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	As Shaq Gets Traded To Mamai, this is what the Los Angeles Lakers Going To Get Instead.

With Shaq, Heat becomes instant attraction

BY HARVEY FIALKOV

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI - (KRT) - Heat President Pat Riley hasn't felt this popular since he was directing the "Showtime" Lakers to four titles in the `80s.

"I had 22 messages on my phone. Very rarely does mine ring that much," Riley said during Wednesday's media teleconference to discuss the blockbuster trade with his old team that brought 11-time All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat.

"Once the smoke clears and people begin to sign contracts for real, the market will change somewhat, and I think this will be a destination point, without a doubt, that players will like to come to."

It doesn't hurt to have a 7-foot-1, 360-pound recruiter with three championship rings and three Finals MVP trophies, making calls to prospective free agents and former teammates such as Karl Malone and Robert Horry.

"I've talked to all my friends," O'Neal said. "I haven't spoken to Gary (Payton recently), but I've spoken to Karl and I've spoken to Robert."

Horry, 33, a well-conditioned 6-10 power forward known for his timely 3-point shooting in the playoffs, has made it clear that he wants to rejoin his former Lakers teammate, who he won three titles with in Los Angeles. The Spurs haven't been courting Horry too hard, and his hometown Rockets are overstocked at forward.

"We probably wouldn't have had our two championships without Robert," said Rockets General Manager Carroll Dawson, an assistant coach on the Rockets 1994 and `95 championship teams with Horry and superstar center Hakeem Olajuwon. "If (the Heat) get him, they'd be lucky.

"He knows how to win. Nobody has made more clutch shots and nobody gets the ball into the post better than Robert. All are forgotten arts."

Riley made it clear that the Heat only has its $1.6 million salary exception and approximately $2.5 million remaining of its mid-level exception for remaining free agents to help fill in the spaces left vacant by the departures of Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and point guard Rafer Alston.

Riley said due to the young nature of his team, he's looking for veterans to plug the holes at point guard and forward.

"We'll see how philanthropic these guys are," said Riley, who also can acquire players with the $1 million veteran's minimum. "We want to put the best pieces we can around Shaq, Eddie (Jones) and Dwyane (Wade). We hope they understand that we don't have the mid-level or long-term contracts, but they could get to play with (O'Neal) for an opportunity to win a ring."

Malone, two weeks shy of his 41st birthday, is recovering from knee surgery, and not ready to commit to playing another season.

The trickle-down effect from O'Neal's signing has agents waiting at the phone for Heat GM Randy Pfund to return their calls. The client list includes forwards Horry, Toni Kukoc, Rodney Rogers and guards Anthony Johnson, Lindsey Hunter, Mike James, Steve Smith, Bob Sura, Travis Best and Mateen Cleaves.

"The Heat is looking for a point guard that knows two words: `Feed Shaq,"" said sports agent Keith Kreiter. "You can't view the Heat as someone in your rear-view mirror. They'll be there fighting and clawing for a championship."

Charles Tucker, Smith's agent, said his client would love to finish his career with the Heat, the team that drafted the 6-7 sharpshooter with the overall No. 5 pick in 1995.

Smith, 35, showed the Heat he could still play when he scored 25 points in 28 minutes on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-7 3-pointers in Miami's 85-77 Game 7 victory over the Hornets in the first-round series last season.

"After he almost beat them by himself, (a Heat representative) told him, `Don't do anything until you hear from us,"" Tucker said.

So far, there's been no contact, not even from O'Neal.

MIAMI, July 14 – The Miami HEAT announced today that they have acquired 11-time All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and a future first-round draft pick.

“Today the Miami HEAT took a giant step forward in our continued pursuit of an NBA championship for the city of Miami and this franchise,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “It has always been about winning for us and trying to win championships. We feel that we have traded for the best player in the NBA. I feel tremendous sadness and a debt of gratitude to Brian, Lamar and Caron because these were men who really bought into our team and our organization and the city of Miami. It disheartens me to see them leave and I thank them for their many contributions to the HEAT and wish them nothing but the best. However you don’t get many chances to acquire the best player in the league and this was a trade I felt we had to make.”

