The Matrix Moves North – How the rest of the world sees it…

Now that the All-Star weekend is over, it’s time to look at the trade.  For Raptors fans, the All-Star weekend was uneventful, the only Chris Bosh highlight was his twittering off of the East All-Star bench “I wanna play! 🙁 “

Throw out your Jermaine O’Neal bobbleheads, throw out your Jermaine O’Neal McFarlane figures and the Raptors O’Neal jerseys are now 75% off, J.O. is off to Miami.  On Thursday, the deal between Toronto and Miami was announced where Shawn Marion would become the newest NBA player to move up north.

Here’s the breakdown of the deal.

Here’s how the rest of the world sees it:

Bosh:

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The FAN 590’s Eric Smith:

“In my opinion, the trade had less to do with O’Neal – and whether he did or didn’t work out as a Raptor; it was more about Colangelo and the Raps having the flexibility to make moves now as opposed to later““

Raptors Republic:

“Marion, even if he is half the player he was in Phoenix (which is kind of like what he was in Miami) he will improve this team ten fold. Everyone has already hammered out the positives and negatives of this trade but here is all you really need to know…”

Miami Heat Blog – Peninsula Is Mightier:

“While O’Neal makes $23 million next season, it’s the last year of his contract.  Assuming his knees hold up, it’s a cap hit the Heat can take in exchange for having a solid starting center, something they have majorly struggled without.  More importantly, it gives the Heat more room to spend during the most talked about free agency period in sports history.  If the Heat make a big move, we could be talking dynasty.  I am a firm believer in D-Wade and that when he says he wants to stay in Miami, he means it.”

ESPN’s John Hollinger:

“As for Toronto, this trade essentially gives the Raptors a do-over on the trade for O’Neal. Clearly, they’ve waved the white flag on this season at 21-34, though they’ll try out a Marion-Chris Bosh–Andrea Bargnani frontcourt and see what happens.”

Dwyane Wade:

“I feel that it can,” Wade said. “I don’t know what it would do right now with 30 games left, you’re bringing in a different element to a team that’s getting used to one. We all know that when you make a trade it takes time to gel, it’s just how fast. But like you said, nothing against Shawn, Shawn knows how I feel about him. and I really really enjoyed what he did for our team, and that’s bring that excitement back to Miami after the season we had last year. And I’m sure he’s going to do the same thing in Toronto.”

 The new-look Raptors face the Cavs on Wednesday.

[hype]