Shaq's Debut Against ... Seattle?

In case you hadn't noticed, Shaquille O'Neal is apparently headed to Phoenix in exchange for Shawn Marion.

What you might not have realized however, is that Phoenix plays tonight (Wednesday) against New Orleans, a game in which O'Neal surely would not particpate.

However, the next game the Suns play is at home, Friday night, against your Seattle SuuuuperSonics. Meaning, of course, that Kurt Thomas will get a chance to audition for any number of playoff teams by showing how he can stand up to the Big Diesel.

As a side note, who the hell am I supposed to root for if/when the Suns plays the Lakers in the playoffs? As hard as it is to say, I've rooted for the Lakers the past couple of years because of my loathing for Steve Nash and the Suns.

But now? When it's Shaq v Kobe? Man, that's a hard call to make. I'll cop out on a decision for the time being by waiting for the trade to be made official, but one thing is certain if this trade goes down and if the Suns meet the Lakers in the playoffs:

David Stern will be very happy.

Crunching Numbers

We’re more than halfway through the season, which means we’re also well on our way to seeing the future for Kevin Durant. His numbers have been more than adequate – bearing in mind that he’s still very young and inconsistent – and as he’s the slam-dunk choice for rookie of the year, I think we can feel that the future is indeed bright.

Thanks to 82games.com, we can see beyond the superficial numbers of 19.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.8 turnovers, and so on, to look at more interesting results from the first half of his first season.

For example, you could see how Durant worked with specific players on the Sonics roster. You might be interested to know that Durant’s statistics are much more impressive playing alongside Earl Watson (25.5 points, 41.5 FGP, 6.9 FTA) than with Luke Ridnour (19.6 points, 38 FGP, 4.1 FTA), but that the Sonics win their possessions 50% of the time with Ridnour/Durant, and averaged 105 points per game, compared to only 28% with Watson/Durant and an average point production of 95 points. (To be fair, Durant has only played 213 minutes with Ridnour as opposed to 970 with Watson, and those numbers do not figure in quality of opponents).

On the same vein, Durant’s win percentages with Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox are 28 and 31%, respectively, while Durant/Thomas check in at 41%. On the whole, Durant’s best +/- numbers came with Ridnour, Szczerbiak, Wilcox, Thomas, and Petro, while his worst numbers were with Green, Wilkins, West, and Watson. In fact, the Durant/Green tandem’s +/- of -264 is the worst pairing on the team, and a stark reminder of the mistakes young players make in their rookie seasons.

Looking further at Durant’s numbers this year, we see that the Sonics allow 112.7 points when he is on the court, as opposed to 101.3 when he’s sitting on the bench, further illustrated by the 51% opponents shoot with Durant on-court compared to 45% when he’s sitting.

On a more promising note, while most of the five-man groups Durant is paired with have lost their battles, the Watson-Durant-Szczerbiak trio seems to be effective, whether they are paired with any combination of Wilcox, Thomas, or Collison (so long as Jeff Green isn’t involved, anyways).

There are plenty more numbers to look at, but that gives a quick insight into what has transpired so far. Let’s just hope that Green continues to improve his play, and that the struggles the two rookies have experienced are nothing more than growing pains.

Allen vs Allen

A long time ago, August of 2004 to be exact, a hot topic surrounding the Sonics' franchise was the possibility of Ray Allen being traded and the Sonics acquiring Allen Iverson.

At the time, I wrote that it was exactly what this franchise needed to do, but that in the safe mode that Seattle always seems to operate it would never happen. Quite a few folks wrote in to say that I was an idiot, that Iverson's contract was untenable, that Allen's career would proceed much more smoothly, and that the Sonics would be foolish to do what I suggested.

Well, here we sit, almost four years later. I was thinking about that piece last night as the Blazers and Nuggets went to war in Portland. It was a great game, and I envied the Blazer fans for the playoff atmosphere in a February game. Iverson, Melo, Roy, Martin, heck, even Martell Webster in the third quarter - it was just a tremendous display of what makes the NBA great.

But back to AI. In the fourth quarter, and with his team trailing by two, Iverson drove left, received a pass from Melo out of the post, and promptly nailed a three to give Denver a one-point lead with 39 seconds remaining. It was just an unbelievably clutch shot, and Iverson's demeanor before and after it just made me smile. It was as if he had no doubt the shot would fall, despite the fact he was leaning left as he took it.

But he wasn't finished. With the game knotted at 103 in overtime, and the Nuggets with the ball coming out of a timeout, everyone in the arena knew AI was coming for the win. Heck, a three year old girl from Abu Dabi would have known what was coming. Sure enough, Iverson was up to the task, draining a 14-footer to give Denver the lead with .9 seconds remaining. Again, he had no doubt the shot would fall.

But what's your point, Pete, you ask, or are you just being an NBA voyeur who abandons his team's miserable Monday showing for more titillating sights south down I-5?

Here's the point: Four years ago virtually anyone in the NBA would have argued that it was smarter to sign Ray Allen to a long-term contract than to pick up Allen Iverson and his bloated deal. Iverson's attitude, his unpredictability, and, of course, the economics of it dictated the safe choice.

But how about now? Would anyone argue that it would be smarter to have Ray Allen's 2 1/2 years of contract or AI's 1 1/2? Considering that Iverson is still one of the best scorers in the game and Ray Allen is averaging less than 20 ppg, would anyone still take Sugar Ray's side?

I don't think so. Which leads to my point - nothing is for certain in this league, and sometimes you have to take chances. When the chances come, I'll take mine with a guy like Iverson.