but if they take jermaine for amare and filler, they will have jermaines $23 million coming off their books. that would save even more by taking jermaines expiring. Posted by: TylerD | January 25, 2010 at 04:13 PM True but keep in mind the Suns would probably have to throw in other players to get to JO's salary. If so they then would probably need to sign 1 or 2 other players as they usually like to hover around the minimum required amount of players on their roster.

Hopefully Shaq stays out of foul trouble today so that he can cripple the Cavs both offensively and defensively. Posted by: Chris | January 25, 2010 at 04:09 PM LOL, Best record in the league and swept the defending champs this season.

Why would Amare agree to resign with the Cavs? Doesn't he know Lebron is coming to Miami next year? Posted by: JB (working on my sugar intake) | January 25, 2010 at 03:59 PM Stop it LeBron's not going anywhere. Supposedly the Cavs offer is Ilgauskas (the Suns would then buy him out and he would re-sign with the Cavs), Hickson & a 1st Rd pick. The Suns saved $18.5m on the Shaq trade in the offseason and if they do this trade a Suns beat writer said they will save $15m.

Slledge, Fed knocked Hewitt out hours ago, straight sets. Something like 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Amare trade talk from a Suns perspective: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2010/01/24/20100124-suns-amare-stoudemire-trade-CR.html Check out the replys to Duke007's comment on the first page to see what Suns fans think of Beasley and him being included in a deal for Amare. From anything I've read it seems the Suns are more interested in dealing with the Cavs for Ilgauskas and his expiring than anything the Heat can offer.

doctorb, Once again stop playing games. Cavs fans are not on Shaq, if anything they're on Z. They know Shaq is only playing small minutes and not getting the ball much. Still on track for a 60 win season though. Aside from Z being up for trade all season some reporter in Cleveland put out a BS rumor prior to the Jazz game last night that Shaq & Delonte West were about to be traded and would be held out of the game, didn't happen. Anyway here's one of a few Cavs forums I've visited that doesn't feature anything near like people baying for Shaq's head. Remember you pulled a similar stunt last time by saying Suns fans were pissed with Shaq soon after his trade there, I provided the link to prove you were talking garbage. http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=149&f=4229&t=5463447

Posted by: josh | January 13, 2010 at 02:56 PM Shaq ruined Miami? What by bringing the Heat their one and only championship in franchise history? Odd definition of ruined. Mediocre team before he rocked up & mediocre team after he left, still. How did Shaq ruin Phoenix? Because Nash refuses to play defense? Don't try and bring up their past regular season success either you know as well as anyone else on here it was all smoke and mirrors. Nash has never played in a single Finals game yet Shaq has played in six Finals series with three different teams. He's had team success everywhere he's been except Phoenix. I guess he ruined the Lakers too because they were garbage for 3 years the second he left there? What about the Magic, they were rubbish for more than a decade after Shaq's departure? Here's me thinking Jordan brought six championships to the Bulls when actually he just ruined them for a decade. Only in Josh World could the 30-10 Cavs be considered "in the process of being ruined". Did you see that smackdown they gave the defending champs on their own floor on Christmas Day? Shaq didn't even need to get out of first gear for that one but of course, in Josh World these Cavs are clearly screwed. Yes, I did think the Suns would be better for the Shaq trade but unlike yourself I'm man enough to admit I was wrong. Your pig-headed arrogance won't allow you to do the same hence why I humiliated you with your own words throughout last season. Kerr traded Shaq because their owner was/is hellbent on cutting payroll hence why they're even considering letting Amare walk you clown. I don't come on here to discuss Shaq, I come on here to humiliate you and only you, big difference. Plenty of other people on here have bagged Shaq but do I even bother responding to them, no. It's got nothing to do with Shaq's honor (as you well know) & everything to do with teaching a smug arrogant prick like yourself a lesson in humility.

