HOWEVA, Stephen A Smith sucks.

true

Yeah, I can't stand listening to him on ESPN. He's to basketball what John Clayton and Shaun Salsbury are to football.

I love how they try to make Clayton and Salisbury enemies in that one football segment when it's clear that Clayton is reaching just to be somewhat interesting; nevermind being confrontational. It just seems so forced because Clayton is so bland.

mild sprain, day to day. that keeps things WAY more interesting.
yeah.

Absolutely. At least in the East. I was actually pulling for him and the Heat to do well just because I hate Kobe's punk ass.

yeah, same here. although i was hoping that lamar could get himself traded so he could get off the lakers. shaq in the east just makes everything a lot more wide open.

Blah.

how does that keep things more interesting?

so much of the eastern conference runs together, with the atlantic being a traumedy and even the good teams prone to complete breakdowns. having shaq actually playing makes miami a legit contender, makes the development of wade and the heat something compelling to watch, and ads a bit of legitimacy to whomever wins the eastern conference in that they will have had to actually play someone good enough to prepare them for the western representation. without shaq sure things are more wide open in that conference, but there's much less of an expectation that the east can actually be competitive with someone like san antonio, especially if detroit falters again.