O’Neal, a three-time NBA Champion, has averaged 27.1 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.6 blocks per game over the course of his 12-year NBA career. He is a two-time regular season scoring champion and has led the league in field goal percentage seven times, including last season when he connected on 58.4 percent of his attempts. He ranks first among active NBA players in field goal percentage (.577) and scoring average (27.1 ppg), and third and fourth, respectively, on the NBA’s all-time list. He is also second among active players in blocked shots (2,102). He is tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Wilt Chamberlain for the most seasons of averaging 20+ points and 10+ rebounds. The group has each done it 12 times, with O’Neal being the only one to do it in every season in which he has played. In the playoffs, O’Neal has averaged 27.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.4 blocks in 158 games.

O’Neal was named one of the league’s 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and has been an All-NBA Team selection for the past 11 seasons, including being named to the All-NBA First Team for the last five years. In his twelve NBA seasons, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player once, the NBA Finals MVP on three occasions and the NBA All-Star Game MVP twice. He is one of only three players in NBA history to win MVP honors in the regular season, All-Star Game and the Finals in the same year. He is a two-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection and was also given the IBM Award for all-around contribution to a team’s success twice. He has garnered NBA Player of the Week honors 18 times and NBA Player of the Month honors 11 times.

O’Neal spent the last eight seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, where he helped lead the club to four NBA Finals appearances and three NBA Championships. As a Laker, O’Neal averaged 24.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.2 blocks in 514 regular season games. He also averaged 29.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 blocks in 100 playoff games with the Lakers.

Originally drafted by the Orlando Magic with the first pick in the 1992 NBA Draft, O’Neal spent four seasons with the Magic. As a member of the club, he averaged 27.2 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.8 blocks in 295 games. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game during his inaugural season and was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

O’Neal has also found success while representing his country. He was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team in 1996 as well as a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. World Championship team in 1994.

Caron Butler was selected by the HEAT with the 10th pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. In his two seasons with the club, he has averaged 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals in 33.5 minutes per game.

Brian Grant, who spent the previous four seasons with Miami, was acquired by the club as part of a three-way sign-and-trade deal with Portland and Cleveland on August 30, 2000. Grant has averaged 11.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 30.1 minutes per game over the span of his 10-year career. As a member of the HEAT, he averaged 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 312 games.

Lamar Odom signed with the HEAT as a free agent on August 27, 2003, after spending the previous four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals in a team-high 37.5 minutes per game last season. In his 310 career games, he has averaged 16.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 36.4 minutes per game.

HEAT broadcast partner Sunshine Network will televise O’Neal’s inaugural Miami press conference live statewide. At this point details are not yet finalized.

Below is a list of some of O'Neal's awards and accomplishments:

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL AWARDS:

NBA Most Valuable Player (2000)

NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (2000, 2001, 2002)

NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (2000, 2004)

All-NBA First Team (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

All-NBA Second Team (1995, 1999)

All-NBA Third Team (1994, 1996, 1997)

All-Defensive Second Team (2000, 2001, 2003)

NBA Player of the Week (18 times)

NBA Player of the Month (11 times)

NBA 50 th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)

IBM Award [all-around contributions to a team's success] (2000, 2001)

NBA Rookie of the Year (1993)

All-Rookie First Team (1993)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Three NBA Championships (2000, 2001, 2002)

11 NBA All-Star Game appearances (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

Two-time regular season scoring champion (1994-95, 1999-00)

Seven-time league leader in field goal percentage (1993-94, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2003-04)

Member of gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team (1996)

Member of gold-medal winning U.S. World Championship team (1994)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL career totals:

