|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
brock
Star Player
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 2052
|
 Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: ESPN Article on Shaq's decline |
|
|
Anyone like to post it?
LINK |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JuiceMonkey
Star Player
Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 1169
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:56 pm Post subject: Re: ESPN Article on Shaq's decline |
|
|
| brock wrote: | Anyone like to post it?
LINK |
pretty interesting article, uses other centers to predict what shaq will do...here it is:
Most Dominant Ever.
That's how Shaquille O'Neal describes himself, and that's how a lot of NBA observers would describe him, as well. The 7-foot behemoth has absolutely dominated the league since arriving on the scene in 1992, winning three championships, taking five other clubs as far as the conference finals and earning first team All-NBA honors seven times.
For this reason, most opponents still reflexively cower at the mere mention of Shaq. However, even the most enthusiastic Shaqophiles must admit that his game has slipped this year. The evidence, in fact, is overwhelming. Shaq is averaging career lows in points, blocks, steals, assists, rebounds, minutes, free-throw attempts and field-goal attempts. In fact, the only category in which he could post a career high is fouls; despite playing far fewer minutes than ever before (just 30.5 a game), Shaq has been whistled 3.9 times per game.
Overall, Shaq is still a star player -- find me somebody else who gets 20 per game while shooting 59 percent -- but it's clear that he's no longer the league's dominant force. Whereas O'Neal once led the league in player efficiency rating (PER) for five straight seasons and hasn't ranked lower than fourth since his rookie season, this season he's plummeted all the way to ninth. And when his Miami team needs a basket, it's usually Dwyane Wade, not O'Neal, who gets the call.
This isn't BREAKING NEWS, obviously, but Shaq's decline this season has important ramifications for his team. This is especially true because of the new contract Shaq signed before the season, paying him $100 million over five years (including this season). Between O'Neal's deal, the maximum contract that Dwyane Wade is certain to sign this summer and a few other contracts (such as those of Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem), the Heat will be capped out through 2010. And since owner Mickey Arison is averse to paying luxury tax, the Heat don't have the "Isiah option" of just taking on a slew of bad contracts and hoping for the best.
So, because of Miami's salary limitations going forward, and the fact that O'Neal's $20 million per annum eats up about two-fifths of their cap space, the Heat's championship window will stay open only for as long as O'Neal can be a star-caliber player in the middle.
The question, then, is what does Shaq's future hold? Even if he doesn't return to the level of his Most Dominant Ever days, can O'Neal remain at an All-Star level for the next four seasons? And if not, how fast will the rate of decline be?
To answer those questions, I'm going to use some tools I've developed to project a player's future performance. The basic idea is to take a bunch of players who were similar to Shaq at the same age, look at how their performance changed in future seasons, and see what Shaq's numbers would look like if they follow the same pattern.
As always, the devil is in the details. For starters, we have to develop some criteria for what we mean by "similar." In this case, I've developed a method that produces a "similarity score" for any two players. A pair with identical stats would have a score of 100, and a pair with diametrically opposite stats would be a 0.
I use 13 categories to determine similarity: height, field-goal percentage, true shooting percentage, free-throw rate, 3-point attempt rate, foul rate, steal rate, block rate, usage rate, assist ratio, turnover ratio, rebound rate and player efficiency rating. I don't weight them equally, either -- height is far and away the most important attribute, while foul rate is the least. I also look at a player's past three seasons rather than just the most recent one, which helps to eliminate the impact of fluke years.
In this case, however, there's another confounding factor. I can develop all the methods I want, but really, what player from the past 20 years is similar to Shaq? I mean, if we were looking for players who were similar to Fred Jones or Etan Thomas, this wouldn't be a big challenge. But Shaq is unlike almost any other player in history because of his immense size and the surreal quickness that he brings along with it. So who can we realistically compare in a meaningful way?
However, one can argue that similarity scores are even more useful for a player such as Shaq than they for a player like Jones or Thomas. Off the top of my head I could probably pick out 20 players who were comparable to Jones, and from them develop a pretty good idea of what to expect from him in coming seasons.
