Yes Shaq has been playing well.....but at a cost.

Amare is not seeing the ball as much as he should and Phoenix have robbed Peter to pay Paul. JRich needs more shots too.

With the talent on the Suns roster, they should be playing far better.....is it Porters fault ?

Suns are struggling with their bench. As soon as Nash, Amare or Shaq sit they are in trouble.
The key to a suns victory is Barbosa and Barnes/Hill contributing take one of those players out of the game and the Suns struggle to win.

Wasn't this trade one of the reasons D'Antoni left? That's a big loss, you only have to look at the improvement in the Knicks this year to see how he gets the maximum out of his available talent.

I would have to say Phoenix are in front. If all players can get on the same page, they could be a decent shot at the title.

Mantis,

No this trade had nothing to do with D'Antoni leaving. He left because he was asked to start coaching some defence. As long as guys keep putting up season/career high's on Nash the Suns are not going anywhere.

Also it was D'Antoni who talked Kerr into doing the Shaq trade. Both Shaq and D'Antoni have talked fondly of their short time together. Last season the Suns fast break points actually went up after this trade.

Given that Shaq is keeping this Suns team out of the abyss and Marion has done nothing with the Heat and they're trying to trade him already, it was clearly a steal for the Suns.

I would hardly call it a steal for the Suns.

As mentioned, guys like Amare are suffering because Terry Porter runs 2 out of every 3 offences through Shaq. Playing as a weak side offensive player takes Amare out of rhythm, as has been blamed for his reduced rebounding numbers as well. Phoenix is struggling this season to remain in playoff contention, and may only do so due to the injury ravaged season Utah are experiencing.

Marion was their best defender, and while his numbers this season in Miami 12 ppg, 9 rpg are not huge, they are decent and Miami is 5th in the East. Plus he is only 30 years old.

Anyway, the trade has been done. What can be done now?

Get rid of Porter. His record in Milwaukee stank, and Phoenix has less than 2 seasons left before their window of opportunity slams shut.

Heat win this by and absolute mile.

Shaq is doing well, but is such a massive liability defending the screen and roll that Phoenix has zero chance of winning in the play-offs.

(The fact that Amare is one of the worst help defenders in the L doesn't help either)

Now they have to pay him big dough to take them no-where, all the while destroying the development of the young star Amare who they needed to focus on for the future.

Miami got the chance to road test Marion, now they can decide if he fits their future and either let him walk and use the cap to sign Boozer or someone else.

From a GM persepective, the Heat are big winners.

Ah, I vaguely remembered there was some friction between D'Antoni and Kerr over the Shaq trade, and this got mentioned when D'Antoni bolted (i.e. Kerr and D'Antoni didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, Shaq trade was one example), but couldn't recall the details.

As a Suns fan, I'd love to see Avery Johnson coach.

Heat lose out unless they can pull off a trade with Marion. At the moment if he walks they get nothing but cap space - which could have been achieved by leting Shaq expire anyways. If they can get Jermaine O'Neal which by all reports Raptors are ready to trade than they would have done well.

Suns aren't doing any worse than if they had tried to keep a unhappy Marion around.

The suns team under coach D died when they let shooters go to other teams and signed players like Hill.

They quit when they had a real shot at a title, if Amare and co hadn't been suspended the title may have been theirs that year instead of the spurs...

If you want to set up a half court defensive type team, based on post plays and kick outs, you cannot have a weak link in your D. At this stage in his career, Shaq is a 350 pound weak link. And Nash is not much chop defending top pg's.

Trading for J-rich would of been sweet, if coach D was still around. Instead you have a guy standing around watching and waiting for 3pt shots. Bell can do that, and he can actually defend his ass of too.

For my money, Kerr is probably the worst GM going around at the mo. Only coz Thomas is gone. MJ is right up there to, but coach Brown is making him look better lately.

Huge mistake if the Heat trade for O'neal. There is just zero future with that guy.

I'm now thinking the Charlotte finally won a trade with the J-Rich for Diaw and Bell trade.

Kerr is a terrible GM, up there with McHale (seems to be a better coach), and Dunleavy (Clippers).

The Suns owner isn't much better, Sarver is all about cutting costs and doing things on the cheap.

I think Nash and Amare will walk away from Phoenix. Nash to head home to Toronto and Amare to the highest bidder.

This trade is a wash for me. Under Porters reign a Suns Marion would be the same Marion we are now seeing the Miami. Very average. Shaq has done well as a Sun, but at what cost to the franchise.

I'm now wondering if the Suns regret not biting on the Amare/KG trade??

How about not being so tight and holding on to Joe Johnson? They would have won three titles by now probably had they coughed up the dough to keep him.

Or how about Joe Johnson not demand ridiculous money that he hadn't proven he was worth yet at the time.