Well Hot Damn! The Raps Make A Great Move.

The Jermaine O'Neal experiment, which I was always fully in favor of, is now officially over. Despite the fact I think Shawn Marion is an overrated and selfish player who put up inflated numbers because of Mike D'Antoni's offense (you can also include Steve Nash in that category by the way, which I realize is sacrilege coming from a Canadian), he can still defend better than any forward in the league and may kick start the Raptors into the playoffs this year. They are only five out and the East still stinks.

This means Andrea Bargnani will get the time he needs to play and will come on even stronger. And the best thing for the Raps, in addition to getting rid of the horrid Jamario Moon, is that Marion's contract expires at the end of this year. The Raps were never going to bring in a big name free agent in 2010 so they might as well clear space now and see what happens.

As for the Heat I am curious as to what they are going to do with O'Neal. There is no doubt in my mind that Dwayne Wade is staying in South Beach when he becomes a free agent after next season but I anticipated them letting Marion's contract expire this year then signing Carlos Boozer this summer to join him. Now maybe they figure they can hold on to O'Neal for another year and take a run at Chris Bosh next season. Or they could cut O'Neal after this year still sign Boozer. It will be interesting to see what Pat Riley does here.