Haha, I hope you're kidding. Shaq is a circus, and he's done. He might as well retire. Posted by: josh | January 12, 2010 at 11:05 PM Oh hello. The gift that keeps on giving. Shaq's done? Haven't we been down this route before? You said he was done back when he was still with the Heat! In fact over that period when Shaq was on the injured list and Mark Blount had a couple of good games filling in for him you said at that time that not only was Shaq done but that Blount was now better than him... So Shaq is now suddenly done despite averaging 18ppg & 8.5rpg while playing 75 games, shooting a career high FG%, a career high FT%, being the co-All-Star game MVP and All-NBA 3rd team just last season? Bang 40 games later career over...again. I mean seriously Josh why do you exist? You're still totally incapable of rational arguments when discussing the guy. Did you not learn anything from me humiliating you day after day last season? I know you're not a retard so why act like one when anyone on here brings up Shaq? FYI, the Cavs said from the moment they traded for Shaq that they didn't care about what numbers he would/wouldn't put up this season because they would be cutting his minutes right down as the sole focus would be on just trying to get him through to the playoffs. He had what could only be considered an amazing season last year for a guy his age and is now the third option on arguably the best team in the league putting up numbers (11 & 7 @ 50+%) that would be considered perfectly fine for most centers in the league not named Shaquille O'Neal (even at almost 38yo) while playing about 50% of the game every game while trying to get a 4th team of his to the Finals to possibly win a 5th ring and you're acting like he's a joke who was supposedly done halfway through the 07-08 season? Excluding Jordan we're talking about the greatest player of what the last 20 years? 30 years? Even MJ never dominated the NBA Finals like Shaq did, I mean come on now. Now while I expect one of your usual immature comebacks about me needing to take Shaq's d__k out of my mouth or something hilarious like that just keep in mind you're the biggest Beasley homer on here & by some distance.

I have no idea where you get the 95% of scientists thing. There are more than enough that call it bullsh!t. 141 Scientists Sign Letter Sent to UN Secretary-General Questioning Global Warming http://www.globalwarminghoax.com/comment.php?comment.news.123 Posted by: Adam | January 11, 2010 at 02:24 PM Buddy there are tens of thousands of climate scientists who back AGW & you're throwing 141 at me? What next, you're going to put up that "petition" supposedly signed by a group of scientists that is now discredited as most of them have asked for their names to be removed from it? Come on bud the Republican spin doctor who single handedly started the "anti-global warming" movement now admits he was wrong. Follow the links, read, fact check, click on the links to all the peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Please educate yourselves.

blah blah blah Posted by: Heat-Struck | January 11, 2010 at 02:23 PM I hate to break this to you but there is far more money in it for scientists to become employees of oil & mining companies than to rely on govt grants. There would be a reason for that too btw

This is for the flat-earthers on here who actually believe global warming/climate change is a hoax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denial Posted by: God | January 11, 2010 at 01:23 PM LOL, did you really just post a wiki article like that means anything? Posted by: Adam | January 11, 2010 at 01:52 PM Why not? It's not like scientific evidence is enough for people like yourself. Have a good read my friend. I'm on the side of around 95% of the world's scientists and all those international governments at Copenhagen and you find yourself on the same side as Big Oil & religious fundamentalists. Have fun with that, champ. A bit more reading for the flat-earthers: "The finding that the climate has warmed in recent decades and that this warming is probably attributable to human influence has been endorsed by every national science academy that has issued a statement on climate change, including the science academies of all of the major industrialized countries.[24] With the release of the revised statement by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2007[25], no remaining scientific society is known to reject the basic findings of human influence on recent climate change." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_skepticism

"The psychology of climate change denial" http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/climate-psychology/

This is for the flat-earthers on here who actually believe global warming/climate change is a hoax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denial

Global Warming is a hoax? Wow. What complete and utter morons.