But for Shaq, it's a little different. We're going to end up with players who are similar in some ways, but not in others. The scores can help us pinpoint which similarities are the more crucial ones, and by looking at the group aggregate we can get a better idea of Shaq's future than we ever could just by evaluating individuals.
That said, Shaq does provide fairly few comparable players. I normally use only players with a similarity score greater than 95 to make projections, but in Shaq's case I had to dip all the way down to 93 just to get a reasonable pool of players. Even then, we have very few names to work with for his current season: David Robinson (the most similar at 97.4), Elden Campbell, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Moses Malone (the least similar at 93.8).
From there, I evaluated what these players did in future seasons, weighing the results to favor the players with the greatest similarity scores. I could then apply those same changes to Shaq's future results. For instance, the players I studied, as a group, maintained 99 percent of their per-minute rebound rate between ages 33 and 34 (for the purposes of the study, Shaq is considered 33 this year because that was his age on New Year's Eve of this season). Thus, Shaq at age 34 should be able to continue averaging about 12 rebounds per 40 minutes.
But the trick isn't just to look at one season, but all the ones after that. To do that, I took Shaq's "imaginary" 2006-07 season and ran it through the same process, only using players that were one year older. I then did the same thing with the projected 2007-08 stats to create results for 2008-09 ... and so on down the line. If you're wondering, the usual suspects showed up at the top of the similarity scores each year, with only minor changes. Kevin Willis and Robert Parish replaced Campbell and Robinson in later years, for instance, and Arvydas Sabonis made a few appearances, but by and large it was the same six or seven guys each season.
And from their example, we can see that Shaq still has plenty left in the tank. Let's take a look at the projections first, and then discuss why they turned out the way they did.
Shaquille O'Neal's projected future stats
YEAR FG% FT% PTS/40 MIN. REB/40 AST/40 PER PF/40
2005-06 (actual) .592 .472 26.4 12.1 2.3 23.96 5.1
2006-07 .572 .489 24.7 12.0 2.8 23.27 4.7
2007-08 .563 .476 24.2 11.9 2.5 23.74 4.8
2008-09 .542 .462 21.8 11.7 2.6 20.84 5.7
2009-10 .557 .481 21.0 12.3 2.4 21.01 5.5
As you can see, Shaq's performance can be expected to diminish over the next four seasons. At the same time, I doubt Heat fans would be upset if they got this from O'Neal between now and 2010. Even in the final year of his contract, he would be playing at an All-Star level.
There are two reasons to think Shaq can continue to excel, even in the final year of the contract when he's 37.
First, players of his size tend to age much better than smaller ones, for the simple reason that height is the one "skill" that doesn't diminish with age (at least, at the ages that are relevant to professional basketball players).
Second, Shaq still is playing at such a high level that his production has to drop considerably before he'd be out of the realm of the league's All-Stars. In the five years of the study, Shaq's production declines about 15 percent across the board. If that happens to Jiri Welsch or Kevin Ollie, he's out of the league. But when it happens to Shaq, he's still an All-Star.
If you're wondering, there's still a major concern here for Heat fans, but it has to do with quantity rather than quality. Historically, the major limitation on centers in their 30s hasn't been their production but their injury proneness. With O'Neal having already done an extended stint on the injured list this season and having missed at least 15 games in four of the past five seasons, there's an obvious concern about his durability.
Additionally, even when healthy, Shaq will have to play fewer minutes. This has less to do with conditioning than it does with fouls. In the final two years of the contract, Shaq's foul rate is expected to increase substantially. Since even at his current rate it's already cramping his style -- O'Neal is playing a career-low 30.5 minutes per game in part because of foul trouble -- one might expect his minutes to sink further in coming seasons.
All told, however, it doesn't seem as though the Heat have taken an outrageous risk. If salaries continue increasing at their present rate, O'Neal's $20 million per year salary will seem far less extravagant in 2010 than it does today. Looked at that way, O'Neal probably needs to give Miami three great seasons over the five years of the contract to earn his keep. He's already got one in the bank, and the projections foresee at least two more to come. Thus, while Shaq may not be the Most Dominant Ever anymore, he should remain More Dominant Than Most for some time come time. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vandido626
Star Player
Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 1405
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Everyone seems to be jumping off the Snaq wagon now. A couple of days ago there was this article on the same thing.
