out of the remaining 2.5 years left on his contract.
This season and Western Conference playoffs look to be the most closely contested of the decade, Shaq or no Shaq. No matter how the season pans out, the playoffs surely will go down to the form and fitness books of the teams.
Western Conference verdict - TOO CLOSE TO CALL!!!
...And all the while, Kevin Garnett and the rest of Beantown must be watching with sadistic glee
:-)
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