Steve Kerr is Dumb - NBA Mid-season Report

Steve Kerr is dumb. Really dumb! He just traded Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal. In the year 2008. When Shaq is barely healthy. When Shaq is due $20 million for TWO MORE SEASONS! Suddenly, Steve Kerr went from the guy who at last year's draft, was trading away draft picks and players for money (about $400,000 for a 2nd round pick)... to now deciding to spend almost $50 million to watch Shaq retire in a Phoenix Suns uniform.

I've been racking my brain trying to think of why he's doing this. Maybe he saw the Lakers get a 7-footer last week (Pau Gasol) so he thought - "Hey, I can top you. It's Shaq-fu time!" Actually, a more plausible theory is that he has no confidence in signing Shawn Marion this summer (he has a player option and can opt out). So Steve Kerr thought to himself: "Wait a minute, I either let Marion walk, or I get something for him now!"

There are a few flaws with his thinking though in the NBA:
1) If Marion did in fact opt out, the Suns would have had an extra $16 million to spend in free agency due to Marion’s contract coming off the books. In the NBA, expiring contracts are desirable because it allows you to go after a new player. Or even two players.
2) “getting something for him now” – it’s a very flawed statement concerning Shaq. This isn’t the ‘90s version of Shaq. This isn’t the early 21st century version of Shaq. This is Shaq past-his-prime and most of America knows this, except Steve Kerr because he used to be a TV commentator.
3) The Suns had a much better chance of winning this season with Marion than with a useless Shaq.

See, this is why NBA teams should NOT hire TV commentators to be their GMs. Kerr played with Shaq. Maybe he'll also lure Jordan out of retirement, because he played with him too.

Now that I got that out of the way, it’s time for the rest of my NBA Mid-season report!

Surprise teams: Hornets, Blazers – Mighty covered the Hornets a couple weeks ago in his mid-season report, so I’ll tackle the Blazers. Without Oden, no one gave them a chance. Personally, I was excited for the addition of Channing Frye and the maturation of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. I was wrong about Frye, and had no idea how good Roy and Aldridge would be at this point. The real key has been the contributions of two guys who never attended college, 23-year old Travis Outlaw, and 21-year old Martell Webster. Plus, the Blazers have a great coach in Nate McMillan (used to play and coach Seattle).

Disappointing team: Chicago Bulls – Even if you were lukewarm on the team, I think it would have been hard to predict that they would be this bad. The coach is already fired, and the GM could be next if things don’t turn around. It’s really an odd collection of talent that just doesn’t work together. Nothing’s gone right for these guys and I really do hope they finally just suck it up and make a trade already and ship out some of their guys. They probably have more Small forwards than any other team in the league, or at least that’s what it seems like.

Intriguing team: Lakers – The starting center, Andrew Bynum, is due back in mid-March. Combine him with Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and a split PG (Derek Fisher / Jordan Farmar) and it makes you wonder what the limit will be with these guys. Oh, and their coach is Phil Jackson. And Phil got a new hip in the offseason, so he won’t be afraid to get off the bench and yell a bit. I’m intrigued to see how this Gasol experiment works. Of course, in the West, any one can lose or win, but the Lakers are very intriguing right now.

Breakout players:
Jose Calderon, PG, Toronto – Has done an excellent job taking advantage of TJ Ford being out. He’s averaging almost 9 assists a game (and that includes the first part of the season when he was splitting time).
Rudy Gay, SF/SG, Memphis – 19.8 PPG, and 6 rebounds is pretty good considering he’s still only 21.
Beno Udrih, PG, Sacramento – Did a great job filling in for Mike Bibby. I think the funniest thing is the story of how Udrih made multiple GMs (San Antonio and Minnesota) angry this offseason. You see, the San Antonio Spurs outright traded him for a PROTECTED 2nd round pick to the Timberwolves, because the Spurs didn’t think he was progressing and didn’t think they needed another PG. How does Kevin McHale guarantee the greatest return for his team? He immediately waives Udrih! Udrih then signed with Sacramento the next day, and played great (including six 20-point plus outbursts, 41% for 3Pointers). Meanwhile, the Spurs got into trouble at PG and had to recently sign Damon Stoudamire, now that Tony Parker got injured. I’m sure both Kevin McHale and the Spurs’ GM (KC Buford) are regretting their decisions to ship Udrih all over the place.

Finals Outlook: Foggy
With the Western Conference in an unparalled bunching formation, where only FIVE games separates 1-8, and SIX AND A HALF separate 1-10. Think about that for a moment. It’s absolutely unbelievable. Plus, the Western Conference is still the (arguably) better and deeper conference. It really means that anyone can miss the playoffs in the West and anyone (1-8) can win the whole damn thing. It’s gonna be a fun ride!