At first, we wondered what he would do if he ever figured out how to
play. Then we got the answer: Domination that was so complete, it was
almost scary. And now we enter another phase, one that has arrived
sooner than most of us thought it would: Are Shaquille O'Neal's days
of dominance over?
Shaq just turned 34, and unless he starts shrinking 30 years early, he
will still be a major force in the league for a few years. In a league
of giants, it takes a seriously large man to be recognized by
everybody as The Big Fella. He will always be The Big Fella. He will
go into the Hall of Fame as The Big Fella, just as Magic is still
Magic. But there are several signs that, on the court, Shaq is no
longer the same Shaq.
Shaq's best days just might be behind him. (Otto Gruele Jr. / Getty Images)
He is averaging 20.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for Miami,
the lowest numbers of his career. That's partly because he has been
hurt and is only averaging 30.4 minutes. And it's partly because he
has been playing himself into shape. But what if he is only a
30-minute-a-night player now? Despite the lower number of minutes,
Shaq is committing as many turnovers as normal and, he is committing
more fouls � not more fouls per minute, but more fouls per game, even
though he is playing the fewest minutes of his career. That is the
sign of a player who can't physically keep up with his opponent, who
gets beaten often and must make up for it by fouling.
Shaq has been better recently � he had 35 points and 12 rebounds
against Charlotte, and a few weeks ago he made 15 of 16 shots against
Seattle. But even as the Heat got hot, Shaq has been hot and cold.
Earlier this month, he scored 18 points or fewer in four of five
games.
There is no shame in this. Everybody declines because of a little
problem called "life." We thought Shaq would last longer than most,
since he was so dominant and so big. But he has a lot of tread on
those size-22G sneakers. All those playoff runs take their toll. And
let's remember something else: Shaq played a lot of games when he was
out of shape. It worked with the Lakers � he'd show up overweight, get
in a few fights with Kobe Bryant, lead the Lakers to 50-some wins
instead of the 65 they could have won, then win a championship, so all
was forgiven. But I suspect he is paying the price now. NBA veterans
will tell you: It gets harder, not easier to play as they get older.
Even these bodies wear down.
O'Neal has only scored 30 points four times this season. Based on his
game-by-game numbers, Shaq is as likely to score 10 points or fewer as
he is to score 30 or more.
Don't talk to me about double-teams. The old Shaq could put up 20
against triple-teams. The old Shaq would dunk with one hand and use
the other to flick a power forward into the third row.
The old Shaq was unlike anything we've ever seen.
And we probably won't see it again.
The Heat can talk about injuries to Dwyane Wade and Shaq derailing
their championship hopes last year. Wade's rib injury was miserable
luck, but Shaq is going to be an injury risk every season for the rest
of his career. Every spring, we'll look over at his team and say,
"How's Shaq doing? Can he play?" And, just as we did last year, we'll
wonder if he can play on only one day rest.
And that's why he's no longer a Laker. A year ago, many people
wondered why the Lakers chose Kobe Bryant over Shaq, when the
consensus was that Shaq was the more dominant player and better
teammate. The reason was age. Shaq did much more for his team last
year (I thought he deserved the league MVP award) but who would take
him over Kobe now? Not many. Not now and not for the rest of Shaq's
career.
It's a shame the Lakers had to choose between their stars (and I
mostly blame Kobe), but once they had to choose, they made the right
decision. Kobe still isn't a great team player, but he has a better
chance of figuring that out than Shaq has of beating Father Time.
It's only going to get harder from here. Shaq has Wade, a brilliant
young star, alongside him, and as long as the supporting cast is
decent, the Heat will be a threat. But it is reasonable to wonder if
Shaquille O'Neal will ever dominate a championship run again. He has
the next three months to prove he can.
_________________
"Scoring the ball is pretty much like breathing to me." - Kobe Bryant |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bounty
Star Player
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3946
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Can we re-trade LO for him?
_________________
Lakers Tickets |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Walter Sobchak
Star Player
Joined: 14 May 2003
Posts: 4520
Location: Hollywood, Ca.
