HUGE NEWS

Late in the night, right after there were just rumors circling Shaquille O'Neal, he returns to the Western conference to the Phoenix Suns this time. The trade pending is Shaq for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks and barring a failed physical, this deal will go through. This deal is huge for a couple of reasons. It shows that the Pau Gasol deal might lead to more big trades this season since Memphis pulled the trigger so early. Normally the big deals don't get done until the deadline, but the Grizz got what they wanted and accepted what I thought was an awful deal. Now the rest of the West feels they need to play catch up and it began with Phoenix by addressing their own big man needs (especially on defense) by acquiring Shaq. The 2nd part of this is that Phoenix (who's already sitting atop the Western standings) has 2 dominant big men. I don't care what people say about Shaq being washed up, but the fact is he's been one of most dominating players in NBA history and now he's playing alongside Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, not to mention other talents like Grant Hill, Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa. He's not gonna get get doubled and tripled in Phoenix. That's a huge load off his back, literally. He's going to be more effective in Phoenix with Steve Nash finding a way to use a force like Shaq (Nash is that good a point guard) and potentially push this team over the top. I think the rest of the West needs to think long and hard about how good they are because the teams to measure themselves up to are the Suns and Lakers right now without a doubt.

As for Miami, I think they're done. People can argue that Marion is an athletic player, who has All-Star potential, to go with Wade's playmaking and scoring ability, but the Heat don't play good defense and Shawn Marion has never been successful as a #1 or #2 option. He's a millionaire's garbage-man player, if that makes any sense. It's not going to happen for Miami. My advice is keep losing and hope to draft a PG like Derrick Rose or Jerryd Bayless or someone else with a lot of potential in the summer. If you want to talk about Marcus Banks, then all I have to say is...

In the fantasy perspective, I can't see too much changing. The one guy who could be hurt in all this would be Shawn Marion. He's always been a guy who's thrived in the Phoenix system by scoring on wide-open threes and running the break and getting those fantasy rarities by gambling in the lane and blocking shots, but now he goes to the worst team in the NBA. This team is old and looks old. No one plays with much energy and Marion's game thrives on energy plays. Without that, he might just be a guy who looks lost on offense and just stands around for most of the game. For Shaq, once he's healthy and able to play, his numbers should be about where they're at right now. At this stage in his career, you can't even expect him to get you 20ppg, but he will help the Suns win. Another guy who might not seem useful at 1st, but undoubtedly will be is Boris Diaw. He's been sitting on that Suns bench for most the season, getting erratic playing time, but now with Marion gone and an injured Shaq incoming, he's gonna be inserted into the starting rotation and will be there for as many games as Shaq's injured. Since the Suns currently occupy that 1st seed, I don't see them rushing Shaq back at all. Diaw, given the minutes, can give you a bit of everything and coming from the center spot, he's definitely worth a flier.

All this being said, I can't really trash either team for making this deal. The Suns needed to do something to push themselves over the top and get some confidence that they can win the whole thing. Shaq definitely does that. For the Heat, it's a win just to get rid of Shaq's huge contract and they got an All-Star caliber player back, although I don't think Marion is a perennial All-Star outside of fantasy and Phoenix by any means. Many players are changing places very quickly and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot more trades before February 21st (trade deadline). Keep your eyes open.