Wednesday, January 21, 2009

HEAT's Shawn Marion Involved in Trade Rumors

The latest rumor involving Shawn Marion has his services along with Marcus Banks headed to Toronto for Jermaine O'Neal. If this trade happens, it would benefit both teams.

The HEAT are in need of some height in their frontcourt. Their tallest frontcourt player is Jamal Magloire and his defense isn't that great either. There is no defensive presence behind Joel Anthony who has done an admirable job as the HEAT's starting center. Shawn Marion wouldn't be missed by the HEAT because they have so much depth at that position. The HEAT have Dorell Wright, James Jones, and Yakhouba Diawara can fill the potentially vacated SF position. Can you imagine the line up of Chalmers, Wade, James Jones, Haslem, and O'Neal? You could do worse. Jermaine O'Neal gives Wade another pick-n-roll buddy, a low post presence, and a post defender. However, the rub in this trade is the health of Jermaine O'Neal. He has been injured this season with those bothersome knees. If the HEAT make this trade, I think it signals that Riley couldn't care less about this summer's free agent class as O'Neal has a player option for more than $20 million. There is no doubt he'll exercise that option. This trade is a win for the HEAT, if O'Neal's healthy.

The Toronto Raptors would be getting a high energy player who can score in a variety of ways, rebound and defend. Shawn Marion can't shoot the three pointer with any degree of regularity. The move would allow the Raptors keep Andrea Bargnani in the starting lineup and go up-tempo more often. Marion is a huge upgrade at SF as Bosh has had enough of the errors made during the game.

Another possible trade partner is the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Howard is on the block and has been on there for quite sometime now. His admission about drug use doesn't help either. Shawn Marion for Josh Howard and another player? This could benefit both teams. As I said earlier in the post, Pat Riley doesn't care about this summer's free agent class. Josh Howard would give Dwyane Wade a much needed sidekick for this season and next. Howard could use the change scenery. The HEAT would still be short in the frontcourt but more potent offensively. The attention that Wade gets could result in Howard returning to his All-Star level. For the Mavs, they'll have Jason Kidd's and Shawn Marion's contracts expiring after this season. That is $38,552,000 coming off the books between. That doesn't include other contracts that expiring after this season. I think Marion would blossom playing next to Jason Kidd for obvious reasons and the Mavs could re-sign him after the season. The trade works out both teams.

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