Early Prediction: Shaq takes the Suns to the Finals

Shaquille O'Neal.  Phoenix Suns.  Plodding, injured big man.  Run-n-gun, speed freak small ball.  How is this going to work?  I have a few ideas. 

First, the Suns possess the best team of athletic doctors in the league.  Steve Nash has been playing with a bad back since his days in Dallas, which is why Cuban wouldn't re-sign him. 

Grant Hill?  Where to we start?

Both have played successfully for the Suns with no major games lost.  My bet is on these same men working similar wonders with Shaq.  The Suns employ the head of the National Academy of Sports Medicine, Dr. Michael Clark. 

In 2005, Dr. Clark was recognized by Men’s Health magazine as the "Top Visionary to Shape the Future of Fitness." Dr. Clark played an integral role, along with Phoenix Suns athletic trainer Aaron Nelson, in rehabilitating Suns All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire back to full health after micro fracture knee surgery in 2005.  He also helps keep Nash and Hill healthy.  With his history of success, my bet is the Suns get a Shaq more like 2005 than the Shaq of this season in Miami.

Additionally, Shaq is driven.  Time after time the pundits and fans have spoken; Shaq is done.  He's a shell of his former self.  He should just retire.  Ouch.  If we no thing about O'Neal, it's that he is a proud man.  I expect him to give all he has to prove these naysayers wrong.

Okay, so we surmise the Suns get a healthy and motivated Shaq, able to produce game after game for the rest of the season.  That's only 29 games plus the playoffs.  What about the run-n-gun Suns style of play and the ability of a 7'1", 220-pound man to play that style?  Who says he has to?  How many opposing centers can keep up with the Suns anyway?  All Shaq has to do is rebound and outlet to a speeding guard on the Suns for a fast-break.

And that is what I expect the Suns to do with Shaquille O'Neal.  There are concerns that he will clog the middle and negate the pick-n-roll with Steve and Amare as the rest spread the floor at the three-point line, but how can I say it.?

Shaq will either get some passes from Amare, or he'll get the hell out of the way.  In the mean time, the Suns improve their rebounding and will be a force inside, changing shots in the paint like nobody's business and giving the Suns the option to play half-court in close-game situations that seem to happen with regularity during the playoffs.

My bet is on the Suns making it through the stacked Western Conference in a few tight series to make it to the Finals. 

What do you think?

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