post may 2008 shaq

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Out Of the heat. IntO the Sun. hOw Steve Kerr

and the SunS Pulled Off the Mega trade tO BrIngShaq tO the valley. and waIt untIl yOu hear whatShaq MIght dO when he’S dOne PlayIng.

By ZacK SIMOnPhOtO By Barry gOSSage

the BIgShaq-tuSIn fullBlOOM

Shaquille O’Neal MAY 2008

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36MAY2009 www.postphx.com

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astern Conference power team that had become absolutely brutal a er recently winning an Championship, and aashy and exciting team from the est that was desperately

trying to get to the promised land to give its loyal fan basethe ultimate bragging rights they had been craving for years.

nd teve Kerr was right in the middle of it. In fact, let’s letthe uns’ quick-witted, dynamic and courageous GM descr ibethat trade that made a big impact in his life in his own words.

“ o question,” teve reminisced to POST about theblockbuster. “I mean, seriously, who could ever forget theepic teve Kerr for Chuck Person trade? [It happened in 1998.

teve was traded from the ulls to the purs.] Tat was a deal that shi ed thebalance of power in the and altered the course of basketball history.”

h, you thought we were talking about the earth-axis-altering deal teveput together this February, when he traded hawn Marion to the eat for theself-proclaimed “ ig haq-tus”? h, yeah, well, that was big too. ut to have theguts to bring one of the planet’s biggest superstars to the Valley, it doesn’t hurtto add a dose of some self-deprecating humor to go along with the con denceof pulling it o . nd that’s one thing Kerr has brought to his job as the top manin the front o ce. nd ta lk about making a huge splash, just months into a new,extremely high-pro le job. teve instigated the deal, massaged it, and basically made it happen, but he certainly had to take the pulse of all the key people onthe team before dialing the digits to Pat iley’s o ce.

“Tis deal would not have been made without consensus among ourmanagement team and coaching sta . I discussed the deal with obert arver,Mike ’ ntoni, Vinny el egro and avid Gri n extensively before makinga decision. er several days of discussion, we concluded that the deal madesense for us, so we pulled the trigger.”

nd just like that, when it became o cial, you could feel the jolt of energy and excitement throughout the Valley when we knew haq was coming toPhoenix. Te reason is because he’s one of the few larger-than-life personalitiesthat seems to create his own energy eld wherever he goes. nd a er having

every reason to believe he’d end his career in outh Florida, “It was never clearto me that I was going to be traded, matter of fact I was told I’d never be traded,that I would retire in Miami,” haq said, a er the eat started circling the drainwith their wretched play, his season was saved, and career rejuvenated, by thecall from Kerr.

“I’m sort of a specialist,” haq described himself to POST . “I’m used tomoving every four years. I’ve always liked Phoenix as a city, and particularly theCamelback area. I pretty much knew my way around.”

ut it took the diligence of Kerr to nally make the trade happen. “Tedeal basically consumed me — and everyone in basketball ops — for an entireweek. e examined every angle, analyzed every nuance and ran every number

nancially. I don’t think any of us thought about anything else during the entireprocess. I never thought the deal would fall apart, because I knew it made toomuch sense for both sides. Te only hurdle was getting past the idea of breaking

up what was already a very successful team to try to create a better one. Te easy thing to do would have been to stand pat, but we decided to go for it and makethe deal.”

Kerr and crew made a complicated deal, in modern-day when you aredealing with mega salaries and fragile egos, look easy. Te hard part was havingto tell hawn Marion he was going from a contender to a very bad team. “Yes,I spoke with hawn,” Kerr said. “It’s my job to call any player when he has beentraded. aving been traded ve times myself in my playing career, I know howtraumatic an experience it is. eing torn away from a city, from your teammates,

from your friends — it’s tough. hawn took it very professionally, but it was notan easy call to make.”h, and speaking of calls. Tere were scores of them to talk radio shows.

For weeks, callers burned up the lines to the shows of Gambo and sh, ickley and MJ, ol ey and Franz, ock and Manuch, ave urns, ob Kemp and Je

ean. veryone had an opinion of whether the trade was a good idea. It turnedout to be a great move, on and o the court for the uns, and a er Kerr nishedit, he attempted to avoid the outside opinions. “I tried not to read the papersor listen to the talk shows, but inevitably I heard plenty of criticism. I knew itwould come. It sounds good to say that I didn’t care what people thought, but

we all care what people think. till, part of this

job is dealing with criticism, and I understandthat. My decision-making certainly won’t beswayed by public opinion, I know that. I’malways going to do what’s best for the team.”

Mission accomplished. Te ig haq-tus will be blooming for the next twospringtimes in the Valley as well. “I have athree-year commitment right now; a er that,if I get o ered another deal, I’ll stay; if not, I’llprobably be looking to do other things,” haqtold POST . Like what, you may be wondering?

ow about this — giving the orld’s oughestheri a run for his money. “I will be involved

with the empe Police epartment. You neverknow, I might run for heri in MaricopaCounty.”

If he does, he’ll do it with air, originality,pizzazz, and be incredibly entertaining every step of the way. Let’s hope haq wins a coupletitles with the uns and decides to retire herelike everyone else that moves here. nd for the

guy who showed the guts to make the deal tomake all this possible? ell, remember that

trade we mentioned in the beginning of the story that teve was involved in?It turned out he ended up winning two more titles when he played forthe purs. Kerr has a total of ve rings as a player, and he’d love to add a fewas a GM. nd if he has to pull o another blockbuster along the way, well, he’scertainly showed he’s got the guts to do it. emember, pressure is nothing newto teve Kerr. e won a game in the Finals with a clutch, 14-foot jumper, atthe buzzer on a pass from Michael Jordan. ut the pressure associated with thatpaled compared to what it took to bring haq to the Valley. “ onestly, the tradewas more nerve-wracking than the jumper in the Finals. hen you’re playing,you don’t have time to think — you just react. hen you’re making a trade, allyou have is time to think.”

nd uns fans think they are pretty thankful that the trade was made.

“I wIll BeInvOlvedwIth theteMPePOlIcedePartMent.

yOu neverKnOw, IMIght runfOr SherIffIn MarIcOPacOunty.”– Shaq On lIfe

after the SunS

Shaquille O’Neal MAY 2008

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post may 2008 shaq

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