My Two Cents on Shaq and the Trade

I had hoped that this divorce would be a clean, respectful break. I believed that by trading Shaq, we might have hurt his feelings, but I sincerely wanted the trade to go smoothly in the aftermath. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

First, we heard the rumors that there was a growing rift between Shaq and Riles as O'Neal's days in Miami came to an end. Then we found out that Shaq's agent called the Heat about 3 weeks ago asking about a buyout. So Shaq had been wanting out for quite some time. That's fine. His primary interest is in himself and his legacy, but we all knew that all along.

However, now that we traded him away to a contender with nothing but praise and well-wishes, he comes off with a barrage of insults and back-handed compliments for his former teammates. The latest of said insults: "I've never had a point guard like him," O'Neal said of Nash. "As I was telling Steve, I haven't got an easy bucket in six years."

Alright, so guys like Derek Fisher, Jason Williams and Dwyane Wade weren't good enough to pass you the ball? Come on. Nobody in the Heat organization has said a negative thing about the fact you took up 1/3rd of the team's salary while producing at an "earthling" level for 45 games a season. We haven't heard a bad thing about Shaq from any of his former teammates. Yet he insists on dragging their names through the mud.

This isn't the first time he's done so either. Shaq has a tendency to insult his former teammates: Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, Jason Williams, Dwyane Wade, as well as heaping praise on newfound teammates: Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Michael Doleac.

Heck, he has even backtracked on past insults of opponents once they became new teammates of his. Remember how little respect he gave Steve Nash when he won the MVP in 2004? Or how little he thought of Alonzo Mourning before he became his teammate?

It's evident that Shaq is a crowd-pleasing, brown-nosing weasel that doesn't respect anyone as a teammate or a coach. Wherever he goes he says the right things at the start to impress everyone and get on their good side. Once things go south there, he moves along like a parasite and trashes everyone he left in his wake. He really should consider handling himself with more class if he ever wants to be considered an all-time great.

As for the trade itself, I've been meaning to say it but haven't gotten around to it: why is nobody absolutely heaping mounds of praise on Pat Riley? I've read about a dozen "what was Phoenix thinking?!" pieces, and recently read Bill Simmons' "Phoenix made a bold move" article. I have yet to see a single story (that gets national coverage at least) that emphasizes just how insanely good a move this was for the Heat.

Riley literally pulled a rabbit out of a hat. Shaq's contract was untradeable. Absolutely untradeable. Yet he manages to unload it, and for an All-Star in his prime?! And not just an All-Star, but an All-Star with an expiring contract! Nobody has bothered to take note of Riley pulling off what has to be one of the Top 5 franchise-saving trades in NBA history. I think he deserves much more credit than he has gotten so far.