Shaquille O'Neal. Let me say that again... Shaquille O'Neal. The man is one of the most recognizable sports figures in the game today, and surely when you hear the name you have a different image than the next man over. His career has been great, no doubt, and his presence in the NBA will definitely land him a spot in the Hall Of Fame.
I was among the many stunned last year when Big Shaq Daddy landed in Phoenix, as his style of play completely clashes with anything that remotely related to the Suns. A year later, a new head coach, and now it doesn't seem so crazy. Which leads right into the question to be pondered, what's the deal with Shaq taking off every other night?
This has been debated over and over since the concept came into play recently, and I figured to touch on it before I let it go and watch the experiment play itself out.
Rewind now, to last year when the Suns picking up Shaq seemed about as logical as Texas voting democratic. Shaq wasn't an integral part of their system, he was just an ornamentation to add some toughness to Phoenix. Shaq didn't run the show, he barely fit onto the screen it was being recorded on. The Suns had an average season, and exited the playoffs as usual.
Now, with Porter reinventing the Suns in the stacked west, Shaq seems to fit in much more. The offense needs to be anchored much more than it was, and Aristotle has never had a problem kicking back under the rim. His size still gives him an advantage out there, and while his body has been taking a toll the last few years, he still has some gas left in the tank. 29 points? 11 rebounds? Shaq? What?!
Indeed. Leading us to the controversy of Shaq taking off a night on back-to-backs. The upside seems to be there if that performance was an indication of anything, but that was one game. On the other hand, one night off can be huge for a Suns team taking on a new system. They need to rebuild chemistry amongst eachother, and while the Suns have been playing well (Big ups to Amare for his western conference player of the week award), this could be detrimental in the long run, and lead the Suns right back to a disappointing playoff appearance in a hyper-competitive west. If Shaq doesn't continue to put up game changing numbers after a night off, it's definitely time to pull the plug on the experiment and to tell the Big Diesel that gas prices are dropping so he better fill up every night.
Why? Because if the Suns are losing (the Bulls send their regards) without Shaq, and Shaq isn't putting up dominant numbers, he better not expect to sit and watch his team lose for long.
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