Incidentally, in his role as a muckraking troublemaker, Wise also attempted to make trouble. Flip Saunders was on with the Sportsy Junkies this week, and was asked which Eastern Conference team made itself mo' betterest between the Magic, the Cavs and the Celtics. His answer was the Wizards.

"I think the other three teams, when you look at the end of the year, their records will not be any better and probably worse than they were last year," he said.

One of the Junks mentioned the Shaq experiment in Phoenix.

"How'd that work out in Phoenix?" Saunders asked rhetorically. "It's totally different when you have a center that's in the paint all the time, because there's someone there always for help. They've always played their best, in Cleveland, when they've had the ability to spread the floor and have openings for LeBron."

So Wise conveyed these general sentiments, with perhaps a little more enthusiasm, to Shaq.

"Flip Saunders should have said what I did to him when I busted his ass earlier," Shaq replied, more or less. "I remember all comments, I'm taking all comments. I'll see him very soon. Keep after Haywood, keep after McGee, because I'm coming."

Swell.