Last year was the first year that I really started to appreciate Marion. He used to kill me with his 3 pointers that he would take. They often seemed ill timed and I remember a few times, it completely killed the runs they were going on. But he does so many things well, that I really believe he will be an asset everywhere he goes. He provides even the slowest team with a fast break option, which is extremely rare. However, I never could really understand his fealing of being unappreciated when he was the highest paid player on the roster. That boggled me a bit, I must admit.
The arguements against the trade, at this point, I feal are very weak. If he wasn't happy here, and was serious about opting out for more money, then you had to do something. He was having argueably his worst year, in a potential contract year, and it was obvious that the chemistry was not there through a half season. There really weren't any other big men available that would have the impact that Shaquille would and it fits perfectly for their two year plan, where a majority of the cap space will be open to begin the rebuilding process. And overall they would still save money by getting rid of Banks who I believe was still owed 4.1 for the next 3 years.
Obviously, the suns will make the playoffs and should go farther, and it is unfair to say that the only way this trade is succesful is if we win a championship, we didn't get out of the second round last year, so obviously if we go the conference championship game again, that will be an imporvement. I am just excited to watch them again, where I really haven't fealt that in the past 3 months aside from the occasional game.
