Consider This, Steve Kerr

So the front page of our website right now looks like all Shaq, all the time, with a little Kobe thrown in for good measure. It’s understandable considering the events of the past week. Trades involving big names don’t happen often, certainly not within a week of one another. I’d like to broach another topic, but I don’t think you can right now. This is what everyone is talking about and probably will be until the stretch run starts up. Unless something interesting happens during All-Star Weekend, that is.

Shaq going to the Suns is an interesting move. Some people think it is the greatest thing ever for Phoenix; some people (myself included) think it’s the most idiotic thing that has ever happened. I am almost inclined to drop some Bill Walton hyperbole and call the move the worst thing to happen in the history of Western civilization. I will restrain myself, though.

We can debate whether the move is a good one, we can try to predict the future to see what will happen. For us, it’s merely conjecture and speculation. For the people involved, it is much more than that. Specifically, Steve Kerr’s job is riding on Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shaq playing nice together. If they don’t, it’s likely that he’ll be reapplying for his old position at Turner Sports.

Remember when Kerr was doing color commentary on TNT? He wasn’t horrible, but he didn’t stand out of the crowd of talent assembled by the network. The most memorable thing that he did was a segment called "Steve Wonders". It would air in the fourth quarter of each telecast that he worked and he would ask a question, usually something relevant to whichever teams were playing that night, and do the research to get an answer. Or have the station’s research team find the answer for him. Maybe Kerr should call in a favor to his former coworkers and have them answer a few questions for him. Or maybe he could just read this. Forward it to him, will you?

When is the last time a 36-year-old center started for a championship team?

David Robinson was 37 when the Spurs won the 2003 title. He played next to Tim Duncan, of course, and played a diminished role in what ended up being his final season. Certainly, the Suns supporting cast should be better than the Spurs had that year, but the Spurs had a system. Robinson fit in to that system quite well. Shaq into the Phoenix system… We’ll see.

When is the last time a team made a major mid-season trade and won the Finals?

This is subject to what you call major, but by my standards, it was the 1995 Houston Rockets. They brought in Clyde Drexler to give Hakeem Olajuwon a supporting cast member who wasn’t a mere role player. That team was helped by Dream and Glide’s preexisting relationship as University of Houston teammates. It didn’t hurt that the aforementioned Robinson got sonned in the Conference Finals that year either. Bringing in a new player usually doesn’t work so well, though. Once again, this Shaq thing could be different.

Who were some of the other players that could have been had in exchange for Shawn Marion if you had pulled the trigger earlier in the season?

Just in case Kerr has forgotten, these players were rumored to have been on their way to Phoenix in a trade package of some sort over the summer: Kevin Garnett, Antawn Jamison, Ben Gordon, Rasheed Wallace, and Andrei Kirilenko. None of these players are 35 years old. All still move pretty well. Just saying…

There’s more than enough coverage of this trade here for you to read, I’m just throwing out some other random questions to further stir the pot. Hope this works out for all involved parties.