(would've paid him something like $33-$34m) ==================== ok. but then he signed for 4 more years. -what would his value have been, if he had not opted out, collected that 33 mil, and then re-signed? how many years at what price? Posted by: doctorb | January 02, 2010 at 03:08 PM 5 more years. That five year deal expires at the end of this season. Who knows what Shaq would've got if he hadn't have opted out of that last year of his previous deal. It was Riley's idea though and says a fair bit about Riley. Insert yourself as coach about 15-20 games into the following season, get another championship, hang around for the title defense (while taking off a chunk of the season for hip surgery, some team first commitment) and then start tanking the season after that while trying to force Shaq into demanding a trade to try and get out of the almost 3 years left on that 5 year deal you signed him too. He's not known as Pat The Rat for nothing.

In August 2005, O'Neal signed a 5-year-extension with the Heat for $100 million. Supporters applauded O'Neal's willingness to take what amounted to a pay cut and the Heat's decision to secure O'Neal's services for the long term. ========================= Can anyone explain why this extension was a "pay cut"? Posted by: doctorb | January 02, 2010 at 02:42 PM Because Shaq still had a year to go on the 3 year $88m contract extension he had signed when with the Lakers. For opting out of the final year of that deal (would've paid him something like $33-$34m) he and Riley agreed to a 5 year $125m deal. Right before they were set to announce the deal publicly Shaq rang Riley and said just make it a clean $100m as it would mean the Heat would have cap space to sign a decent free-agent. Enter Antoine Walker & the chmapionship.

After Kobe's horrible performance in the 2004 Finals he became a free-agent. He wanted Shaq, Phil Jackson (Phil went on to call Kobe "uncoachable" in his book), Malone & Payton all gone. Kobe re-signed with the Lakers the day after Shaq was traded to the Heat. Phil was not re-signed as coach (Kobe wanted Coach K but after he refused settled on Rudy T who Kobe got fired just half a season into his 5 year deal), Payton was traded to Boston and Malone held out considering retirement. About halfway through the following season Malone had decided he wanted to play on with the Lakers but almost immediately a story was leaked to the media (obviously from Kobe) that Malone had supposedly hit on Kobe's wife in the past. Malone then backed off wanting to play on and announced his retirement. Just remember the Lakers were a three time championship team with Shaq as the man yet Kobe always wanted to be the man. He dominated the ball in those '04 Finals, humiliated himself & thus the team and as they say the rest is history. If he didn't chuck the Lakers out of that 2nd Rd series against the Spurs in '03 and his massive choke job in the '04 Finals the Shaq/Kobe combo could've won 6-7 championships in a row. The media like to try and gloss over it but Kobe will go down as the most self-centered player to ever play in the NBA, a rapist & a complete f__kwit.

Q: Why are you continuously apologizing for Spoelstra and Riley? Grow a journalistic spine and call out Riley for his many personnel blunders and Spoelstra for his robotic, nonsensical rotations. Both of them are also responsible for starting a point guard who was not even close to ready, in Chalmers, and holding back an obviously very talented Beasley in favor of an average-at-best Haslem. -- Y.M.L. Why would anyone need to ask Ira this question. It's a known fact that local beatwriters are usually on the team's payroll. Mark Cuban even admitted it. More often that not they pay about half their salary for favourable coverage and putting the company line out there. It's why Ira's opinion more often than not gels with Riley's. Remember when Riley was trying to get Shaq to disappear either by backing him into a hole to force a trade (hence why the team tanked from the outset in 07-08 and Shaq was the 4th option on offense behind Wade, Ricky Davis & Haslem) or into retirement? Just like that Ira starts writing articles about how Shaq is clearly done & hurting his legacy so he needs to retire. Then he goes and averages 18 & 8 last season with the Suns, is co-All-Star game MVP and All-NBA 3rd team... You're insulting yourself if you pay too much attention to what shills like Ira "think".

Danny Green said he was going to hurt Roy Jones Jr but I didn't expect him to get humiliated like that. Has Roy Jones Jr ever been TKO'd in the first round before? The Green Machine doesn't mess around.