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Shaq's productivity will be entirely dependent on how willing he is to put in the work in the offseasons and in practice. Those other players were hard workers who had put in the effort throughout their careers. Shaq has never been this kind of guy, with maybe two or three exceptions. If Shaq continues to approach each successive season with his "it's a marathon, not a sprint, I'll use the season to get into shape" attitude, then he'll have more and more injuries and will be less and less able to get himself in shape. Look at this year, does anyone think he's rounding into playoff shape right now? Shaq doesn't have the mindset (especially with championships and a big contract already in the bank) to work extra hard to prolong his career. I expect his minutes to continue to drop and be in the low to mid 20s in another two years, and I don't expect that he'll finish his current contract. I suspect he'll walk away early due to injuries, with some statement about how "if I can't play the way I'm supposed to, then I shouldn't play at all" or something and will stick Miami with the bill eating up at least one year of capspace with his $20 million and him not even on the roster. I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.
_________________
"People don't think it be like it is, but it do." - Oscar Gamble
Just a reminder folks: "a lot" is two words. So is "no one". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
NOODLESTYLE
Star Player
Joined: 24 Apr 2005
Posts: 2977
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
We would have to throw in Kwame Brown for salaries to match.
| bounty wrote: | | Can we re-trade LO for him? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bounty
Star Player
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3946
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| NOODLESTYLE wrote: | We would have to throw in Kwame Brown for salaries to match.
| bounty wrote: | | Can we re-trade LO for him? |
|
Tempting.
_________________
Lakers Tickets |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
AussieLakerFan
Star Player
Joined: 08 May 2004
Posts: 6105
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I think they are trying to justify there love of Wade and there opinion of Wade's value... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Roachman
Starting Rotation
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 683
Location: Woodland Hills, CA
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| bounty wrote: | | NOODLESTYLE wrote: | We would have to throw in Kwame Brown for salaries to match.
| bounty wrote: | | Can we re-trade LO for him? |
|
Tempting. |
Maybe I'm missing the Sarcasm, but there's no way I'd trade Lo for Shaq at this point.
I won't say we got the best deal possible for Shaq, but after the Heat fails to win a championship this year, I'd say they're done and our trade worked out for the best. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Laker-Ryoku
Starting Rotation
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 257
Location: Honolulu, HI
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
One thing that this writer doesnt figure in his calculations is how the center got his points. Most players as they age develop a better jump shot to compensate for the loss of athleticism, if they didnt already have one.
The players he mentioned, Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing, Elden, could all hit from outside the paint. I never saw Moses' game, so I dont know how he was. Shaqs never worked on that. I think his drop off will be much MUCH faster than this prediction. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Roachman
Starting Rotation
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 683
Location: Woodland Hills, CA
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Laker-Ryoku wrote: | One thing that this writer doesnt figure in his calculations is how the center got his points. Most players as they age develop a better jump shot to compensate for the loss of athleticism, if they didnt already have one.
The players he mentioned, Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing, Elden, could all hit from outside the paint. I never saw Moses' game, so I dont know how he was. Shaqs never worked on that. I think his drop off will be much MUCH faster than this prediction. |
Also, none of those guys were fat late in their careers.
I also don't remember any of them consistently missing time in their middle years the way Shaq has for awhile now. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Donkeybong
Star Player
Joined: 07 Jan 2006
Posts: 1440
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject: Request: ESPN Insider Decline of the Deisel |
|
|
I expected this to be posted already, but I havent seen it yet. Anyone care to help some of us out who are lacking Insider?  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dakota
Starting Rotation
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 287
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Here you go...
| Quote: | How much is left in the Shaq tank?By John Hollinger
ESPN Insider
Archive
Most Dominant Ever.
That's how Shaquille O'Neal describes himself, and that's how a lot of NBA observers would describe him, as well. The 7-foot behemoth has absolutely dominated the league since arriving on the scene in 1992, winning three championships, taking five other clubs as far as the conference finals and earning first team All-NBA honors seven times.
