By Stephen Legget

If you are anything like me, sometime last week, you heard that Phoenix had agreed to trade Shawn Marion for the NBA equivalent of a bag of dinosaur fossils.

Shaq once was the most feared player in the NBA. But for the past 18 months, he has been a shell of the player that won four NBA titles and caused match-up problems for the entire league.

Steve Kerr is hoping Shaq gives the fast moving – quick shooting – run and gun Suns an interior presence that they haven’t had since Oliver Miller was in the Phoenix buffet line.

The worrisome part of that fact is that Shaq’s problems seem to share Oliver’s famous call. “Please sir … can I have some more?”

Shaq showed up in Miami with something to prove. Could he win without Kobe? He proved that he could, and no one has seen him in a weight room since.

At the time of the trade, Phoenix was leading the Western Conference. The big three of Marion, Nash and Amare have combined to give the Suns as good a shot to win a Championship as they have ever had.

However, with the Lakers addition of Pau Gasol to a front court that includes Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom made the Suns lack of size up front even clearer. Amare Stoudemire would foul out in the first quarter against any of the bigger front courts in the league.

Size Matters! Now with Shaq Diesel filling the lane for the Suns, Stoudemire should be free to worry more about scoring and less about fighting with the other big men in the west.

The Suns will miss Marion. He has been an All-Star and for years, averaging 18.5 points a game with 10 rebounds, playing a variety of positions. How many teams couldn’t use that player?

But Phoenix was up against a wall. Shawn Marion has a player option for next year and as much as it would be difficult for any player to reject a $17 million dollar salary, his trade request at the beginning of the season is enough to scare anyone in Phoenix to the bone at the thought of losing a player of his caliber for nothing.

Had Marion declined his option with Phoenix next year, the Suns would have been over the cap and unable to add any player to it’s roster above the midlevel exemption. By trading for Shaq, the Suns have acknowledged that the run and gun style they are known for will not win NBA championships. And with this move they have set themselves up for runs at championships over the next few years, not to end the run after this season.

A bold move for sure. Congrats to Steve Kerr and the Suns for not finding a reason to not make a bold move. If only more teams would put such a high priority on winning it all and not just being in the game.

To read more of Steve’s rants you can check them out here.

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