A Tale of Two Big Men

As the resident Miami Heat fan here at We Make It Rain, and proudly one of only 863 in existence (and one of only 112 Marlin fans), it falls to me to comment on the trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Phoenix Suns. In addition, this feels like the time and place to comment on another Heat big man and his affect on the franchise as well, Alonzo Mourning.

The current state of the Heat has to start and end with the phenomenally gifted and tough, Dwyane Wade. I remember where I was when Wade was drafted. About 18 of us went to watch a minor league baseball game in my town, and I was about 7 beers in when it came time for the Heat to pick fifth in that draft. You might have heard of that draft, the first four picks were: (1) Lebron James; (2) Darko Milicic; (3) Carmelo Anthony (or as sinickal would say - "My man, my Melo"); and (4) Chris Bosh. Now, as much as I root for the Heat, there was no way I was staying home to watch the NBA draft, but I did follow it online through my phone. I registered for a text update everytime a pick was made. The Heat organization had been floating rumors about all kinds of picks, Kirk Hinrich and the immortal Pole turned Swede, Maciej Lampe among them. Lampe's name was being thrown around a ton for about the 3 or 4 days before the draft. My boy George, not in any way, shape or form to be confused with Boy George, looks at me and goes, "Wade, nice pick". (Lampe by the way now plays for Khimki BC in the Russian Basketball League).

Now, I actually liked the pick when I first heard it. Wade was fresh off leading Marquette to the Final Four, complete with the first triple double in the NCAA tournament since Magic Johnson. Wade did that in the regional finals against Kentucky. (Sinickal and I attended that Final Four in New Orleans, what a trip). Heat fans were optimistic with the Wade pick after a series of drafts that included the likes of Willie Burton, Alec Kessler and "Baby Jordan" Howard Minor (Yes, I know it's really Harold, but it doesn't really matter what his name is as good as he played). Things were looking up.

Now, as great a player as Wade was and is, you cannot win a championship by yourself, LeBron James circa 2007 notwithstanding. As Wade grew as a player, the question then became, how are we going to surround Wade with the proper players to get to a championship level. Enter Shaquille O'Neal.

Shaquille O'Neal is quite possibly the most physically imposing player the NBA has ever had, and is definitely the most physically gifted since Wilt Chamberlain. As an organization, the Heat surrounded Wade with not only the right parts and pieces, but with literally the one player in the league that could single-handedly take the pressure off Wade both on the court by attracting double teams in the post, and off the court with the media and local sponsors. As we all know, this led to the 2006 NBA championship.

After 2006, the Heat tried to repeat, but had remarkably gotten older almost overnight. Crippled with Shaq and Wade missing a lot of games with injuries, the team limped into the playoffs where they were summarily swept by a much younger and more athletic Chicago Bull squad.

This year, the team has started rebuilding by casting off some of the outside pieces from 2006 (James Posey, Jason Kapono, Gary Payton and my personal favorite - Antoine Walker) and trying to get younger (playing Dorrell Wright, signing Smush Parker) but with injuries to Shaq and Wade, Udonis Haslem having a subpar shooting year, Jason Williams losing a step, and the Heat actually playing Chris Quinn (how on earth is he in the NBA?!), the Heat has the worst record in the NBA. Dwyane Wade is an All-Star starter, so that is something, but even that is rather dubious as he now becomes the All-Star starter with the worst team record in the history of the NBA All-Star game.

The team has made some bad moves, they are handcuffed by salary and are remarkably old and unathletic as a team. At least they have a championship, which should abate some criticism from the few fans that exist. Exit Shaq.

Out west, the Spurs are the Spurs, the Mavericks are the Mavericks, New Orleans is rising with Chris Paul and David West, the Nuggets are exciting with Carmelo, Iverson and Marcus Camby, Houston has T-Mac and Yao, the Lakers have Kobe and the Suns are the most exciting team of all to watch. The Lakers swing the deal with Memphis to get Pau Gasol to go with Kobe, Lamar Odom, and the stabilizing force of Derek Fisher at point. All of sudden, the team with the best record, the Phoenix Suns, who at times have been robotic and lackadaisacal despite their record, felt they had to do something. Enter Shaq.

