When a team usually acquires a star player -- say, a future Hall of Famer -- in an overwhelmingly one-sided trade, there's no doubt that they won that deal. Or so it would seem.
There was no way the Cavs were losing this one. They gave up basically a sack of basketballs for Shaquille O'Neal, who even at age 37 was an All-Star center and a nightmare to defend in the low post. Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic were nothing more than cap relief for the Suns, as neither guy even put on a Suns jersey after the trade.
It was the equivalent of giving Shaq away for free.
So why, two weeks into the season, does it look like the Suns, and not the Cavs, won this deal?
Phoenix is where Cleveland was last year -- racing out to a quick start and turning heads on the way. They are a league-best 7-1 after rallying to beat Philadelphia on Monday night, with the one loss coming at Orlando. The Suns made up for that one loss by beating the Celtics in Boston to hand the C's their first loss of the season.
In other words, they're right back to where they were before the Shaq deal: kicking ass and taking names. They have scored at least 100 poin ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Amar Panchmatia
Did the Phoenix Suns Take Advantage of the Cavaliers With the Shaq Trade?
November 10th, 2009 by Amar Panchmatia Leave a reply »
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