Shaq's just paid for another person's funeral, what a prick. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A2KIPEmz2w5LThsA9B68vLYF?slug=ap-girldisappears-nc-shaq&prov=ap&type=lgns

When all is said and done, Wade had the best NBA Finals Performance in history, better than Jordans. Kobe can't say the same thing, and well Lebron, um yea. Posted by: Ohshz | October 18, 2009 at 07:52 PM LOL Shaq owns the title of best NBA Finals series in history. 38 ppg @ 61%, 17 rpg & 2.7 bpg in 2000 against the Pacers. You could also make the argument his NBA Finals series in both 2001 & 2002 were better than what Wade did in 2006. Please stop humiliating yourself.

Just remember essentially the trade was Shaq for JO. Like I said at the time when doctorb and a lot of other Heat fans were raving about the JO trade, the guy is an inferior player to Shaq, even more injury prone & if all that wasn't enough he's on even more money. Go Riles, LOL.

Will this Heat team go winless for the pre-season just like the 2007-08 team when the tank was clearly on?

You know, there's a reason why Carlos Arroyo wasn't in the NBA last year... Posted by: tony a. | October 12, 2009 at 02:14 PM That's right, money. He made more money overseas last season than he could've in the NBA. Putting aside the fact you clearly didn't know that, the reality is he's now your best PG.

Ha. Shaq is not elite. Shaq has won 1 playoff game in the past 3 years. He single-handedly ruined the Suns. They went from top seed in the West and coming off a 4-2 loss to the Spurs in the 2nd round of the playoffs the year before to losing 4-1 to the Spurs in the first round with Shaq, and then this past year they missed the playoffs altogether. Phoenix effectively flatlined as a contender the minute Shaqtus arrived, and not a minute before. But he complained about touches enough to have the Suns focus the offense around him and pad his stats to the detriment of the team this year. Shaq ruined Miami in '07. He ruined Phoenix in '08. And now he's on his way to Cleveland. I wonder what will happen there. Hm... Posted by: josh | October 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM Shaq being on teams that haven't won a playoff game in 3 years means he's not elite? WTF. Wade f__ked up the Heat in the '07 playoffs btw. Now the Suns, I see you've failed to mention that while at the time he was traded there they had the best record in the league that was from beating up on rubbish, they were getting beaten constantly by good teams. The Suns brass even admitted they weren't a contender that year. Keep in mind with Shaq they still managed to finish just two games out of top spot that season too. The Suns missed the playoffs this year despite going 46-36 due to how deep the West is. Man, you've clearly got no idea. Terry Porter was hired because the Suns brass wanted the team to start playing some sort of defense and PORTER believed Shaq wasn't being used effectively (which if you saw Shaq under D'Antoni you'd understand, floating around the top of the key for the first 20 seconds of the offense setting screens). It was Nash complaining about the offense not Shaq, Shaq was getting a good share of the ball from the start of the season. Nash was whining in the media about not having "fun" even though the Suns started 11-5. Then once his best friend (Raja Bell) got traded he started tanking it playing the worst defense I've ever seen from a player in the NBA. Nash then threw Porter under the bus to get his guy Alvin Gentry installed who went right back to run & gun. Late in the season the Suns played a pivotal game in Dallas and Jason "I'm still breathing" Kidd put up something like 22 points & 16 assists on Nash by half-time. All season Porter (until he was fired), Shaq & Grant Hill were preaching defense but Nash wasn't interested and despite having to put up with all this garbage Shaq brought it every single night. Pad his stats? He only got 11 shots a game last season! The offense was focused around Amare FYI & before you say something Amare complains about not getting enough shots every year, he did it the last 2-3 years under D'Antoni & under Porter and he'll do it this season again under Gentry even though he'll never be the player he used to be. I won't be surprised if the Cavs now go all the way this season.