With this deal, the Suns get the Big Aristotle himself, while sending Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Heat. This column is going to be long enough as it is, so I will refrain from commenting (at least for now) on how this will affect the Suns. For the Heat, this deal is a godsend.

First, Shaquille was hardly playing, and he when he was available, teams were collapsing on him, not letting him do anything once he received the ball in the post as the Heat perimeter players don't scare anybody. Second, Shaq has become an on-the-ball defensive liability in the post, racking up fouls like they were his job. Third, with his $20 million dollar salary, there was no hope at getting a high level player to help him and Wade. Exit Shaq.

Now, the Heat have a lineup that includes Wade (when healthy), Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, Mark Blount, Jason Williams with Ricky Davis and Dorrell Wright coming off the bench. Marcus Banks should now take the place of Chris Quinn. Now the Heat have about as good a chance of making the playoffs as Mike Huckabee has of winning the Republican nomination for President, but they do have a chance to make games exciting if Pat Riley will do one thing: RUN! Turn into the Suns. Make the games 125 - 118. The team has suddenly gotten athletic, and if they have any plans for the future, entice future free agents by making the game look fun. Get up and down the court, alley-oop, let Williams jack up threes on the fast break and let Marion go get the rebound when necessary. Give the fans a reason to want to attend the game, regardless of record. And then hope for a top 3 pick in next year's draft to address any deficiencies that they still have (which will be many). If not a top 3 pick, maybe a fast point guard like Darren Collison could be available to continue running. Use what you have. That is what the front office did by trading Shaq. Instead of putting pieces into the puzzle, use the pieces you have to make an entirely different picture.

Us Heat fans will thank Shaq for leading the team to a title and for making Miami a relevant team in the NBA. We will also follow and root for Shaq out west. No ill-will to Shaq at all, but it was time to go.

Alonzo Mourning, however, will never be replaced.

Ever since Mourning came to the Heat in the 1995-1996 season, Mourning became the Heat. Sure he scored 23.2 points/game, had 10.4 rebounds/game and blocked 2.7 shots per game that season, but he was much more than statistics. He epitomized heart and hustle. He was one of those rare athletes who not only had talent, but was also one of the hustle guys that would dive after every loose ball, take the extra base or take the extra hit from the linebacker for that additional yard and a half. Most teams with stars look for that hustle/glue guy. Alonzo Mourning was both. Mourning was Pete Rose (without the gambling).

On the defensive end he was unparalleled, culiminating with 3.9 blocks per game in the 1999 season. Just like any shotblocker, sometimes his best defense is when altering shots, not just blocking them. But Mourning was so much more. He was such an aggressive defender, that teams would simply just not even challenge him (Think Deion Sanders in his prime when teams just would not even throw at his half of the field). Just when you thought he was lining up to block a shot, he would take a charge. He would literally do anything, and give up anything he could to win. Literally.

This includes playing hurt. Mourning was hurt so often, and took enough shots and medications to keep playing through the pain and injuries that he lost his kidney. I am not a doctor, and perhaps Mourning was predisposed to kidney disease, but the drugs in his system for years couldn't have helped. And Mourning's kidney succombed to this overuse. What does Mourning do? He continues to play. He was a key member of that 2006 championship team. When Shaq went down with injuries, teams couldn't take advantage of his backup, because on most occasions, Shaq's backup was better than the other teams' starter. When Shaq was in foul trouble, or when Shaq needed a rest, Mourning was there. Mourning was no longer the star, but he still gave maximum effort, coming up with several huge defensive plays against the Mavericks in the championship series.

(New Jersey Nets fans may disagree with the preceeding paragraphs, but this isn't written from their perspective).

Out of the Heat players, for whom do you think the fans were most happy? With all due respect to Shaq's rapping skills with the Fu Shnickens when presciently talking about three of the Heat's 15 players in 1993's "What's Up Doc?", "Not Christian Laetnner, Not Alonzo Mourning", Shaq was wrong. It was all about Zo. As far as the Miami Heat fans go, it will always be about Zo.

Shaq's talent may have finally brought the Miami Heat the championship that they were close to achieving when Zo was the star, but ask many fans who the best player in Heat history is, and the answer will almost unanimously be "Alonzo Mourning".

At least until this Wade kid gets some experience under his belt.