Suns hope full year with Shaq pays

[Irish]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/09/29/20080929sunsshaq0930.html

Suns hope full year with Shaq pays

1 commentby Paul Coro - Sept. 29, 2008 11:27 PM
The Arizona Republic
Shaquille O'Neal said he weighs about the same (330-335 pounds) as he did in his first NBA championship season.

He's well aware that he is 36.
"Yeah, I'm old, but I can still do what I do," he said. http://gannett.gcion.com/?adlink/5111/328772/0/154/AdId=121521;BnId=5;itime=758401282;

And as for that plan to retire when the Suns are done paying him $21 million for each of the next two seasons: "I may get another deal. I may say I don't want to play anymore. You got that window. The window's closing. You've got to get it done now. No excuses."

As O'Neal blows up assumptions that he is overweight, in age denial and counting down to retirement, he might as well flip the script on reviews of the Suns' trade for him.

"It would've been a hell of a Cinderella story for me playing 30 games and for us to get it done," O'Neal said. "When you talk about winning championships, it really doesn't work out like that. What Boston showed is if you put a lot guys together and go through a whole year uninterrupted, anything is possible."

The Suns are banking on the full-season theory when it comes to O'Neal. The hope is that the team is better for having him from today's start of camp and that new coach Terry Porter's system will suit him better.

The offense will be more traditional and deliberate at times, but that is low on the O'Neal priorities. The Suns have scorers galore. They need him to improve a defense that Porter said must be among the top five in the NBA to win a title.

"From a focal standpoint, that's going to change for us in order to be successful," said Porter, whose system will be more like the one that O'Neal played in with the Lakers.

There will be less space for O'Neal or any Suns player to cover as Porter puts in a simpler formula of sending dribblers to the baseline rather than the paint.

"The big guys have to rotate and be very alert and cut off angles," Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. "The guards have to be able to trust the big guys behind them. Robin (Lopez) will be very good at it, and Shaq will be good at it. That's where he's at his best defensively, when he doesn't have to cover too much ground on the perimeter and he can guard the rim. We want post defense so we're not vulnerable against Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Al Jefferson and the guys who were killing us last year."

O'Neal might play fewer minutes than the 29 he averaged with the Suns. He will form a lane-clogging tandem with Lopez, but Porter also will go with Amaré Stoudemire at center and Boris Diaw at power forward.
O'Neal missed 86 games over the past three years.

"(Miami staffers) were not real familiar with my injuries, so I missed a lot of games," O'Neal said. "Once I came here, (Suns head athletic trainer) Aaron (Nelson) figured things out, and I was back on my feet. . . . I'm probably in the best shape coming into training camp I've been for a long time."


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[AceP]

They have talked plenty of right things, now it is time to make the talk happen...

Fortunately, the 330lbs is one right thing has happened. We all have been worrying it might go 340 or even 350...

 

[LavaLamp2]

...but Porter also will go with Amaré Stoudemire at center and Boris Diaw at power forward.

I suppose this will be their small ball line-up. Against which teams and in which particular situations are we likely to see this from Porter?

 

[nashman]

Probally against smaller teams or fast paced teams GS, Dallas, Utah, NO just trying to think of some of the up pace teams with not a lot of size.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

I think we will see a healthy amount of small ball this season, it is hardly extinct in the valley of the sun

 

[Andrew]

Y'all knew I was gonna comment on this. But seriously, Shaq still has game and a lot of you will be surprised at how much he has left in the tank.

Damn, with the explanation of how they want to play...I AM EXCITED.

 

[arwillan]

at this point, it will take shaq being in his best shape for him to even remain effective at all. he doesn't really have a whole lot left in the tank, so i wouldn't expect much no matter what kind of shape he's in. I think we'll probably be able to get 12/11 or so out of him nightly, but not much more.

also, i like the idea of us funneling dribblers towards the baseline. it's a simple defense that works very well. it might not work as well against teams like the hornets/magic that have great finishers like chandler/howard cutting down the lane. We'll have to make sure all of our bigs keep their hands active and in the passing lanes. I think the new offense will be better for shaq, but probably worse for barbosa and nash who thrive when the offense is less "deliberate" and more improvised. WIthout a real back-to-the-basket game, amare may also have some trouble adjusting his game to the new system at times. This season will be interesting to say the least.

 

[Bufalay]

Y'all knew I was gonna comment on this. But seriously, Shaq still has game and a lot of you will be surprised at how much he has left in the tank.

Damn, with the explanation of how they want to play...I AM EXCITED.

Shaq sucks

 

[nashman]

Yeah I wouldn't pin any hopes of a great season on Shaq, its pretty much up to the other guys on the team how this season turns out. I am excited as I think we have the pieces to be very good, should be a fun season. I am going into this season without the high expectations like the past few so the better we do I will just enjoy it.

 

[TJ]

Y'all knew I was gonna comment on this. But seriously, Shaq still has game and a lot of you will be surprised at how much he has left in the tank.

Damn, with the explanation of how they want to play...I AM EXCITED.

Andrew, tell me how my ass tastes!!

 

[arwillan]

Andrew, tell me how my ass tastes!!

 

[Irish]

I'm curious what "not having anything left in the tank" actually means. Last season with the Suns, Shaq shot 61.1% from the field and averaged 0.36 rebounds per minute in just over 28 minutes when coming off an injury and playing with new people.After his addition, the Suns took a percentage point off their opponent's shooting percentages

For a guy who is supposed to have nothing left, this was not that bad.

 

[NBAFanAddict]

Shaq is still one of, if not the, biggest bodies in the NBA...

 

[arwillan]

Shaq is still one of, if not the, biggest bodies in the NBA...

Sorry, Double Post

 

[arwillan]

Shaq is still one of, if not the, biggest bodies in the NBA...

....and the point is? Eddy Curry is huge and he's hardly worth mentioning as an nba player.

 

[Irish]

Shaq claims he's the best passing big man in the NBA. As I said elsewhere, he's probably not the best passing big man on the Suns who have Diaw.

In any case, the key for Shaq over guys like Curry and Randolp is his passing. Low post guys who can't or won't pass are a lot less effective than post players who can hit cutters when double teamed.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/10/01/20081001spt-suns.html

Some of Porter's new ideas are targeted at reducing the onus on Steve Nash and how to use Shaquille O'Neal.

...Porter believes in spacing the floor, a priority in the D'Antoni era. He wants to keep defenses honest and punish them when they double the post

... "I definitely want to put those defensive players on their heels," Stoudemire said. "They don't want to guard me. Not only me, but they don't want to guard really anybody who's a serious threat offensively. We want to make those guys play defense."

IMHO, getting Shaq and Amare to be more comfortable working together could be huge. Shaq has fought through double teams his enire career, but has never had a PF who can score like Amare.