REBOUNDS

YEAR

TEAM

G

GS

MIN

FGM-A

3PM-A

FTM-A

OFF

DEF

TOT

AST

STL

BLK

TO

PF

PTS

92-93

ORL

81

81

3,071

733-1,304

0-2

427-721

342

780

1,122

152

60

286

307

321

1,893

93-94

ORL

81

81

3,224

953-1,591

0-2

471-850

384

688

1,072

195

76

231

222

281

2,377

94-95

ORL

79

79

2,923

930-1,594

0-5

455-854

328

573

901

214

73

192

204

258

2,315

95-96

ORL

54

52

1,946

592-1,033

1-2

249-511

182

414

596

155

34

115

155

193

1,434

96-97

LAL

51

51

1,941

552-991

0-4

232-479

195

445

640

159

46

147

146

180

1,336

97-98

LAL

60

57

2,175

670-1,147

0-0

359-681

208

473

681

142

39

144

175

193

1,699

98-99

LAL

49

49

1,705

510-885

0-1

269-498

187

338

525

114

36

82

122

155

1,289

99-00

LAL

79

79

3,163

956-1,665

0-1

432-824

336

742

1,078

299

36

239

223

255

2,344

00-01

LAL

74

74

2,924

813-1,422

0-2

499-972

291

649

940

277

47

204

218

256

2,125

01-02

LAL

67

66

2,422

712-1,229

0-1

398-717

235

480

715

200

41

137

171

199

1,822

02-03

LAL

67

66

2,535

695-1,211

0-0

451-725

259

483

742

206

38

159

196

229

1,841

03-04

LAL

67

67

2,464

554-948

0-0

331-676

246

523

769

196

34

166

195

225

1,439

Career

809

802

30,493

8,670-15,020

1-20

4,573-8,508

3,193

6,588

9,781

2,309

560

2,102

2,334

2,745

21,914

Playoffs

158

158

6,382

1,658-2,951

0-0

978-1,889

722

1,318

2,040

492

92

374

475

552

4,294

All-Star

8

6

198

61-116

0-1

24-50

28

43

71

8

9

14

17

20

146

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL career averages:

REBOUNDS PER GAME

YEAR

TEAM

G

GS

MPG

FG%

3P%

FT%

OFF

DEF

RPG

APG

SPG

BPG

TO

PF

PPG

92-93

ORL

81

81

37.9

.562

.000

.592

4.20

9.60

13.90

1.9

.74

3.53

3.79

4.00

23.4

93-94

ORL

81

81

39.8

.599

.000

.554

4.70

8.50

13.20

2.4

.94

2.85

2.74

3.50

29.3

94-95

ORL

79

79

37.0

.583

.000

.533

4.20

7.30

11.40

2.7

.92

2.43

2.58

3.30

29.3

95-96

ORL

54

52

36.0

.573

.500

.487

3.40

7.70

11.00

2.9

.63

2.13

2.87

3.60

26.6

96-97

LAL

51

51

38.1

.557

.000

.484

3.80

8.70

12.50

3.1

.90

2.88

2.86

3.50

26.2

97-98

LAL

60

57

36.3

.584

.000

.527

3.50

7.90

11.40

2.4

.65

2.40

2.92

3.20

28.3

98-99

LAL

49

49

34.8

.576

.000

.540

3.80

6.90

10.70

2.3

.73

1.67

2.49

3.20

26.3

99-00

LAL

79

79

40.0

.574

.000

.524

4.30

9.40

13.60

3.8

.46

3.03

2.82

3.20

29.7

00-01

LAL

74

74

39.5

.572

.000

.513

3.90

8.80

12.70

3.7

.64

2.76

2.95

3.50

28.7

01-02

LAL

67

66

36.1

.579

.000

.555

3.50

7.20

10.70

3.0

.61

2.04

2.55

3.00

27.2

02-03

LAL

67

66

37.8

.574

.000

.622

3.90

7.20

11.10

3.1

.57

2.37

2.93

3.40

27.5

03-04

LAL

67

67

36.8

.584

.000

.490

3.70

7.80

11.50

2.9

.51

2.48

2.91

3.40

21.5

Career

809

802

37.7

.577

.050

.537

3.90

8.10

12.10

2.9

.69

2.60

2.89

3.40

27.1

Playoffs

158

158

40.4

.562

.000

.518

4.60

8.30

12.90

3.1

.58

2.37

3.01

3.50

27.2

All-Star

8

6

24.8

.526

.000

.480

3.50

5.40

8.90

1.0

1.13

1.75

2.13

2.50

18.3

Who Wins?

Shaq is a All Time star who have been to 11 All-Stars Games, compared to 0 players who the Lakers are getting. It is absoutly a dumb trade for the LA Lakers, and they are going to regret it!