Well, this is my first post on the site so I figured I'd kill two birds and make it my first diary, too.

It could be that I am still in denial, but I for one don't think that a deal for Marion will be done. Neither do I think it should be done unless we are getting equal value for him, which is very unlikely.

Here are a couple things that I find sort of ironic about this whole thing.

1. Shawn says he's sick of hearing his name brought up in trade rumors, but the Suns have never followed through with any of these trades (except for maybe the Garnett trade which would make sense). But now that Marion actually wants a trade, I think he'll find out that the Suns don't actually want to trade him and more than not, the trade rumers were just talk.
   
2. If there was a reason for the Suns to be looking to trade Marion, it would be because of his huge salary. He is already the highest paid player on the team and knows that the Suns are very worried about the luxury tax. But now, he wants to bring up a contract extension (before his contract is even up) for 3 more years where he'd be paid even more money? If he really wanted to stay in Phoenix, wanted the trade rumors to stop, and if it really wasn't just about the money, wouldn't he be happy with a slightly smaller deal?

It just doesn't make sense to me, but I agree with Bill Simmons and many others that he's the 2nd most important player on the team. If we get rid of him, we are severely hurting our chances for a title. And like he said, he's a professional and likes all of his teammates so I don't think the chemistry will be hurt as bad as if we were to give him up for a lesser player. SHAWN, DON'T GO!!

I'll end with a few articles that I found interesting that you may not have seen yet.

Jack McCallum (Author of ":07 or less") tries to answer some of the questions that come with the "Marion Paradox".
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jack_mccallum/09/27/marion/index.html

Another SI article that goes through possible trade scenarios. Other than AK47 and Odom, he adds the slight possibilities of Richard Jefferson or Ron Artest.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/marty_burns/09/26/marion/index.html

And lastly, an article from Sporting News that gives the Lakers for Odom trade a 50/50 chance.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=277969