The Shaq Era

It was striking to me that during the pregame coverage of the Pistons-Suns matchup yesterday none of the commentators seemed to be acknowledging the basic point that the Marion-Shaq deal was a risky and controversial move. Instead, it was being covered in a totally rah-rah as if it were a Gasol-style no-brainer. Obviously, many people do think it was a smart move for Phoenix to make, but surely the commentary ought to reflect the fact that a lot of people think it was a blunder.

The upshot, naturally enough, was that Phoenix got blown out. Sample size is obviously far too small to make big hay out of the team going 1-2 since the trade and those were all good teams, but still. It's certainly strange, though, that the Phoenix defense is so up and down bracketing that great performance against Boston by giving up 130 points to LA and 116 to Detroit.