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The Shaq Deal

It looks like the Shaq-to-Miami deal is going down, and it's about to become the worst thing to happen to Miami since Will Smith decided to write a candy-ass song about it. The Heat should absolutely not, under any circumstances, pull the trigger on this deal.

It was just made abundantly clear that a combination of Shaq, Kobe, and a limited supporting cast is not enough to win a title. Not even close. So why would the Heat think that an older Shaq, plus Dwyane Wade and an even more limited supporting cast is good enough to win the title? It isn't. The Heat, should this trade go down, won't be among the top two teams in the East.

The team that they're in the process of dismantling, however, was on the verge of becoming just that - one of the best teams in the East. The deal, as reported by David Aldridge, would give up Butler, Odom, Brian Grant, and a future draft pick, supplying the Lakers with 3/5 of their new starting five, and leaving the Heat with a roster thinner than Tayshaun Prince on the South Beach Diet. Add a year or two of experience and some depth to the current roster, and the Heat, with a core of Odom, Butler, and Wade, would've been among the NBA's elite for a very long time.

They're going to dismantle that, and for what? In a best-case scenario, Shaq remains dominant, happy and healthy for 3 years (yeah, that seems likely), while at the same time chewing up nearly all of their cap space, and not allowing them to improve a whole lot on a starting five of DW, Shaq, Eddie Jones, Malik Allen possibly, and God knows who else. Maybe he'll attract a free agent or two, but the cap space just won't be there. Unless he gets four or five guys to all do accept a Malone/Payton-style paycut, that team simply will not be good enough.

Stan Van Gundy's got to be going out of his mind right now. He probably hasn't been this upset since he had to face Koopa the turtle king at the end of Super Mario Bros on NES. He had a chance to develop a young team into a powerhouse and build a reputation for himself as a great coach. Instead, he gets Shaq, and presumably, the expectation of at least one NBA title, an expectation that, if not met, will probably result in his dismissal. I hope Stan collects a whole lot of coins, because he's going to need some extra lives.

What makes it even worse is that this trade sucks a lot of the potential entertainment out of the NBA for a few years. How much fun was it going to be watching little Dwyane Wade turn the Heat into a contender? After just his rookie year, how many NBA players can you name that are more exciting to watch? 5? Somewhere less than 10? Now he'll be the second banana on a team that won't be nearly as good. This trade also likely keeps Kobe on the purple and yellow side of Staples, depriving NBA fans of the opportunity to see if Kobe can turn the Clippers into a championship team, and perhaps worst of all, it sets the Lakers up to be a very good team for a long time. A starting five of Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Kobe, and Dwyane Wade? Showtime, for real.

No matter how difficult the task has been made due to the stickiness of his hair gel, Pat Riley needs to yank his head out of his pasty white can and back out of this deal. It doesn't make any sense for the Heat.

Boozer the Loser?

Editor's note: Carlos Boozer has not yet given his side of the story. So far, we only know what the Cavs are claiming.

I guess there's a possibility that we don't know the whole story yet, but I'd tend to believe that if Boozer or his agent had a side to the story that was something other than, "We're greedy liars," we'd have heard it by now. I don't think it's a coincidence that his cell phone has been unavailable for two days. He apparently has nothing to say for himself, and I hope he's losing sleep at night.

If he had entered into unrestricted free agency like everyone else and then decided to chase the dollars, I'd have no ill will. I have never begrudged an athlete for making as much paper as they can. Careers are short, and injuries happen, and if someone has a chance to jump at some extra benjamins, I can't blame them. If it's out there, go get it.

Carlos's situation, however, is a little bit different. To quote my man Sidney Deane, "The Indians shook hands with the Pilgrims, and look who got ------." In this situation, Jim Paxson and the Cavs, while not 100% without blame, are clearly playing the role of the Indians.

You know the story by now. Paxson and Cavs owner Gordon Gund opted not to pick up the option year on Boozer's contract, and resign him for more money. They let him become a free agent with a verbal agreement that he'd resign. He became a free agent, and Boozer and his agent not only negotiated a new deal with the Jazz for more money, but also made it a frontloaded offer, designed so it would be harder for the Cavs to match it.

It doesn't get much lower than that. If that is indeed how it went down (and I haven't heard any alternate versions), then Carlos Boozer and his agent are dirty.

Paxson, as much as he is certainly a victim in this situation, still did something dumb. He took an agent at his word. It's good to be trusting, but you've got to protect your franchise. Paxson didn't. And assuming he keeps his job (and he should - Gund, the guy who would fire him, was hoodwinked, too), Paxson would have to just about move heaven and earth to keep Boozer, which he shouldn't consider doing. That would be like the Corleone family welcoming Carlo back and naming him consigliere. That's just not the way you handle things.

Let him walk. You can't have a guy like that on your team. It's not worth it. See if you can get Stromile Swift to take your mid-level exception and move on.

Other Free Agency Notes...

- The Spurs, very quietly, have made themselves significantly better. Manu Ginobili has agreed to resign, as has Bruce Bowen, Hedo Turkoglu has been shown the door, and is replaced by Brent Barry. Bones will be nice to have around when Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili start bouncing the ball off their foot in big playoff games next year while Turkoglu would be doing the same thing in Orlando if they were going to make the playoffs.

- Kenyon Martin reportedly got a 6-year max offer from Atlanta, which is great for him, but the problem with signing an offer sheet with the Hawks is that you might have to play for them. ESPN.com is reporting that the Nuggets are going to make a similar offer, so Martin would have to choose between the two. Hmm, an up-and-coming team with a young stud and a bright future in Denver, or a team that attracts as many great basketball players as the Syphillitic Bunny Ranch in Nevada attracts paying customers. Touch choice. The Nets would have a chance to match either offer.

- Linda Frolich signed a 7-day contract with the New York Liberty. That's huge.

- An NHL-esque work stoppage could be looming in the future for the NBA, and when the time comes to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, and the owners are complaining about paying huge salaries, I want you to remember a one-week period in which those very same owners agreed to pay Brian Skinner, Adonal Foyle, Brian Cardinal, Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston, and Mark Blount a combined $214 million.

- If Adonal Foyle is worth $41.6 million, I'm worth at least a couple hundred thousand. Come on. Someone pay me.

- I dig the new Jazz uniforms, but I liked them better the first time, when they were the new Grizzlies uniforms. I'm glad that the purple-mountain atrocities are gone, but it's as if someone in Utah said, "Hey, do you think anyone would notice if we copied the Grizzlies' uniforms, and just left the yellow out?"

- I'm happy to see Brian Cardinal getting paid, and yes, he was my favorite free agent out there, but the fact remains that he is still Brian Cardinal, and $39 million just seems a little excessive.

Watch for the Mailbag tomorrow... Peace.

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M.J. Darnell runs www.themightymjd.com.