Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

I've had the flu for a solid week now, and it's just not good times. I actually got well enough to work Friday and Saturday, and then this thing came back with a vengeance by Saturday night. I'm so hopped on medication I thought I already posted about the Gasol and Shaq trades...until I checked the site and realized I hadn't. Did I dream that?

First off, I know I said a couple of months ago I was done with the NBA and wasn't paying attention. Two things about that: one, I forgot what a bad sports month February is. I mean really, after the Super Bowl, it's like six straight weeks of basketball and hockey (or if you're in the States just basketball) until March Madness starts. There's nothing else to talk about. Since they refuse to give us ESPN or a Fox Sports affiliate (honestly the Canadian standards or something or other says you can't get an American station if there's a Canadian equivalent. Well we don't have an equivalent to either of those channels here: yes, we have three sports networks, but they all show hockey, curling, poker, and talking heads who talk about hockey and the stupid Maple Leafs. God forbid we'd be allowed Fox Sports Seattle or something so I could watch a few college basketball games or another baseball team besides the Blue Jays), it's pretty much impossible to follow college basketball here. I tried looking on ESPN.com on their bubble watch feature, and I have no idea who any of these teams or players are this year. Apparently Memphis is really good and the Dukies are good despite playing a lot of white guys, and Carolina and UCLA are pretty good. Other than that? No idea. Drake or Butler or somebody like that is a "lock" for the postseason, while schools I've actually heard of are not. I give up. My NCAA bracket pool will be picked blindfolded this year, which means I'll probably have as good or better a chance as I've had in years past where I thought I knew what I was doing.

ANYWAY what was I talking about again? Right, the NBA trades. First Mitch Kupchak goes from being one of the worst GM's in the league (he traded Shaq for nothing, then dealt Caron Butler for Kwame Brown- whoopsy poopsy!- and did so little to help Kobe he was publicly demanding a trade) to one of the best with one trade. The Gasol trade was a heist, a grand larceny. They didn't lose any of their TOP 10 PLAYERS in this deal, and they get a low-post scorer who looks perfect for the triangle offense. If Andrew Bynum comes back anywhere close to 100% before the playoffs, this is hands down the team to beat. Unbelievable.

It should also be Exhibit A in why salary caps are just a bad idea. First, there's so few GM's who actually know how to properly use the cap, it puts most teams at a disadvantage even if your GM isn't named Kevin McHale. Second, as this trade shows, it doesn't allow bad teams to get better, it just makes them much worse. Young guys make nothing, star players make a lot, and middle-of-the-pack players are way overpaid. So if you're Memphis and you want to trade Gasol, your best VALUE would be some solid young players. An all-star caliber player like Gasol for a couple of good young players would be equal VALUE-- but with the salary cap, those guys are worth about 10-20% of Gasol, so then you have to throw in the over paid guys like Kwame and the retired Aaron McKie (how'd you like to be Aaron McKie? You're so washed up you're not even in the league, but then the phone rings and it's your agent saying "Um Aaron? The Lakers want to pay you $5 million so they can trade you to the Grizzlies...no, no they don't expect you to play...yes, it's guaranteed money...yes you'll be able to continue to sit around and do nothing and get paid for it. Is that ok with you?"). It just doesn't allow teams to get full value, or really anything close to it, for good players.

Then there was the Shaq trade. That's the biggest "No F***ing WAY!!!" trade I can remember in any sport in a long, long time. Come to think of it, I can't think of one more shocking or baffling. It scores a perfect 10 on the Ron Burgandy "Brian, That doesn't even make sense" scale. Not only does Shaq seem to be the exact opposite of what Phoenix needs on the court, but there would seem to have been better deals and better value out there for a player as good as Shawn Marion. But what about the money part of it? Not only does The Diesel have $40 million GUARANTEED coming to him in the next few years, but this puts the Suns over the cap, something they've been so unwilling to do that they've been auctioning off draft picks in the last few years, and gave Seattle TWO #1 draft picks just to take Kurt Thomas' contract off their hands- even though Thomas was the only player they had who could defend in the paint. Going well over the salary cap made sense if they were getting Kevin Garnett, but Shaq? He's old, on a steep decline, and he's been hurt for good stretches of the last couple of years.

But you know what? The folks in Phoenix seem really, truly, genuinely excited and optimistic about this trade. Despite what the stats say about this trade, the Suns seem to think the chemistry of it will be the shakeup they need, and that if Shaq can give them good minutes in the post, they're going to be dangerous. I also heard Shaq refer to his going to Phoenix as "The Amare Stoudamire" project. He made a similar statement when he got dealt to Miami that he was going to help Dwayne Wade win a title, and he was true to his word. He said similar things when he got to LA about making the Lakers champs with Kobe. Again, true to his word. As crazy and unrealistic as it seems right now, maybe all Shaq needed was some motivation, a chip on his shoulder (honestly, have you seen one person who likes this trade for Phoenix?), somebody to mentor in Amare, and a change in scenery. Maybe this isn't so crazy. Of course also having the best point guard in the planet in Steve Nash, as well as some cagey vets like Grant Hill and Raja Bell don't hurt either. Maybe this just could work. A Phoenix/LA confernce finals? How fun would that be?