[轉錄] How Shaq arrived in the Valley

看板SHAQ作者DAING (StaRt a NEw LifE~)時間16年前 (2008/04/19 23:22)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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※ [本文轉錄自 PHX-Suns 看板] 作者: hardaway (一分錢) 看板: PHX-Suns 標題: [外電] How Shaq arrived in the Valley 時間: Sat Apr 19 15:32:57 2008 大歐交易的來龍去脈。原文：http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/04/18/ 20080418kerrtrade.html 這裡有 HC 網友的翻譯： http://bbs.hoopchina.com/read.php?tid=285642&page=1&toread=1 本板有板友能幫忙翻譯嗎？感謝！ How Shaq arrived in the Valley by Paul Coro - Apr. 18, 2008 04:33 PM The Arizona Republic It was late January when basketball interrupted banking business for an NBA owner whose team was sitting pretty atop the West. Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver was working at his Biltmore-area office when his Miami Heat counterpart, Micky Arison, called. Pau Gasol wasn't yet with the Lakers. The Spurs were days from posting an ugly win without Tony Parker at Phoenix. "Is this something you'd be interested in?" Arison asked. Something was some thing, all right. Arison was talking about trading 14-time All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal to the Suns. Arison and Sarver knew each other only from owners meetings, but the deal, consummated about a week later, started at the owner level because Arison wanted the talks kept quiet and targeted to a team O'Neal desired. Earlier in January, when trade rumors first swirled in Miami, O'Neal called his Louisiana State coach, Dale Brown. "Well, if I'm going to be get traded, I want to go to Phoenix," Brown said O'Neal told him, asking him to talk to his friend, Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo. Arison asked Sarver to bring the idea to his rookie general manager, Steve Kerr, and have Kerr contact Miami coach and GM Pat Riley if there was interest. At this stage, Arison inquired about acquiring only Shawn Marion for O'Neal. "I was surprised and interested," Sarver said of the call. He immediately called Kerr, who was at his arena office, and dropped the bomb. "I gulped," Kerr said. "Big gulp." Money first Kerr headed to Sarver's office with payroll projections and they bounced the deal off the walls for an hour. They got past the financial side first, figuring the deal would work if Marcus Banks was included and that they could consider adding $15 million to the 2009-10 payroll (O'Neal is scheduled to make $21 million, with a trade kicker, that year) because they already had considered using an eight-figure sum that season for a Marion contract extension. Weighing an offer that would rock the NBA landscape like an earthquake, Kerr chewed on it for two days without telling a soul, even inside the organization. They worried initially that Marion would be offended if he heard such talk. "I wanted to let it sink in and really give it some thought before I threw it out there," said Kerr, also hesitant to talk with Suns Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin, who was scouting in Europe at the time. "I kind of enjoyed those two days. I watched a lot of tape of Shaq. I tried to picture it, visualize how it would work." The day the Suns played Atlanta, Jan. 29, Kerr went into D'Antoni's office and said, "Let me throw you a curve ball." "I like playing fantasy basketball," D'Antoni told him. "What do you think about Shaq?" Kerr asked. D'Antoni's eyes lit up. "If he's got something in him, if he's not done, yeah," D'Antoni said. That set off a few days of deliberation. Kerr wasn't convinced, but D'Antoni was. The rest of the coaches and executives were split. Kerr and Riley talked daily, each negotiating for draft picks or cash. Meanwhile, the Suns staff watched tape. D'Antoni immediately went to Suns head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson to have him watch O'Neal in games this season and surmise what Nelson's trend-setting methods could get out of him. "It meant a lot when Aaron came to me and said, 'Listen, there's no question we can get this guy better. We can help him become more mobile and agile. We can get his strength back,' " Kerr said. "Aaron could tell from watching film that certain muscles weren't firing." As for how O'Neal fit the team, Kerr had a few boards going in his office. One listed all the pluses and minuses of the deal. Another had every Western Conference team's lineup and rotation to analyze matchups. D'Antoni explained his vision for utilizing O'Neal, including the major point that Grant Hill could take on the role of versatile defender that Marion held. Opinions swayed Opinions were swayed by Super Bowl Sunday. A VitaminWater commercial showing O'Neal as a horse-racing jockey came on during the game, prompting Sarver to send a text message to D'Antoni and Kerr, reading, "The price of Diesel is getting expensive." D'Antoni replied, "Yeah, but a championship is priceless." "Monday morning, we had the same conclusion and that's when we tried to get something done," Sarver said. The Suns were ready to agree to the deal that Miami wanted all along. But it was predicated on Phoenix's medical staff checking out O'Neal with more than just a customary physical exam. Kerr, Nelson and team physical therapist and National Academy of Sports Medicine president Mike Clark planned a clandestine trip to Miami to check out