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"Ball." |
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This is the first in what I hope will be a regular series in which we discuss random basketball ideas and scenarios. If you have a suggestion for a future "Thinking Out Loud" post, drop it in the comments or email me at raptorblog at gmail dot com. Last month, Shaquille O'Neal announced that he plans to retire in 2010 when his contract expires with the Phoenix Suns. Shaq will be 38 years old then so it's likely that he will live up to his word and begin the next phase of his career as a security guard in the South China Mall. Of course, you never know when those pangs of competitiveness will gnaw at a pro athlete's resolve to walk away from the game. Assuming that Shaq doesn't win "one for the thumb" in Phoenix (and I think that's a pretty safe assumption), he might want to take a shot at signing on with a contending team for one more year in an attempt to go out in a blaze of glory. I would like to propose the possibility that Shaq signs a one-year deal that will send Lakers Nation into unprecedented fits of pique. I think you already know which team I'm suggesting Shaq could sign with: the Boston Celtics. In the 2010 off-season, Ray Allen's contract will be off the books and the Celtics will have around $46 million in salaries. Is it crazy to wonder if Shaq and Ray-Ray would both be willing to take less money than they might be able to get on the open market in order to join K.G. and The Truth for the 2010-2011 season? If we assume that Kobe Bryant either activates his 2010-2011 player option or opts out to re-sign with the Lakers — which I think he'll more than likely do regardless of any ridiculous offer he gets from overseas — this raises the strong possibility that Shaq and the Celtics could face Kobe and the Lakers in the 2011 NBA Finals. This would not be a question of whether or not that series would get the highest TV ratings in NBA Finals history — it would be a matter of by how much the ratings would obliterate the previous record. Theoretically, Shaq would coast through the regular season playing 50-60 games and splitting minutes with Kendrick Perkins, and then he would take on a larger role in the playoffs. Shaq's motivation would be, naturally, to put one on Kobe — but also to achieve the possibly unprecedented feat of winning a title in both Boston and L.A. (Let me know in the comments if this has been done.) I suppose I shouldn't root for this possibility as a Raptors fan because that would probably bar the remote possibility that the Raptors could legitimately contend for the next three NBA seasons. But the nonpartisan basketball fan in me gets giddy thinking about the drama of this scenario. I'd probably spend at least an hour a week lurking on Celtics and Lakers message boards throughout that season just for the sheer entertainment value. Maybe this is a crazy idea, I don't know. But hey, just like I said in the title — I'm just thinking out loud here. |
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