Miami To Be Saddled With Marcus Banks, Part II

Continuing the Miami-Phoenix trade coverage, in my opinion this move by Phoenix smells like desperation. The Suns have been neglecting their budget and have ignoring to build through the draft, which makes their ever-present future bleaker by the year. By taking on the 35-year-old's massive contact, they're making a statement that they have no choice but to win now before the LA combo of Kobe, Pau, Bynum, and Odom reigns supreme.

Shaq doesn't exactly seem like a perfect fit for the "7 seconds or less" system Phoenix has been running since Mike D'Antoni arrived. Although his size will finally put Amare Stoudamire back into his natural position at power forward, Shaq may get in the way of the relentless Nash-Amare pick and rolls the Suns run. On the plus side, Phoenix's ability to stretch you out with their long range shooters will give Shaq more room to operate in the paint than he has this year in Miami.

What I hope is not overshadowed is that Shawn Marion will finally be getting his wish to leave Phoenix. Despite the personal and team successes Marion's been a part of, he's often demanded to be traded, making him become the Manny Ramirez of the NBA. If you've read Jack McCallum's book on the Suns, you'd have a better insight as to why Marion felt so under-appreciated. It's going to be quite interesting to see how well Phoenix does without his defense around. Often times, Marion was exhausted from being undersized against his match-ups, but even more so from having to erase Amare's boneheaded mistakes with terrific help defense.

Lastly, Marcus Banks blows big fat donkey dick.

Common sense is telling me that although this will cause a lot of ruckus, Phoenix will still fail to win the desired championship. Plenty will have to go right for them, including having a healthy O'Neal come playoff time. Does this help Miami either? Not really, but I bet they'll win a few more games.