O'Neal when word leaked Feb. 5 to the Miami Herald that a deal was imminent. They scrapped the trip but not the idea. The trade would be done only if the medical staff verified its beliefs from analyzing game tape. That confirmation, Sarver said, was really the turning point of the trade. "I didn't become a wreck until we pulled the trigger," Kerr said of sealing the deal Feb. 6, when fans saw O'Neal point to his ring finger from a skybox at the Suns-Hornets game. "Then, the pressure was on. "I was putting my neck on the line. That was nerve-wracking, particularly given that it was my first real trade other than the financial deal with the Kurt Thomas trade. This was really my first personnel move. I didn't sleep for about three nights because I'm lying in bed saying, 'This team has won an average of 59 games for three years. I'm really going out on a limb. Who knows what's going to happen? This was a huge gamble. I'm going to take a lot of heat for this.' " He had no idea how much. A 3-6 start to The Big Cactus era had fans already making up their minds on Kerr's quip that the trade would prove him to be "a genius or a moron." Death threats aimed at Kerr were sent via the team's Web site. "It wasn't like I was fearing for my safety but let's just say when I took this job, I hadn't anticipated death threats," Kerr said. "Internally, we all knew this trade made us tougher, more balanced and gave us a better chance to win a championship. Whether that happens or not, who knows? Will the basketball gods shine on us?" Staff writer Doug Haller contributed to this report. 以下部分 HC 沒有翻譯。 More on this topic The owner's view Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver reflected on how the Shaquille O'Neal trade happened. What did Miami owner Micky Arison say when he initiated the trade talk? "He thought this might be a good opportunity for us. He was interested in trading Shaq but would only do it to a team he was interested in going to because he valued his input and through Phoenix would be one of those teams." What was your initial reaction? "I was interested from the beginning. I was interested in evaluating it because I felt, having looked at our team's losing record against playoff teams, that we would have a better chance in the playoffs if we addressed our interior defense and team chemistry and roles. I thought if we had an opportunity to help and improve the team, we ought to look at it." Did you share the belief of many that the team wouldn't have won a championship the way it was made up? "Yes, based on our record against (West) playoff teams at the time (5-8)." What was the turning point of making the deal happen? "The turning point came when Shaq came into town. The trainers felt they could improve his physical condition so he could be effective. At that point, that was the final issue. If he could get back to where he was a couple years ago with his mobility, we felt we'd be a better team. It was more than just passing a physical." What did O'Neal say to you when you met him? "He made some big promises up front and he's delivered on them, in terms of his dedication to working out, in terms of how he's helped our teammates, how he's fit into our locker room and in terms of the effort he was going to put in for condition and strengthening. He's delivered. He told me he was going to do whatever he could to make the team better." Was extending the payroll burden an issue because O'Neal's contract goes through 2009-10, a year more than Shawn Marion's? "That clearly was a negative from the standpoint of flexibility. On the other hand, it continued to lock in our core for this year and the next two years, when we think we've got a good chance at competing for the championship." Is there any financial benefit to having O'Neal for sponsorships, merchandising, season ticket renewals, etc.? "Negligible. We're pretty much running at capacity already. This had nothing to do with revenue. This was about trying to win basketball games." What do you think of the trade now? "If I had to do this trade all over again, I would definitely do it. I think we are better-suited for the playoffs after the trade. I also think there's a lot of parity. We lost our home-ourt advantage. We're going to be an underdog to win any of the series. It's going to be a tough challenge for us to get to the Finals, let alone win one series. The easiest thing for us to do was to just do nothing." Why was Steve Kerr initially hesitant about making the trade when you and Mike D'Antoni wanted it all along? "Whether it's coaches or GMs, they get paid a lot of money to make a few big decisions a year. This was an important decision for him. He's a little more conservative. Mike and I are more gamblers and willing to roll the dice. But at the end of the day, everybody came to the same conclusion." - Paul Coro Shaq-limation process The Suns got off to a rough start with Shaquille O'Neal before returning to winning ways. Category First nine games Final 20 games Record 3-6 15-5 Suns points/game 107.4 112.0 Opponent points/game 113.2 104.1 Suns field goal pct. 48.7 52.5 Opponent field goal pct. 50.5 44.8 Suns fast-break points 17.2 15.9 Opponent fastbreak points 17.9 12.9 最後附上熱血影片！ Suns 2008 Playoffs Preview - with Shaq http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMgpKuJuzqs