SHAQ TWEETS, "I'M RETIRING"

If he could have found a way to shoot even 65-70 percent from the line and prevent the Hack-a-Shaq, he would have been dominant to a level approaching Wilt in stats and Russell in championships.

 

Which is why the narrative regarding his L.A. years remained friendly for so long. He was "FUNNY!!!!" and the media ate it up.

Had he spent less time making jokes and more time busting ass in the wright room and the gym, there would be absolutely no debate as to his greatness. Free throws notwithstanding, he would be regarded by some as the greatest center to ever play the game.

He had all the tools: size, footwork, quickness, power. Yet he finished with a single MVP, made quite clear in L.A. that he didn't care to do anything in the offseason other than eat, and also spent time after leaving L.A. acting like one of the most hateful superstars in the league.

Many will write today about how "FUNNY!!!!" Shaq was. The serious NBA analysts will likely wonder how great he COULD have been.

 

ABC will throw big money after Shaq - if they already don't have their hooks into him with the Shaq Vs. show. He'll need a sparring partner though - to tell him how his ass tastes.

 

Shaq actually has the most 20 and 10 seasons in NBA history (13) ... Wilt, Hakeem, Kareem all had 12

 

Bill Walton needs work ...

 

While I respected his ability to dominate on the court, I never much liked Shaq. I never thought he was funny, just cartoonish and clowny. I wouldn't mind if he just went away for awhile.

 

Forget TV. Shaq's immediate plan is to get his PhD.
From the ESPN story (http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/news/story?id=6615886)

 

ABC/ESPN should unload the truck on him. Put him in Dancing with the Stars, hell, put him on The Bachelor now in addition to having him try and be the Barkley of their basketball broadcasts.

 

He WAS dominant. Some pundits said he should be MVP every year when he was in his prime. Some also said he should be better.

So, let's accept that Shaq's prime was about 1997 (age 25) to 2004 or so (and that's being nice, considering how much he had let himself go by then):

1996-97: Karl Malone. Probably should have been Jordan, speaking of players who could be MVP every single year.
1997-98: Jordan. No question.
1999: Malone. They had to give it to someone, and the lakers didn't really set the world on fire. Shaq WAS "least valuable wannabe GM," and his plea for "a thug and a shooter" lost the teams depth in Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell (OK, both were gutless playoff performers), and got them Glen Rice and Dennis Rodman.
1999-2000: Shaq. The only year in which he showed up in shape, having worked on his touch away from just dunking, and the Lakers played as they should from November to April, with a lot of hiccups in the playoffs.
2000-01: Allen Iverson. How cute. Pretty scorer. MVP?
2001-02: Tim Duncan. I can see the need to give Duncan his first, but that year's MVP was Jason Kidd. Like Barkley in 1992-93, his arrival transformed a previously middling franchise into a contender.
2002-03: Duncan again. This was the year Shaq pulled his "I got hurt on company time, I'm gonna heal on company time" bullcrap that cost the Lakers home court in the playoffs and ultimately got a lot of Laker fans (including me) eager to see what the team could get for his fat, lazy ass. People like Fisher and Kobe showed up in fall 2002 in the best shape of their lives, looking for a fourth title that Shaq ultimately cost them.
2003-04: Kevin Garnett. Like Malone a decade before, I guess it was his time. And he was out of his mind that year. Did he run his mouth and hit himself in the chest as much back when he was an awesome NBA player?

Really, there was only one year when Shaq was clearly robbed. And even in 2000-01, it's not like the Lakers set the world on fire until March. Before that, he was pulling his "Ya gotta feed the big dog!" crap.

 

a pretty damn big loser

 

In honor of Shaq, here's a Sporcle quiz asking to list everyone he ever joined in a starting lineup. Ninety-one players in all. Good luck.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/LucasEwalt/nbashaqsstartinglineups

 

I honestly thought his size and the expectation that he would dominante worked against him in some MVP voting. Shaq would carry a team for a month and the response would be, "Hey, the guy is 7-3, 325 with the quickness of a guard. He is supposed to do that." Plus his size made him the hardest player in history to officiate. He would take shots that would make other players stumble, and it barely registered on him. He got fouled more than any player I have ever seen and they did not call most of them.

Great, great guy as well. The players these days should take note of how he treats children. He was a big, funny guy that did not take himself (or the NBA) too seriously...and that offends some of the "purists." The NBA will be a worse place without Shaq in it.