For this reason, most opponents still reflexively cower at the mere mention of Shaq. However, even the most enthusiastic Shaqophiles must admit that his game has slipped this year. The evidence, in fact, is overwhelming. Shaq is averaging career lows in points, blocks, steals, assists, rebounds, minutes, free-throw attempts and field-goal attempts. In fact, the only category in which he could post a career high is fouls; despite playing far fewer minutes than ever before (just 30.5 a game), Shaq has been whistled 3.9 times per game.
Overall, Shaq is still a star player -- find me somebody else who gets 20 per game while shooting 59 percent -- but it's clear that he's no longer the league's dominant force. Whereas O'Neal once led the league in player efficiency rating (PER) for five straight seasons and hasn't ranked lower than fourth since his rookie season, this season he's plummeted all the way to ninth. And when his Miami team needs a basket, it's usually Dwyane Wade, not O'Neal, who gets the call.
This isn't BREAKING NEWS, obviously, but Shaq's decline this season has important ramifications for his team. This is especially true because of the new contract Shaq signed before the season, paying him $100 million over five years (including this season). Between O'Neal's deal, the maximum contract that Dwyane Wade is certain to sign this summer and a few other contracts (such as those of Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem), the Heat will be capped out through 2010. And since owner Mickey Arison is averse to paying luxury tax, the Heat don't have the "Isiah option" of just taking on a slew of bad contracts and hoping for the best.
So, because of Miami's salary limitations going forward, and the fact that O'Neal's $20 million per annum eats up about two-fifths of their cap space, the Heat's championship window will stay open only for as long as O'Neal can be a star-caliber player in the middle.
The question, then, is what does Shaq's future hold? Even if he doesn't return to the level of his Most Dominant Ever days, can O'Neal remain at an All-Star level for the next four seasons? And if not, how fast will the rate of decline be?
To answer those questions, I'm going to use some tools I've developed to project a player's future performance. The basic idea is to take a bunch of players who were similar to Shaq at the same age, look at how their performance changed in future seasons, and see what Shaq's numbers would look like if they follow the same pattern.
As always, the devil is in the details. For starters, we have to develop some criteria for what we mean by "similar." In this case, I've developed a method that produces a "similarity score" for any two players. A pair with identical stats would have a score of 100, and a pair with diametrically opposite stats would be a 0.
I use 13 categories to determine similarity: height, field-goal percentage, true shooting percentage, free-throw rate, 3-point attempt rate, foul rate, steal rate, block rate, usage rate, assist ratio, turnover ratio, rebound rate and player efficiency rating. I don't weight them equally, either -- height is far and away the most important attribute, while foul rate is the least. I also look at a player's past three seasons rather than just the most recent one, which helps to eliminate the impact of fluke years.
In this case, however, there's another confounding factor. I can develop all the methods I want, but really, what player from the past 20 years is similar to Shaq? I mean, if we were looking for players who were similar to Fred Jones or Etan Thomas, this wouldn't be a big challenge. But Shaq is unlike almost any other player in history because of his immense size and the surreal quickness that he brings along with it. So who can we realistically compare in a meaningful way?
However, one can argue that similarity scores are even more useful for a player such as Shaq than they for a player like Jones or Thomas. Off the top of my head I could probably pick out 20 players who were comparable to Jones, and from them develop a pretty good idea of what to expect from him in coming seasons.
But for Shaq, it's a little different. We're going to end up with players who are similar in some ways, but not in others. The scores can help us pinpoint which similarities are the more crucial ones, and by looking at the group aggregate we can get a better idea of Shaq's future than we ever could just by evaluating individuals.
That said, Shaq does provide fairly few comparable players. I normally use only players with a similarity score greater than 95 to make projections, but in Shaq's case I had to dip all the way down to 93 just to get a reasonable pool of players. Even then, we have very few names to work with for his current season: David Robinson (the most similar at 97.4), Elden Campbell, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Moses Malone (the least similar at 93.8).
From there, I evaluated what these players did in future seasons, weighing the results to favor the players with the greatest similarity scores. I could then apply those same changes to Shaq's future results. For instance, the players I studied, as a group, maintained 99 percent of their per-minute rebound rate between ages 33 and 34 (for the purposes of the study, Shaq is considered 33 this year because that was his age on New Year's Eve of this season). Thus, Shaq at age 34 should be able to continue averaging about 12 rebounds per 40 minutes.
