The Ghost of Shaq

Something that no one has talked about in all of this is the Shaq trade and how it has shaped the NBA into all of this. It took Kobe 4 years to reach the Finals without Shaq, and it has been 4 years since Miami has won a championship, so even though this will be the 7th season since the Shaq trade (crazy, isn’t it?), this trade hugely affected the landscape of the NBA with its after math. It was like an earthquake with the after shock, you thought it was over and it just kept going. Shaq wins a ring, the Lakers lose. Lakers get Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown (who was traded straight up for Caron Butler) and keep Lamar Odom, three championship games and 2 wins, Shaq leaving to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and than Shaq going to Cleveland, Lakers take it! Well, the Ghost of Shaq lives on. Have to wonder if Kobe thought about this? Kobe is the ultimate winner between he and Shaq, rings do not lie, and as much as I still am a Shaq man to this day, I consider Kobe the 2nd greatest player of All-Time, and Shaq is NOT first. But, remember when Kobe did his whole, “One more than Shaq”, thing. It was funny, it is true and it shows that while the beef may be “squashed”, these guys still are at each others throats when they have the chance. But, right after Kobe said that, a question he was given was “what do you think about the prospects of LeBron and Dwyane Wade playing on the same team?” Kobe did not even want to think about it, he just wanted to enjoy the moment, he brushed it off as a fantasy, as many of us did at the time. But, he has to be thinking about it now. Yes, Kobe has the better team, two rings in a row and is still the best player in the league until someone takes it from him, but I have a feeling Kobe has this question answered and on his mind right now. The Lakers offered Mike Miller, Mike is going with the Heat. Kobe can not be too happy about that one. No doubt, he will be firing on all cylinders next year and barring injury, the Lake Show will be a force to contend with. But, the Heat have young, incredible talent at this point, and I am guessing they are going to have a better team around them than everyone initially thought. The Celtics were in much the same situation, although they did it with trades instead of free agency, but they were paying there trio more money! They did not have to resort to getting D-Leaguers, and things turned out just fine.

With all of these factors considered, does this not give a whole new light to the famous Shaq trade? If Pat Riley saw this coming, the guy is honestly the most brilliant mind in basketball history. Total genius. He could not have seen it coming, but wow, the Shaq trade turned out just fan-fricking-tastic. Everyone in the world was trying to create cap room for this summer, and Riley WON. Could any other team had done this? This team is not exactly the 2007 Celtics who were one of the worst teams in the league. If people had to say who Dwyane Wade was playing with in Miami last year, they would most likely say “nobody” or “Beasley”, who scored and did very little else. Now, honestly, the Celtics Big 3 compared to this is like comparing “Kazaam” to “the Godfather.” No one in their right mind would say the first one is better than the second one (sorry Shaq, your movie sucked, and I know you love the Godfather). So, with all of this going on, and the Heat in my opinion gearing up to take a shot at the Lakers as early as next year (yes, that early, barring injuries on both teams), can this not be at least somewhat contributed to the Ghost of Shaq? He is coming back to haunt Kobe once again, regardless of where he plays. For all intensive purposes, if Shaq plays on San Antonio next year, that team just becomes more annoying for the Lakers to face (even with the Big Fella maybe only playing 20 or so mins, who wants that for 20 minutes?), but even if Shaq plays in Atlanta, wherever, you can not say that these signings are not attributed to that original trade. All of the salaries Miami lost came from the trade, just as much as Caron Butler to Kwame Brown to Pau Gasol did. So, who will have the last laugh? Kobe does now, but if the Heat put a stop to his teams apparent dynasty of dominance, I have a feeling Shaq might having a smirk on his face. It is just absolutely unforeseen and incredible how much that one thing shaped the league we have right now, and you have to say both teams really got a lot out of that trade. Overall, it will be fun to see what the final outcome of the death of Kobe/Shaq and the utter evolution it brought upon the league.