The wrath of FU

[CaseyRyback]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/040714

[Grave_Addiction]

The Lakers are idiots.

I'm kinda hoping the Mavs can somehow snag Vince Carter from the Raptors for Walker.

[CaseyRyback]

the mavs really do not need another ball hog. Getting rid of Walker for someone who can play defense would be nice though

[Zenithian Legend]

Yes, an earl the goat reference, I love that movie Rebound

[Fatesealer]

I'll believe this deal when ESPN says it... 'Breaking News: Shaq to the Heat'... until then, it's just a proposed deal...

[Grave_Addiction]

The only other viable trade out there would be to get Ilgauskas or Dampier. I would rather have either of those two over Carter.

But if you could snag Carter, you'd have to trade Stackhouse or Finley away to someone.

It would be nice if we could trade Walker for Ilgauskas since Cleveland needs the cap space to try to resign Boozer.

Then I would try to trade Stackhouse and Laettner for Carter.

We still need to find a reliable point guard, but if we did those trades, this would be our lineup:

Devin Harris
Marquis Daniels
Vince Carter
Dirk Nowitzki
Ilgauskas

Then we'd have on the bench:
Michael Finley
Josh Howard
Eduardo Najera
Avery Johnson
Shawn Bradley
Christian Laettner
D.J. Ilunga-Mbenga

We still have 17 players with guaranteed contracts, so we're going to have to get rid of some people somehow.

[Grave_Addiction]

I'll believe this deal when ESPN says it... 'Breaking News: Shaq to the Heat'... until then, it's just a proposed deal...

'Breaking News: Shaq to the Heat'

From ESPN.com
MIAMI -- It's official: The Shaquille O'Neal era in Los Angeles is over, and his new team is the Miami Heat.
The Lakers and Heat finalized a trade Wednesday sending O'Neal to Miami. Los Angeles gets Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a first-round draft pick.
The deal had been on the verge of completion since Saturday, when O'Neal met in Orlando with Heat president Pat Riley and agreed to the trade. NBA attorneys approved it on the same day the league's two-week moratorium on player movement ended.
Acquiring O'Neal is literally a big deal for the Heat, who will count on the 7-foot-1, 340-pound center to transform them into a championship contender.
At 32, O'Neal is coming off a season when he averaged a career-low 21.5 points, and he has missed 15 games each of the past three seasons with foot and leg injuries. But he's an 11-time All-Star with career averages of 27.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks, and he changes the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, where there's a dearth of dominating centers.
The trade marks a return to Florida for O'Neal, who began his NBA career in 1992 with Orlando and still has a home there. He led the Magic to the finals in 1995, signed with the Lakers as a free agent in 1996 and helped them win three NBA titles.
Days after the Lakers lost this year's championship series to Detroit, O'Neal demanded to be traded, weary of feuding with Kobe Bryant and feeling disrespected by owner Jerry Buss. He's under contract for $27.7 million this coming season and $30.6 million in 2005-06.
O'Neal joins a Heat team that has reached the conference finals only once in its 16-year history and went 42-40 last season, instantly becoming South Florida's most high-profile athlete.
With the departure of three starters, Riley will build his team around O'Neal, Olympian Dwyane Wade and Eddie Jones, Miami's leading scorer each of the last four seasons. The Heat will now shop for help at both forward positions and backup point guard, and free agents will likely consider them a more appealing option with the addition of O'Neal.
O'Neal is not expected to speak publicly until at least Friday, the Heat said.
Each player involved in the trade must pass a physical before joining his new team.
O'Neal has already made an impact in Miami, with the Heat's ticket sales brisk this week. He's moving from one city enthralled by celebrities to another, but there are a lot more of them in Los Angeles than in Miami, and O'Neal is likely to become the biggest thing on South Beach.

[Zenithian Legend]

Well I for one like this trade, as I see my beloved Pistons chances for repeating going up with the Lakers completely out of the championship picture now.

[Grave_Addiction]

Well I for one like this trade, as I see my beloved Pistons chances for repeating going up with the Lakers completely out of the championship picture now.

That's funny, because I kinda see their chances going down now that Shaq is in the East. Miami won't make the same mistake L.A. did with Shaq. They will give him the ball often and that makes all the difference.

[Fatesealer]

Yikes... and like the story says, free agents are likely to reconsider Miami as an option to sign with... imagine the possibilities...

Shaq and Kobe II in Florida... heh, kidding... :P

[Zenithian Legend]

Well I for one like this trade, as I see my beloved Pistons chances for repeating going up with the Lakers completely out of the championship picture now.

