4. Did you agree with the Marion for Shaq swap? What impact did that deal have long term for the team?
Bourguet: Ahh yes, the death of the Seven Seconds Or Less era (which ultimately culminated in a championship for the Golden State Warriors). I know the Shaquille O’Neal trade was largely a failure, but it’s hard to blame Steve Kerr too much for not caving and dishing out a max contract to the Matrix when he wasn’t quite a max player anymore. Marion’s numbers sharply declined after leaving Phoenix, while the Suns made the conference finals two seasons later.
Chasen: Marion had reportedly wanted out from the beginning of the season, and while it was seen as a risk at the time, with people not knowing what Shaq had left in the tank, I think in the long run it ended up being pretty okay. Marion could’ve opted out after the season and left anyway, so I think it was probably a good call just to trade him in general. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, and things didn’t work out the way they could have, but considering what we saw this year with the locker room, I think it was a good call in getting something back for him.
Hoops Habit
It’s also worth noting that he was at the tail end of his prime. Marion never averaged more than 14.5 points per game after leaving Phoenix, despite averaging at least 19 points per game over the last five full seasons. He was right around 30 years old (even though Shaq was obviously older), and even though the team had a great record, without any interior defense, they probably wouldn’t have done anything anyway. Shaq ended up averaging 15 and 10 in the playoffs, with close to three blocks per game, and he posted a total plus/minus of +15 in the postseason, despite the Suns losing their first series in five games.
Hann: At the time I would be lying if I said I was against the trade. After falling in the playoffs to the Tim Duncan-led Spurs for so long, I absolutely thought Shaq’s paint presence would of and could of been the answer for San Antonio. Marion’s numbers had fallen to 15.8 points and 9.9 rebounds at the time when there was speculated to be organizational conflict, yet the Suns still sat in a top-3 seed in the West at the time of the trade.
Looking back, if Phoenix would have kept Marion and made a Stoudemire trade instead, that route would’ve likely ended in a championship parade somewhere down the road. Now Suns fans, imagine if the Suns kept Marion and the Stoudemire-for-Curry trade would have gone through, creating a ridiculous core of Steve Nash, Steph Curry and Shawn Marion. One can only dream.
Sanders: It was a bold move at the time and whenever there is a big move it will always be second guessed unless it leads to a championship, which this deal did not. I think Marion needed to be moved at the time, there were issues with him wanting a new contract and things were starting to turn sour, so it was time for Marion to make a new start elsewhere.
I don’t think bringing in Shaq hurt the Suns as the team still won games and made the playoffs, but he didn’t exactly fit in to the Suns’ style. A few years after the deal, the Suns were within a couple games of reaching the NBA Finals, so you can’t say it was a disaster.
Schall: I never thought it made sense. Shaq was obviously well past his prime and never totally made sense in the Suns’ system. At the same time the trade was defensible just because Marion wasn’t expected to age nearly as well as he did because of his athleticism based game. In a macro sense the Suns weren’t winning a title regardless of the trade, it was just sad to see the band broken up.
Next: No. 5