Shaq to change uniforms again

Has Shaq done it again.

Is Shaquille O’Neal up for “Rent a NBA Title”?

You get the Shaq, you win a title, and then you wait for someone to take him off your hands.

Quick quiz: What is missing from the Phoenix Doughnuts…er…Suns.

Answer: a center!

Quick quiz number 2: What is Shaq?

Answer: a center!

Are we starting to see the logic here?

No longer confident they can win a championship with their current roster, the Phoenix Suns are close to completing a blockbuster trade that will bring them Shaquille O’Neal, a source with knowledge of the negotiations said Tuesday.

O’Neal is scheduled to travel to Phoenix aboard a private plane Wednesday, the source said, to undergo an MRI on his ailing left hip. If he passes the physical, the Suns will complete the trade by sending Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat. source

This would allow Amare Stoudemire to move over to power forward. Although some tweaking of the Sun’s small ball run all the time offense may have to happen.

The trade represents a dramatic change for the Suns, whose run-and-gun, small-ball style had revolutionized the league in recent seasons. That same style, however, had failed to bring the Suns a championship, and team officials had become increasingly skeptical about their chances of contending without giving Amare Stoudemire some help on the front line.

The Lakers picking up Pau Gasol and moving to the head of the Western Conference list of favorites could be yesterday’s news.

Kobe Bryant thought Pau Gasol was taking him over the top. Now Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr has told the Western Conference, ”I see your Gasol and raise you one Shaq.” Shaq’s style doesn’t work in Phoenix? Taking passes from Nash kind of works for anyone. And dunking and shooting 60 percent fits just about anywhere.

The Suns need a center. The Suns get a center.

Look out Lakers!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Shaq be effective in Phoenix?

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Ha! The rumors were flying and Kobe was to be a Bull.

Not going to happen.

That is, if you listen to Jon Paxson, GM of the Chicago Bulls.

“There’s not a deal done,” he said Thursday. “There’s not going to be a deal done.”
Paxson said they discussed “parameters,” but the sides “never got down to the nuts and bolts of it because there was never a deal to be done.”

Paxson’s comments came a day after a flurry of rumors. Speculation picked up Wednesday, with one report saying the Bulls, Kings and Lakers were discussing a three-way deal that would bring the superstar to Chicago.

That scenario had Paxson sending Ben Gordon and a signed-and-traded P.J. Brown to Sacramento, with former Piston Ben Wallace of the Bulls and Ron Artest of the Kings heading to Los Angeles. Paxson dismissed the rumor, saying a deal involving Brown would send the Bulls over the luxury tax threshold. source

Hmm, where there is smoke there is fire, right? Especially in California these days. Luxury tax is not going to stop this deal or any other deal for Kobe.

Seems more likely that the Bulls would lose both veteran big men for Kobe at a time when the Lakers might have a hard time demanding top dollar for him.

The rumors won’t stop and we love rumors.

According to the Chicago Tribune one of the many trade rumors involving Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers this week, included the Phoenix Suns, who wanted to gauge the Bulls’ interest in trading Thabo Sefolosha and other considerations as part of a package to send Bryant to the Bulls and likely Shawn Marion to the Lakers. source

Hmm, the Suns would strengthen the Lakers with Marion? Doubtful.

Here is yet another trade rumor.

Lakers vice president Magic Johnson said the deal isn’t going to happen.

”A deal can’t get done because they won’t include [Luol] Deng,” Johnson said Tuesday on TNT. ”And without Deng, a deal can’t get done.” source

No Deng, no deal. Well, deng it all, what is it going to take?

Today, Kobe is still a Laker.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Who do you think will land Kobe?

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Grant Hill slashing to victory

If ever there was a nicer guy in the NBA than Grant Hill, then that player would be a Saint.

Grant left the Pistons and they still wanted him back.

We are now very close to Grant Hill’s debut as a Sun.

Phoenix did not hesitate to pick him up, because Grant is more than nice, he is capable of still putting up big numbers.

When Grant played for the Detroit Pistons, back when he was healthy, they had him at a new position called point forward. In other words, he would not bring the ball up, but the point guard would immediately pass to Grant Hill popping out from the baseline on every play.

Grant then took over as the playmaker for that possession. Point Forward.

Grant Hill did not have a very good shot at that time and eventually had to hire a shot coach will helped him to a great degree. So, Hill was mainly a slasher and rebounder in those days.

The Pistons were an anemic team back then and Grant was not accustomed to being the sole leader. He needed a partner at that time, especially one that could knock down the crucial bucket.

The rules at that time made it difficult for a slasher with no jumper to score the big bucket. The referees tended to favor the defender, unlike now where some players have actually learned how to lean into their defender and earn a trip to the foul line.

After his Piston time came the Orlando years of having little talent around him and constant foot injuries. Hill enjoyed a huge salary at the time, but would have given it all up to win.

The Suns dial the phone

Phoenix came calling this year and what they offered was the chance to win it all. Come play with us and be involved and win it all. The contract was for a meager 1.83 million.

Phoenix has come so close year after year with always some freakish event holding them back.

If Amare Stoudemire could have stayed on the bench when San Antonio’s Robert Horry slammed Steve Nash into the scorer’s table in last season’s conference semifinals, the Phoenix Suns might be the reigning NBA champions….

If Nash hadn’t had to leave the court with a cut gushing blood from his nose last season in Game 1 of that series, maybe the Suns would have won. If Joe Johnson didn’t smash his face in the 2005 conference finals, if Raja Bell hadn’t missed two games of the 2006 conference finals. source

It is not to dwell on what might have happened if the circumstances had been slightly different, but it is more to show just how close the Suns are to finally winning it all with this nucleus of Nash, Marion, and Stoudemire.

Grant Hill longs for the winning feeling he once enjoyed at Duke.

Someday, the laws of nature insist Nash will show signs of age. These runs at the title won’t go on forever. Just ask Hill, who played on a constant contender at Duke but hasn’t come close in his injury-plagued pro career.

“I played 13 seasons in the NBA and we never expected to win a championship on those teams,” he said. “So I know these opportunities don’t come around often.

You could say Grant Hill longs for Phoenix as much as Phoenix longs for Grant Hill.

Grant has a chance to not only win with the Suns, but perhaps be that difference between winning it all and having to say what if.

And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

strong>NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Phoenix win it all?

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