"I know The Donald would have made the trade. I'm saying Jerry Buss would not, and should not, trade Shaq within his own conference, let alone his own division." msc circa Feb 13th.
I take it back. I don't know that the Donald would have made the trade. Maybe he would have, but he is notorious for being stingy and it took all he could muster to sign Brand and Magette. So to assume he would have re-upped Shaq at the max ($100mil over 5-yrs) is a big assumption.
Again, I never said I wouldn't want Brand. I would have loved to have gotten Brand. But to my knowledge, and yours, there was no offer made, so why are we making these HUGE assumptions and chasing our tails?
Unrealistic to presume Sterling would not have gone for that trade. Look atThe Donalds history. Chance to bring in circus Shaq to the Clips? Done and done. Even if Sterling would not, you're saying NO other trade options available? No way. True the lame dollar for dollar thing was very limiting.
Okay, I'll look at the Donald's history .... when I do that I have to assume he would never sign a huge contract like Shaq!
The trade was made because of Kobme, not Shaq.
This is complete BS. Shaq demanded a contract extension to Dr. Buss during a preseason game in Hawaii. It pissed Buss off and Buss spent the entire season keeping Shaq at bay and not re-upping him. It festered all season until Shaq demanded a trade after he tanked against Pistons.
Same conference trades in past? Affecting the title? We all know it was Lenny Bias death that helped the Lakers more then anything, still I believe you were part of the Forum crowd when Michael Thompson was a cog in the Lakers 87 & 88? From San Antonio. Mid season. Power forward who could score a little being just what the Lakers needed. :rolleyes: Yeah who was he traded for :rolleyes:
Yes, I was around for the Mychael Thompson deal (I even remember how to spell his name!). Please don't tell me you're comparing this to Shaq ...