But the trick isn't just to look at one season, but all the ones after that. To do that, I took Shaq's "imaginary" 2006-07 season and ran it through the same process, only using players that were one year older. I then did the same thing with the projected 2007-08 stats to create results for 2008-09 ... and so on down the line. If you're wondering, the usual suspects showed up at the top of the similarity scores each year, with only minor changes. Kevin Willis and Robert Parish replaced Campbell and Robinson in later years, for instance, and Arvydas Sabonis made a few appearances, but by and large it was the same six or seven guys each season.
And from their example, we can see that Shaq still has plenty left in the tank. Let's take a look at the projections first, and then discuss why they turned out the way they did.
Shaquille O'Neal's projected future stats
YEAR FG% FT% PTS/40 MIN. REB/40 AST/40 PER PF/40
2005-06 (actual) .592 .472 26.4 12.1 2.3 23.96 5.1
2006-07 .572 .489 24.7 12.0 2.8 23.27 4.7
2007-08 .563 .476 24.2 11.9 2.5 23.74 4.8
2008-09 .542 .462 21.8 11.7 2.6 20.84 5.7
2009-10 .557 .481 21.0 12.3 2.4 21.01 5.5
As you can see, Shaq's performance can be expected to diminish over the next four seasons. At the same time, I doubt Heat fans would be upset if they got this from O'Neal between now and 2010. Even in the final year of his contract, he would be playing at an All-Star level.
There are two reasons to think Shaq can continue to excel, even in the final year of the contract when he's 37.
First, players of his size tend to age much better than smaller ones, for the simple reason that height is the one "skill" that doesn't diminish with age (at least, at the ages that are relevant to professional basketball players).
Second, Shaq still is playing at such a high level that his production has to drop considerably before he'd be out of the realm of the league's All-Stars. In the five years of the study, Shaq's production declines about 15 percent across the board. If that happens to Jiri Welsch or Kevin Ollie, he's out of the league. But when it happens to Shaq, he's still an All-Star.
If you're wondering, there's still a major concern here for Heat fans, but it has to do with quantity rather than quality. Historically, the major limitation on centers in their 30s hasn't been their production but their injury proneness. With O'Neal having already done an extended stint on the injured list this season and having missed at least 15 games in four of the past five seasons, there's an obvious concern about his durability.
Additionally, even when healthy, Shaq will have to play fewer minutes. This has less to do with conditioning than it does with fouls. In the final two years of the contract, Shaq's foul rate is expected to increase substantially. Since even at his current rate it's already cramping his style -- O'Neal is playing a career-low 30.5 minutes per game in part because of foul trouble -- one might expect his minutes to sink further in coming seasons.
All told, however, it doesn't seem as though the Heat have taken an outrageous risk. If salaries continue increasing at their present rate, O'Neal's $20 million per year salary will seem far less extravagant in 2010 than it does today. Looked at that way, O'Neal probably needs to give Miami three great seasons over the five years of the contract to earn his keep. He's already got one in the bank, and the projections foresee at least two more to come. Thus, while Shaq may not be the Most Dominant Ever anymore, he should remain More Dominant Than Most for some time come time. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
easybreeze
Star Player
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 2381
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| They get paid to write stuff most folks already know, sweet job. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gsrbruin
Starting Rotation
Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 893
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| david robinson was always in peak physical condition. shaq's conditioning is not going to let him remain at that level. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bergamotichek
Retired Number
Joined: 02 Sep 2007
Posts: 16777206
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: Re: Request: ESPN Insider Decline of the Deisel |
|
|
| Donkeybong wrote: | | I expected this to be posted already, but I havent seen it yet. Anyone care to help some of us out who are lacking Insider? |
Had you bothered to look in the right forum, you might have seen it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gng930
Franchise Player
Joined: 13 Apr 2001
Posts: 11476
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
I expect at most 2 more years of all-star calibur play...after that he'll probably the highest paid bench player (eat your heart our Brian Grant!  ).
As for trading LO for Shaq?  Not with that contract. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