That's funny, because I kinda see their chances going down now that Shaq is in the East. Miami won't make the same mistake L.A. did with Shaq. They will give him the ball often and that makes all the difference.

Twas not a problem in the finals, and the Heat have far less to work with than the Lakers. Detroit and Miami will be the ECF next year though, unless there's some (more) major injuries/trades. Pistons also added Antonio McDyess & Carlos Delfino while only losing Memo Okur and probably Mike James.

[Grave_Addiction]

Well I for one like this trade, as I see my beloved Pistons chances for repeating going up with the Lakers completely out of the championship picture now.

That's funny, because I kinda see their chances going down now that Shaq is in the East. Miami won't make the same mistake L.A. did with Shaq. They will give him the ball often and that makes all the difference.

Twas not a problem in the finals, and the Heat have far less to work with than the Lakers. Detroit and Miami will be the ECF next year though, unless there's some (more) major injuries/trades. Pistons also added Antonio McDyess & Carlos Delfino while only losing Memo Okur and probably Mike James.

You're not honestly saying McDyess is a pickup, are you? What has this bum done over the past five years other than be injured and pick up a pay check every week?

The Lakers played the game all wrong in the Finals. All they had to do was feed Shaq everytime and they would have won easily. Kobe's too selfish to let Shaq take over a game.

He shot too many bad shots and was just not playing well.

Feed the beast and you will be unstoppable.

[Zenithian Legend]

Eh, McDyess will fill in for Okur's 10 minutes, 4 points and 3 rebounds a game in the playoffs and that's all I want.

As for the big fella, in the finals he took plenty of shots. In fact Shaq was shooting more in the finals than in any other playoff series and during the regular season, plus his scoring avg and minutes were up. Shaq can get his 25-30 against the Pistons and the Heat won't win, just like LA. The one area Shaq's numbers suffered the most have nothing to do with Kobe, and that was rebounds. The Pistons killed LA on the glass in the series. I doubt Shaq is going to get any more help rebounding in Miami (no Doleac doesn't count), and once again the Pistons should oust the Diesel.

Anyway you're a Mavs fan, why are you defending Miami and Shaq?

[CaseyRyback]

Eh, McDyess will fill in for Okur's 10 minutes, 4 points and 3 rebounds a game in the playoffs and that's all I want.

As for the big fella, in the finals he took plenty of shots. In fact Shaq was shooting more in the finals than in any other playoff series and during the regular season, plus his scoring avg and minutes were up. Shaq can get his 25-30 against the Pistons and the Heat won't win, just like LA. The one area Shaq's numbers suffered the most have nothing to do with Kobe, and that was rebounds. The Pistons killed LA on the glass in the series. I doubt Shaq is going to get any more help rebounding in Miami (no Doleac doesn't count), and once again the Pistons should oust the Diesel.

Anyway you're a Mavs fan, why are you defending Miami and Shaq?

haq's numbers were down because you brought in 2 other HOF's. If Karl Malone would have remained healthy and the triangle was run like it was supposed to be, there would have been no problems. the lakers got into trouble when they went away from Shaq. He should be option number one and not a point or shooting guard

[Zenithian Legend]

Eh, McDyess will fill in for Okur's 10 minutes, 4 points and 3 rebounds a game in the playoffs and that's all I want.

As for the big fella, in the finals he took plenty of shots. In fact Shaq was shooting more in the finals than in any other playoff series and during the regular season, plus his scoring avg and minutes were up. Shaq can get his 25-30 against the Pistons and the Heat won't win, just like LA. The one area Shaq's numbers suffered the most have nothing to do with Kobe, and that was rebounds. The Pistons killed LA on the glass in the series. I doubt Shaq is going to get any more help rebounding in Miami (no Doleac doesn't count), and once again the Pistons should oust the Diesel.

Anyway you're a Mavs fan, why are you defending Miami and Shaq?

haq's numbers were down because you brought in 2 other HOF's. If Karl Malone would have remained healthy and the triangle was run like it was supposed to be, there would have been no problems. the lakers got into trouble when they went away from Shaq. He should be option number one and not a point or shooting guard

urr... ahh... Shaq's #s were up in the finals... is what I said, except rebounding and that had nothing to do with Karl Malone or GP, as Malone didn't play much and GP doesn't get rebounds. The Pistons just had LA's # and were flat out better. If I were a gambling man I'd anticipate Detroit to knock Shaq out of the playoffs again next year as well.